Quake (soundtrack)

1996 soundtrack

Quake

Soundtrack album by

Nine Inch Nails

Released| June 22, 1996 (1996-06-22)
Genre|

* Dark ambient

Length| 58:53
Label|

* Interscope
* id Software

Producer| Trent Reznor
Nine Inch Nails chronology
| Further Down the Spiral
(1995)  | Quake
(1996)  | The Fragile
(1999)

|
|

Null numbers chronology
|  | Null 0.5
(1996)  | Null 01
(2010)

|
|

Quake is the soundtrack album to the 1996 id Software video game of the same name, composed by Trent Reznor and his industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails.[1] It was released on June 22, 1996. Originally pressed on the same disc as the game, Quake was otherwise commercially unavailable until its release on vinyl in September 2020.[2] Reznor also provided sound effects for the game.[3]

## Recording and release

[edit]

The collaboration between Nine Inch Nails and id Software occurred strictly due to a mutual admiration for each other's work; Reznor provided his services to Quake completely free of charge.[4][5]

A vinyl LP edition of the soundtrack was released in 2020.[6]

## Composition and content

[edit]

"Damnation"

This clip from the seventh track showcases the soundtrack's eerie ambient nature.

* * *

Problems playing this file? See media help.

Aside from the first relatively driving track, Quake is a predominantly ambient soundtrack,[7] and was Reznor's first experimentation with the genre.[3] He would later go on to win an Academy Award for his ambient soundtrack work.[7] The music on Quake has been described as dark, immersive, and intended to accentuate the game's oppressive tone.[8] The music is often called "subtle", "disturbing", and "hair-raising".[9][10] About the soundtrack, Reznor said, "it is not music, it's textures and ambiences and whirling machine noises and stuff. We tried to make the most sinister, depressive, scary, frightening kind of thing [...] It's been fun."[11]

## Critical reception

[edit]

The Quake official soundtrack received positive reception, with many appreciating how the music builds upon the game's atmosphere. In his 1996 review of the game for GameSpot, Trent Ward wrote, "Simply put, this is the best soundtrack ever created for a computer game." Ward went on to write about how the eerie sounds and unsettling background noises heighten the game's already tense atmosphere.[12] Major Mike of GamePro said that "With harsh, rockin' guitar riffs, and creepy low-key synthesizers, the music goes perfectly with each level and thoroughly enhances the overall atmosphere."[13] Writing for Destructoid, Peter Glagowski said, "Not only did it show that the industry was moving beyond being targeted solely at children, but it pushed the action of its game into overdrive."[14]

## Track listing

[edit]

All music written and performed by Nine Inch Nails.

### CD track listing

[edit]

No.| Title| Length

|
|

2.| "Quake Theme"| 5:08
3.| "Aftermath"| 2:26
4.| "The Hall of Souls"| 8:20
5.| "It Is Raped"| 6:05
6.| "Parallel Dimensions"| 7:24
7.| "Life"| 8:38
8.| "Damnation"| 5:35
9.| "Focus"| 6:28
10.| "Falling"| 3:32
11.| "The Reaction"| 5:15
Total length:| 58:53

### Vinyl release track listing

[edit]

Side oneNo.| Title| Length

|
|

1.| "Quake Theme"| 5:08
2.| "Aftermath"| 2:26
3.| "The Hall of Souls"| 8:20
Total length:| 15:55

Side twoNo.| Title| Length

|
|

1.| "It Is Raped"| 6:05
2.| "Parallel Dimensions"| 7:24
3.| "Life"| 8:38
Total length:| 22:07

Side threeNo.| Title| Length

|
|

1.| "Damnation"| 5:35
2.| "Focus"| 6:28
3.| "Falling"| 3:32
4.| "The Reaction"| 5:15
Total length:| 20:51 (58:53)

Notes

* Because the soundtrack is pressed onto the same disc as the game itself, track one is relegated to game data.[3]
* Quake's original packaging provided no official song titles.[15] Some fans came up with unofficial titles, most of the time linking the song to the name of the level in which it first appears.[3] The titles seen above are taken from the 2020 vinyl re-issue, in which the official titles of the songs were finally revealed.[16] The fourth side has no grooves, instead being etched with some of Quake's source code; the part of the source code being what triggers the game to play the CD audio tracks.

## Personnel

[edit]

Credits adapted from the 2020 vinyl release.

* Trent Reznor – arranger, programming, producer
* Charlie Clouser, Robin Finck, Danny Lohner, Trent Reznor, Chris Vrenna – Nine Inch Nails (1996)
* Tom Baker – mastering
* John Crawford – art direction
* Corey Holms – design
* John Romero – war room photos

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Quake OST 1XLP". Nine Inch Nails. Retrieved September 23, 2020.
2. ^ "Quake OST vinyl availability announcement". Nine Inch Nails. September 16, 2020. Retrieved September 17, 2020.
3. ^ a b c d Davison, John. "Original Nine Inch Nails 'Quake' Soundtrack Getting Vinyl Release". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on June 16, 2018. Retrieved March 4, 2018.
4. ^ "The Nine Inch Nails Connection". Sega Saturn Magazine. No. 14\. Emap International Limited. December 1996. p. 7.
5. ^ Vrenna interview
6. ^ Beschizza, Rob (September 17, 2020). "Nine Inch Nails' Quake Soundtrack Released on Vinyl". BoingBoing. Retrieved September 17, 2020.
7. ^ a b Fingas, Jon (June 6, 2017). "Trent Reznor blows dust off the 'Quake' score for vinyl reissue". Engadget. Retrieved March 4, 2018.
8. ^ McDonald, Glenn. "A History of Video Game Music". GameSpot. Retrieved March 4, 2018.
9. ^ House, Matthew. "Quake Review". AllGame. Archived from the original on December 10, 2014. Retrieved November 22, 2016.
10. ^ Denby, Lewis. "Quake (PC) review". Honest Gamers. Retrieved March 4, 2018.
11. ^ "More Pictures". Maximum: The Video Game Magazine (2). Emap International Limited: 126–7\. November 1995.
12. ^ Ward, Trent. "Quake Review". GameSpot. Retrieved March 4, 2018.
13. ^ "PC GamePro Review: Quake". GamePro. No. 98\. IDG. November 1996. p. 82.
14. ^ Glagowski, Peter (June 9, 2017). "This Quake vinyl could be the perfect drug". Destructoid. Retrieved March 4, 2018.
15. ^ Quake (CD liner notes). Trent Reznor. GT Interactive. 1996. VFB21769. Retrieved April 5, 2018.`{{cite AV media notes}}`: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
16. ^ "QUAKE REMASTERED 2XLP". Nine Inch Nails. Retrieved September 17, 2020.

* v
* t
* e

Quake series

Games|

* Quake
* II
* III Arena
* Live
* 4
* Enemy Territory: Quake Wars
* Champions

People|

* American McGee
* Graeme Devine
* John Carmack
* John Romero
* Jennell Jaquays
* Sandy Petersen
* Tim Willits
* Timothee Besset
* Trent Reznor

Machinima|

* Blahbalicious
* Diary of a Camper
* Operation Bayshield
* Quad God
* Quake done Quick
* The Seal of Nehahra

Mods|

| Quake|

* Malice
* Nexuiz
* Rocket Arena
* Team Fortress
* X-Men: The Ravages of Apocalypse
* Xonotic

|

Quake II|

* Action Quake 2
* Alien Arena
* Gravity Bone
* Loki's Minions Capture the Flag
* Thirty Flights of Loving
* Warsow
* UFO: Alien Invasion

Quake III|

* Challenge ProMode Arena
* DeFRaG
* OpenArena
* Smokin' Guns
* Tremulous
* Unvanquished
* Urban Terror
* World of Padman

Professional
players|

* av3k
* Cypher
* Fatal1ty
* KillCreek
* rapha
* Sujoy
* Thresh
* Vo0

Technology|

| id Tech|

* Quake engine
* Quake II engine
* id Tech 3
* id Tech 4

|

Other|

* Fast inverse square root
* Quake Army Knife
* QuakeC
* QuakeWorld

Related|

* BFG
* Soundtrack
* QuakeCon
* QuakeNet

* Category:Quake (series)

* v
* t
* e

Soundtrack work by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross

* Reznor discography
* Ross discography

Reznor and Ross|

* The Social Network (2010)
* The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)
* Gone Girl (2014)
* Before the Flood (2016)
* Patriots Day (2017)
* The Black Ghiandola (2017)
* The Vietnam War (2017)
* Mid90s (2018)
* Bird Box (2019)
* Watchmen (2019)
* Waves (2019)
* Mank (2020)
* Soul (2020)
* Bones and All (2022)
* Empire of Light (2022)
* Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (2023)
* The Killer (2023)
* Challengers (2024)
* Queer (2025)
* The Gorge (2025)

Reznor only|

* Natural Born Killers (1994)
* Quake (1996)
* Lost Highway (1997)
* Call of Duty: Black Ops II (2012)

Ross only|

* Love & Mercy (2014)
* Fear the Walking Dead (2015)

Ross and
collaborators|

* Touching Evil (2004)
* The Book of Eli (2010)
* Broken City (2013)
* Blackhat (2015)
* Triple 9 (2016)
* Outcast (2016)
* The Defiant Ones (2017)
* Black Mirror: "Crocodile" (2017)
* Death Note (2017)
* A Million Little Pieces (2018)
* Earthquake Bird (2019)
* Dispatches from Elsewhere (2020)
* Dr. Death (2021)
* Shōgun (2024)

See also|

* Nine Inch Nails
* Ghosts I–IV
* Ghosts V
* Ghosts VI
* Tron: Ares
* discography
* How to Destroy Angels
* 12 Rounds
* Gustavo Santaolalla
* Mogwai
* Leopold Ross
* Bobby Krlic
* "Deep"
* The Crow (1994)
* Tetsuo: The Bullet Man (2009)
* The Fourth Estate (2018)
* If I Can't Have Love, I Want Power (2021)
* The Franchise (2024)

* v
* t
* e

Nine Inch Nails

* Trent Reznor
* Atticus Ross

Studio albums|

* Pretty Hate Machine
* The Downward Spiral
* The Fragile
* With Teeth
* Year Zero
* Ghosts I–IV
* The Slip
* Hesitation Marks
* Bad Witch
* Ghosts V: Together
* Ghosts VI: Locusts

Studio extended plays|

* Broken
* Not the Actual Events
* Add Violence

Live releases|

* Closure
* And All That Could Have Been
* Beside You in Time

Remix releases|

* Fixed
* Further Down the Spiral
* Things Falling Apart
* Year Zero Remixed

Soundtracks|

* Quake
* Tron: Ares

Singles|

* "Down in It"
* "Head Like a Hole"
* "Sin"
* "March of the Pigs"
* "Closer"
* "The Perfect Drug"
* "The Day the World Went Away"
* "We're in This Together"
* "Into the Void"
* "The Hand That Feeds"
* "Only"
* "Every Day Is Exactly the Same"
* "Survivalism"
* "Capital G"
* "Discipline"
* "Came Back Haunted"
* "Copy of A"
* "Everything"
* "Less Than"
* "God Break Down the Door"
* "Isn't Everyone"
* "As Alive as You Need Me to Be"

Promotional singles|

* "Happiness in Slavery"
* "Wish"
* "Burn"
* "Piggy"
* "Hurt"
* "Starfuckers, Inc."
* "Deep"

Other songs|

* "Something I Can Never Have"
* "Gave Up"
* "Mr. Self Destruct"
* "Dead Souls"
* "Just Like You Imagined"

Promotional releases|

* NINJA 2009 Tour Sampler
* Live 2013 EP
* Remix 2014 EP
* Halo I–IV

Games|

* Year Zero
* Nine Inch Nails Revenge

Tours|

* Self-Destruct
* Dissonance
* Fragility
* Performance 2007
* Twenty Thirteen
* Peel It Back

Touring members|

| Current|

* Robin Finck
* Alessandro Cortini
* Ilan Rubin

|

Former|

| Guitarists and bassists|

* Richard Patrick
* Danny Lohner
* Kevin McMahon
* Jeordie White
* Aaron North
* Justin Meldal-Johnsen
* Joshua Eustis
* Pino Palladino

|

Drummers|

* Jeff Ward
* Chris Vrenna
* Jerome Dillon
* Josh Freese
* Alex Carapetis

Keyboardists|

* James Woolley
* Charlie Clouser

Backing vocalists|

* Lisa Fischer

Related|

| Bands|

* Option 30
* The Innocent
* Exotic Birds
* Lucky Pierre
* Prick
* Pigface
* Tapeworm
* Marilyn Manson
* How to Destroy Angels
* Filter
* Jane's Addiction
* Queens of the Stone Age

|

People|

* Adrian Belew
* David Bowie
* Johnny Cash
* Mariqueen Maandig
* John Malm Jr.
* Marilyn Manson
* Russell Mills
* Rob Sheridan
* Gary Talpas
* Saul Williams

Albums and songs|

* If I Can't Have Love, I Want Power
* "I'm Afraid of Americans"
* The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust!
* Natural Born Killers
* Lost Highway
* "Old Town Road"
* "On a Roll"
* Recoiled

Films|

* Broken (film)
* Another Version of the Truth

Festivals|

* Future Ruins

Articles|

* Discography
* Songs recorded
* Trent Reznor discography
* Awards and nominations
* Band members
* Live performances
* Nothing Records
* Beats Music
* 10050 Cielo Drive
* Twin Peaks: Music from the Limited Event Series

* Category

Authority control databases |

* MusicBrainz release group

|

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