Sonic the Hedgehog 3/Development/Music

Back to: Game Development:Sonic the Hedgehog 3.

Unlike other Sonic games, the music of Sonic the Hedgehog 3 stands as an ongoing controversy for Sega due to the choices made during development. It is not fully understood how much of the soundtrack is owned by the company, having outsourced its production to third-parties, some of which have chosen to distance themselves from the project in later years.

Masato Nakamura, responsible for the soundtracks to the first two Mega Drive Sonic games games, was at the time having a great deal of success with his band, Dreams Come True, leading him up his demands for working on a possible Sonic 3. Nakamura wanted more money; both for his contributions in this new game and for if Sega chose to reuse his compositions for any future Sonic titles. Sega declined, and decided to look elsewhere for the composition power needed in Sonic the Hedgehog 3.

Like Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Sonic the Hedgehog 3 was set to be developed in the United States at the Sega Technical Institute, where a chunk of the original Sonic Team (including Yuji Naka and Hirokazu Yasuhara) were still situated. Answering the call, Sega are thought to have been approached by pop sensation Michael Jackson and his team. Jackson had a history with Sega (most notably producing Michael Jackson's Moonwalker early in the Mega Drive's lifespan) and had visited Sega's offices in Japan some months prior. He liked video games, he liked Sonic the Hedgehog, and Sega accepted immediately.

“	And you wouldn't believe the celebrities who did cameos. Dustin Hoffman, Michael Jackson...of course they didn't use their real names, but you could tell it was them.	„
— Lisa Simpson, The Simpsons episode 9F03, "The Itchy & Scratchy Movie"

However, Michael Jackson is not credited in Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (or indeed Sonic & Knuckles - the eventual "second half" of the adventure). Instead, credits go to the following "music composers": Brad Buxer, Bobby Brooks, Darryl Ross, Geoff Grace, Doug Grigsby III and Scirocco (and in addition, Sega's internal sound team are also thought to have composed music for the game). The omission, particularly in the early 90s when only the core team of developers usually made it into the credits, was perhaps not surprising, but still curious as several staff members have mentioned the star by name.

Jackson had a history of going uncredited (or using pseudonyms) in productions, often due to contractual complications. Reportedly Jackson's record label at the time, Epic Records refused permission for the star to sing for any of its potential rivals. The most famous example of this is third season episode of the American animated sitcom The Simpsons, Stark Raving Dad (1991), where despite guest starring as "Micheal Jackson", the credit is given to "John Jay Smith", a person that does not exist. This was later referenced in a season four episode of the show.

But more likely, however, is that in 1993, Michael Jackson became caught up in child sexual abuse allegations. Having cancelled the final leg of his Dangerous World Tour due to health concerns, Sega likely chose to distance themselves from the composer during this period, and while Jackson was never proven guilty, the negative press was not something Sonic 3 wanted to be assocated with.

However, to this day the story is not fully understood. Some of the team deny Jackson's involvement, others claim his work was scrapped, and others appear oblivious to the situation. Nevertheless, Sonic 3 is generally met with more obstacles when Sega attempt to re-release it. With Jackson's death in 2009, the full story may never be known.

Michael Jackson evidence

Roger Hector interviews

“	Sonic 3 (also called Sonic & Knuckles) was a lot of fun, but it was also very difficult. Michael Jackson was originally brought in to compose all the music for the game, but at the very end, his work was dropped after his scandals became public. This caused a lot of problems and required a lot of reworking. But the game turned out great in the end.	„
— Roger Hector, General Manager of the Sega Technical Institute

In an interview in August 2005, Roger Hector, the "executive coordinator" of both Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles, confirmed that Michael Jackson composed all the music for the game, but was dropped due to the 1993 scandal. This was backed up by a separate interview two years later, claiming that the Jackson soundtrack was never heard by the general publicMedia:Makingofs3kpg4.jpg.

While Hector was not directly involved in Sonic 3's development, his role was to manage all projects at STI, and was usually involved with high level discussions (Jackson's signing and dismissal being two of them).

“	The music fitted perfectly for the game, and they had a distinctive 'Michael Jackson' sound. We had it all ready and integrated into the game when the first news stories came out accusing him child molestation, and Sega had to back away from the collaboration...It was too bad nobody outside ever heard the Michael Jackson music.	„
— Roger Hector, Executive Coordinator, Sonic 3 & KnucklesMedia:Makingofs3kpg4.jpg

Howard Drossin interview

Howard Drossin and his guitar. From the MTV Special "Inside Sonic & Knuckles."

According to Roger Hector, Howard Drossin is said to have been brought in to replace Michael Jackson's musicMedia:Makingofs3kpg4.jpg, but also goes uncredited in Sonic 3. He is, however, the main composer behind Sonic & Knuckles (and is credited there).

Drossin, when recollecting his involvement in the soundtrack in August 2008, was adamant that Michael Jackson had nothing to do with the final product, but went on to say that he was not responsible for the bulk of the soundtrack as Roger Hector claimed, but only a handful of his tracks made it into the final product, most exclusive to Sonic & Knuckles.

When locked onto Sonic 3, Sonic & Knuckles creates Sonic 3 & Knuckles. When this occurs, the miniboss and Knuckles themes (and most of the jingles) from Sonic 3 are replaced with their Sonic & Knuckles counterparts, most of which were composed by Drossin. So in this context, some Sonic 3 tracks were replaced by Drossin's compositions, but the true reasoning for why remains unclear.

Brad Buxer interview

Brad Buxer, credited in Sonic 3, was a long-time contributor with Michael Jackson. He is the co-writer of the 1996 hit, Stranger in Moscow, and was also involved with the production of Jam and Who Is It, all of which are thought to share similarities with the Sonic 3 soundtrack.

Buxer shed some light into Michael Jackson's involvement in a December 2009 interview with Black & White Magazine. In this interview, Buxer confirms that the final release of Sonic 3 does contain at least one piece of work by Michael Jackson:

“	B&W: Can you clarify the rumor that Michael had in 1993 composed the music for Sonic 3 video game, for which you havel been credited? Buxer: I've never played the game so I do not know what tracks on which Michael and I have worked the developers have kept, but we did compose music for the game. Michael called me at the time for help on this project, and that's what I did. And if he is not credited for composing the music, it's because he was not happy with the result sound coming out of the console. At the time, game consoles did not allow an optimal sound reproduction, and Michael found it frustrating. He did not want to be associated with a product that devalued his music... B&W: One of the surprising things in this soundtrack is that you can hear the chords from Stranger in Moscow, which is supposed to have been composed later... Buxer: Yes, Michael and I had composed those chords for the game, and it has been used as base for Stranger in Moscow. [...]	„
— An excerpt from the Black & White Magazine interview with Brad Buxer

According to this statement, Jackson did not wish to be credited by name in the game because he was unhappy with the quality of sound the Sega Mega Drive's Yamaha YM-2612 sound chip produced. Buxer's statement also confirms that the similarity between Jackson's "Stranger in Moscow" and Sonic 3's ending credits song are not a coincidence, and that the credits theme indeed uses chords originally composed by him and Buxer.

However, these statements directly contradict what Roger Hector has said.

Cirocco Jones discography

A discography of another musician working on the game, Cirocco Jones (appearing as 'Scirocco' in the Sonic 3 credits), lists a "levels 2 & 3" as being composed by Michael Jackson and belonging to "Sonic The Hedgehog". While "levels 2 & 3" could be referring to Hydrocity Zone and Marble Garden Zone, respectively, it could easily be referring to prototype level ordering, or indeed the order in which the group composed music.

Sonic & Knuckles Collection

In 1997 Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Sonic & Knuckles were brought to Windows PCs in the form of Sonic & Knuckles Collection.

In this edition of the game, six of the tracks (Carnival Night, IceCap, Launch Base, the credits to Sonic the Hedgehog 3, Knuckles' theme in Sonic 3 and the Competition menu) were replaced with entirely different compositions. The reasoning for this has never been clearly explained, and has not applied to subsequent Mega Drive re-releases of the game(s).

This is the earliest suggestion that Sega may not own the full rights behind certain songs, or have been wary of using them in later games. No subsequent Sonic game has ever revisited these stages - Sonic Generations and Sonic Mania avoid these levels, and Sonic 3 is often absent from Mega Drive compilations (and was denied a modern remaster, a la Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic the Hedgehog 2).

Audio similarities

In a 2006 documentary by Qjimbo, a theory was developed stating that Jackson's work was not completely removed after all. Similarities between some tracks in the final Sonic 3 and Jackson's own work outside of Sega were evidence for this claim.

"Smooth Criminal", "Who Is It", & IceCap Zone Act 1

A good portion of Jackson's "Smooth Criminal" has a chord structure similar to that of IceCap Zone Act 1. This is especially noticeable in the version that plays in the "Moonwalker" movie, which isn't found on the Bad album. Roughly six minutes into the song, following the bass solo after the quiet orchestral section (as Jackson and the gangsters perform the Anti Gravity Lean), the bassline and string section clearly changes to a piece of music very similar to IceCap Zone. After the main bassline returns, a keyboard continues to play the IceCap chord sequence until the end of the song. This was first noticed by Shade.

Jackson's "Who Is It" is also very similar to both "Smooth Criminal" and IceCap Zone Act 1. The keyboard section under the chorus, when sped up, has an almost identical chord structure and texture to that of IceCap Zone Act 1. This was first noticed by Dioxaz.

It was later revealed that the song was likely based not on a Jackson song after all, but "Hard Times", recorded by new wave band The Jetzons in 1982, but unreleased until the 2008 compilation The Complete Jetzons. Brad Buxer was the band's keyboardist.

"Jam" & Carnival Night Zone

The similarities between "Jam" and Carnival Night Zone (both acts) were spotted by Ben2k9 before it was even known that Michael Jackson worked on the music for Sonic 3. The tracks themselves aren't very similar, but there is a horn-based "downwards fall" (played directly before Heavy D's rap in the Jackson song) that also appears during Carnival Night. Carnival Night also uses a small sample taken from "Jam" (the sound of breaking glass as well as Heavy D uttering the word "Jam" from the beginning of his rap verse).

The Carnival Night Zone melody is compared to horns in "Jam" from the album Dangerous (transposed down one semitone). Identical notes between the two songs are highlighted in red.

This similar "downwards fall" is also apparent audibly:

"Stranger in Moscow" & Sonic 3 credits

"Stranger In Moscow" is one of Jackson's songs that sounds most remarkably similar to a Sonic 3 song. The synth/strings section, as heard in the intro before the lyrics start, is identical to the sequence that plays during the first section of the ending theme to Sonic 3. It should be noted that both MJ and Dreams Come True (whose band member Masato Nakamura help composed music for Sonic 1 and Sonic 2) decided to use ending music elsewhere, or vice versa. This was discovered by Shade.

Sound effects

Michael Jackson's Blood on the Dance Floor contains samples that sound identical to the short 4-bar swinging hiphop beat that was used for Knuckles Theme on the original Sonic 3. Peculiarly enough this was one of the tracks that was replaced with the release of Sonic & Knuckles, and did not appear in the PC release of the game.