Hirokazu "Hip" Tanaka, (田中宏和 たなか・ひろかず Tanaka Hirokazu) is a Japanese compos… Read Full Bio ↴Hirokazu "Hip" Tanaka, (田中宏和 たなか・ひろかず Tanaka Hirokazu) is a Japanese composer and musician best known for his scores for various video games produced by Nintendo.
Hirokazu Tanaka got his start in music at the age of five when his parents enrolled him at the privately run Yamaha Music School in Japan. He studied piano from age nine to age 11, when his musical training ended. His mother played recordings of classical music and film soundtracks regularly, which gave Tanaka an appreciation for those forms of music.
Tanaka became interested in rock music when the TV show The Monkees aired in Japan when he was nine, which prompted him to start a band with some friends. From nine to 30, Tanaka played in and out of groups on various instruments, including guitar, keyboard, and drums, and in various styles from rock to jazz and fusion.
Tanaka entered college as an electronic engineering major, but he saw little success since he was more interested in electronic applications for music than what his professors considered more useful pursuits. In 1980, Tanaka saw a newspaper advertisement for a sound engineer position at the Nintendo video game company, a position he secured for himself. Meanwhile, his current band had made the finals in a music competition, a major breakthrough in their quest to get signed with a major label. Nevertheless, Tanaka chose to work for Nintendo, and he left the band.
Tanaka's first projects with the company were on Nintendo's arcade machines. Music was extremely primitive on these machines, so Tanaka primarily worked on sound effects. His job required him to personally program the sound in binary code as well as to design and install the actual sound equipment on the arcade machines.
Nintendo began development of its Famicom home video game console in 1984 (known as the Nintendo Entertainment System in North America and Europe), and Tanaka worked on early titles including Duck Hunt and Kid Icarus. The new system had three tone generators and one pseudorandom noise generator, with which to produce melody, harmony, percussion, and sound effects (which would usually interrupt a note). Though a vast improvement over the simplistic sound of the arcade machines, the Nintendo hardware still left Tanaka and the other composers severely limited in the complexity of the music they could write. Even though sound tools had been written for the Famicom, Tanaka continued to write his music alongside his custom playback libraries written in assembly language, a fact he credits with helping to set his work apart from that of his colleagues. By 1986, Tanaka was writing over a third of the music for the Famicom's games.
This increase in sound technology, coupled with the composing talents of Tanaka and his coworkers such as Koji Kondo helped raise the popularity of game music in Japan. The increased attention spurred good-spirited rivalries between many game composers, a development that bothered Tanaka, since it forced composers to write in a way that he felt was contrary to the atmosphere of the games themselves.
It was this dislike that inspired him to compose the subdued themes of Metroid. In his words, he tried "to create the sound without any distinctions between music and sound effects." He composed the music so as to deny the player a simple melody to hum along with; only after completing the game is any "catchy" music played. At the time, the Metroid soundtrack was criticized as being too "heavy", but today, the score is widely regarded as Tanaka's masterpiece.
Tanaka also worked in a programming capacity for Nintendo. He had always wanted to get more into project development, and it was this that inspired him to design the Game Boy Camera and the Game Boy Printer.
Tanaka began work on the score for the Pokémon TV series in 1997, where he has composed nearly all the songs for the Japanese version of the series - however, Shinji Miyazaki composes the incidental music (along with Junichi Masuda, Go Ichinose and Morikazu Aoki, composers of the music in the games), and with a couple of very rare exceptions Tanaka's music does not appear on any Western translations of the show.
He says he never took the job too seriously and that the unprecedented popularity of the franchise took him completely by surprise. Because the series was not directly produced by Nintendo, the company told Tanaka that he could not continue to work on it. This prompted Tanaka to quit Nintendo in 1998.
He went to work for Creatures, Inc., a game developer and producer of Pokémon cards. When the president of the company left in 2000, Tanaka took the position, which he holds to this day.
Tanaka's music has been greatly inspired by the rock performers of his youth, including The Monkees, The Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel, and Burt Bacharach. He was also greatly inspired by reggae in the 1980s. He says he also takes inspiration from the visual arts, especially portraiture and photography. He eventually became known as the mentor of Yuka Tsujiyoko.
Video game soundtracks (incomplete)
* Space Firebird (1980) (sound effects only)
* Donkey Kong (1980) (sound effects only)
* Pac-Man Fever (1982) (album; sound effects only)
* Urban Champion (1984)
* Balloon Fight (1984)
* Wild Gunman (1984)
* Duck Hunt (1985)
* Gyromite (1985)
* Stack Up (1985)
* Wrecking Crew (1985)
* Kid Icarus (Paltena no Kagami in Japan) (1986)
* Metroid (1986)
* Super Mario Land (1989)
* Mother (with Akio Ohmori, Ritsuo Kamimura, and Keiichi Suzuki) (1989)
* Balloon Kid (Balloon Fight GB in Japan) (1990)
* Dr. Mario (1990)
* Hello Kitty World (1992; Famicom port of Balloon Kid)
* EarthBound (Mother 2, 1994)
Hirokazu Tanaka got his start in music at the age of five when his parents enrolled him at the privately run Yamaha Music School in Japan. He studied piano from age nine to age 11, when his musical training ended. His mother played recordings of classical music and film soundtracks regularly, which gave Tanaka an appreciation for those forms of music.
Tanaka became interested in rock music when the TV show The Monkees aired in Japan when he was nine, which prompted him to start a band with some friends. From nine to 30, Tanaka played in and out of groups on various instruments, including guitar, keyboard, and drums, and in various styles from rock to jazz and fusion.
Tanaka entered college as an electronic engineering major, but he saw little success since he was more interested in electronic applications for music than what his professors considered more useful pursuits. In 1980, Tanaka saw a newspaper advertisement for a sound engineer position at the Nintendo video game company, a position he secured for himself. Meanwhile, his current band had made the finals in a music competition, a major breakthrough in their quest to get signed with a major label. Nevertheless, Tanaka chose to work for Nintendo, and he left the band.
Tanaka's first projects with the company were on Nintendo's arcade machines. Music was extremely primitive on these machines, so Tanaka primarily worked on sound effects. His job required him to personally program the sound in binary code as well as to design and install the actual sound equipment on the arcade machines.
Nintendo began development of its Famicom home video game console in 1984 (known as the Nintendo Entertainment System in North America and Europe), and Tanaka worked on early titles including Duck Hunt and Kid Icarus. The new system had three tone generators and one pseudorandom noise generator, with which to produce melody, harmony, percussion, and sound effects (which would usually interrupt a note). Though a vast improvement over the simplistic sound of the arcade machines, the Nintendo hardware still left Tanaka and the other composers severely limited in the complexity of the music they could write. Even though sound tools had been written for the Famicom, Tanaka continued to write his music alongside his custom playback libraries written in assembly language, a fact he credits with helping to set his work apart from that of his colleagues. By 1986, Tanaka was writing over a third of the music for the Famicom's games.
This increase in sound technology, coupled with the composing talents of Tanaka and his coworkers such as Koji Kondo helped raise the popularity of game music in Japan. The increased attention spurred good-spirited rivalries between many game composers, a development that bothered Tanaka, since it forced composers to write in a way that he felt was contrary to the atmosphere of the games themselves.
It was this dislike that inspired him to compose the subdued themes of Metroid. In his words, he tried "to create the sound without any distinctions between music and sound effects." He composed the music so as to deny the player a simple melody to hum along with; only after completing the game is any "catchy" music played. At the time, the Metroid soundtrack was criticized as being too "heavy", but today, the score is widely regarded as Tanaka's masterpiece.
Tanaka also worked in a programming capacity for Nintendo. He had always wanted to get more into project development, and it was this that inspired him to design the Game Boy Camera and the Game Boy Printer.
Tanaka began work on the score for the Pokémon TV series in 1997, where he has composed nearly all the songs for the Japanese version of the series - however, Shinji Miyazaki composes the incidental music (along with Junichi Masuda, Go Ichinose and Morikazu Aoki, composers of the music in the games), and with a couple of very rare exceptions Tanaka's music does not appear on any Western translations of the show.
He says he never took the job too seriously and that the unprecedented popularity of the franchise took him completely by surprise. Because the series was not directly produced by Nintendo, the company told Tanaka that he could not continue to work on it. This prompted Tanaka to quit Nintendo in 1998.
He went to work for Creatures, Inc., a game developer and producer of Pokémon cards. When the president of the company left in 2000, Tanaka took the position, which he holds to this day.
Tanaka's music has been greatly inspired by the rock performers of his youth, including The Monkees, The Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel, and Burt Bacharach. He was also greatly inspired by reggae in the 1980s. He says he also takes inspiration from the visual arts, especially portraiture and photography. He eventually became known as the mentor of Yuka Tsujiyoko.
Video game soundtracks (incomplete)
* Space Firebird (1980) (sound effects only)
* Donkey Kong (1980) (sound effects only)
* Pac-Man Fever (1982) (album; sound effects only)
* Urban Champion (1984)
* Balloon Fight (1984)
* Wild Gunman (1984)
* Duck Hunt (1985)
* Gyromite (1985)
* Stack Up (1985)
* Wrecking Crew (1985)
* Kid Icarus (Paltena no Kagami in Japan) (1986)
* Metroid (1986)
* Super Mario Land (1989)
* Mother (with Akio Ohmori, Ritsuo Kamimura, and Keiichi Suzuki) (1989)
* Balloon Kid (Balloon Fight GB in Japan) (1990)
* Dr. Mario (1990)
* Hello Kitty World (1992; Famicom port of Balloon Kid)
* EarthBound (Mother 2, 1994)
Title
田中宏和 Lyrics
We have lyrics for 'Title' by these artists:
Beenie Man & Devonte Nobody could've tell you if they want you Nobody would tell…
Brian Eno Life doesn't start with a title The one man show we…
C.S. Lewis God walk with me on this journey For I know not…
D. W. O'Boyle उ उ उओ Lets go सबको ये सोणी शाम मुबारक है ये ख़ुशी…
D.D.R. 2nd MIX Production BGM I'm writing this song to fill my time Don't cost me…
D.S.P उ उ उओ Lets go सबको ये सोणी शाम मुबारक है ये ख़ुशी…
Emilie Autumn Your sugar sits untouched Teatime poems by Emilie Autumn…
GANXSTA D.X I can't get high, feel my heart, I'm alright, I'm…
Hot-B Sound Team Cutting back then letting go The plan is that I'll think…
Jimmy & Patty Rancho deluxe main title By: jimmy buffett 1975 A rustler's …
Jinell Go tell them other niggas I'm yo nigga Fuck the money they…
Joe & Mac Ten things There's ten things There's ten things That I hate…
Jose A. Martin The smell of cherry flavored vodka You felt like sharing…
Kai Bosch In the thick of June I took a friend to…
Kiana Ledé We could let it ride, ride, ride (uh) So we could…
M-TWO Inc. Holy and Venemous Found a lotta y’all in disgust Niggas be c…
Magic-X I can't get high, feel my heart, I'm alright, I'm…
Meg Donnelly Baby, one more time and I just might lose it Got…
Meghan Trainor If you want my love He gotta do what he does If…
Meghan Trainor - Topic If you want my love He gotta do what he does If…
Nakayama Miho (中山美穂) 待ちきれない クラッカー響けば 色とりどり 鳴りだす 乾杯 やっとそろった写真の顔 冷やかし合うくらい 変わっても 変わ…
P.O.W. prisoners of war Kick off your shoes, unhook your bra All attitude left at…
Rick Ross Young Jeezy & Jay-Z I promise, I promise I'll come around I promise, I promise,…
Sega Come on and light the fuse, He's a rocket and he's…
soundTeMP bonang jelek kaila jelek sekali pada ngapain kaya orang bego…
Spice Diana feat. Orisha Sound Yah haa aah Russia-Jamaica- Uganda we leading (oh oh oh) e y…
Spiderman and the X-Men: Arcade's Revenge I can't get high, feel my heart, I'm alright, I'm…
Steve Duckworth Get your suit on man (Yeaaaaaah) Get your suit on man Hahaa …
T.C. Atlantic God walk with me on this journey For I know not…
The Sonder Bombs I don′t wanna be your merch girl I wanna be your…
Trainor Meghan If you want my love He gotta do what he does If…
Y.B Everything feels like it's movin' so fast Can't keep up but…
Z.O.E You know I Ain't Too Much In To Talkin' And…
The lyrics are frequently found in the comments by searching or by filtering for lyric videos
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This is just the best concept for a song in history
Maxo
why is no one talking about how this is amazing for like 30,000 different reasons
Yonk
I want to see the credits.
Levi
This is probably the greatest thing I've ever seen in my life.
smiley satanson
ah, just some tanaka lads going together making songs
VinnytotheK
So awesome and so random!
Bevin McMoo
Nice
6thMagic
Thank God they've never seen Highlander.
Matt Sanders
Tanaka sent me here.
LakituAl
You know, the option to the right of "Playlists", where you can press if you think a video should not be on YouTube because there's gore, blood or sex in it. Some people like to flag some videos just because they are trolls or something.