Line #23 Music/Crush40


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/crush_40_3334.jpg]]
2
3	->''Now don't you worry\
4	It's a never-ending story\
5	Stand proud, let it out\
6	Let 'em know\
7	Let it show until they hear\
8	Hear the Sonic Youth!''
9	-->--'''"Sonic Youth"'''[[note]]no relation to [[Music/SonicYouth the band]][[/note]] by Crush 40
10
11	'''Crush 40''' is a Japanese-American HardRock duo known for its contributions to the ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' video game series, starting with ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure''.
12
13	The duo consists of guitarist Jun Senoue, a composer at Creator/{{Sega}} who previously worked on such titles as ''VideoGame/Sonic3AndKnuckles'', ''VideoGame/DaytonaUSA [[UpdatedRerelease Championship Circuit Edition]]'', ''VideoGame/Sonic3DBlast'', and ''Victory Goal'', and singer Johnny Gioeli, frontman of Music/{{Hardline}} and vocalist for Music/AxelRudiPell.
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15	Their style generally falls under melodic rock, combining uplifting, empowering vocals with soaring guitar riffs and intense solos. Senoue cites many famous 80s rock bands as influences for Crush 40's sound.
16
17	The duo first teamed up to record "Open Your Heart", the ending theme of ''Sonic Adventure'', credited under their own names; Crush 40 as we know it only came together to record the soundtrack to ''UsefulNotes/{{NASCAR}} Arcade'' (a spiritual sequel to the aforementioned ''Daytona USA'') as '''Sons of Angels''', released on their first album ''Thrill of the Feel''. Right after the game's release, the Swedish metal band Sons of Angels reunited, and Senoue and Gioeli changed their group's name with a combination of [[TrademarkFavoriteFood Jun's favorite soda]] and [[ArcNumber Johnny's favorite number]].
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19	Next, they appeared on the soundtrack to ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure2'', with their SignatureSong "Live and Learn", and provided two original songs each for [[VideoGame/SonicHeroes the two]] [[VideoGame/ShadowTheHedgehog games after that]][[note]]"Sonic Heroes" and "What I'm Made Of..." for ''Heroes''; "I Am... All of Me" and "Never Turn Back" for ''Shadow''[[/note]]. After this time, their output has been mostly restricted to covers, with the primary exceptions of 2009's ''VideoGame/SonicAndTheBlackKnight'' (which featured five new songs, one of which had guest vocals by All Ends[[note]]"Knight of the Wind", "Fight the Knight", "Through the Fire", "With Me", and "Live Life"[[/note]]) and 2019's ''VideoGame/TeamSonicRacing'' (which featured another new song, "Green Light Ride").
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21	Though Crush 40 did not record any new material for ''VideoGame/SonicGenerations'', many of their previous songs appear in the game; the remix of "Open Your Heart" used there features electro house duo Music/CircuitFreq. They have also recorded their own rendition of ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehogCD''[='=]s North American theme tune "Sonic Boom", featuring SynthPop group Music/CashCash.
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23	In 2009, they released a GreatestHitsAlbum, collecting remasters of their previously released songs and a few exclusives, such as covers of "Un-gravitify" from ''[[VideoGame/SonicRiders Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity]]'' and Music/TheCult's perennial hit "Fire Woman", plus the original song "Is It You". A second collection album, ''Driving Through Forever'', was released in 2019.
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25	They've performed least three times in the UK's ''Summer of Sonic'' festival. In 2011, they performed at the ''Sonic Boom'' E3 event in Los Angeles with Music/CashCash. In July that year, they played their first full show in Tokyo, this time including such Hardline songs as "Hot Cherie", "Love Leads the Way" and "Everything". They also debuted the original "Song of Hope", released as a charity single for those affected by that year's tsunami in Japan.
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27	Ever since then, they've branched out to more original fare, with the ''Rise Again'' and ''2 Nights 2 Remember'' [=EPs=]. They also made appearances at the ''Sega 60th Anniversary Live'' concert in 2020 and the ''Sonic 30th Anniversary Symphony'' in 2021.
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29	Since 2015, Jun Senoue has performed without Johnny Gioeli as "Sonic Adventure Music Experience", along with his usual bassist Takeshi Taneda and drummer Akht. Meanwhile, Gioeli has occasionally made guest appearances for other artists, recording vocals for Music/TheChalkeaters' fan song celebrating Sonic's 30th anniversary, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXNTd-pgKVc "Crushing Thirties",]] and a cover of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpmp0aMEXLw "Fastest Thing Alive"]] from ''WesternAnimation/SonicTheHedgehogSatAM''. He also performed vocals for "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lRqrcu_Gq0 "Surfing on the Lava",]] a song featured in the game ''VIdeoGame/JitsuSquad'', appropriately enough as the background score of a LavaSurfing stage.
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31	!!!Discography
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33	* 2000 - ''Thrill of the Feel''
34	* 2003 - ''Crush 40''[[note]]Reissue of ''Thrill of the Feel'' without the instrumental tracks[[/note]]
35	* 2009 - ''[[GreatestHitsAlbum The Best of Crush 40: Super Sonic Songs]]''
36	* 2012 - ''Rise Again'' (EP)
37	* 2012 - ''[[LiveAlbum Live!]]''
38	* 2015 - ''2 Nights 2 Remember'' (EP, [[LiveAlbum plus a concert recording]])
39	* 2019 - ''[[GreatestHitsAlbum Driving Through Forever -The Ultimate Crush 40 Collection-]]''
40
41	----
42	!Tropes that apply to Crush 40 include:
43	* ArcWords: [[Videogame/ShadowTheHedgehog "I Am (All of Me)"]] has two of note, the most obvious being the "one step forward, two steps back" metaphor also used by "Never Turn Back" in the same game. The second is with [[VideoGame/SonicHeroes "What I'm Made Of"]], with the former's use of [[labelnote:this line,]] "Unleash a million faces, and one by one they fall"[[/labelnote]] as a CallBack to [[labelnote:this line,]] "Like a million faces, I recognize them all, and one by one they all become a number as they fall"[[/labelnote]] from the latter.
44	* TheCoverChangesTheMeaning:
45	** Their cover of Zebrahead's "His World". Originally, it was a fast paced RapRock song with rebellious and carefree lyrics that perfectly fit Sonic. Crush 40's version was slower paced, and had a more epic feel to it. Its lyrics were mysterious and weighty and more befit Shadow.
46	** The "Massive Power" version of "With Me", where Johnny is the lead singer instead of All Ends, is much heavier than the original.
47	* CoverVersion: Tons. Some of their more notable ones are their cover of "All Hail Shadow" by Magna-Fi (their first cover) and their live cover of Music/{{Hardline}}'s "Hot Cherie".
48	* DarkerAndEdgier: "I Am (All Of Me)" and "With Me", downtuned AlternativeMetal songs compared to their usual anthemic HardRock sound.
49	* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt: "Open Your Heart" is to be about someone in the middle of such a situation and trying to avert it.
50	* GenreMashup: Their cover of "His World". It mixes elements of SymphonicMetal, HardRock, and RapRock, and ends with a random piano solo.
51	* GenreRoulette: Thanks to the band's nature,[[note]][[IAmTheBand Johnny and Jun are the only real members]], and most of their songs are written to fit in a video game. Thus, their sound is more dictated by the tone of the game than any stylistic choice.[[/note]] the easiest genre to label them as is "rock" in general.
52	** "Sonic Heroes" is so upbeat it borders on PopPunk, while the DarkerAndEdgier "What I'm Made Of..." isn't far from a slower Music/IronMaiden song.
53	** "I Am... All of Me" is an aggressive AlternativeMetal song straight out of the early 2000s; "Never Turn Back" is classic HardRock.
54	** "Knight of the Wind" is symphonic rock with a prominent violin riff, "Live Life" is a power ballad and "Through the Fire" is so heavy and grungy it wouldn't sound out of place with [[Music/AxelRudiPell one of Johnny's other bands.]]
55	* GratuitousPanning: Their cover of "All Hail Shadow" does this a lot with the guitar parts. During the verses, the prechorus, and the chorus for example, there are two different guitar parts playing at the same time (one on each side). Also, the guitar solo begins with a simple melody on the left side, followed by a similar melody on the right side before going to the middle for the rest of the solo.
56	* HotBlooded: Many of their songs would not sound out of place in a SuperRobot anime.
57	* IAmTheBand: Jun and Johnny are the only permanent members, with various people providing other instruments ([[VideoGame/SonicHeroes "Sonic Heroes" and "What I'm Made Of..."]] had different drummers from each other, for example). That said, Takeshi Taneda has been their official bassist since 2001, while Akht. became their official drummer in 2015.
58	* IAmSong: Most of their songs, actually. Most notably "I Am (All of Me)".
59	* IndustrialMetal: "I Am (All of Me)" has elements of this.
60	* IntercourseWithYou: Their cover of "Fire Woman" by Music/TheCult, and "Hot Cherie", by Hardline. Which is really odd, considering the [[Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog franchise]] the band is normally associated with is kid-friendly.
61	* ListSong: "Sonic Youth", outside the chorus.
62	* MarketBasedTitle: Again, Crush 40's name change from Thrill of the Feel. (Of course, the name change was justified with the band changing its name as well.)
63	* MetalScream: The version of "Open Your Heart" on ''The Best of Crush 40: Super Sonic Songs'' adds a loud "AAAAAAALLLLLLLLLL RIGHT!" to the intro. The version used for ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'' and the remix with Music/CircuitFreq in ''VideoGame/SonicGenerations'' do not have this.
64	* MundaneMadeAwesome: "One of Those Days" seems to be about having a bad day.
65	* ParodyAssistance: Gioeli himself did the vocals for Music/TheChalkeaters' ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' parody song [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_M-h1fC6EuQ "Crushing Thirties"]], which is itself an upbeat rock piece styled after Crush 40's other songs for the franchise, only with a cynical undertone commenting on Sonic's miserable life going into adulthood.
66	* PrecisionFStrike: During the ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' 25th anniversary performance, Johnny segued from "One Of Those Days" to "I Am" by singing "one of those... shitty days".
67	* RapRock: Their cover of "His World" features Johnny rapping, something that he doesn't do in any other song.
68	* ShoutOut: "Sonic Youth" is one big shout out to the ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' series and its fans. (This was made clear when Johnny pointed this out when the duo performed it at a Sonic Boom convention.)
69	* TitleDrop: In Sonic Youth, a song which has many a CallBack to previous Sonic songs they had written, also drops the line "Crushing 40 all the time."
70	* UnpluggedVersion: They did an acoustic version of "Live and Learn" for the 30th anniversary of the series, which naturally has a more downtempo feeling compared to the original.
71	* VillainSong: "With Me" is this for sure. "What I'm Made Of" could be this, but it depends on interpretation. "I Am (All of Me)" zigzags this trope.
72	* WildCard: "I Am... All of Me" is sung from the POV of one.

Context Music / Crush40