Over the past quarter of a century, the Madden franchise has provided us with a lifetime’s worth of wasted time, hours of procrastination and many, many sh*t-talking battles between friends and foes.
But one thing that the game series does not get enough credit for is bringing new music into the lives of it’s players. After spending so much time idling your life away on the sticks, the undeniably catchy songs become drilled into your head, becoming the soundtrack to your much cherished alone time. The soundtrack is programmed by a small team of folks based in EA’s Playa Vista office, and they continue to deliver year over year.
Over the next ten slides, we will take a nostalgic stroll through the last 25 years and take a look at the hits, busts and one-hit wonders that we have been nodding our heads to while juking out and truck sticking virtual linebackers.
10. Madden NFL 2001
Certified Banger: “The Mad in Game,” by Xzibit
A pre-Pimp My Ride Xzibit had the honors of being the first rapper featured in a Madden edition with his exclusive “The Mad in Game” theme.
Among the highlights of the groundbreaking theme song are shout outs to John Madden and Team Ecko, as well as the iconic refrain, “Only thing you hittin’ is the ground in the showers.” Xzibit’s musical contributions to the game earned him the starting tight end spot on Team Ecko along with members of System of a Down.
This wasn’t Xzibit’s only brush with football video games, as X to the Z was randomly featured on the cover of NFL Street 2 with Jeremy Shockey in 2004:
