From GTA 3’s Dynamic Radio to GTA 5’s Modern Vibes, How Rockstar’s Flagship Franchise’s Music Has Evolved

A key aspect of great game design often lies in the multiple tangents it deals with: animations, graphics, characters, and soundtracks. Within these, there’s the audio design, which can be both invisible and sublime, often adding to the player’s experience without them realizing it. And that’s when Rockstar is often careful about its music choices, especially with the Grand Theft Auto series.

With GTA 6 coming out in a couple of years, we can’t help but wonder how music will seemingly evolve. It’s been a decade since GTA 5 introduced some great music to both the game’s default soundtrack and the famous radio found in vehicles within the game. Ever since, a lot has been added, and GTA Online has shifted players’ interaction with music.

If this continues, we’ll likely see multiple new sub-genres added to the game, and maybe even a possibility to meet real-life celebrities in-game who may have made a huge impact in their respective industries.

The Philosophy Behind GTA’s Soundtracks and Radio

In an interview with Colin Anderson (via FutureLearn), ex-head of DMA Designs, we find out more about the early philosophies behind GTA’s soundtrack. Colin was responsible for much of the soundtrack and how players interacted with the music in the game.

As Colin spoke about his experience working on the game’s music, something important came up: the core philosophy of GTA’s world. He emphasized how important it was for the creators to make sure that GTA was indeed a parallel of the real world, and everything in it solely mimicked things:

The core of that music radio station thinking was we should only have artists who are not real. Because the minute you bring real artists into that space it’s not parallel world anymore it’s suddenly a bit of a confused one.

Did you know that during the GTA 2 era, you had to physically (in-game) find radio stations in order to listen to particular music? Hefty! However, all of this completely changed as the series progressed, and we got a radio that would play songs at random based on which station the player was tuning into.

This changed drastically with GTA 3, as the radio became more dynamic and versatile in nature. Radio stations were now bringing in artists pandering to a worldwide audience while keeping the classics in check. That being said, as the games evolved, so did the radio stations. This was partly because players started demanding songs that they were familiar with and artists they could relate to.

GTA 5’s Actively Changing World Made a Big Impact

The ongoing version of GTA 5 comprises 22 radio stations with over 404 songs. Many of the genres and artists featured have been a foundational part of GTA games, such as rock, hip-hop, funk, and soul music.

However, in recent times, many updates in GTA Online have introduced various DJs and artists like ROSALÍA x Arca, Big Boy, DJ Pooh, and Tale of Us. Some of the new introductions have revamped the nightclub-esque vibe in the game, especially after players in GTA Online could own a nightclub and have different artists perform at different points.

The time-to-time updates in the game ensured that stations and songs were updated, and this is a great sign for the future of the franchise, considering how versatile GTA 6 will be in the context of its music.

Undoubtedly, the timelines across different stations and soundtracks are here to stay. After all, we saw Rockstar’s admiration for Tom Petty as his song ‘Love Is a Long Road’ played as a backdrop to the trailer. Similarly, we can expect older genres like classic rock and ‘90s hip-hop to stay while we slowly transition into an era of GTA that isn’t afraid to introduce new genres of music.

The Radio Hosts Play an Important Role

If you’ve cruised around the various cities in GTA while listening to the radio, there’s a good chance you’ll have heard quite a few radio jockeys share their opinions over different radio stations. Here’s another fun fact for you: did you know the artist behind ‘Danger Zone,’ Kenny Loggins, was himself the host of Los Santos Rock Radio in GTA 5?

Similarly, there are artists like Frank Ocean who have made a prominent appearance in the game too. Furthermore, in the previous entries, the infamous Lazlow Jones has made several appearances as a radio host, talking about all the events and day-to-day shenanigans taking place in the world of Grand Theft Auto.

The living and breathing world of these games is familiar with how mundane things can get when stuff is going slow, and there’s no big criminal activity to look forward to at a given point. Yet, cruising around the expansive maps is made twice as fun when the radio is engaging enough.

Keeping this philosophy in mind, we can fairly expect GTA 6 to work more on this since social media is likely to be a huge part of the game and news will spread like wildfire in the various regions of Leonia.

GTA 6 Will Create a Large Canvas for Multiple Musical Genres

The game’s trailer gave viewers a lot to speculate and go over, and two celebrity lookalikes made their way into a few frames. The first one is Peggy Gou, a South Korean DJ who specializes in ​​dance and electronic music. It seems pretty evident she’ll add life to the game’s nightlife culture and perhaps even the radio stations.

Later in the trailer, we spot Rod Wave, an American rapper and singer-songwriter. Rod has been a part of the hip-hop industry since 2019, when his first album ‘Ghetto Gospel’ came out. Traditionally, Grand Theft Auto games have a strong hip-hop presence with multiple rappers and songwriters across the boards, and it’s no surprise someone like Rod Wave will be a part of Rockstar’s next big title.

While these two musicians aren’t confirmed to be in the game, one thing is pretty clear: the next Grand Theft Auto will bring us some great music. Not only that, it will likely introduce new ways in which players interact with the game’s musical culture.

Nightlife, radio, campfire jamming – maybe even a garage band altogether? Moreover, we can look forward to genres like K-pop and lo-fi (and maybe even sped-up) versions of songs making an entry.

Remember that time when GTA: Vice City Stories had a full-fledged in-game concert featuring Phil Collins? The iconic song ‘In the Air Tonight’ played during a mission, while you prevented things from going horribly wrong while Phil performed the song.

This is just an example of how Rockstar has cleverly mixed music with gameplay before, and maybe we can see some of that again with GTA 6. In fact, there can be a couple of mini-games where players explore new and familiar kinds of music, but that’s a different list of speculations altogether.

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