Explaining Super Mario Bros.' Underground Theme

[@PianistTanooki]

I should point out, the time signature of 6/4 isn't what Kondo actually wrote. In a 2014 IGN interview, he actually talked about how the original SMB1 Underground theme alternated between 3/4 and 4/4. Basically, it starts in 3/4, and then right when right when the quarter notes start (the fifth measure in your transcription), he switches to 4/4. Then there are two empty 3/4 measures right before the loop (in yours, it's just one 6/4 measure).

[@mrrandomperson3106]

I was thinking the original sounded more like 3/2 than 6/4.

[@PianistTanooki]

@@mrrandomperson3106 Kondo himself said it’s in 3/4, and then alternates into 4/4. Even the official piano sheet music that Nintendo released with Alfred respects Kondo’s original intention.

[@GavinKanter]

I was hoping someone else would say something

[@Richard_Nickerson]

"I'm a 6/4 purist" haha

[@BlueMeeple]

So it's four bars of 3/4 + two bars of 4/4, right? BUT: doesn't the repeat come a _tiny_ bit later though? Or is there something wrong with my inner pulse?

[@HatVGM]

“But there just aren’t enough notes for us to get a clear picture into the tonality…” Perfect for an underground place that may not have enough light to get a clear picture of the surroundings.

[@kakahtukat]

Nice

[@devilish21885]

That ending riff always reminded me of someone tumbling down a flight of stairs.

[@ShizuruNakatsu]

I always thought of the same thing xD

[@nspidel]

Oh man! I wish you went a little bit into how this theme has been used outside of underground levels. Like the Delfino Airstrip in Mario Sunshine. The theme has gradually become the go-to theme for problems, discomfort, and uncertainty for Mario.

[@rosebarrett1267]

Putting the 8-bit back into the 8-bit music theory!

[@kefkafloyd]

The SMB3 version always felt definitive to me. The song leveled up with the addition of the drum track. It's a call-and-response that, IMO, makes it feel even more cavernous. The drums are like the ambiance of the cave environment (rock noises, water drops) while the melody is Mario's exploration.

[@MoonwalkerWorshiper]

It adds adrealine but reduce confusion. I too prefer the SMB3 version if I have to pick but honestly I'd like a version with both.

[@Iosaiv]

I like the DS version.

[@MaxOakland]

Fun fact: The concept of adding a drum track to the SMB1 underground theme originated in SMB2 dev process. There's a beta of Mario 2 (USA) with a track like the SMB3 version but with even heavier drums and a sped up section. It's very interesting

[@kefkafloyd]

@@MaxOakland You're right. I can see why it got cut (the drums are kinda muddy, really does sound like Kondo's first stab at the PCM channel. It definitely got refined in SMB3. But the main melody has this sort of clavinet vibe, which would sound pretty good if you leaned into the funk arrangement like SMB3 has.

[@mariotheundying]

@@MaxOakland that theme showed that the NES can beatbox well

[@hmm4214]

this motif can also be found in Calypso Frelimo by Miles Davis, in fact I think that Let's Not Talk About It took it from that Miles' track

[@SchemingGoldberg]

It's just a small handful of notes, so it wouldn't surprise me if multiple people independently invented it.

[@andylatham4277]

I came here to leave the same comment. Davis' track was released in 74 but may have been recorded sometime between 70 - 74. The record is called Get Up With It and is great if you're into long-form abstract jazz.

[@boujeemelon7305]

yeah! Electric Miles is quite cool.

[@rowdyriolu1]

It's always exciting to see videos like this, where you provide your input on songs basically every viewer would know. It gets me thinking about these songs in ways I never have before!

[@internetguy7319]

this is the mario 1 theme that probably gets reused the most outside of something like Star. Even Mario Wonder reuses it as an underground motif.

[@emmbeesea]

The first time I ever really thought about this tune was in secondary school and the best explanation I could come up with was a jazz bassist and guitarist just noodling in tandem for the sake of noodling in tandem. 😆

[@jamesdelius]

For what it's worth, I hear the 3-note motif being centered around the last note. Not enough info to say it's F->B-flat versus just a "re-ti-do" turn, but the 3rd pitch feels like where it's "landing."

[@MizunoKetsuban]

I've always found the unusual time signature of the original to be the best part of it. Losing that aspect over time is honestly disappointing, which is probably why my favorite reimagining of it is the editor version in Mario Maker

[@notsyzagts7967]

Don't forget about the Mario Paint music tool. It was quite versatile for its time.

[@MizunoKetsuban]

@@notsyzagts7967 What does that have to do with what I was talking about

[@nickwallette6201]

Woah! That chord progression at 7:25 bears striking similarities to both the Super Mario Bros. 3 World 8 overworld music, and the Bowser boss fight in Super Mario World. Those little tie-ins and callbacks really give the series a cohesiveness that makes it feel so polished. Even the mushroom power up is just the level-complete theme sped up to sound-effect. (Although, that's just as likely a clever space-saving reuse of music data already in the ROM.)

[@mariotheundying]

Yeah that melody reminds me of Bowser specifically

[@Skyehoppers]

0:34 First recorded instance of anyone warping to World 2!

[@Swishyhead]

Oh wow, the editing is even more polished than usual! Great job with that, and with the analysis itself, of course.

[@Speed-TV]

I do believe that most songs if not all get inspiration from others. Most songs I hear remind me of some other song nowadays. Plus, it's probably the reason why so many music techniques are popular.

[@Dragotrooper]

Can you do some videos on how to write a theme for specific reasons using examples from different games? like how to write a villain theme and then use a few different examples from different games, I know I'm not a Patreon member but I think this would be a good idea

[@Thunder-Sky]

"I bet you could write this next paragraph of the video for me" alright, I'm in the kitchen dealing with food, but I'm up for a challenge, the least I can do is to try to predict what I'm about to hear "three notes moving from C to A" woah woah woah there, I don't know what names belong to which sounds, I can't write a paragraph like that

[@FFVison]

Great video. Koji Kondo has some incredibly iconic music that defined a generation. It's great to see him continue the tradition of fantastic musicians being inspired by other fantastic musicians. One of my big oh wow moments was when I first listened to the Deep Purple song April and found that one section that very much inspired the end of the Zelda 1 Labyrinth loop. I did not know about this one though.

[@jacopoziroli3846]

0:32 Let's NOT talk about it. I understand that reference man! The Friendship album it's one of the best album of Lee Ritenour and company in my opinion. Thanks for the video and keep it up!

[@CarbonRollerCaco]

The impressive thing about the SMB underground theme in its original form is how it manages to say so much with so little; it's short and lacks a backing part, yet manages to pack in the right blend of dread and mischief for its setting and give a clear sense of rhythm. Goombas gonna getcha. Goombas gonna getcha.

[@REPHIA]

perfect video! underground theme was always memorable, but it always felt as a very weird piece of music - now with a little bit of music theory knowledge, i can see and understand why! the blues form segment was very pleasant!

[@jamesdoescode]

Thanks for this video, I think one of my favourites of yours so far. I always wonered how Koji made that end section sound so out there without it sounding like a big atonal mess. Love how even the Caug -> Abm movement is again him just doing semitone steps down

[@pmnt_]

This was not the Mario analysis I was expecting given some recent releases. Great job nonetheless! iirc, there is a Konji Kondo interview floating around that he is/was aware that his video game compositions sound too familiar to the music he was enjoying listening to. He had to force himself to make some changes (I think he was referring to the Overworld theme of Super Mario Bros).

[@PianistTanooki]

I think this was addressing music that he himself wrote. Many have come to him saying that some of his music sounds similar, even when they’re unrelated, and he usually has to force himself to change it. The Super Mario Bros. 3 Water Land theme and Zelda’s Great Fairy/File Select music, for example, is an example often cited. The interviewer even brought this one up and Kondo seemed to be unaware of the similarities until this was brought up.

[@mushroomdude123]

I honestly appreciate more simple analysis videos like these. I can get a little lost in the more complex videos.

[@katiebuuuuug]

Thank you for NEVER dumbing things down too much, I love finally seeing some grittier music theory content on KZbin!!

[@probablynotbatman4613]

I just finished watching your FF6 videos when you uploaded this. I assumed youtube just recommended this to me because of that, so it took me a sec to realize that this was a brand new video.

[@kevikoal]

I was just thinking about this theme the other day and now you made a video about it!

[@ZeldaMusicTheory]

Congrats on 500k! Well deserved, one of my favorite channels. Kevin ZMT

[@MaxOakland]

I love this song *so much* it's so weird and perfect. This video makes me realize it's even weirder than I thought

[@88bit]

OMG 😳 I’ve been playing this wrong for years! I mistakenly transcribed the Gb F E up a half step! 🤦‍♂️ Granted, it was over 20 years ago and I was pretty young. 😂 Looks like I’m gonna have to take down my Cave Dungeon cover. 😅

[@8bitMusicTheory]

That’s so funny, playing it both ways it really doesn’t change the effect of the line!

[@RoyKnight]

If you haven’t already, please please please check out the version of this song that plays when you’re editing a stage in Super Mario Maker. It’d be called something like SMB Underground (Edit mode). It’s such a crazy take on it and I’d love to hear what you think

[@Chubby_Bub]

I was going to suggest the same thing. All of the edit versions of themes in SMM are really neat with what they do, but there's just something about this track in particular.

[@MisterSG1]

I’ve always seen the Mario Maker edit themes as sort of musical “frames” surrounding the original composition. I don’t know if Kondo himself was involved in the edit themes, but the fact they decided to build a jazz “frame” if you will around the Underground Theme really seems to make the idea of inspiration from Let’s Not Talk About It highly possible:

[@ppheard1254]

7:39 Anybody else just notice those tritones 38 years after the game released

[@Pika250]

Charles Cornell published his video concerning the "game over" theme of Super Mario Bros the exact same day this video was published.

[@LeotheTiger1234]

The first time I ever heard this was in Super Mario All-Stars for the SNES. The underground theme there was a lot different than in the original NES game.

[@ezekoren]

I need to hear the full cover heard in the background of the introduction

[@aprendendocomgames]

This channel is pure gold! Thanks for the high quality content! 🎮+🎵

[@arin4395]

love your stuff , dude !! thank you always !!!

[@SendyTheEndless]

7:00 I always heard that part as in 4/4 as a kid, because of the effect of the triplets speeding up and then slowing down creates an accent right when they slow down for the last six notes. Which always made the pause seem even more irregular!

[@legoboy7107]

That's because that part is in 4/4, as another comment pointed out, Kondo once said in an interview that the original Mario 1 version starts in 3/4 for the repeated phrases, then switches to 4/4 for that chromatic sequence, and then switches back to two measures of 3/4 for the pause afterward before the loop, or something like that.

[@StriderZessei]

He lives! Welcome back, we missed you.

[@Lyy0n]

Great video as always! It always helps me to come back and watch the way you break down this stuff and try to take some notes for some of my own videos.

[@johnjekyllson28]

Great analysis! Very interesting

[@reillywalker195]

One of my favourite versions of this tune is the one found in _Super Mario All-Stars_ on the SNES. It sounds like a natural evolution of the tune and suits 16-bit Super Mario.

[@thatguy431]

thanks for the time and effort you put into these videos! youre the best man!

[@fugithegreat]

The underground level was my favorite because of this song! Even as a little kid I was enamored with this level's music.

[@SB2749]

I was hoping that the Mario Maker version of this when you're editing levels in the Mario 1 style got a mention here, given how it not only keeps the 3/4 signature but also harkens back to the jazz inspirations of the original theme. It's also easily my favorite of that game's level editor renditions.

[@rydeentokio]

Simular bassline is found at the song called "River People" by Weather Report.

[@FukiMakai]

I love the Super Mario Oddysey one. It's also the last up to now of a series of remixes that shares a pattern. Since Super Mario Galaxy's version, the tempo is lower and the main section repeats 4 times, adding also countermelodies and embellishments. Super Mario 3D Land took that new structure and gave it a goofier sound. Super Mario 3D World remixed that with more instruments and different synths. But the Super Mario Oddysey one is what sounds the best to me.

[@mosquitopyjamas9048]

It came when someone asked Koji Kondo what fabric Mario wears and he said: Denim, denim, denim

[@theIpatix]

I think the Underground Theme has an interesting similarity to the start of Pat Metheny's "Finding and Beliving". Albeit with a different time signature (I think 7/8).

[@dantrizz]

I would say in bar 5 it's actually a I VI II V and the bassline is using tritone subs. It's the most obvious walking jazz bassline ever

[@whimz805]

a similar lick to that motif is also found in a casiopea song's black joke at 2:45

[@ferenc_l]

Thank you mr. music theory! Your videos are great

[@knelson3057]

reminds me a lot of the gnome from pictures at an exhibition, the disorienting fast chromatics, the repetition, the moving up a fourth, even the stepping figure in the last couple measures is similar to the one in the second half of the gnome!

[@zacharywong483]

Fantastic video, as always!

[@phyllojoe5346]

The whole video is good but I especially like you lining up footage of a specific game with the sheet music of it

[@LawrenceAaronLuther]

3:30 yea I accidentally wrote a few riffs when I was learning guitar that were either exactly or really close to black Sabbath. The lower the melodic fruit, the more likely it is to be independently written multiple times I reckon

[@Supervocetubeia64]

Listen to the intro on Maria Asahina's song "Onna Tomodachi", also from 1979. The theme is kinda there too.😊

[@Khyrberos]

Another great analysis!

[@davidguthary8147]

This might be the most in-depth analysis of seven bars of music I've ever seen.

[@chadb8093]

It’s as if 8-Bit Music Theory knew I was making lunch and needed something to watch while I ate

[@WilloWik]

DUUDE!!! I actually discovered Sister Marian by The Square on Spotify and it’s been one of my favorite jazzy songs for a long while. I always thought that one part sounded uncannily like the super mario theme. It’s crazy to see that brought up 😂 that song is unironically a bop though. If anyone’s reading this comment and you like that nostalgic feel-good jazzy sound, check it out.

[@sihplak]

I'd argue it's in 3/2 time, not 6/4 time. It feels far more like | 1-e-and-a-2-and (rest) | 1-e-and-a-2-e (rest) | as opposed to being a compound meter.

[@PianistTanooki]

It’s not in 3/2 time. It’s in 3/4 and alternates between that and 4/4. Koji Kondo himself said this.

[@jamesdelius]

​@PianistTanooki yeah but is Kondo's 3/4 notated using 8th or 16th notes? (If 16ths, then it's identical to 3/2 with 8ths. If 8th, not a huge distinction between 3/4 vs 6/4...can't hear if that rest is as strong as the first notes or not, yeah?) 😉 All that said, I'm going to have to replay the game now and fire up my metronome app... I've "Mandela effected" myself into thinking the C in the 6th bar was a pickup and the following triplets started on the G-flat and B-flat. 😵‍💫

[@harrympharrison]

Issues of rhythmic 'feel' and the composer's original intentions aside, what's important to note is that in the video, bar 6 is notated incorrectly for the time signature of 6/4, as beat 4 (the second dotted minim beat) occurs in the middle of a triplet. Here, it is notated as if it was in 3/2 (i.e. in 3 groups of minim length).

[@dliessmgg]

I have a somewhat alternate analysis: The first motif encircles a Bb. The second motif encircles an Eb. It ends on Abm. This forms a 2-5-1 in Abm. For chromaticism, there is a 1-2-5-1 figure in C inserted before the end.

[@dattromboneguy]

5:12 Idk, I really like the more modern versions of the original song. At the beginning of the video, I was bopping my head along with the original you played, I was feeling a 4/4 vibe subconsciously but also bopping IN six, and it wasn't until you said 6/4 that I realized it, and I think that sorta ties the original and the more modern versions together. The fact that they changed the length of time during rests, but it's almost indistinguishable unless you look closer, allows the more modern versions to give off vibes closer to that of the original. Also, I like the part they used to tie the end of the phrase together for the loop like at 4:59

[@PhoenixValentine-ew5ts]

*3/4 and 4/4. Not 6/4.

[@robpatershuk]

I love that the underground theme in Wonder is basically Aerials by System of a Down.

[@nintendianajones64]

It's the skeleton of Chopin's prelude in F minor

[@thrillhouse4151]

This and Gruntilda’s theme took me like over a decade to figure out by myself, it’s the weird intervals. 1:18, there it is! I think I finally figured it out when I played along to the N64 version.

[@lovestarlightgiver2402]

This is random, but Gruntilda's Lair from Banjo Kazooie sounds a lot like the theme for the Harry Potter movies which is interesting since Gruntilda is a witch.

[@MoonwalkerWorshiper]

@@lovestarlightgiver2402 It's the melodic halftones.

[@KubaOrlik]

Wait, what's that part about Ghibli's Kiki Delivery Service musing influencing Link to the Past music? in 3:14?

[@ludens5129]

My favorite topic always involves Mario. Looking forward to checking the video out.

[@EeveeEuphoria]

youtube recommending me this can't be coincidence i've only recently begin seeing the conspiracy of the underground theme being in literally every mario game, even in games where the overworld theme is changed there's a conspiracy here tell me the secrets, music man

[@ferociousfeind8538]

This nerd just took the world 2 warp pipe

[@romanallgeier4661]

lmao

[@robkilbride9242]

Thanks for dropping this so quickly since I couldn’t watch the last video. I haven’t even played Breath of the Wild so I can’t be spoiling the end it’s sequel, lol!😂😂😂

[@hobbified]

As for Let's Not Talk About It, it could just be independent invention. Those three notes are funky, sure, but they're only three notes. Octaves on the bass are a common way to funk things up, also well known from disco. And moving down a fifth isn't patented either. We'll never know, but it's always worth keeping mind the theory that if one person stumbled on it and thought it sounded good, a second person could too.

[@guccipoochie2328]

I love the odyssey rendition of the theme a lot tbh

[@DrMetPhD]

Babe, wake up! 8-bit Music Theory just dropped a new analysis!

[@TanookyTeneka]

I'm up

[@RyJohnsonMusic]

👁️🫦👁️

[@brandonvillamizar1216]

Are people so dumb they really wake up someone else for stupid things like watching a video?

[@plutostudios1417]

and a banger at that

[@ZiggyMandarr]

"I keep telling you I have no idea what he's talking about."

[@pikmin4743]

an old friend played me a bass riff he said he made up, and we wrote a whole song around it. only for me to hear the damn beautifull riff on the radio in Led Zeppelin's How Many More Times and me shaking me head lol

[@MysticJem2016]

well i'm sure you know that many Led Zeppelin songs are about that "original" themselves, not to speak of the amazing performances of the band members themselves

[@Eltrotraw]

Felt like I had a sense of deja vu after watching Ryan Leach's videos on this topic. The different viewpoint is very appreciated

[@Galaxia_EX]

3:50 Honestly, I think that’s the most likely explanation. There have been so many times where I’ve written something and only later noticed how much it sounded like a piece I’ve heard. Also, it’s kind of impossible to write a conventional piece of music that doesn’t sound like something else these days.

[@MoonwalkerWorshiper]

The "great twisted chromatic line" actually contains an echo of the first three tones that repeated four times but the arrangement shifts it around. It rhymes. It's been 37 years I wonder if Kondo or anybody is ever going to add more tones to this piece and not just remix it.

[@Moshugaani]

I wonder if the sunsequent versions departed from the 6/4 time signature because they wanted to avoid comparison with the jazz piece? I bet some people noticed the similarity even back then. I do love the weird time signature better as well so I hope they'd use it again some day!

[@Navifaerie64]

At first I thought this was going to be about the Underground Theme from Super Mario Land for the Game Boy😔That one is an absolute banger.

[@zitrodivad]

i loved the newest version in mario wonder

[@BadSneakers]

Check out Let’s Not Talk About It by Don Grusin or the version by Friendship (Grusin in band)

[@bemasaberwyn55]

Holy hell. New 8bit Music theory

[@emiljannbrahmeyer]

I especially prefer the Super Mario 64 version of the underground theme that appears in the levels Wet Dry World and Hazy Maze Cave. I mean that one: kzbin.info/www/bejne/nH7FXop-Z7qMn5I And also very cool is the Super Mario Odyssey version of the underground theme that I also totally love: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bXTbeIOoib6gppI These are my two favorite versions of that theme. And I often listen to them in my free time. They are relaxing indeed.

[@JustKiddingNYC]

Wow so many videos in a short time! Keep it up! Also, first.

[@GuyManley]

There's this ancient viral video of a japanese dude with teased out blond hair shreading and sweep picking this melody on guitar. When I tried to learn it back in my youth the chromatic phrase blew my mind. I'd never played out of key notes on purpose before then. It actually made mad that you could just break the "rules" of music theory. I just didn't have enough experience then. I hadn't played enough music and was stuck in my little blues/rock/metal/punk bubble.

[@KairuHakubi]

If there's two things i hate when people adapt this, it's either they don't do the octave-hopping, or they do like the mario 3 version and add longer pause. But it's not right that way. That's why the original feels so tense and hurries you along.

[@badATchaos]

What? An actual 8-bit game on the channel? Quite surprised

[@RaineyDaysStudio]

Wow that link between (hahahahah) Kakariko and Kiki's OST blows me away! I can totally hear it now. I always knew that Kiki song sounded familiar! (I played ALTTP many many years before watching Kiki)

[@lovestarlightgiver2402]

That's interesting, which Kiki song from the OST sounds like Kakariko from Zelda?

[@RaineyDaysStudio]

Check this out dude! Pay close attention to the highest notes of the melody starting in bar 5 of kakariko, and compare that to this song from kiki! and the vibe is similar too :) kzbin.info/www/bejne/bnikY41vn711obs@@lovestarlightgiver2402

[@RaineyDaysStudio]

Whoops sorry i just realized I linked the full OST but thats ok, its the first tune on the OST!@@lovestarlightgiver2402

[@lovestarlightgiver2402]

@@RaineyDaysStudio Thank you! I just listened to it. "On a Clear Day (Hareta Hi ni - 晴れた日に)" sounds similar, it also sounds like a slower version of Mario Bros 1 underwater theme. Zelda's Lullaby seems to have been inspired by "Concerto For Philodendron And Pothos".

[@RaineyDaysStudio]

Wow yeah the mario bros underwater theme! Great catches here.@@lovestarlightgiver2402

[@siemonblidener652]

I think the first chord is Bb major wtih the C and the A being neighbouring notes. The second chord is Eb major being the subdominant. That's what it sounds like to me.

[@PabbyPabbles]

They kind of went against all that in the Mario All Star version, sticking to the alterations SMB3 had added for +SMB1 and +SMB3

[@vanilla_milkshake]

kinda funny how both you and Charles Cornell uploaded videos about the original Mario Bros in the same day

[@PayetteForward]

The Cm - Abm at the end is reminiscent of Vader’s theme. Perhaps he was influenced by John Williams? Just before that chord, I think you could look at it as Cm - F# - Abm, which is also cinematic. My video editor turned me on to your channel, and I love it! Keep up the great work!

[@thesparkspectre1237]

bro it's a chromatic mediant they've been doing that for centuries

[@caterscarrots3407]

@@thesparkspectre1237 Yeah, that goes all the way back to Mozart and probably even before, the use of chromatic mediants. Like Mozart using C major for a brief moment in between an A major theme and an E major theme in a string quartet, or Beethoven using the chromatic mediant E major in place of the dominant in his C major Waldstein Sonata. And it became all the rage with composers like Chopin, Liszt, and later Debussy to use chromatic mediants.

[@vagabundorkchaosmagick-use2898]

I paid more attention to the gameplay than the theory, and was thinking, "man, push turbo, hold jump, not just tap".

[@Scrubermensch]

Can we get a video on Stickerbush Symphony? To me it's THE videogame OST, even above Super Mario Bros' themes

[@WhitePaintbrush]

He’s done a video “4 tips for writing ambient chord progressions” which centres around the DKC soundtrack. Stickerbush Symphony is featured init among others.

[@Scrubermensch]

@@WhitePaintbrush thanks paintbrush symphony

[@WhitePaintbrush]

@@Scrubermensch :)

[@ZOB4]

Are we sure it's in C and not Bb? If it's in Bb, it's scale degrees 2-7-1 for the C-A-Bb from the opening figure - makes more sense to me than 1-6-b7. It also implies the first two beats being a V resolving to I on the third beat.

[@LarrySeinfeld]

Nobody mentioning that the main motif is actually from "Calypso Frelimo" by Miles Davis from 1974

[@Somerandomdude582]

I love Mario Wonder's Underground theme