Theme - Streets of Rage (Genesis)

Cyril: Who let Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds in the building? As the song starts, you can almost see a heartbroken man crying over the pictures of his true love. But the snappy drum beat and the funky guitars aren't going to let him be depressed for long. Pretty soon the piano player is making a convincing argument that you should turn that frown upside down. Throw away those sad pictures and get down to a bass solo so funky that even Bootsy Collins would approve. Eventually the song scraps the funky bass, catchy drumbeat and bluesy guitar, giving the piano player the last word. It's here in these final measures where I realized that this Streets of Rage theme transcended video games. This is a real song, not a fifteen second melody that is easy to loop. This theme song is a masterpiece.

Kevin: With a title like Streets of Rage, you'd expect the theme song to be very angry and in your face. Instead we get a much more low key, moody R&B piece. As the story scrolls by, you can get a feel for why they'd go with R&B: The city was once peaceful and is now corrupt and violent, a great reason to have the blues. But then you also have the rhythm putting an aggressive feeling behind those blues. It's a two minute song with enough changes to not get boring, a bluesy lead guitar, and several rhythm variations. It also has a proper beginning and end, a complete composition. Though musically very simple, this theme song does exactly what it needs to do, putting you in the perfect mindset for the game ahead.