The Music of Courier Crisis, an Underrated Banger of a PS1 Soundtrack
July 4th - Independence Day. A day of celebration, food & drink, and fireworks. Today, as everyone gets ready to fire up their grills and host family and friends with their backyard barbecues and pool parties, there will undoubtedly be one guest present at every single one of these gatherings across our nation. Music. Who invited Music and why is Music wanted so badly at our parties? Because Music brings the fun and atmosphere to our celebrations. The 4th of July wouldn’t be complete without music! What type of music you want to play is up to you. Top-40/Rock/Hip-Hop/EDM/The Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 Soundtrack. Wait, what? That last one wasn’t a genre… Well it might as well be.
The THPS1 soundtrack is a staple of 90’s videogame soundtracks and is definitely top-tier enough to blast at your 4th of July party today. The fact that I’m bringing it up in 2025 even though the game is going to be 30 in a few years (spits drink out) should be a testament to how good the tracklist is. I mean who DOESN’T want the whole backyard yelling “So HERE I AM! DOING EEVERYYTHING I CAAAN! HOLDING OOON TO WHAT I AAAAM! PRETENDING IIII’M A SUPERMAAN!” and annoying your neighbors? Oh wait, they would probably be singing along too. You know what song they probably WON’T be singing along to? Losin’ It by Dodgeball. And that’s a damn shame. Because it’s fast, raw and just as awesome as Superman by Goldfinger. Now, you might be saying “I’ve never heard of this, ‘Dodgeball’. Are they even a real band? You’re making this up!” Well, I’m not making this up. Their music is awesome (check out their CD ‘Hooray for Everything’) and they’re a part of the soundtrack to an awesome PS1 videogame called Courier Crisis. At this point, the younger ones at your backyard party would ask “What’s a Cee-Dee??” Ahh the time before smartphones and Spotify…
Anyway, where was I? Oh, that’s right, Dodgeball’s Hooray for Everything CD album. Their track ‘Losin’ It’ was featured on the soundtrack for the videogame Courier Crisis on the Sony Playstation. The original Playstation… You know, the gray one from the mid-90’s? Yeah, that one. Courier Crisis came out in 1997 and is basically a glorified mayhem-fest of delivering packages via bicycle in a city that heavily resembles San Francisco. Everything is out to stop you from making your deliveries - cars, pedestrians, dogs and even crabs. By why listen to me when the Wikipedia article does such an elegant and thorough job describing the gameplay? Here is the Gameplay section in its entirety, and I quote:
“The player is given a set amount of time to deliver a set amount of packages. Money can be earned to buy new bikes.”
Wow. Couldn’t have said it better myself. So succinct.
Accompanying Dodgeball on this 10/10 soundtrack includes the bands Big Drill Car, Armchair Martian, 7 Seconds, Swivelneck, Cardiac Kids, Deadbolt, Hot Chicken Stew, and Drip Tank. Big Drill Car has 3 tracks in the game, “Nagaina”, “The Shake”, and “What You Believe” – all taken from their No Worse for the Wear album. Like Big Drill Car, Swivelneck also has 3 songs heard in the game, “Girlfriendly”, “Dysfunctional Superhero”, and “Twenty-Inch Ride” from their album Contactor. 7 Seconds has 3 as well, “We’re Gonna Fight”, “5 Years of Lies”, and “The Kids Are United” all from their alt.music.hardcore album (classic). Cardiac Kids has two songs included, “Jacks or Better” and “Torchlight” from the Viva Uranus album. The rest of the bands only have one song each included - Armchair Martian’s “Xenophobe (A Car)” from their self-titled album; the aforementioned Dodgeball with “Losin’ It”; Deadbolt’s “Scare Me” from the Tiki Man album; Drip Tank’s “Circumstance” from the album Sprawl; and last but not least “Keep Your Hands on the Boogie” from Hot Chicken Stew’s album The Brotherhood Recipe.
While a lot of these songs are considered ‘punk’ and are sure to rock any backyard party, there are a couple ‘chilled’ songs for variety – “Keep Your Hands on the Boogie” and “Scare Me”. Maybe put those tracks on later on at your BBQ. Unfortunately, there is no hip-hop/rap on the soundtrack so you’re gonna have to head back to the Tony Hawk soundtracks for that. In terms of techno/dance music, Courier Crisis did have some of that playing in the menus. I would classify it as a mix of Drum n Bass, Breakbeat, Industrial, and Techno. Really good stuff and you can easily find those tracks on Youtube. Even better, feel free to mix in THOSE tracks in today’s backyard party playlist! As your playlist plays the hits of today and yesterday with the Courier Crisis menu music sprinkled in, watch as your guests react “Wow, I haven’t heard THAT track in years!” followed by “Wow, I’ve never heard that track at all!” That’s when someone clumsily tries to get their smartphone out of their pocket to Shazam one of the drum n bass menu tracks and it slips through their greasy burger hands and cracks on your patio. After all, they could have just asked you what song is playing since YOU’RE THE ONE HOSTING THE PARTY. But no, now we have a cracked phone and somebody’s sourness bringing the hype down at your backyard bash. And no, Shazam couldn't identify that track. But not to worry! Reassure them everything will be okay, blast 7 Seconds “The Kids Are United” and turn that frown upside down!
So what’s the point of this post? To shed light on an overlooked soundtrack from an overlooked game that was seriously underrated. And with it being July 4th and all, I think today would be a perfect day to celebrate this awesome soundtrack by blasting it loud and proud at your shindig. So… Go find a Courier Crisis Soundtrack playlist with these songs on it, set it to play, start grillin’, get the drinks flowin’, and have a great Independence Day! Chase it with any one of the Tony Hawk game soundtracks and you’re in for a good time today :). Happy 4th of July! ~G
