Bitpop

File:Bitpop.wav

Among systems used include the Atari 8-bit computers, Commodore 64, Nintendo Entertainment System, and Amiga.[https://www.allmusic.com/style/chiptunes-ma0000012235 Chiptunes Music Genre Overview|AllMusic] The sounds produced from these systems can be combined to any degree with traditional instruments, such as guitar and drums, modern synthesizers and drum machines, or vocals and sound effects.[https://www.allmusic.com/subgenre/chiptunes-ma0000012235/artists Chiptunes Music Artists|AllMusic]

Bitpop uses a mixture of old and new equipment often resulting in a sound which is unlike chiptune although containing 8-bit sourced sounds. For example, a bitpop production may be composed almost entirely of 8-bit sounds but with a live vocal or overlaid live guitars. Conversely, a bitpop production may be composed almost entirely of live vocals and instruments but feature a bassline or lead melody provided by an 8-bit device.{{cite web|url=http://www.bitpop.co.uk/what-is-bitpop/|title=What is Bitpop?|website=www.bitpop.co.uk}}[http://www.djallergy.com/DJLRG/Bitpop/index.html The Rise of Bitpop] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080827204413/http://www.djallergy.com/DJLRG/Bitpop/index.html |date=August 27, 2008 }}{{cite web|url=http://www.bitpop.co.uk/listen-to-bitpop/|title=Listen to Bitpop|website=www.bitpop.co.uk}}

One of the pioneers of bitpop music were Welle:Erdball, with their heavy use of Commodore 64 for their first album in 1992. Being a German-speaking group not using the term bitpop and who don't travel by plane, they remained popular among people listening to industrial music or electroclash.

Bitpop music began gaining popularity towards the end of the 1990s. The first electroclash record, I-F's "Space Invaders Are Smoking Grass" (1997), has been described as "burbling electro in a vocodered homage to Atari-era hi-jinks,"{{Citation |last=D. Lynskey |title=Out with the old, in with the older |journal=Guardian.co.uk |date=March 22, 2002 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2002/mar/22/shopping.artsfeatures2?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141015225802/http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2002/mar/22/shopping.artsfeatures2 |archive-date=October 15, 2014 |url-status=dead }} particularly Space Invaders.{{cite web|title=I-f – Space Invaders Are Smoking Grass|date=September 22, 1998 |url=http://www.discogs.com/I-f-Space-Invaders-Are-Smoking-Grass/release/19460|publisher=Discogs|access-date=May 25, 2012}} The Beastie Boys outer-space sci-fi themed album Hello Nasty (1998), included, among other potentially influencing tracks, the distinctively video game sound themed original composition track UNITE; garnering mainstream recognition years ahead of the popular video game tune genre and movement. The trance song "Kernkraft 400" (1999), often played at sports events worldwide, was a remix of a chiptune song written by David Whittaker called "Stardust" for the 1984 Commodore 64 computer game Lazy Jones.

In 2003, Malcolm McLaren wrote an article on bitpop and chip music. It also noted a planned release in that style by McLaren.{{cite magazine|url=https://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.11/mclaren.html|title=8-Bit Punk|magazine=Wired}}

By the mid-2000s, 8-bit chip music began being incorporated in mainstream pop music, used by acts such as Beck (for example, the 2005 song "Girl"), The Killers (for example, the 2004 song "On Top"), and particularly The Postal Service in many of their songs. The MIDI-style and FM synthesis of early game music composers such as Hiroshi Kawaguchi also began gaining popularity.{{cite web|last=Shaw |first=Jeff |title=Music of the 8-bit variety makes a comeback |url=http://niagara-gazette.com/music/x681717382/Music-of-the-8-bit-variety-makes-a-comeback |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120712032335/http://niagara-gazette.com/music/x681717382/Music-of-the-8-bit-variety-makes-a-comeback |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 12, 2012 |work=Niagara Gazette |access-date=May 7, 2012 |date=May 25, 2006 }} In 2003, the J-pop girl group Perfume,{{cite web | url=http://www.nintendo-gamer.net/2012/03/06/japans-chiptune-heroes/3/ | title=Japan's chiptune heroes | work=Nintendo Gamer | date=March 6, 2012 | access-date=June 20, 2012 | author=Daniel Robson}}{{dead link|date=March 2013}}{{cite web|url=http://www.bounce.com/article/article.php/4045/ALL/|title=Perfume Interview|publisher=bounce.com|date=February 7, 2008|access-date=June 2, 2009|language = ja|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081209084048/http://www.bounce.com/article/article.php/4045/ALL/|archive-date=December 9, 2008}} ([https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=ja&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fweb.archive.org%2Fweb%2F20081209084048%2Fhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.bounce.com%2Farticle%2Farticle.php%2F4045%2FALL%2F English translation]) along with producer Yasutaka Nakata, began producing music combining chiptunes with synthpop and electro house; their breakthrough came in 2007 with Game, which led to other Japanese female artists using a similar electronic style, including Aira Mitsuki, immi, Mizca, SAWA, Saori@destiny, and Sweet Vacation.{{cite web | title=Perfume～サマソニの快挙！！ | date=August 20, 2007| url=http://allabout.co.jp/gm/gc/205887/|publisher=All About テクノポップ|language = ja}}

Since the 2000s, 8-bit chiptune sounds, or "video game beats", have been used by a number of mainstream pop artists. Examples in the Western world include artists such as Kesha{{cite news|last=Miklewski|first=Michael|title=Music in Video Games: From 8-bit to Symphonies|url=http://www.thebottomlineonline.org/music-in-video-games-1.2660649#.T951YbVYv8l|access-date=June 18, 2012|newspaper=The Bottom Line|date=October 20, 2011|agency=Frostburg State University|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131214091201/http://www.thebottomlineonline.org/music-in-video-games-1.2660649#.T951YbVYv8l|archive-date=December 14, 2013}} (most notably in "Tik Tok", the best-selling single of 2010{{cite web|url=http://www.ifpi.org/content/section_resources/dmr2011.html|title=IFPI publishes Digital Music Report 2011|archive-url=https://archive.today/20110221105915/http://www.ifpi.org/content/section_resources/dmr2011.html|archive-date=February 21, 2011|date=January 20, 2011|location=London}}), Robyn, Snoop Dogg,{{cite web|title=Robyn: Body Talk, Pt. 2|publisher=Puls Music|date=September 10, 2010|url=http://www.puls.no/16375.html|access-date=July 21, 2012}} ([https://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.puls.no%2F16375.html&sl=no&tl=en&hl=&ie=UTF-8 Translation]) Eminem (for example, "Hellbound"), Nelly Furtado, and Timbaland (see Timbaland plagiarism controversy). The influence of video game sounds can also be heard in contemporary British electronica music by artists such as Dizzee Rascal and Kieran Hebden.{{cite web|last=Lewis|first=John|title=Back to the future: Yellow Magic Orchestra helped usher in electronica – and they may just have invented hip-hop, too|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2008/jul/04/electronicmusic.filmandmusic11|work=The Guardian|access-date=May 25, 2011|date=July 4, 2008}} Grime music in particular samples sawtooth wave sounds from video games which were popular in East London.{{cite book|title=Mediapolis: popular culture and the city|year=2006|publisher=010 Publishers|isbn=90-6450-628-0|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bCxd_AC-2-QC&pg=PA106|author=Alex de Jong, Marc Schuilenburg|access-date=July 30, 2011|page=106}} Dubstep producers have also been influenced by video game chiptunes, particularly the work of Yuzo Koshiro.{{cite news|last=Lawrence|first=Eddy|title=Ikonika interview: Producer and DJ, Ikonika had an incredible 2010|url=http://www.timeoutdoha.com/nightlife/features/20343-ikonika-interview|work=Time Out|access-date=August 5, 2011|date=January 11, 2011}}{{cite web|title=Recording Under the Influence: Ikonika|url=http://www.self-titledmag.com/home/2010/04/21/recording-under-the-influence-ikonika-on-streets-of-rage-dalis-film-buddy-and-why-kode9s-wrong-about-numbers/|work=Self-Titled Magazine|access-date=August 5, 2011|date=April 21, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111003194434/http://www.self-titledmag.com/home/2010/04/21/recording-under-the-influence-ikonika-on-streets-of-rage-dalis-film-buddy-and-why-kode9s-wrong-about-numbers/|archive-date=October 3, 2011|url-status=dead}}{{cite news|last=Lawrence|first=Eddy|title=Ikonika interview: Dubstep has taken the world by storm over the past 12 months|url=http://www.timeoutdubai.com/nightlife/features/20425-ikonika-interview|work=Time Out|access-date=August 6, 2011|date=January 18, 2011}} In 2010, a BBC article stated that the "sights and sounds of old-school games" (naming Frogger and Donkey Kong as examples) are "now becoming a part of mainstream music and culture."{{cite web|last=Knowles|first=Jamillah|title=How computer games are creating new art and music|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10260769|publisher=BBC|access-date=August 27, 2011|date=June 9, 2010}}

• Circuit bending
• List of electronic music genres
• Music Macro Language
• SIDstation

{{Reflist}}

• [http://www.last.fm/tag/bitpop Last.FM Bitpop Tag]
• [http://www.bleepstreet.com/ Bleepstreet Records]
• [http://www.8bitpeoples.com/ 8 Bit Peoples]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20070210232153/http://8bitcollective.com/ 8 Bit Collective]
• [http://www.bitpop.co.uk/ Bitpop]

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