MUSIC DIRECTOR REACTS | Final Fantasy VI - Dancing Mad

What a GREAT piece of music in the SNES era!
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#finalfantasy #Reaction #DrumRollTonyReacts

[@DrumRollTonyReacts]

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[@girish9242]

The distant worlds version of Dancing mad is imo the best cover, done by live orchestra and it sounds amazing kzbin.info/www/bejne/oJ6UkmB6rLF4rrc Your favorite part is phase 4 or movement 4 of the song

[@seekittycat]

Nobuo lovesss prog rock and good bass glad you're checking out his stuff 👍.

[@edwon1]

When the next eve reaction 😢

[@CheckTheWiki]

I was gonna buy some Colonbroom but then this song blew my ass out.

[@The_Gallowglass]

This song is painting the picture of the character and situation of Kefka. Basically, imagine the joker ascending to godhood, so he could destroy everything all with a smile and a laugh. Mix circus music with ecclesiastical note, back and forth, and voilá. Dissonance and chaos

[@quez2564]

As it has been said years ago, if the SNES soundchip was a box of crayons, Uematsu used that box of crayons to paint the Sistine chapel

[@hermitcard4494]

Legend.

[@anthonyjackson9654]

Jeremy Jahns said that.

[@Puddingskin01]

And then he made that chapel play music because he remembered why he was there.

[@Satanickus]

... and he NEVER had formal training! 🤘

[@hundvd_7]

And Tim Follin is the one carving Mona Lisas left and right _with bare hands_

[@jeremylieteau644]

I don't know if anyone has posted this little fun fact already, but Nobuo Uematsu was once asked during an interview on why Dancing Mad turned out to be so long, and per his words he replied, "I got so caught up in writing the composition that I just kind of forgot to stop."

[@wren7195]

LOL In his defense, that was a HELL of a long fight

[@DarkScreamGames]

And that sort of passion is so rare in modern gaming that we're all still listening to Dancing Mad 20 years later.

[@Arcanua]

He was also told the fight was intended to be long...so it's not even just that SE literally said to make something rather long from the beginning. People mention the interview you're thinking of but never bring up he was also told TO make something really long for Kefka's fight. That interview goes over what wasn't even the main reason and here we are perpetuating what is basically a half truth, but to call it even half right isn't really true.

[@DragonOrbProductions]

@@Arcanua yes, but he could just write something about 6 minutes, and just say, fuck it and loop it 40 times

[@Verbose_Mode]

The crazy part is it HAS parts that are made to loop if you're slow. _It can be longer._

[@PetarBladeStrok]

Nobuo Uematsu is one of the most legendary gaming composers. The did the entire OST from FF1 up until FF9. And he did half tracks for FF10 and some tracks for FF14 1.0. He's an absolute legend & a genius.

[@garylai363]

100% agree. Uematsu is the GOAT.

[@Goujiki]

@@garylai363 He is the undisputed GOAT of Video Game music. He's so far beyond anyone else in the gaming scene its not even close lol.

[@debleb166]

Fairly sure he did the entire soundtrack for 1.0.

[@RaifSeverence]

​​@@debleb166only until Yoshida took over as producer/director of it. There ARE some Soken 1.0 tracks, but not many. Uematsu did like 95% of the 1.0 OST for FF14

[@garylai363]

@@Goujiki haha he might be the most special to us because of nostalgia but there are a lot of fantastic game composers out there.

[@SpikePilgrim]

There is a straight piano version of this song that uematsu played himself and it is insane.

[@joshcoughx]

Where can I find this!?!?

[@SpikePilgrim]

@@joshcoughx look up Dancing Mad Piano Opera

[@Ladywizard]

@@joshcoughx Probably Black Mages Dancing Mad

[@MHChrono]

If you want a pure piano version, check out the track on Album: "Piano Opera Final Fantasy IV/V/VI"

[@user-vq8fq1ty7c]

This song is more or less perfection. It tells the narrative of the game's villain and accompanies the final battle against him. He is a court jester driven insane by magic experiments, who seizes the world's magic power for himself as he seeks to become a god. The tonal shifts, the minor and major exchanges, the Bach, the circus frenzy; he wants to be divine, to create his heaven, but he is a mad clown, and his insanity and his evil nature bleed through and corrupt his apparent divinity. The piece careens through these emotions as you fight each part of the boss, finishing with an angelic form belying his true nature as he tries to destroy the world. And then you beat him up and stuff.

[@darthrvrz]

not enough likes here

[@jaybee4288]

FF fans just get so weird. Nothing in the series is really this deep.

[@user-vq8fq1ty7c]

@@jaybee4288 ​ First, I'm not a "FF fan," whever that is. The game's story contains everything I mentioned, and the music absolutely parallels everything that's in that story. When the music dallies with major chords and classical beauty, only to become dischordant and dissonant, that is one hundred percent a reflection of Kefka's ambition sullied and upended by his madness. It's not hard to recognize any of this; the parallel of the music set beside the character's story is patently obvious.

[@TheCactuar124]

@@jaybee4288 Wow, that's incredibly disrespectful to the writers. I hope you never work in a creative industry. You'd drag everyone down.

[@plugshirt1762]

There is also a deep sense of melancholy to the song that seeps through due to the fact that once he gets the power of a god he realizes it isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. At the end he has the ability to destroy the world and doesn’t for years but doesn’t rather he waits for the party arrives to try and figure out what reason they could have to live as he has been robbed of all purpose in his own life with his sanity being stolen and now his very humanity but in the end he isn’t able to find any reason for living. Every character in the game finds their purpose in life that makes everything worth living to them so it’s fitting that the villain is the complete antithesis of this and is unable to achieve any such fulfillment.

[@shadowtony8]

My favorite part of Dancing Mad reactions is how perfectly the reactors describe Kefka, even when they have 0 context for the story or his character. That's just how good this song is.

[@TheFizzster]

Some games have the end boss have a final speech after you defeat them, not Kefka. His entire boss theme is his last speech, outlining his rise to power, and lamenting his eventual defeat.

[@kefka242]

@@TheFizzster true

[@Waytothedawn63]

Soken wishes he was this good. Actually overrated man.

[@vbarreiro]

@@Waytothedawn63 As someone who was just at the Eorzean Symphony, which was completely arranged by him… nah man. Not underrated at all. From Answers forward, the soundtrack is absolutely full of full pieces of art. Comparing them is like comparing Michaelangelo and Da Vinci… both are so high up there that there is no point in quantitative juxtaposition.

[@Waytothedawn63]

@@vbarreiro Soken produces quantity. He gets some hits in naturally as a result of being able to do so much, but it takes him OSTs that are multiple times bigger than anyone else to churn out *maybe* half as many memorable tracks. Credit where it's due, he makes solid battle/hype music, but that's a minority of an OST. He can't compose memorable scene scores or location soundtracks if his life depended on it. It's all background noise. Just compare 16's score with 7R's. 7R's clears 16 multiple times over, both location and battle. Soken's ONLY standout music, at least in 16, are battle themes. Everything else is a huge nothing bigger that fades in to the background.

[@WatashiMachineFullCycle]

I haven't commented in a while but I just need to reiterate how awesome your insight is on these tracks. I'm a pianist and vocalists so I get so lost in the crazy organ in this track. I NEVER noticed how insane the drums were until you pointed them out and how it's like I get to listen to the track fresh all over again. Love it

[@DrumRollTonyReacts]

Thanks for listening 🎶

[@rhysproudmourne1646]

Same here. It’s one of my favorite boss soundtracks of all time and I’ve heard it 500 times, and never noticed some of the bass and drum work either.

[@mhesq2415]

The Black Mages are the Composer's own rock/metal band where he covers music from his own (Final Fantasy) Games! Their cover of this is spectacular and I'd easily recommend any number of their songs for your review!

[@BulletWilliam]

The Black Mages are great!

[@lostwolf4610]

To this day i still think that the solo in the black mage's version of dancing mad might be the most beautiful solo i have heard in the last 10 years

[@aediusbarbatus]

@@lostwolf4610 Uematsu-san's four-minute guitar solo is the one part of my funeral I already have planned.

[@thend4427]

​@lostwolf4610 a lot of their solos are godly

[@Phnxkon]

I like them but they lose so much from the songs by being a rock band a lot of the time.

[@Muircherteach]

If I recall correctly, First Movement is up till 6:46, Second Movement starts at 6:47, Third Movement at 13:01, and Fourth Movement at those stacking intervals at 16:58. You climb a tower to heaven, fighting a new group of monsters and demigods at each level/with each movement. The music grows more and more ecclesiastical until that last phase, when you reach the clouds and this angelic clown descends from on high to those slammed organ notes -- and you remember all the ruin and murder he's done. Then the drums kick in, and it is time to exact vengeance on God.

[@chrys_stone8716]

Best villain in all of gaming ! My 2nd favorite game of all time behind Chrono Trigger :)

[@EPHellHawk]

"You climb a tower to heaven" It was more ascending hell disguised as heaven, but yeah.

[@Sephiroth144]

@@EPHellHawk I'd say its absolutely is ascending to Heaven- but its KEFKA'S Heaven, so one's mileage may vary on how paradisical it is.

[@anthonydelfino6171]

The four phases are allusions to The Divine Comedy. Phase 1 being The Inferno, Phase 2 being Purgatory, Phase 3 being Paradise, and Phase 4 being the fight against Kefka (the god of magic) The really neat part is that the theme of paradise starts as a typical paradisical theme, but as Kefka's theme creeps into it from the bass line, the theme of paradise becomes corrputed.

[@fllthdcrb]

As if a guide is needed to distinguish the sections. I think it's pretty obvious, with the possible exception of exactly where the last one starts.

[@banggugyangu]

This track is one of the best compositions thar Uematsu ever did. It shows just how much musical maturity he had as a composer. There's a reimagined version of Dancing Mad made for FFXIV that is definitely worth giving a listen to. It is very faithful to the original, but brought up to a modern age.

[@ADivineTaco]

I agree, i love listening to the original then the FFXIV version back to back, so good

[@shelbyherring92]

And it includes the Black Mages guitar solo.

[@FluffieXStarshine]

what's amazing is seeing it live at a Distant Worlds concert.

[@CD-Gaming]

All the more mad (no pun intended) when you consider he was self-taught!

[@gaudrhin]

100% agree. Sure, One-Winged Angel is great, but for me, Dancing Mad encapsulates so much more of Kefka than OWA does of Sephiroth.

[@Eldoraan]

The "prog rock" act of the song is by far my favorite. Uematsu actually has a band, The Black Mages, that do all Prog versions of the Final Fantasy battle music from the various games. When you watch and listen to him on the Organ/Synthesizers you very much get a 70's Rick Wakeman vibe.

[@TrevRockOne]

He's more of an ELP and Deep Purple kind of guy actually.

[@Tingle457]

@@TrevRockOne Yeah, just listen to this song and Tarkus side by side and the inspiration is obvious. ELP is definitely a huge influence on Uematsu's style.

[@ALEXMART2468]

@@Tingle457 i think the same, yo can hear the ELP influences, how he changes keyboards, synth and organs. the drums and bass too. the only thing left is Greg's voice.

[@RJay207]

13:12 That deep bass is actually derivative of Kefka's main theme throughout the game. 14:06 "Pretty active bassline there." This part is note-for-note Kefka's main theme in bass-form, and that run takes several forms throughout "Dancing Mad". The way Uematsu was able to weave an almost discordant run like that in various places in the song is amazing to me. 20:23 Is another such placement, in a completely deferent, and abrupt way. During gameplay, that little sudden interlude was just jarring and a violent reminder of who you're actually fighting (which is an important part of the experience as Kefka was and EVIL and malicious MF, the story in the game and what he did was stunning and incredibly ambitious and totally unexpected. For many of us that grew up with the game, that theme and his laugh are triggering and trauma-inducing).

[@nishikaze]

Not to mention in the first movement you here bars from the opening theme. 5.27.

[@elizabethmclaughlin5882]

The best description of Dancing Mad I've ever heard is someone handed Nobuo Uematsu a pack of crayons and told him to make the Sistine Chapel - and he delivered in outstanding fashion.

[@Null_Experis]

The sound hardware available to the SNES at the time consisted of the 8-bit Sony SPC700 and a mere 64kb of RAM. It was developed by Ken Kutaragi, a senior engineer at sony as a secret project without permission from Sony's leadership. They were FURIOUS when they learned about it, and it was only through interference of the CEO that saved Kutaragi's job and paved the way to sony and Nintendo's early relationship and the eventual creation of the Playstation. Kutaragi would go on to design the PS1, PS2, and PS3 systems. The SPC700 was very limited, but capable of quite high quality sound for the time, but it was hampered by it's small 64k of RAM, which greatly limited how many sounds could be loaded from the cartridge at once.

[@fllthdcrb]

How many _and_ how long they are, which is why the samples tend to be short (putting aside looping, of course).

[@tylercolby1426]

You'd be surprised how many talented music composers made the SNES sound chip an absolute buffet of musical genius. If you're up for suggestions, David Wise is another composer that did a good job with the music of SNES games. Donkey Kong Country 2's Stickerbush Symphony will always be a good listen.

[@gagnose26]

Not to mention Plok

[@AkamiChannel]

And David Wise's absolutely epic The Flintstones Unused Song #2

[@vlander1992able]

This song blew my mind as a kid, I think it's the reason I came around to love prog later in life. Also Kefka is probably one of the most menacing and compelling villain I've encountered in a game it really changed my expectations on what a video game can deliver, immediately after this fight you get the final fanfare which is a combination of leitmotif's of the whole cast of 14 characters and a perfect send off for arguably one of the greatest, if not the greatest rpg of all time.

[@toprak3479]

I think this track is responsible for my love of baroque music and prog rock too

[@Valasty]

Just to add one more detail that goes unnoticed, this is played during the final battle and has many small hints of the previous OSTs we heard throughout the game. The battle is pretty much a journey back to the many hours we spent in the game, it's very emotional because you know you're at the culmination of everything you went through, and perfectly orchestrated by the chaotic nature of the villain (and it's a multi-phase battle, hence the major shifts). To think this is a SNES song with this much complexity is just mindblowing, this is honestly beyond a masterpiece. You should honestly hear everything Nobuo Uematsu has ever composed, the man is a GENIUS. In this very game he also composed AN OPERA scene.

[@alexisglaab2572]

The stacking intervals is a repeat of the first bit of music you ever hear in the game on the title screen. It just hammers home "this is the end", bringing everything full circle musically before the insanity of the final movement. The final movement sounds AMAZING on a Hammond organ.

[@kobarsos82]

The FF6 ost is quite likely the most legendary jrpg ost in the entire genre, maybe along with chrono trigger. No other soundtrack comes even close to be honest. What an era to be alive! An underrated gem of music that we never thought would come to be, the culmination of the absolute best in the SNES epoch! Dancing mad is literally the most unforgettable achievement that encompasses all that we love about music innovation!

[@saltyk9869]

I think every FF game has a soundtrack worth loving. I personally adore the FF7 soundtrack. But every game has stellar songs. Even going back to the early games.

[@n8dawgg93]

You keep saying "for the era, its sounds great" and I love that you are able to understand that! If you want something more "up to date" as far as instrumentation, there are 2 versions you absolutely must check out: Distant Worlds - this version is fully orchestrated and super nice Final Fantasy 14 version by Soken - this sounds like what Uematsu was truly going for and Soken does it *beautifully*

[@celuiquipeut6527]

There is a video where a guy played Dancing Mad on a real Church organ for his thesis. He played everything. It sounds like nothing you ever heard. The Bells are actual church bells. It gives me goosebumps just to remember it. Go watch it!

[@msl777]

You are also missing the masterpiece version which from Uematsu's band The Black Mages. Uematsu is playing the keyboard himself on that one. Their version of Dancing Mad is my absolute favorite! You won't regret listening to it!

[@MacMiller253]

Yeah him repeating that over and over again irked me…

[@arrgber]

Honestly, the best modern version is probably the Pixel Remaster one, not only because it was arranged by Uematsu himself, it keeps the feeling of the original, and is way more dynamic than the Distant Worlds more orchestral sound

[@Tragedyflow]

The entire ost for FFVI is a masterpiece even Nobuo Uematsu said it was his best work...

[@markschmidt3081]

The vision that Nobuo Uematsu had in the 80s and 90s for such a young form of media never stops blowing me away. He went from prog rock to video game music and now his music is played in concert halls. And yeah, this played by a drum and bugle corps? It needs to happen! Top tier writing for top tier playing.

[@MrKlarthums]

This track contains a lot of leitmotifs of the villain's theme. Sort of a staple of Uematsu's work. Not just in the high piano/organ parts, but one of the basslines is adapted from the theme's melody (13:55), too.

[@anthonydelfino6171]

Adding onto this, one of the really amazing parts is in movement 3 when Kefka's theme is introduces in the organ base line. His influence had been absent from that part of the piece up till that point and you can clearly feel his influence corrupting that part of the movement (which is meant to represent paradise)

[@brentt6714]

Knowing the story, listening to this song makes me think of the dynamics between Emperor Gestahl and Kefka through the first half of the game. Gestahl is represented at the beginning of the piece, with classical composition that's regal and dignified, dark and somewhat evil, but ordered. Kefka appears with offbeat, almost cartoony sounds that combine senses of levity and cruelty. They co-exist, then clash, and the piece ends with ordered darkness brought to an end, leaving chaotic sadism to continue into the future; the musical composition continues with the same intensity and the volume fades to end the song, signifying a "To be continued..." for this story. So the song basically represents the main antagonists' story to the end of the floating continent and Kefka overtaking the emperor as the primary antagonist of the story. I'm curious if anyone else thinks of it the same way or has other interpretations.

[@atlas6459]

While it is VERY difficult to top the majesty of the original, but FFXIV's versions of this song are just incredible. Each Act is split into its own OST, definitely recommend the listen

[@Lcss1]

^

[@SilentChaos15]

Nobuo Uematsu is a living legend. Composing the music of my childhood.

[@Kevinsyel]

The "Bassy" part where you're talking about the clash ~14:30 is actually the leitmotif of Kefka himself. His own personal theme track for the game uses that same progression as the bass because he's meant to be kind of a deranged clown and almost comically evil at first, until he's become a sinister god by the end of the game, where it then transforms on the second part. It also plays that same melody when the music drops for 2 bars of 4 during the prog section.

[@Youkesama]

If I'm not mistaken the whole piece of dancing mad is base on "or inspired by" the Divine Comedy (Dante's Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso).. and the theme is very fitting.

[@Satarack]

It's not just the music, it's the entire boss fight. The first stage is Inferno, with Satan trapped in a frozen lake (as depicted in the Inferno). The Second stage is Purgatorio, where men suffer to absolve themselves of their sins, like the lady crucified against the machines. The third stage is Paradiso, and is based Michelangelo Buonarroti's statue, "La Madonna della Pietà" depicting Mary holding the crucified body of her son. And then the 4th stage, rising above Paridiso, you meet God himself, Kefka.

[@BryanCarthell]

That part at 17:00 is the title screen music, so if you’ve been playing this game for the dozens of hours it takes, that part just hits different.

[@marcvongeldern847]

Final boss of FFVI, Kefka is the lead general of the evil Empire, second only to the empire. He was experimented on to infuse him with magical power, which drove him insane. He is literally an evil clown. This is the final fight with him. At this point he has accumulated so much magical power that he sees himself as a god. He feels disdain towards humanity and wishes only to inflict pain and suffering. The fight happens in four phases, the first three have you “climbing” a tower, and each tower represents “hell”, the earthly realm, and “heaven” respectively. After which he descends as an angelic figure (usually referred to as “God Kefka”) and the final phase begins. Kefka has a leitmotif that plays during some phases (check out Kefka’s Theme some time, it’s a shorter song), usually as it bleeds through the music, particularly during phase 3 (the “heaven” phase, with the more angelic/church-like music) representing his madness showing through his veneer of divinity.

[@BlackLionRampant]

The motif at 20:24 is Kefka's theme. You actually hear it throughout the whole piece. Earlier in the game it's such a comical sounding piece that seems so hard to take seriously. In this final battle with him it's the cackling of a deified madman.

[@jeffreyelmore948]

all the instruments are sound fonts from a Roland sc-88. most of this games music was inspired by the band emerson lake palmer

[@kirktown2046]

This soundtrack is carved in my heart. It babysat me as a kid, I've sung its melodies as lullabies, and multiple tracks can bring a tear to my eye. Uematsu brought each character sprite to life with a musical theme, made each story arc sink into your chest with mournful melodies. Honestly, Dancing Mad is nowhere near the best track, but it's a marvelous little spectacle and one hell of a cherry on top of an endearing and badass game. It's your last guide through the final battle with a villain you thoroughly despise.

[@ubermenschen01]

13:56 the melodic line is a leitmotif of the villian (Kefka)'s theme, love that its hidden underneath this bright organ section

[@deertrivia5672]

For covers: there's one called "Prancing Dad" that is absolutely incredible. Highly recommended!

[@Bonerlord]

Insane that uematsu was making these absolute bangers in 8 and 16 bit sound cards

[@chrispysaid]

I ALWAYS love watching people discover this masterpiece for the first time, especially people who know their stuff in terms of music

[@TBoneTony]

The last part of the 4th movement is the Lament phase. It's really beautiful because Kefka realizes that he could be beaten and he is starting to throw all he can at the Protagonists at this point in the final boss fight before he goes down.

[@mobscene23ks]

Tony, please check out the cover by The Black Mages, a Final Fantasy-centric band formed by Nobuo Uematsu. It is such a gorgeous rendition. I cannot recommend it enough.

[@TheTouristArrives]

Apparently, this piece uses segments from Bach’s Tocatta and Fugue in D Minor. For context.

[@galefire102]

Definitely one of the greatest pieces of gaming music of all time, even without context or playing the game you can recognize the immense effort Uematsu went through to perfect every moment. It fits perfectly with the personality of and the situation surrounding the final boss of the game as well, so on multiple levels it is a masterpiece in every sense. If you want more modernized versions of this, you can search up a live orchestra playing it at Distant Worlds, as well as a more rock/metal cover by The Black Mages. I'd thoroughly recommend the whole soundtrack of Final Fantasy VI though, it's truly a work of art.

[@thoughtfulfreespace]

If you're interested in a more modern orchestral version of the song there was one made in 2014 from Distant Worlds, a symphony tour of Final Fantasy music. Thanks for the reaction.

[@girish9242]

I love that version so much, it's quite divine especially movement 4

[@eliminoh_p7877]

That version is my favorite. It’s so good.

[@michaelbenti5383]

All the music from FF6 is so good.

[@clintonwilcox4690]

When I was in college concert band, after our final concert one of the band members brought in two pieces from Final Fantasy VII to play, the Overworld Theme and One-Winged Angel. It was just for fun, as we never performed them. But if you want to hear a more modern version of this song with real instruments, Nobuou Uematsu put a progressive metal band together called The Black Mages which did metal arrangements of Final Fantasy tunes. They did their own rendition of Dancing Mad which I'm sure you can find on KZbin. Final Fantasy XIV also has all four movements of Dancing Mad in it because of certain fights, including fighting Kefka in the game.

[@highstimulation2497]

the last phase at 18:38... one thing I have always loved about it, aside from the uneven time signatures here and there, is that it actually IS related to the melodies from phase III, and to earlier music in the game, namely, "Kefka's Theme," the main melody of which is the first melody heard in phase three, oddly in major (then minor, the bassline plays it too in a manner of speaking,) and it's more or less what the 'guitar' is playing at the start of phase IV, and for one random interjecting bar in the organ a while later. "Do a lot with a little, they said." I always appreciate when a theme comes back, especially when it isn't just repeated, but actually done something with. Cool reaction, man. I recently heard the music for the new "pixel remaster" of this game (they did all six of the first six games.) It's pretty great too. One of the tracks, called "Metamorphosis" (when Kefka does some absolutely insidious monstrous evil actions) used to just be strings and a bass and a buncha french horns.... they added rock guitar to the remastered version and it's bloody amazing. check it out of possible. (it's all diminished harmony of terrifying proportions too, (and it TOO is a diminished-scale version of the main theme, which I also love.) Could talk all night about this music. Love it.

[@KelvenCauthon]

Two versions of this song I'd STRONGLY recommend checking out are the versions by "The Black Mages" and "Distant Worlds". The Black Mages is the composer's (Nobuo Uematsu) own band. Distant Worlds is an orchestral concert tour featuring music from the Final Fantasy games.

[@brickingle3984]

This peice is also a really supreme case study in light motific transformation. The big chords and bells in the opening are referencing the opening track called "omen" and the main antagonists leitmotif is that really active bass line in the bach section and the final melody is a variation of that leitmotif as well.

[@g44briel]

"Distant Worlds II" version of this music is also amazing! you should check that out as well

[@chrisnorthcott9885]

This was performed at Distant Worlds in 2014 if you want to hear an official rendition of this with real instruments. It's MINDBLOWING.

[@jenikabartlett9396]

One of the best 16-bit SNES pieces made, for a limited format, so much was done with this, and I love how so many of your comments fit Kefka(The character who's song this is at the peak of his power) to a T. Ah Kefka, Kefka, you mad, nihilistic, power drunk, omnicidal clown, we love to hate you.

[@dannysimion]

Glad you brought up the hardware this music came from and the manipulation and sound engineering it took to get make this high piece of theatrical music work especially given how many elements it has. This was the 10 minute version and I can hear the full version of it went on for for 30 minutes.

[@NIGHTMARE20XX]

I saw Uematsu come to Houston for the Video Games Live and Distant Worlds: Final Fantasy concerts. Watching him play Dancing Mad on the keyboard, among other instruments for other pieces, live was fan-effing-tastic. Not to mention listening actual opera singers perform the Opera Scene nearly brought me to tears each concert.

[@Dr._Jazz]

This was a fantastic analysis! Good fun seeing your reactions. FYI, the movements, I believe, in order, are called "Hell," "Purgatory," "Heaven," and "God" (and, yes, the big organ buildup part at 18:00 is the INTRO to the 4th movement - when Kefka descends upon us in his true form that you see on the screen). This is truly one of the most famous examples of video game music of all time. If you want to hear a good modern version of it with modern orchestral instruments, check out Masayoshi Soken's version from FF14. It's pretty wild.

[@DanH11]

As you kind of identified later on, Uematsu is a big fan of prog rock and it shows very clearly in this piece. I think it's really cool the way he married this very gothic, organ-centered piece into essentially a prog rock track in the back half. That man is very talented and was doing awesome things with the fairly limited SNES sound chip for the time. I'd wager he was likely a core influence (even if just subconsciously) for a lot of younger composers that were hearing this kind of stuff playing video games in their formative years. Compositional creativity like this is infectious.

[@slumpcat6352]

The Black Mages cover is done by the actual composer's band, it's definitely worth checking out Tony!

[@kirktown2046]

"It's straight up prog." YES! Imagine hearing this in 1995 from a freaking SNES, such hype. And for all the moments where you're like "for it's time..." Once you listen to enough of this type of music you get fully broken in, the timbre of these digital instruments can even be desirable and carry an emotional edge. For me, there's nothing that hits quite like the original sound, all the remakes don't quite hit the spot. There's a lot of fantastic piano covers though. Good chance I'll request a piano cover for some Uematsu songs, someone else recommended some orchestral versions, but I think the best version has yet to be made.

[@kingdoge69]

1994, even better

[@kirktown2046]

@@kingdoge69 I had a hand-me-down.

[@AkamiChannel]

I remember, and it was epic

[@FindingsOfAnArmouredMind]

Uematsu himself admitted he is a huge fan of Emerson, Lake & Palmer. They're the big daddies of Progressive Rock.

[@anthonydelfino6171]

There's so much amazing little things with this piece! (and some I wouldn't expect you to catch just from this piece alone) 1) The fight you're doing here, and subsequently the music accompanying it is heavily inspired by The Divine Comedy. Phase 1 being The Inferno, Phase 2 being Puragory, Phase 3 being Paradise and the final phase fighting Kefka as the self created God of Magic. 2) In phase two you commented about the bass line of the organ doing something different from the high notes, and this part is actually really interesting. The bass line is playing Kefka's theme, and you can see that as his theme enters the theme of Paradise how it corrupts the melody turning it from major to his minor. Basically turning it from a more classical paradise into paradise lost. Also as far as other versions, definitely check out the rerecorded version they did for Final Fantasy XIV. A version of this same fight was added into the game, and they updated all the tracks to be up to par with current standards. This was done about 6 years ago, so should still be pretty decent.

[@jethrodull5860]

Carolina Crown playing that resolution chord would blow the roof off. This piece was pretty instrumental in my musical awakening as a child. Sidenote, I was able to see the Seattle Cascades not too long ago. It was awesome seeing them back on the field!

[@greedling5300]

The Grissini Project had someone playing the whole thing on a church organ. Once all the stops were pulled out, it was full blast. kzbin.info/www/bejne/rXfEp6t5or-VoMk&pp=ygUcZ3Jpc3NpbmkgcHJvamVjdCBkYW5jaW5nIG1hZA%3D%3D

[@the_panos]

I was lucky enough to get to see this performed live by an orchestra, band and opera singers with the original composer in attendance. If you can find one of those performances, that's probably the best way to see it! The show was called Distant Worlds and it was incredible.

[@ubermenschen01]

17:35 Thats the moment that the final boss "God Kefka" descends from on high, and waxes about existence for a few sentences before fighting you. The whole final fight is essentially Dante's Inferno, if the journey started at the very bottom of Hell, with Satan encased in ice. Then there's a representation of Man/Earth, then Purgatory where you fight Michaelangelo's Pieta statue, and finally Heaven, with God Kafka (the angelic sprite in the video). Also, Uematsu loves prog, he's got a rock band called "The Black Mages" that do rock covers of his orchestral music. Check it out sometime.

[@Belmiro83]

around @14:10 is a Leitmotif from another major song songs in the game. For me it really hits a emotional cord for me of all the long journey this game took to get to this final battle with Kafka. Also his laugh at the end is iconic. He basically is one of the few FF6 villains that win.

[@FluffySylveonBoi]

Yes, the last part is total chaos, it always pumps me up!

[@adeadphish7931]

This is one of my favorite pieces of game music from one of my favorite games and i adore seeing people with training in music listen to it and take it all in. It is a 4 movement epic for one of the most intimidating final bosses I had faced in any game up to that point and while I didn't fully take in its quality then, it stuck with me and as I grew up, my appreciation for it only grew. Also, for as great as the original sounds, it can get better. Hearing it with an orchestra, choir and band on traditional instruments is INSANE!! it translates so well from midi to the instruments it emulates and it shows just how masterfully Uematsu perfected his craft with the hardware available. Also, fun fact about the baseline you mentioned in the third movement: it uses the leimotif of the game's main villain's theme, which is interwoven throughout the track, especially in the 3rd and 4th movements

[@schwindsichtigaderechte5293]

FFVI is my favourite game ever, the entire soundtrack is absolutely amazing, imo still the best soundtrack of all time. Dancing mad is based on Kefka's theme, he's the bbeg of the game and dancing mad reflects him having tapped into divine powers in four movements that to me symbolize the fear of god, the lament of purgatory, the glory of god and finally Kefka's rage, when his true colours emerge again. Throughout all these movements, Kefka's original theme is always present in some way or another, reminding the player that dispite his god-like powers, Kefka is still the same clownish, flamboyant, megalomanical psychopath he always was, giving the final battle an even greater sense of urgency to defeat him once and for all.

[@mageius]

The Black Mages version of this alongside Distance Worlds versions are amazing covers of the pieces. Well to be fair they are more somewhat rearrangements of the Peace but I think that counts here.

[@boldestdungeon]

I loved hearing your insights on this track! On a quick scan of the comments I haven't seen it listed yet, but there's a cover here on KZbin called "Final Fantasy VI - Dancing Mad (Symphonic Arrange)" by "상록수" that is my absolute favourite version of the song. I've had "Experience 'Dancing Mad' performed live" on my bucket list since I first heard the track when I was a kid, but since hearing that arrangement that's been amended to "Experience _that version_ of 'Dancing Mad' performed live."

[@MisterTwit]

Very nice, love your reactions. An important thing to note about this is that while a lot of it is self-contained, the final section is referring to and revisiting several other themes in the game. This was something Uematsu did a lot, and did better than pretty much anyone else at the time. The emotional effect during the game is unforgettable.

[@ShakeyMac18]

Others have mentioned it before, but the best of the best cover for it is the one done by the band of the composer for the song, Nobuo Uematsu. Story goes, he and some other music guys he knew from the company they all worked out decided they wanted to make a band and play some live music. So they formed The Black Mages (named for a type of character class in Final Fantasy, the black mage) and ultimately released three studio albums and did some touring, mostly in Japan but with some international dates as well. As far as I know they no longer play together, but you can still find their music online, all of it stuff that was initially composed (and often performed) by Uematsu, along with a handful of originals he wrote for the band. The Dancing Mad rendition of the song is absolutely mind-blowing and it includes a guitar solo that just....it just fucking works. Definitely worth checking out. You're gonna love the drum work in that song too. All of their stuff is great. They even have a modern rendition of the original Final Fantasy battle music, if you're feeling like a trip down memory lane. Personally, I'd recommend giving their version of Zeromus a listen as well.

[@winstondavenport]

I absolutely love GaMetal’s 2019 cover of Dancing Mad. And especially as a drummer, you will certainly wet yourself watching him lean hard into the Metal interpretation, and also showcasing the rich melodies on his Elec guitar. Im not even a metal fan, but that version to me is the tautest and hardest hitting. 😊

[@peterepeatepete2845]

I never noticed things like the bass line before, it’s Really cool to listen to it this way with someone who knows their sh1t.

[@moisesaguayo5668]

The soundtrack for this game is simply amazing, grew up playing FF with my brothers and forever a core memory🔥

[@thevillagetroublemaker]

Nobuo Uematsu is just that guy man, really cool composer.

[@crosstethrus162]

The music gets even better when you watch it and see the phase transitions from one group of bosses to the next leading all the way up to that transition to phase 4 and start the final part of the fight. You also asked for recommendations on covers for this, there's a channel called GaMetal who did a good cover of this and other older gamer music that fans request.

[@user-rx1mb5fp7c]

As one of many who have revelled into the genius of Nobuo and in particular this entire arrangement, it was delightful for me to just see you visibly and audibly enjoying the composition so very much. There are plenty of covers of different types, just searching "Dancing Mad" on youtube search will give you access to a good selection

[@AzyxA]

One of the best f'n VGM songs ever. What they did with both the music and graphics for this game was mind blowing for the time.

[@darshio8307]

Tbh, ff6 and Chrono trigger are the pinacle of a lot of aspects of the snes

[@jordanjohnson1949]

The live orchestra recording is sooo much better. Distant Worlds II album. 8-bit Music Theory did a synopsis of this suite and if you liked it without context, it's MIND-BLOWING once you see the intricacy of how this piece was composed.

[@marche800]

Fun detail about the note stacking right before the final phase is that exact part part of the track plays for Omen, the game's title theme. Making that track an Omen for the end of Dancing Mad, the final boss theme.

[@AkamiChannel]

I grew up listening to this. It is probably the most epic track to ever be composed in all of video game history. So when you describe certain changes as "deceptive" it throws me for a loop (in a good way) and makes me try to imagine what it would be like to hear this for the first time (something I can't possibly do).

[@kiaru86]

After watching your reaction of One winged angel I searched the song and everyone was talking about Dancing mad too. I get soo amazed by the FFVI ost that I began to play it. Im loving it and the music in the whole game is really great

[@Terralventhe]

A nice touch is that the opera scene from earlier in the game sets us up musically for what to expect an operatic vocal performance to sound like using the SNES sound, just so that when 3:55 hits you know it's meant to be this ominous choir going off.

[@scottisitt]

Kara Comparetto does a great piano vs organ arrangement of this piece on her channel. She even cosplays as two characters from the game. She performed on each instrument separately, but the final product looks like a duel between the two instruments/characters. Definitely worth checking out.

[@kalajel]

I just love how they sneak in Kefka's theme a couple of times in throughout the song.

[@user-xu3bg7zh9c]

Uematsu is a fan of 70´s prog rock. Emerson Lake & Palmer is one of his influences, and it really shows in this song.

[@SeanMcColgandude]

In my opinion this is one of the best pieces of music I've listened to

[@GrimmZiv]

Just came across this video, loved your reaction to it as its one of my favorite pieces from the FF series. Also, if no one has said it already, they (Square Enix) have a live instrumental version of this in the Stormblood expansion of Final Fantasy14. They also had an arrangement for their orchestra from one of their Distant Worlds concerts as well. Definitely worth the listen.

[@lvcsslacker]

it's so great seeing that people deep into music enjoy this amazing piece of music as much as I do!

[@reyenaldi4644]

Nobuo Uematsu sir. He is a living legends in the history video game industry

[@Videodragon64]

The Black Mages Cover is Official Uematsu's band and awesome

[@Shinobi_sac]

omg, I forgot about that cover!!

[@finnthedoctor]

The end of the final movement will always give me goosebumps.

[@patrickjanecke5894]

Listening to this is even more rewarding after going through the leitmotifs throughout the game.

[@sergioarroyo1923]

It came out in the 90s, but it totally sounds like a 70s symphonic rock epic. Uematsu is an ELP head, so you can understand where this stuff comes from

[@SorshaFarris1]

ty for this review. just stumbled upon this channel and this video, listening to you go over this beautiful masterpiece and letting me hear all the hidden drum parts I have glossed over all these years… brought back such an utter love on why this game and THIS SONG are so beloved by not only me but so many others, almost brought me to tears. thank you for the kind explanation and your honest and open thoughts. I really hope you get to try playing the game yourself and can enjoy it. (yes this same game has a wonderfully orchestrated opera in it) so I think you would enjoy if you gave the game a play. 😄

[@danielamaro4656]

I am picturing that fight in my head as the song goes on. Too bad he didn't have a run-through of it to watch while playing the song. The art and ambiance of the visuals really make this song that much better, like in the beginning when you get that whooshing wind sound that sounds like a large creature trying to inhale, which fits perfectly because that first part is literally a mammoth amalgamation of flesh holding up the next two phases of the fight on its back. Phase two has multiple different parts and it sounds like it's coming from multiple directions, and if memory serves that's the phase that has seven or eight targets in total to deal with, multiple appendages and heads, etc. Phase three is the more "mystical" portion of the triple pre-final phase, has the pieces of a unicorn and cherub on it, did the holy-based and curative magics, and it's the one that sounds the most like a hymn out of the bunch, complete with bells and everything. Then the actual Kefka fight itself, where he showcases how much he thinks of himself by ditching the whole "clown" motif and moving on to a heavenly body, the grandiose music to match, but with his theme still slightly playing in the background to indicate that his core hasn't actually changed as he's still the violent sociopath he's always been. And the way the whole song shifts for casting "Fallen One", gave it an urgency of knowing you had to prep for something that was about to come and wreck you if you weren't at 100% ready to tank it. I think part of what made me start liking Final Fantasy less since 10 has been the fact that Uematsu hasn't been involved in the music since. His ability was that instrumental (pun not intended) to the whole experience.

[@jasonhunt6842]

I've always liked how Uematsu-san could seamlessly blend old and new instrumentation.

[@antoniogarest7516]

Sucha an interesting analysis! I'd love to watch more videos about classic videogames music

[@Lunatic89097]

Just stumbled upon this reaction. I'm not sure if anyone said anything about the stackinh notes, but it's the beginning of the final phase and is the first thing you hear when you boot up the game.

[@Something9008]

Konami did some PHENOMENAL proggy SNES Soundtracks: Contra 3, Axelay, Castlevania IV, Gradius III and the one of kind Mystical Ninja.

[@Sovereign-kh4ng]

I've always thought the movement for the actual battle theme, that part where the snare kicks after the choral theme incorporates "Decisive Battle", which has the same melody.

[@Beaphstake]

Awesome, this was fun to watch. You mentioned at the end if there were any suggested covers. I would highly reccomend the cover done by the channel Orchestral Fantasy. He gathered live instruments and what's basically a small choir.