Max HeyraudLast week, Grand Theft Auto VI announced a 34-track soundtrack album, with contributions from Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo of Daft Punk, Fred again.., PinkPantheress and more among the artists revealed across its first six singles. The announcement adds another chapter to the franchise’s enduring relationship with electronic music and club culture.
Ever since the series began incorporating licensed music, GTA has been something far more than a video-game soundtrack. Its fictional radio stations have introduced millions of players to house, techno, electro, garage, jungle and other forms of underground dance music, often sitting cult club records alongside global pop hits and giving them an audience far beyond the dancefloor.
GTA VI is carrying on that legacy, so we’re going to look back at some of the most iconic electronic tracks to be featured across the franchise, considering how Rockstar’s virtual radio stations have become unlikely tastemakers, how GTA helped bring underground sounds into the mainstream, and how the relationship between the game and electronic music has grown in tandem with club culture itself.
GTA III [2001]
This was the first real introduction of electronic music to the game, introducing Rise FM, which brought late-’90s/early-’00s techno, trance and house into millions of players’ cars, while MSX FM embraced jungle and drum and bass.
Notable tracks: Green Velvet – Flash, Da Hool – Meet Her at the Loveparade, Slyder – Neo (The One), Cloud 9 – Only You, Shiver – Feel It, Joyrider – Jetset, Omni Trio – First Contact, Calyx – Quagmire, Rascal & Klone – Get Down, and T Power – Mutant Jazz.
GTA: Vice City [2002]
Vice City is when GTA began to truly come to life through its music and radio, with nine stations and more than 100 tracks, each deliberately constructing a different musical identity. Wildstyle FM championed electro and hip-hop, Wave 103 soundtracked the city with new wave and synth-pop, while Fever 105 was home to disco, funk and soul, plus more.
Notable tracks: Cybotron – Clear, Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five – The Message, New Order – Blue Monday, Frankie Goes to Hollywood – Relax, A Flock of Seagulls – I Ran, Oliver Cheatham – Get Down Saturday Night, Evelyn “Champagne” King – I’m Your Life.
GTA: San Andreas [2004]
GTA: San Andreas is arguably the most important game in terms of introducing house music to the series, which has since become synonymous with its world. Its station SF-UR became the game’s spiritual home for classic and foundational house music, from Chicago house to Manchester acid house.
Notable tracks: Joe Smooth – Promised Land, Nightwriters – Let the Music (Use You), Mr. Fingers – Can You Feel It?, Marshall Jefferson – Move Your Body, 808 State – Pacific 202, CeCe Rogers – Someday, A Guy Called Gerald – Voodoo Ray, Maurice – This Is Acid (A New Dance Craze) (K & T Mix).
GTA: Liberty City Stories [2005]
In 2005’s edition, the continued evolution of Rise FM would help define Liberty City Stories’ musical world, with Flashback FM also contributing to its electro and funk roots, while MSX 98 continued to champion drum and bass and jungle.
Notable tracks: Slam – Positive Education, Jaydee – Plastic Dreams, Josh Wink – Higher State of Consciousness (Tweekin Acid Funk), Sneaker Pimps – Spin Spin Sugar (Armand’s Dark Garage Mix), Robert Armani – Circus Bells (Hardfloor Mix).
GTA: Vice City Stories [2006]
A prequel to Vice City, Vice City Stories is set around 1984. Rockstar used this opportunity to dive into an earlier stage of the evolution of electronic and club music, which makes its soundtrack particularly intriguing. Two of the nine radio stations in the game, Fresh 105 FM and Wave 103, are especially pertinent to the history of electronic music.
Notable tracks: The Human League – Love Action (I Believe in Love), Depeche Mode – Everything Counts, Berlin – Sex (I’m A…), Kajagoogoo – Too Shy (Midnight Mix), Howard Jones – Like to Get to Know You Well, Blondie – Heart of Glass.
GTA IV [2008]
The franchise started introducing contemporary electronic music from the underground club world straight into the game’s present-day New York setting with GTA IV. The best example was Electro-Choc, a station run by the French DJ and producer François K. Its 14-track GTA IV playlist was a mix of electro-house, techno, indie dance and post-punk influences.
Notable tracks: Boys Noize – & Down, Justice – Waters of Nazareth, Nitzer Ebb – Let Your Body Learn, Kavinsky – Testarossa Autodrive (SebastiAn Remix), Liquid Liquid – Optimo, Padded Cell – Signal Failure.
GTA V [2013]
When Grand Theft Auto V was released in 2013, it arrived at an interesting moment for electronic music. House and techno were crossing over more and more into indie, hip-hop and pop, while festivals and online platforms were exposing enormous audiences to DJs and producers. Instead of funnelling all their ideas into one dance-music channel, Rockstar spread its vision of the musical landscape across a number of very different stations, curated by the likes of Soulwax, Flying Lotus and Gilles Peterson.
Notable tracks: Daniel Avery – Naive Response, Tiga – Plush (Jacques Lu Cont Remix), The Hacker – Shockwave (Gesaffelstein Remix), Joe Goddard feat. Valentina – Gabriel (Soulwax Remix), Zombie Nation – Tryouts, Flying Lotus – Catapult Man, Aphex Twin – Windowlicker, Machinedrum – Gunshotta, Four Tet – Kool FM, Mount Kimbie – You Took Your Time.
GTA Online [2015 – Present]
GTA Online made electronic music part of the game’s social infrastructure. Over a series of updates, DJs, clubs, dancefloors, radio shows and real-world electronic artists became actual parts of the game world. Los Santos Underground Radio, introduced in The After Hours update, saw Rockstar recruit some of the biggest names in contemporary club music to create their own mixes, including Solomun, Tale Of Us, Dixon and The Blessed Madonna.
Notable tracks: Floorplan – Spin, Truncate – WRKTRX3, Solomun – Ich Muss Los, Tale Of Us – Another World, Romanthony – Bring U Up (Deetron Edit), Carl Finlow – Convergence, The Egyptian Lover – Electro Pharaoh, Steve Poindexter – Computer Madness, Derrick Carter – Where Ya At, Ten City – Devotion.
The Music Locker – GTA Online [2020]
In 2020, Rockstar took GTA’s relationship with electronic music a step further with the introduction of The Music Locker as part of The Cayo Perico Heist update. Designed as a dedicated nightlife space, the club allowed players to watch DJs play and use the venue as a social hub. Its first resident was Detroit house legend Moodymann, followed by Berlin collective Keinemusik — Adam Port, &ME and Rampa — and UK producer Palms Trax.
Notable tracks: Moodymann – I Can’t Kick This Feeling When It Hits, Dopplereffekt – Pornoviewer, Theo Parrish – Soul Control, Paperclip People – Oscillator, Keinemusik – Muyè, Palms Trax – To Paradise, Blake Baxter – When We Used To Play, Eddie Fowlkes – Time To Express, Gil Scott-Heron – We Almost Lost Detroit.
