There are 50 unique music tracks in Duke Nukem 3D. Individual soundtracks were scored for all 48 levels of the game, and two more tracks were produced for the title screen and for the opening cinematic of The Birth.
All of the music was written and produced by Lee Jackson and Bobby Prince, both of whom previously collaborated on Rise of the Triad and have independently scored other games in the Duke Nukem franchise.
MIDI files in the game use the special EMIDI format, designed by Jim Dosé and Lee Jackson.
Track Listing
Episode One
| # | Track Name | Composer | Level | MIDI |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Grabbag | Lee Jackson | Title Screen/Menu | grabbag |
| 02 | Stalker | Lee Jackson | E1L1: Hollywood Holocaust | stalker |
| 03 | Taking the Death Toll | Bobby Prince | E1L2: Red Light District | dethtoll |
| 04 | The City Streets | Bobby Prince | E1L3: Death Row | streets |
| 05 | Water World | Bobby Prince | E1L4: Toxic Dump | watrwld1 |
| 06 | Sneaky Snake | Bobby Prince | E1L5: The Abyss | snake1 |
| 07 | The Call of Death | Bobby Prince | E1L6: Launch Facility | thecall |
| 08 | Ah, Geez! | Lee Jackson | E1L7: Faces of Death | ahgeez |
Episode Two
| # | Track Name | Composer | Level | MIDI |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 09 | Future Military Conquests | Lee Jackson | E2L1: Spaceport | futurmil |
| 10 | Space Storm | Bobby Prince | E2L2: Incubator | storm |
| 11 | Gut Wrencher | Bobby Prince | E2L3: Warp Factor | gutwrnch |
| 12 | RoboCreeping | Lee Jackson | E2L4: Fusion Station | robocrep |
| 13 | Stalag 3-D | Lee Jackson | E2L5: Occupied Territory | stalag |
| 14 | Pissed! | Bobby Prince | E2L6: Tiberius Station | pizzed |
| 15 | Aliens, Say Your Prayers! | Bobby Prince | E2L7: Lunar Reactor | alienz |
| 16 | Plasma | Lee Jackson | E2L8: Dark Side | xplasma |
| 17 | Alfred H. (My Family's Plot) | Lee Jackson | E2L9: Overlord | alfredh |
| 18 | Gloomy | Lee Jackson | E2L10: Spin Cycle | gloomy |
| 19 | In Tents | Lee Jackson | E2L11: Lunatic Fringe | intents |
Episode Three
| # | Track Name | Composer | Level | MIDI |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 | In Hiding | Bobby Prince | E3L1: Raw Meat | inhiding |
| 21 | Going After the Fat Commander | Bobby Prince | E3L2: Bank Roll | fatcmdr |
| 22 | Taking Names | Bobby Prince | E3L3: Flood Zone | names |
| 23 | Subway | Bobby Prince | E3L4: L.A. Rumble | subway |
| 24 | Invader | Bobby Prince | E3L5: Movie Set | invader |
| 25 | Gotham | Lee Jackson | E3L6: Rabid Transit | gotham |
| 26 | 233.778 Celsius | Lee Jackson | E3L7: Fahrenheit | 233c |
| 27 | Lord of L.A. | Bobby Prince | E3L8: Hotel Hell | lordofla |
| 28 | Urban Jungle | Lee Jackson | E3L9: Stadium | urban |
| 29 | Spook | Bobby Prince | E3L10: Tier Drops | spook |
| 30 | Whomp | Lee Jackson | E3L11: Freeway | whomp |
Episode Four
All tracks for The Birth were composed by Lee Jackson.
| # | Track Name | Level | MIDI |
|---|---|---|---|
| 31 | Briefing Room | Opening Cinematic | briefing |
| 32 | Missing? Impossible! | E4L1: It's Impossible | missimp |
| 33 | Preparation D | E4L2: Duke Burger | prepd |
| 34 | Baked Goods | E4L3: Shop-N-Bag | bakedgds |
| 35 | Calypso Facto | E4L4: Babe Land | cf |
| 36 | Lemon Chilllllllllllllllll | E4L5: Pigsty | lemchill |
| 37 | Pissed Office Box | E4L6: Going Postal | pob |
| 38 | Warehaus | E4L7: XXX-Stacy | warehaus |
| 39 | Layers of Dust | E4L8: Critical Mass | layers |
| 40 | Floghorn | E4L9: Derelict | floghorn |
| 41 | Departure | E4L10: The Queen | depart |
| 42 | Restricted Area | E4L11: Area 51 | restrict |
Episode Five
All additional tracks for Alien World Order were composed by Lee Jackson. The track Bullet Dam features riffs from Stalker (featured on Hollywood Holocaust), and the track Dukelinka features elements from famous Russian songs, such as Korobeiniki and the National anthem of Russia. The music does not use MIDI files.
| # | Track Name | Level |
|---|---|---|
| 43 | Bullet Dam | E5L1: High Times |
| 44 | Dukelinka | E5L2: Red Ruckus |
| 45 | Big Ben Bang | E5L3: Bloody Hell |
| 46 | Desert Maze | E5L4: Mirage Barrage |
| 47 | Paris Manson | E5L5: Tour de Nukem |
| 48 | Bridge Out | E5L6: Golden Carnage |
| 49 | Pluck You | E5L7: Hollywood Inferno |
| 50 | Roman Thunder | E5L8: Prima Arena |
Expansions
For the soundtrack to the expansions packs, see:
Grabbag
The title track in the game is "Grabbag", written by Lee Jackson. The track has become well-known in pop culture and has elicited an officially sanctioned studio version by the thrash metal band Megadeth for the compilation album Duke Nukem: Music to Score By. Remixes of the track are used in several other Duke Nukem games.
Another version of the track was recorded by Chris Kline in August of 2005. 3D Realms featured this rendition on the front page of their website and paid Kline to use it for promoting the release of Duke Nukem 3D for the Xbox Live Arcade.
The track's title is a reference to the process Jackson employed when composing it. According to Jackson:
As the song progressed, I started to feel like I was reaching into a bag, pulling things out, and just seeing how they fit together. I'd grab the ideas for the drums in from one place, the harmonic progression from another, and the melody from several different places. Bits of Pantera-inspired riffs showed up in the guitar lines, and a good measure of Ozzy Osborne and Black Sabbath inspired the mode switching I did in the melodic line. For a bit of fun, I tossed in a Rick Wakeman-style keyboard riff, just to see whether or not it would work. When it came time to wrap up the session and save the song, I still had no idea where I was going with it. I hadn't even begun to think of a title, and to be honest, I didn't really think that there was much of a song there yet. Nevertheless, I needed a filename in order to save the song to my hard drive, even though I still didn't have a title for it. Since it seemed like I'd been reaching into a grabbag and pulling out song ideas while writing the song, that's what I chose for its filename: Grabbag.
For the Atomic Edition CD, a remixed version of Grabbag was recorded in CD-Audio format and included as a hidden audio track (track number 2 on a mixed-mode CD). The updated version is available for free to download.
Duke Nukem: Music to Score By
Several Duke Nukem games feature popular tracks from well-known musicians. A greatest hits compilation, titled Duke Nukem: Music to Score By (the Official Duke Nukem Album) was released in 1999 and consisted of heavy metal and hip hop music. Musical artists included Megadeth, Slayer, Type O Negative, Stabbing Westward, Sevendust, Xzibit, Wu-Tang Clan, and others.
External links
- The Official Duke Nukem Forever FAQ: The History Of Grabbag, via the Wayback Machine
- Duke Nukem 3D Music (MIDI) by JudgeDeadd