Video games and music have intersected multiple times over the years. Pac-Man got his own song in the charts when the industry was in its early period, and Sonic, Mario and Tetris have all had musical "hits" created about them. In the '90s, games like WipEout began using real-world artists to fill out their soundtracks, giving video games a much-needed dose of cultural cool.
At the dawn of the '90s, Sega's UK distributor – Virgin Mastertronic – also tried to leverage the appeal of music to aid its promotional campaign, and marketing guru Phillip Ley came up with an ingenious idea.
The company would hold a song-writing competition for hardcore Sega fans to promote its 8-bit Master System console, with the winning act getting the chance to record their composition in Virgin's Townhouse 3 studio, once owned by The Who.
"All you have to do is write a song about how cool and groovy the Sega Console is [and] bung it on a cassette (quality of recording is NOT important, but we'll be listening for lyrics and content!)" read the advertisement for the competition. "The winning band / artist will record their 'Sega Song' plus one track of their own material. The 'Sega Song' will be released on Flexi-Disc through a top computer magazine! You get a professionally recorded 1/4 inch mixed copymaster and 25 free demo-cassettes to take away. Don't forget that Sega is pronounced 'SEYGA'. All styles of music are welcome."
The winners of that competition were "MC's Nick & Steve" – AKA: Nick Melin and Steve Batten, who were 16 and 15 respectively at the time of recording, and they got to commit their song – called Do Me A Favour (Sega Master Mix '90) – to tape.
As documented in issue 13 of Sega Power magazine, the pair recorded their initial demo on Batten's Amstrad Studio 100 in just six hours and, upon being selected as winners, were gifted time in the Townhouse 3 studio, which cost £1,000 per day to hire.
"The lads are well into hip-hop and progressive house music, and Public Enemy feature among their fave bands," said Sega Power. "When it came to recording the song properly on the 24-track tape in the studio, the first job was to get these samples down for the backing track. Doing the hard work in the studio were an S1000 sampler, an Atari ST computer running C-Lab, Ben Kape the Engineer and Jeremy Wheatley the Assistant Engineer, recording and editing the samples and scratchings the lads picked out. Once they were all completed, the backing tracks were roughly finished and the boys then had to go and sing."
You'd think the pair would have been overawed over by the occasion, but that doesn't seem to have been the case. "This is the first time I've done anything like this, and it'll be the last too," concluded Melin at the end of an interview with the magazine, displaying a remarkable level of self-awareness for a teenager who had just been recording in a studio graced by the likes of The Happy Mondays.
Here are the full lyrics to this underrated masterpiece:
Yo! Nick and Steve, you coming out tonight?
No man, we're staying in to check out our brand new Sega console
Sega! What's that?
Check this out!Ya! Master System costs from eighty pounds
One-to-eight colours, three channel sound
Yeah they got more games than fish in the docks
Like Operation Wolf and Psycho Fox
Golden Axe R-Type World Games Chase HQ World Soccer Baseball Wonderboy II
This list of games goes on and on and on
The Sega posse is over hundred strongCHORUS: Sega! Sega! Sega!
Yeah man, sounds dope, tell me more
Yeah OK
As well as a console you get a light phaser
With Wild West War, games to amaze ya
3-D glasses will blow your mind
Better peripherals you cannot find
Def joysticks that simply flow
Rapid fire units, bo, bo, bo
Waiting for games to load is Wik-wak
We say Sega games load straight awayCHORUS: Sega! Sega! Sega!
Blow you mind in a Fantasy Zone
Turn to other consoles - got nobody home
Your mutant just ain't a hit
And your grey imports just don't fit
Into any known British TV
So it's obvious to me
Check out your local dealer
Not for drugs
But for SegaHow d'ya spell that G S.E.G.A.
The hottest, most respected console on the streets todayCHORUS: Sega! Sega! Sega!
Yeah we got the Master System in the house
Yeah Boy!
What is this Sega anyway?
Donatello, Raphaelo, grey imports, pizzas - dis 'em boy!
Gis a go, know what I mean?
Mega Drive, buy one today
Oh come on boys, it's party time, man
Yeah Sega man
Wot! Gis a go on your joystick!
We're outta here, like last year
Sega! Sega!
Mega Outrun Top-score
See-ya Do me a favour!Sega yeah
Gimme gimme Sega
Wow wow wow...
Despite Future Publishing's Sega Power seemingly taking the lead on this particular marketing stunt, a cassette tape containing the final version of the song (along with Sega's 'Gods' radio advert and a message on behalf of the Starlight Foundation from Gary Davies as the B-side) would find itself affixed to the sophomore issue of rival EMAP's multiformat Mean Machines magazine.
Why this happened, we're not sure – we quizzed Mean Machines launch editor Julian Rignall and he said he wasn't directly involved in the deal, and former Virgin Mastertronic / Sega Europe boss Nick Alexander informs us he was equally in the dark about the whole thing. Mean Machines had just launched to a rapturous reception, so this may have played a role in the decision.
But what about the legendary MCs Nick and Steve? The latter told us that he remains in contact with the former, and that they still "have a laugh about it," adding, "We did actually think it was good, and I have since gone on to record credible attempts at 'music production'."
Batten also reveals that the song's Master System focus came at a tricky time, but had an added benefit for the pair. "Ironically, it was a Master System promo," he says. "Sega were just about to start the campaign to launch the Genesis/Mega Drive in the UK, so we were more interested in getting one of those each than recording a second song." As noted by Mean Machines, both were rewarded with a shiny new 16-bit console for their efforts – a bonus prize that wasn't mentioned in the original advertisement.
While Batten adds that he's received some jibes over the song in more recent years, we sincerely feel it remains a staggering brilliant piece of early '90s marketing that you can't imagine happening in the modern era.
We've still got our tape, and whenever we hear that Master System start-up tune at the beginning, we can't help but sing along (yes, we have the lyrics memorised).