Original Gamers, name your tunes!

[Tonguez]

The songs that always reminded me of DnD are "Total Eclipse of the Heart' - Bonnie Tyler
anything Meatloaf
anything Metallica (Master of Puppets - the perfect GM theme)
Fernando - ABBA (yeah sad I know)
stuff by Parliament
stuff by Afrika Bombatta (sp)
Oceans of Fantasy - Boney M
lots of Motown

 

[wedgeski]

Maiden and others are putting in a strong showing. For various reasons, the following groups epitomise the formative years of my D&D:

Iron Maiden, Marillion, Fleetwood Mac, Queen, Genesis, Cream

Not terribly metal apart from Maiden, but an interesting selection nonetheless. Snack-wise, crikey that's a good'un. Coca-Cola is about the only constant (and still is).

And I'm afraid I don't qualify to answer your super-bonus question.

 

[Griffith Dragonlake]

1977-80 OD&D and early AD&D
Sabbath, Bloody Sabbath by Black Sabbath (the whole damn album)
Rainbow by Raindbow (esp. Man on the Silver Mountain, Greensleeves, & Temple of the King)
Tales of Mystery & Imagination by Alan Parsons Project (esp. the Raven)
Don't Fear the Reaper by Blue Oyster Cult
Heroes by David Bowie
Long, Long Way from Home & Headknocker by Foreigner
Wheel in the Sky by Journey
Werewolves of London by Warren Zevon
Charisma, God of Thunder, & King of the Nighttime World by KISS
The Chain, Gold Dust Woman, & Rhiannon by Fleetwood Mac
Star Wars soundtrack
Lay It On the Line by Triumph

In the '70s, I had an active player who was a huge Led Zeppelin fan and another who would bring tapes of Uriah Heep to play during the game.

However, most of the year we played in the Campus Club (C-Club) or the basement of Ross Hall at Butler University and thus heard pop music (My Sharona, Magnet & Steel, Cruel to be Kind, Baker Street, Right Down the Line, etc.). It was only when we played in the dorm rooms of one of my players or at the parent's house of other players that we could crank up the D&D jams. Although there was one time when somebody at Ross Hall was playing Man on the Silver Mountain with speakers in the window and we could hear it outside which was cool.

 

[DrunkonDuty]

There was a band called Tygers of Pan Tang?

Oh deary, deary me.

Please don't get me wrong: I love early Michael Moorcock (and later too for that matter) but I can't imagine me going around in a band called that. Hawkmoon surely is taking it far enough.

Motown: excellent!! Yes I was listening to that to in my whole 60's retro thing as well. And it still stands up today. (well, I think so.) And Soul in general.
Devo: good call. Loved them since '78 when "Whip It" came out (here in Oz.)
And always will have a soft spot for Meatloaf.

 

[Theron]

There was a band called Tygers of Pan Tang?

Oh deary, deary me.

Please don't get me wrong: I love early Michael Moorcock (and later too for that matter) but I can't imagine me going around in a band called that. Hawkmoon surely is taking it far enough.

Yes there was. Also, they weren't very good. But the state of METAL! in the US in 1981 was such that pretty much any English band was going to get my attention, and even more likely if their name had a clear fantasy connection.

Reading other posts reminded me of a couple of other bands that were heavy in my rotation: Triumph, Scorpions, and (a bit later than the early 80s) Marillion.

 

[GrayIguana]

My gaming started in 84, and for some reason Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, and the Rolling Stones will bring up D&D memories, though we never played music while gaming. I think the music came in as we hung out around the game and talked about what happened, or while I sat and wrote up adventures. In fact one of our players had a wizard named Zeppelin. Queen and Def Leppard rank up there too for music that struck inspiration while I preped for games as the DM. Later in the 80's I remember writing up adventures to GnR, Tesla, and Beastie Boys. And then a little more GnR.

Snacks: Anything we could scrounge from our parents; chips, soda, lasagna.

 

[Aris Dragonborn]

Well, I can hardly claim to be an Original Gamer, as I was only 1 year old when D&D was first published.

But we usually listened to music before the game, to help get us in the mood, but never during the game.

Stuff like:

Metallica - Ride The Lightning, Master Of Puppets, ...And Justice For All.
Slayer - South Of Heaven, Seasons In The Abyss.
Megadeth - Peace Sells...But Who's Buying, Killing Is My Business, Rust In Peace.
Queen - A Kind Of Magic (we were big fans of the Highlander movie, so it was a natural for us to listen to the unofficial soundtrack almost everytime we got together).
Iron Maiden - The Number Of The Beast
Dio - Holy Diver

Hell, that's all that I can remember off of the top of my head...though I do seem to recall that our DM was a fan of JBJ's Blaze of Glory, so we listened to that a fair bit, too.

Our snacks of choice were Dorito's (original or ranch) and Pepsi. Sometimes pizza if anyone had some spare money. Hell, I remember one time when we stayed up all night gaming, headed to the local bakery at 5 AM for donuts and chocolate milk, then went back to the DM's place and played some more before passing out.

Good times.

 

[Thurbane]

So, as part of my ongoing attempt to understand what D&D was all about back in the day, perhaps you Original Gamers can help me out. Here's the question: when you were playing D&D back in the 70s and early 80s, what kind of music were you listening to (especially while you were actually gaming, preparing adventures, reading modules in your mom's basement, etc)? Please list band names, albums, favorite songs, etc. Imagine I'm making a mix CD or a playlist or something.

For myself and my group (who were more mid-80s than early 80s) the playlist would include the following:

AC/DC
Rose Tattoo*
Iron Maiden
Black Sabbath
Deep Purple
Led Zeppelin
Slade
Manowar
Metallica**
Ozzy Ozborne
Twisted Sister
Motorhead
Judas Priest
Van Halen
Queen
Pink Floyd

*One of the guys made an audio tape of "We Can't Be Beaten" over and over for the full length of the tape (45 minutes each side), as inspiration music for a particularly tough battle in The Temple of Elemental Evil.

**More than one adventuring group ended up being called Damage Inc.

Bonus question: what kind of snacks were you eating?

Burger Rings were the snack of choice, but any and all potato chips (crisps) and salty snacks were fair game; as were blocks of chocolate, delivery pizza, the inevitable McDonalds run...

Super bonus question: did you inhale?

No, but our group were (and mostly still are) borderline alcoholics, if that counts!

Remember, this is specifically about the 70s and early 80s.

Well, if I was to guesstimate, I'd say our group started playing seriously (regularly) around 84 or so...

 

[diaglo]

Here's the question: when you were playing D&D back in the 70s and early 80s, what kind of music were you listening to (especially while you were actually gaming, preparing adventures, reading modules in your mom's basement, etc)? Please list band names, albums, favorite songs, etc. Imagine I'm making a mix CD or a playlist or something.

Bonus question: what kind of snacks were you eating?
Super bonus question: did you inhale?

Alice Cooper, Molly Hatchet, Led Zep


we drank Coke (before it was made into New Coke and then Classic Coke)
we ate Potato chips, Hot Fries, and Pretzels
yes, we inhaled the gamer funk.

edit: Thurbane's got a good list of music too.

 

[diaglo]

tapes of Uriah Heep to play during the game.

i hope you are talking about 8 track tapes.

i still have my Uriah Heep 8 track. just nothing to play it in now.