This song, as I'm sure you already learned, is the final boss track used for FFVI. But what is interesting is how the actual boss battle works, and how it uses the song and its different movements. Most JRPG final bosses have two, sometimes three forms before you fully beat them. Kefka's fight does things a little differently. Once the fight starts, and the track begins, you are faced with what I can only describe as this tower of bodies and beings all twisted together. The song starts with a battle against the lowest tier of this tower. I have heard that this tower of beings before the final boss itself is inspired by Dante's Divine Comedy. As you defeat each of the three levels of this tower, the movements of the song will begin changing along with it. Each level of this tower of beings twisted together all seem to have different forms and representations of the final boss, Kefka, on it. Perhaps it is all the different ways he sees himself. Now, that part towards the end where the song fades out and a completely new build up starts... that is when the player reaches the very top of the tower, then begins to ascend high into the sky with a very pretty SNES quality backdrop of a brilliant yellow sky full of god rays through the clouds. The build up you hear happens as you are rising into the sky and Kefka himself descends from above to begin the real final battle. It's all extremely memorable, and like nothing else I had never played in any game before.
Each section of the fight is paired with a dark reprisal of linked songs from earlier in the game, there are many layers of meaning to this fight. I personally consider this as four different songs/acts that together tell the story of Kefka, leading him to his final moments in life as he accepts death from the closest he has to "friends"
@@AtlasBenighted It was quite likely inspired by Dante’s “Divine Comedy” as the boss phases seem to represent Hell, then Purgatory, and finally Heaven as you fight Kefka having transformed himself into an angelic figure. He becomes a god. The music along with the fight and it’s different phase transitions is genius.
Nobuo is self taught... it's crazy to think that someone without formal music education can be so well studied and having such a control over their craft. Nobuo is one of the great composers for the ages.
Music is essentially self taught. People are impressed when this happens, but there is no reason to be so. After all, someone in the beginning of time had to discover music this way also. Education just helps to bridge the gap of knowledge quickly.
Danny Elfman is basically the same way, he never had any formal education, just crazy amounts of exposure and experience. He's turned it into brilliant madness that isn't restrained by genres, much like Nobuo Uematsu. Education can give someone the tools in a more organized fashion, but it's still up to the artist to figure out how to use them.
To think that Nobuo Uematsu created this for a game that was mainly played by children who were generally too young and naive to truly appreciate this masterpiece. We weren't worthy, but he gave it to us anyway.
FFVI wasn't mainly for children... In fact many games back then weren't exclusively for children. They had alot of mature themes and references that children wouldn't even understand. Even tho I did play it for the first time when I was around 8 years old. Even tho it was rated K-A (kids to adults) back in 1993, its now rated T (for teens).
10:48 I'm glad you said that about the layers. The fight - and song - are supposed to represent hell, purgatory, heaven and finally, a final fight with God himself, which Kefka becomes. Nihilism is the core theme for this piece as Kefka basically wants to destroy everything. "Everything eventually ends. Life is so, meaningless..." He is the perfect definition of an extremely intelligent mad man with unlimited power, who essentially became a God. Also, for anyone who'd like to hear a modern take on this masterpiece, I highly suggest GaMetal's own 2019 remix. Search for Dancing Mad (Final Fantasy VI) - GaMetal Remix (2019). You won't regret it.
I also suggest GaMetal's arrangement on it, however I do think his 2014 version still comes out on top compared to his 2019. I'd say theres too much percussion added to the remix in the 2nd and 3rd movement, whereas the 2014 feels more faithful to the original
26:08 "it's almost like a theatre play or something" Exactly! The whole game is an opera. The game's most iconic scene is the opera house and the whole game carrys stage play motifs all the way through, even to the end credits which are structured like playbill
the reaosn the song is so long with each aprt so distinct is that they're all part of a long, long battle, and reflects the mindset of it's main villain, Kefka Palazo, exploring his rage, sorrow, despair and, of course, his homicidal madness as he laughs at the world and at the heroes' hopes, finding no point in anything and deciding to destroy everything just to have one last bit of fun to amuse himself. Each distinct portion of the song covers a segment of the battle, as you climb a tower and battle Kefka's many forms that reflect his mindset.
Yes, Dancing Mad is this complex cause it ilustrate Kefka's distorted and warped sense of "evolutional scale" - having demons and beasts in the lower sections, humans and science in the middle, saints and holy figures at the top and the angelical/divine tier in the summit...and to think he made that monument only to have some fun destroying the world while making fun of the human beliefs and creeds.
It's amazing that his backstory comes from an missable npc dialogue with a few sentences and we can come to this conclusion. I kinda wished the game explored more of his character because he seems like a one dimensional character at surface level
And then on top of that, you got the visual of the three bosses leading up to the Kefka fight being representations of the three parts of Dante's Divine Comedy - Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven respectively, with the battle with Kefka himself essentially representing Dante getting through Heaven and meeting God. All the more reason why I'd love to see a reaction to video footage of the boss fight.
In short, four parts. the first three either loop or continue to the next as they end (except the third one, which only loops), while the last one begins immediately when the final stage of the battle begins and loops on its own.
In 1994, I couldn't believe that this was coming out of my SNES. Decades later, I still can't believe it. Final Fantasy VI's finale was something truly glorious.
I don't know if it was already said but this track is also the very first track to use choir in a video game ever. The console's sound chips weren't able to process them until they were converted into MIDI file format for this track. The Dancing Mad is not only a masterpiece of music, but also a huge moment for game music in general for being the first to use choir.
I'm sure someone has brought this up already, but it's been said that, given the limitations of the hardware Uematsu was working with, coming up with Dancing Mad is like if the Cistene chapel were painted with crayons.
That is such an apt description to what these masters did with that limited hardware. If I were to borrow that metaphor with the crayons - I feel like it's more Nobuo managed to sculpt the statue of David with crayons with how hamstrung he must have been with that tech.
@@da-barrera I can practically hear the SNES fans coming for you already lol, people absolutely despise the quality of the GBA soundtrack, that said, I haven't listened to both side by side, so you could very well be right for all I know.
@@dr.velious5411 the snes version has cleaner sounding music the gba version however did the music justice by giving it more oomph and hype and that's something the (offended) snes fans (if there are any anyway) is gonna have to deal with lol
People don't talk enough about the fact that Uematsu is a big Progressive Rock fan, and there are elements in many of his songs that strongly mirror songs by Emerson, Lake, & Palmer.
This song is an absolute must to hear from a real orchestra. I highly suggest checking out "Distant Worlds - Dancing Mad", even if you don't do a reaction video for it and just listen to it on your own time.
@@AtlasBenighted I second this recommendation. The original version is great but limited by the technology back then. The Distant Worlds recording sounds much more like it was envisioned, and is just incredible.
@@SaHaRaSquad also you have to consider the format. It was made for a 4 stage battle, so it repeats infinitely until the battle is over. In orchestrated or black mage version, transitions are smoothly placed having a nice and complete ending.
It’s around that part of the song that he will say something like “The end is near”. And then the screen shakes for a little while, and then after he laughs, if timed correctly, he lets out a really powerful attack that can do a heavy amount of damage to your party
I'm so glad you mentioned how he works metal and rock riffs into his songs, because it's really one of the things that I feel helped define the music in Final Fantasy as a whole, being a mashup of Metal and Classical. I love every song this man has made.
Thanks mate! Well yeah, although I would have to say I'm biased in that regard, but more often than not you can hear some people that went to music school say that metal has a lot or some classical music elements in it so there you go!
So, if you look up "Kefka's theme", listen to that, then go back and listen to this, you'll notice that the parts of that song are placed within parts of Dancing Mad, especially in the final movement. Its really cool that Kefka's motif can be heard throughout this song as well. Also, in the final movement, when the slower part is transitioning to the fast part again, the "wup wup wup" sound is Kefka's laugh. It really shows how the song connects to the character, which I love about these songs
Absolutely. I think the part that always gets me the most is in the super Classical section in the middle. It's extremely reminiscent of songs written to glorify God, which is exactly what Kefka has fashioned himself to be at this point. And yet, the purity of it is tainted and pulled down a bit by his theme, letting you know that beneath the image he's shown you, he's still the madman he's always been. @@AtlasBenighted If you're interested, Destructoid has a great critical analysis of the piece, which goes into a lot of the themes of the game that are being expressed in this piece, as well as noting callbacks to other parts of the soundtrack. As amazing as this piece is by itself, the context makes it even more amazing.
That's not surprising. Uematsu is a master of lietmotif and theming. You can hear bits of One Winged Angel in the opening song of FF VII (Bombing Missions) as well as a sinister-ish reprise of Aerith's theme in the start. In Final Fantasy VIII as the romance is the main thrust of the song there are tons of variations on Eyes on Me. And since in Final Fantasy IX is all about not only the lives of its characters but of whole planets and the universe "Melodies of Life" is EVERYWHRE!
It is amazing how you, someone who never played the game, was able to put into words and express the themes that Dancing Mad evokes during the final battle against Kefka. I love watching a good analysis of this!
This is an intense battle that goes on forever, you start on the ground and fight your way up the boss into the clouds to defeat a living god. Best rpg battle of all time. Kefka's laugh still haunts my dreams,
I highly, HIGHLY, recommend listening, or even reacting to the Distant World's orchestration of this song. I was a latecomer to FF and was listening to some of the tracks on Distant Worlds when Dancing Mad started playing and it was heavenly! It immediately became one of my favorite video game songs of all time and I must scream its praises from rooftops whenever I can. Really enjoyed the video! Keep it up!
Almost 30 years later and parts of this song still give me chills hearing it.. I remember the first time hitting phase 4 of this boss battle and being blown away. Just as soon as you think you beat the tower.. down comes this godly/angel figure.. the music was so perfect.. even my parents came from another room to figure out what was going on and they just sat and watched teenage me beat this boss after some 60 hours playing the game.
So in the game, the part where this song plays, you're traveling up a mountain of destruction. Almost the entire world has been destroyed by Kefka and he built the tower out of the destroyed remains as a tribute to himself perhaps as a reference to the tower of babel. This section is somewhat a parody of the story of Dante's Inferno where Dante has to travel through the different circles of hell to reach heaven. Each circle of hell is represented by religious imagery parodied to look similar to Kefka with each symbol having a meaning that would take longer to explain than I have time for here, but basically, Kefka is a narcissist with a tortured and tragic past. The characters make their way up through these challenges, defeating each form of Kefka as they go, and like in Dante's Inferno where Dante reaches heaven and meets god, the characters reach the top and meet the real Kefka who has himself transformed into a god form with purple skin, 4 angel style wings, and 2 demon style wings. Instead of welcoming the protagonists into heaven, he questions why they fight when they know death and destruction is inevitable even if it isn't by his hands. Asking "Life... Dreams... Hope... Where do they come from? Where do they go?" as a sort of depression and self reflection, but being a narcissist, since he can't have those things, he must destroy them for everyone else. So instead of welcoming them to heaven, he welcomes them to their destruction as the last traces of sanity and humanity leave him.
@@AtlasBenighted there's a lot of leitmotifs in that piece that point back to other parts of the the game. Admittedly that one is one of the harder ones to pick out. 8 bit music theory did a good video on it you should check out.
@@AtlasBenighted Wasn't this released in 1994 and Gangsta in 1995 though? But, that was just a sample from Stevie wonder so it all coming from some where.
1 thing that I don't expect you to know about this, is that this song tells the path that the final boss Kefka took. Each movement (4 movements) tell how Kefka rises from the ground to become a god (movement 1), through deception and trickery (movement 2), then achieves it but a mere human can never be a god as noticed by the change of the parody of Toccata & Fugue from major to minor, and then the breakdown that he really is just a human that can't get to that status, as noted by the change of the organ type from a church organ to synthetic organ. Kefka's theme also plays during the 3rd and 4th movement to show that it corrupted this ascension to godhood. Its a beautifully made track and to me is the best Final boss theme of all Final Fantasy games, a song telling the story.
I would recommend listening to the "No loop" version if you don't enjoy the backtracking as much, it brings the piece to about 10 minutes as opposed to 18.
11:45 You actually are listening to bach, the toccata section is inspired by the Toccata and Fugue in D Minor by bach, you got good ears, no surprise coming from a composer
Right, what he doesnt realize is nubuos ability to have running character motifs through the entire game and pull them flawlessly together into the ending fight as well as the ending theme freaking genius how he managed to put it all together of all the ffs the music in this was the best just how he was able to keep all those character themes flow like that. There hasnt been a game since that even comes close..
Even the beginning... that's the _title screen_ theme and the _opening crawl_ theme. It's so good at building you to understand that this is the culmination.
The quality of music composers were able to produce on the SNES is incredible. Secret of Mana, Chrono Trigger, Donkey Kong Country 2, Final Fantasy 6, and Mother 2 (Earthbound) are probably the all time greats.
imagine fighting a man who is mostly manic, can slip into melancholy or depression suddenly but can just as easily fly into blind fits of rage, complete with the incoherent ramblings of a mad man, and also happens to wield unlimited cosmic power.
I actually cosplay him at conventions. It is a hoot. The reaction people give when you unleash the laugh is always great. Bonus touch, I have a small speaker hidden on me to play his music. Have introduced many people to FF6 and its music through this.
"It's like many tracks built into one" glad he mentioned this, since that's all it really is (four boss phases which can each loop indefinitely depending how long each takes you). Also glad that in the fourth movement he laughed both times the kefka synth laugh happened.
The transitions are even more amazing in game. This IS the final boss fight, and each movement plays for each phase of the fight, and they transition perfectly. For some reason, each phase was looping twice on whatever version you listened to, but the way it plays out in game is fantastic. You're going through hell, purgatory, and eventually heaven during the fight, so to speak, and that one fadeout before the final part in particular is... something else. And if it helps you understand the chaos in this song a bit, you're fighting a clown. An actual fucking clown. This is easily the best final boss theme yet in all of Final Fantasy. Yes, over One Winged Angel, by a long shot.
@@AtlasBenighted Thanks! Sorry if my initial comment came off ungrateful. I just really like the Distant Worlds version. It's like seeing the vision come to life. (at least for me). ^^
I think there's a lot to appreciate in the original. The technical limitations of the SNES system was a significant set of constraints to make this song. Quite literally the next game and you have CD type sound files and out of the boxed in environment. I'm glad the video got into that part. The unleashed versions mentioned are worth listening too as well.
@@Zraknul That is very true. And probably something I'd change about my initial comment. While I love the LIVE version. I think it's even better knowing the original.
Its also incredible to think that this game's music is being played back by a sample based music chip with only 8 channels, and the entirety of the all the game's samples its probably less than 500kb
I've always been amazed at how much they did with so little ... Some of my favorite chiptunes are from the NES with like probably four channels but amazing music
“I think the song - you could interpret as a theater play, or something like that.” Dude, that’s hitting the nail on the head right there! The character this theme was created for is EXACTLY that kind of person - everything he did was basically theatre.
Flashback to hearing how Uematsu-san fitting this monstrosity into a cartridge was like making a one-for-one rendition of the Mona Lisa with budget brand crayola crayons lmao.
What I like about this piece is the theme of the piece which goes along well with the fight, specifically the art of the fight. In this battle, you are essentially fighting God and the phenomenal sprite work of the fight is heavily inspired by renaissance paintings, specifically the Sistine Chapel. The use of organ and the style feeling inspired by Baroque/Classical Era church music, especially in the third phase, creates this very Christian feeling music that goes nicely with the beautiful visuals that remind the player of Christian religious iconography, the combination of which really sell that you are literally fighting God himself.
I feel like I could write a several chapter story about how this entire game was really the the grand tragedy and exquisite agony of Kefka. Imagine being in such pure pain that you scream until your voice evaporates. Now imagine a pain so eternal that your very soul starts to decay and you hold onto sanity by the ripping fingertips of madness. That is kefka through the whole game leading to his final searing fire of blind dancing mad. Cid used him as a testing subject. Kefkas force of will to live kept him alive, but the errors of the test were in such a way that such a torture that that worlds universe could barely contain was saturated, magnified and razor focused onto a singular being that wanted to die but could not. Every note of the music is testament to his pure pain and his only hope - void.
Very poetic tragedy indeed for Kefka, just like in life: instead of reflecting on your own injustice that the world is thus nihilistic, we should instead understand where it all comes from. Living life without meaning is like suffering for the sake of it and that makes no sense except for the mad who wishes for us all to dance along to the tunes of destruction. This life was never meant to be perfect, those who live for the sake of living will have a harder time to grow old and leave it all behind. Many will have what you don't but time in death is longer than living in envy, acceptance becomes your peace. We are one together, where one succeeds another may fail but we as one have always won. The Beginning will remember me and the End will come to find me no matter where I'm lost. Even as I'm floating in the void of death, this too shall come to pass.
I'm convinced that the game was originally all about Kefka's descent to madness, Godhood, fall and some form of redemption. But it was too epic and they couldn't find a way to make it a good game, so they decided to split everything into different parts and perspectives from other "non-heroes" turning heroes that try to tame the madness of it all. Still turned out an epic game, regardless.
This entire video game was a phenomenal masterpiece of how much data could be compressed or stored on a cartridge. Your comments about some of the instrumentation being solo is spot on with storage, but I also take it to represent the solitude of thought Kefka experienced as an insane person who rises to godhood with the singular desire to destroy the world. As a percussionist and pianist, I enjoy the original and various full orchestrations of this piece across different eras.
@@AtlasBenighted I’ve clocked nearly 30 years now on piano and 27 on percussion. My wife did percussion as well, and my oldest son is learning classical guitar. All of this is a hobby, but music is the language of the soul that can bring unity to a fractured world.
"Lifes.. hopes... dreams... Where do they come from...? And where do they go...? _Such meaningless things..._ I'll destroy them all!" To me the music represents the ascension of aspiration to godhood, a beautiful benevolent heaven... and then Kefka, having achieved that, despairs because it is not enough, and the final movement shows his alternate nihilistic laughter and the deep pain that he hides behind it. I would recommend listening to "Kefka", his theme from throughout the game. The last two movements are arrangements of it. Also, I believe it is the very first track of the game? Has the same opening with the organ chords, so that's not just a fitting piece for the battle against the mad god, it's a throwback to how the game started -- bookends, if you will. (And the track literally does have his laugh in it.
Dancing Mad is definitely in my top 5 favourite final boss song from the Final Fantasy series. This something amazing he made using the snes sound chip, and I still get chills when the fourth movement starts.
Also modern version to try: Masayoshi Soken's version from the Final Fantasy XIV Kefka savage fight (usually abbreviated as O8S). The normal mode ends at the third movement, but the savage has the last movement.
@@michaeljames6737 Who Brings Shadow (ffxiv, The Dying Gasp, the final battle of 5.0), Revenge of the Horde (ffxiv, Final Steps of Faith, final battle of 3.5, though all three songs in Final Steps of Faith are amazing), The Final Battle (ffiv, Zeromus's theme)
Great video as always. Real interesting. He not only was in a rock/metal band but he loves that type of music and a lot of his songs have a tinge of it. The band he was in was called "The Black Mages". They also did a version of "Dancing Mad" that you should give a listen to. Hearing it with actual instruments and not midi will "fill out the track" a bit and I think you would enjoy it. Nobuo Uematsu is a legend for a reason lol. This is the track that plays during the final area and boss of the game. The start ups and fade away are caused by it being a video game and having transitions (between areas/fights) (though it is all considered one song) and the song is kind of perfect for the character its representing. Maniacal chaos. Its quite brilliant actually. You should check out his very long catalogue of amazing tracks because while he does like rock he is a versatile composer. "A place called home" (ff9), "Lifestream" (ff7), "Your not alone" (ff9), "terra's theme" (ff6), Auron's theme (ff10), "drifting" (ff8), "Iifa, the tree of life" (ff9) are some good variety of songs at least in my opinion. Great video again.
You're definitely right with the progressive rock influences in Dancing Mad. The whole Final Fantasy VI Soundtrack in general reminds me of various Albums from bands like 'Emerson, Lake and Palmer' or 'Yes'. Which is why Uematsu remains to be my favorite composer in the VGM industry.
I LOVE that you compared this song to a theater play, because the entire game has heavy inspirations from opera (the atmosphere and drama)! There is even an opera scene!! Makes me happy to think that core pieces of the game can stand out just in a single track all by itself!!
I’m sure you know this but the reason it fades between movements is because it’s used during a fight and is vamped until you reach a certain threshold. Listen to the arranged version as it’s more a coherent piece that flows better!
Finally a reaction to this masterpiece! As one of the requesters, I should answer some of your questions about the song, because it's quite complex. What you've experienced my friend, is not even the whole experience it provides, you have to play the game to catch it's whole geniusness :) First of all, this is the last boss theme. The last boss is Kefka, a chaotic clown who turns into a god, and I dare to say it's the greatest villain ever conceived in a videogame. Due to being chaotic, a clown and a god, it's expected the song to be an "epic mess" with "playful" parts like you mentioned, glad you've captured that! The song combines all emotions we can feel, which's also tackled by the game itself (even suicide). Regarding the fadeout, that doesn't actually happen progressively in the battle, it's a layered boss. Somehow the song "is calculated" to hit each transition almost on point for an average party level. But the fadeout is actually triggered when you reach it's final form, so it can happen at any point of the song. And that part is there so that you know the shit is real and you're almost there :P One more interesting thing about the song is that it glimpse's several other tracks of the game, like the intro, Kefka's, battle, and other themes. You kind of revisit the whole game during the fight, so it's whole sentiment of closure involved on that. There's even a Kefka's signature laugh in there! It's pretty impressive that, even without knowing these things you still managed to catch it's many details, good job man :) You also mentioned that some parts of the song resembles "theater play", but FFVI has an ACTUAL theater play, you can look for "FFVI Opera House" if you're interested. Nobuo even simulated the opera singer in 16 bits! The song was later reworked his band Black Mages under the name of "Darkness and Starlight". But going back to Dancing Mad, I HIGHLY recommend you listen to it's orchestrated version performed by Black Mages or Distant Worlds Final Fantasy album. And if you like JRPGs, play FFVI, in my opinion it's still the greatest JRPG of all time. Again, amazing video man, keep them coming! :D
it's also cool how the third section harkens back to the opera sequence from earlier in the game, where Celes had been acting in a 19th century style tragedy, this game is a 20th century tragedy with all the additional themes and purposelessness which comes with that.
I do arrangements from MIDI, but ironically enough, most of my top tier work usually comes from Final Fantasy tracks, though if not for Nobuo, those tracks wouldn't have existed, so my respect for those original tracks is always going to be infinite
10:55 "This song has so many layers." Fighting several layers of the Final boss battle. 25:53 "It's like many tracks built into one" This is exactly what it is and the Final Boss battle is divided in four parts in which you rise up after defeating one. 26:08 "Almost like a theater play or something" How about an Opera? You should check out the Opera house piece too. 27:10 Nobuo Uematsu is in a rock band called The Black Mages. 28:10 The fadeouts is the transition between the four layers of the Final boss battle. The last one being the final boss himself.
I'm crying listening to this after so long. Hearing the song and imagining the ending of this story with all the motifs and characters just opened me up and I can't even explain why.
Been binge watching your "Composer reacts" and this video finally made me hit the sub button. Having played most of the games you've covered, it was awesome seeing you enjoy the tracks and nailing the analysis despite not having played the game yourself. Keep doing what you do!
Great analysis! The reason the track fades out and then goes into something else near the end is because this music is during a battle and the battle is played out in several sections, respective to each section of the music you heard. When it fades out is when the final section of the battle is about to start. Some players might take longer than others to complete a section so the track loops over and over again until they complete it, then moves on to the next portion.
Nobuo fan! Listened to the whole thing with you. Great reaction. I met the guy. Nobuo is a Rockstar! Every unexpected moment of this piece is actually DANCING MAD!
Final Fantasy 6 is one of my favorite games growing up. It helped me learn to read and having ADHD it was able to keep my attention. Love the whole soundtrack to the is game and "Dancing Mad" so works. "Dancing Mad" is set as the main villain Kefka's personal theme and also the song played when going up the "Tower of Kefka" when heading to he final boss battle.
Liked, subscribed, and commenting for the algorithm. Haven't seen your channel before, but I really loved seeing you enjoy the music I grew up with and giving it a more analytical and informed assessment than I can, with my lack of knowledge of music theory. Thank you. Please continue doing what you're doing.
@@AtlasBenighted Gangsters paradise is actually based off of a Stevie track called Pastime Paradise from the 76' album Songs in the Key of Life, so it's actually possible Uematsu quoted the original track here
@@ChristopherViola That’s interesting. I can’t quite hear the resemblance to that song in “Dancing Mad,” but whenever I hear the boss theme for FF7, I can’t help but think of “Foreplay.”
It's interesting seeing / hearing your reactions listening to this out of context (in a good way!). But man... in context? Whew lawd. I'm super biased since this was one of my first JRPGs growing up lol, but considering the limitations, the way the battle transitions, how the final part slips Kefka's theme in so naturally, just... man I love this game's music and how well it ties into everything, especially for a game in the early 90s.
My favorite video game tune of all time. Your reaction and breakdown as a composer is very interesting and appreciated. Going to have to watch more of your videos. Thanks!
An important thing to remember about this song is that it was designed for an RPG boss battle, which could go on for a long time if the player is struggling. So each movement is intended to be able to loop for as long as necessary. For the OST version, I believe it just goes through two loops of each movement.
Great video. Please consider doing more Final Fantasy 6 tracks, they are amazing! The ending one for example mixes all character themes and would be a good starting point.
Each part of this applies to the 4 part battle at the end of the game. It's keyed to change when you beat each part. It's my favorite FF song, followed closely by battle on the big bridge from FF5
I know this video is a tad old but if you have had the time and chance to play through final fantasy 3/6. I HIGHLY suggest listening to the Phil Harmonic song: Born with a gift of magic. It will make you cry. As someone who grew up playing final fantasy, hearing this piece brought me to tears as it is done so well and it plays through the story with the music and you just feel the emotion from each section. honestly though anyone who hasn't heard that piece yet I suggest looking it up on TH-cam right now.
The Black Mages version of this is well worth a listen to, it's amazing and does a better job at the transitions and ends full circle with the opening. Also, I kinda view The Castle track from Final Fantasy VIII as a bit of a spiritual successor to this one - check that song out as well!
A lot of the music uses a motif so you hear a lot of familiar parts and songs that are in Dancing Mad throughout the game. It being the final battle of the game it becomes a culmination of everything you've experienced through the game. You can almost feel the descent into madness that the antagonist Kefka goes through in the game being the crazy mad clown he is. it's something you feel when you go through the game and it might only apply to people who have that nostalgia who play that game back in 94 like me. I'm sure people out there know what I'm talking about.
Sad part when there's an ad right before a single long note and you saying "and that note is the resolution" had to rewind to get the feeling from it lol
@@AtlasBenighted This a multi-phase boss fight, in which the different sections of the music change based on the phases of the battle you're in. The fade out at 13:45 just before the next section is the transition to Kefka himself. The hectic nature of the music that follows seems to play on the fact that Kefka has fallen completely to madness.
Somethings I'd like to bring up. First, The song is used for a 4 phase final boss. In tradition of VG soundtrack looping the track twice, each phase of this loops twice before proceeding to the next phase of the song, which my explain some of the repetition. Also because the phase can happen at any point, the start of the transition can't follow as naturally from the previous phase as possible. At least, those are my thoughts.
Amen! Although phase 1&2 only have single transition points, meaning that after moving to a new tier the game will wait until the right (and only) time to transition to the next part. Only between the third and the last phase there are a on que transition that may happened at any point, which may be the reason for the fade out.
I think what makes this the best FF boss song of all time is that it tells a story through the music as movements, which I don't think was really done too often with others except FF8 maybe (OWA from FF7 was amazing, but it was more of a "oh my god" song than a storytelling device)
I keep coming back to this video often these days and it's really interesting to hear about this song from a musician's perspective. I remember listening to this song for the first time in 2013 when I beat FF6. The fact that this song existed on the SNES and basically, like the game itself, pushed the hardware to the limits makes this one of my all-time favorite songs in anything. Dancing Mad has so much going on in it from its inspirations to its theming for the character it's made for, plus the fact that it's 10+ minutes long without each tier looping makes this my favorite final boss theme of all time. There's also the fact that during the final battle, which is 4 phases like the song is 4 Tiers, each time you defeat a phase, the song will naturally transition to the next tier which is amazing. Which tier of Dancing Mad would be your favorite? Mine in Tier 3 (the part where it's all organ).
This song was used for the final boss of the game. The final boss was structured as climbing a tower and fighting parts of the final boss. The fade out part that builds into the last portion comes in when you get to the top and fight the last part of the boss. They weave the final boss's laugh into the song
Thank you so much for making this video, Final Fantasy 6 as a whole means the world to me and brings a tear every time I think of it. I wish everyone in the world could experience this master piece in some way.
Great stuff, and I encourage you to listen to Uematsu's band "The Black Mages" playing it in their studio recording. It picks up an additional depth that the SNES's sound hardware couldn't quite capture. I was a bit disappointed by only one little thing: The problem with a virgin reaction to the track is that it misses out on the impact of Kefka's leitmotif being quoted. That was MY biggest reaction when I heard it for the first time.
"For a musician, the SNES sound engine is like an artist using Crayola crayons. Nobuo Uematsu used Crayola crayons to paint the Sistine Chapel."
usually people in business hide behind technic.. in this case the art is enslaved by technical limitations..
It's actually an sistine chapel 🖖
Limitation breeds creativity.
@@clydearrownyvi I did not. Read it on....RPGfan?
Could have not said that better. It's absolutely amazing!
Copied this comment so unoriginal
I've always said that One Winged Angel might be Uematsu's most popular piece, but Dancing Mad is his Magnum Opus.
both are amazing songs
but Dancing Mad is just SPECIAL
Theme of Love is taught in Japanese schools for music
@@FF-tp7qs Which Theme of Love? From FFIV ??
@@danballe yes, the song that is titled "Theme of Love"
I have no problem calling it the greatest piece of music ever composed for a video game. The pinnacle of a magnificent career.
14:28 "What the hell is happening?"
Your entire party's health has been slashed to 1 HP across the board.
*H E A R T L E S S A N G E L*
THE FALLEN ONE
I still have PTSD from that! 🤣
Quick, cast Cure 3 before it's too late, lol
AHAHAHAHAH
This song, as I'm sure you already learned, is the final boss track used for FFVI. But what is interesting is how the actual boss battle works, and how it uses the song and its different movements. Most JRPG final bosses have two, sometimes three forms before you fully beat them. Kefka's fight does things a little differently. Once the fight starts, and the track begins, you are faced with what I can only describe as this tower of bodies and beings all twisted together. The song starts with a battle against the lowest tier of this tower. I have heard that this tower of beings before the final boss itself is inspired by Dante's Divine Comedy. As you defeat each of the three levels of this tower, the movements of the song will begin changing along with it. Each level of this tower of beings twisted together all seem to have different forms and representations of the final boss, Kefka, on it. Perhaps it is all the different ways he sees himself.
Now, that part towards the end where the song fades out and a completely new build up starts... that is when the player reaches the very top of the tower, then begins to ascend high into the sky with a very pretty SNES quality backdrop of a brilliant yellow sky full of god rays through the clouds. The build up you hear happens as you are rising into the sky and Kefka himself descends from above to begin the real final battle. It's all extremely memorable, and like nothing else I had never played in any game before.
Oh yeah, also maybe the phases of the boss are somehow inspired by dante's inferno circles
The way they bring back the chords from the opening sequence / title screen to introduce Kefka at the top of the tower... *chef's kiss*
Each section of the fight is paired with a dark reprisal of linked songs from earlier in the game, there are many layers of meaning to this fight. I personally consider this as four different songs/acts that together tell the story of Kefka, leading him to his final moments in life as he accepts death from the closest he has to "friends"
@@AtlasBenighted It was quite likely inspired by Dante’s “Divine Comedy” as the boss phases seem to represent Hell, then Purgatory, and finally Heaven as you fight Kefka having transformed himself into an angelic figure. He becomes a god.
The music along with the fight and it’s different phase transitions is genius.
@@AtlasBenighted i just realized somebody had already commented saying almost the exact same thing I said whoops
Nobuo is self taught... it's crazy to think that someone without formal music education can be so well studied and having such a control over their craft.
Nobuo is one of the great composers for the ages.
Music is essentially self taught. People are impressed when this happens, but there is no reason to be so. After all, someone in the beginning of time had to discover music this way also. Education just helps to bridge the gap of knowledge quickly.
He is a big fan of progressive rock and you can here the Pink Floyd, Rush, and King Crimson influence in his work.
Danny Elfman is basically the same way, he never had any formal education, just crazy amounts of exposure and experience. He's turned it into brilliant madness that isn't restrained by genres, much like Nobuo Uematsu. Education can give someone the tools in a more organized fashion, but it's still up to the artist to figure out how to use them.
@@fernandoalvarez9613 iS tHaT a jOjO rEfrEnCe?!?!
and then he had to cut corners cause the sound of the NES and SNES could only do so much at the time
To think that Nobuo Uematsu created this for a game that was mainly played by children who were generally too young and naive to truly appreciate this masterpiece. We weren't worthy, but he gave it to us anyway.
Plot twist: He knew you would grow up and cherish it even more as a more mature person
I would argue that if you played through FF6 as a young kid, you were an intellectual anyways
We appreciated it as kids. It’s the reason we got into movie soundtracks and not the ones with the pop songs.
@@bryanfrye8770 My thought exactly. Those that played FFVI were the worthy ones.
FFVI wasn't mainly for children... In fact many games back then weren't exclusively for children. They had alot of mature themes and references that children wouldn't even understand. Even tho I did play it for the first time when I was around 8 years old. Even tho it was rated K-A (kids to adults) back in 1993, its now rated T (for teens).
02:14 - 1st Movement - Visage/Arms
06:45 - 2nd Movement - Tiger/Machine/Magic/Power
10:26 - 3rd Movement - Lady/Rest
13:47 - 4th Movement - Kefka
And it also portrays the Divine Comedy.
02:14 Hell
06:45 Purgatory
10:26 Heaven
13:47 God
@@L0rdDeLtAand portraying Kefka
Movement 1) Wrath
Movement 2) Insanity
Movement 3) Vanity
Movement 4) Pride
Movement 5) Nihilism
10:48 I'm glad you said that about the layers. The fight - and song - are supposed to represent hell, purgatory, heaven and finally, a final fight with God himself, which Kefka becomes. Nihilism is the core theme for this piece as Kefka basically wants to destroy everything. "Everything eventually ends. Life is so, meaningless..." He is the perfect definition of an extremely intelligent mad man with unlimited power, who essentially became a God. Also, for anyone who'd like to hear a modern take on this masterpiece, I highly suggest GaMetal's own 2019 remix. Search for Dancing Mad (Final Fantasy VI) - GaMetal Remix (2019). You won't regret it.
Oh Nihilism, oooh so I knew thee 🤓
@@AtlasBenighted Yeah, this song is a favorite and with the Gametal 2019 remix, it's even better! This will never be forgotten.
@Kayiah S did you know there's a hip hop version of this track which I found exhilarating and fascinating. Pumps me up while I play dffoo. 😎
I also suggest GaMetal's arrangement on it, however I do think his 2014 version still comes out on top compared to his 2019. I'd say theres too much percussion added to the remix in the 2nd and 3rd movement, whereas the 2014 feels more faithful to the original
Yep. Dante's Inferno in musical form.
On the Super Nintendo.
26:08 "it's almost like a theatre play or something"
Exactly! The whole game is an opera. The game's most iconic scene is the opera house and the whole game carrys stage play motifs all the way through, even to the end credits which are structured like playbill
Beat me to it!
the reaosn the song is so long with each aprt so distinct is that they're all part of a long, long battle, and reflects the mindset of it's main villain, Kefka Palazo, exploring his rage, sorrow, despair and, of course, his homicidal madness as he laughs at the world and at the heroes' hopes, finding no point in anything and deciding to destroy everything just to have one last bit of fun to amuse himself. Each distinct portion of the song covers a segment of the battle, as you climb a tower and battle Kefka's many forms that reflect his mindset.
Yea, he should watch the final battle to see how the song was implemented.
Yes, Dancing Mad is this complex cause it ilustrate Kefka's distorted and warped sense of "evolutional scale" - having demons and beasts in the lower sections, humans and science in the middle, saints and holy figures at the top and the angelical/divine tier in the summit...and to think he made that monument only to have some fun destroying the world while making fun of the human beliefs and creeds.
It's amazing that his backstory comes from an missable npc dialogue with a few sentences and we can come to this conclusion. I kinda wished the game explored more of his character because he seems like a one dimensional character at surface level
And then on top of that, you got the visual of the three bosses leading up to the Kefka fight being representations of the three parts of Dante's Divine Comedy - Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven respectively, with the battle with Kefka himself essentially representing Dante getting through Heaven and meeting God. All the more reason why I'd love to see a reaction to video footage of the boss fight.
In short, four parts. the first three either loop or continue to the next as they end (except the third one, which only loops), while the last one begins immediately when the final stage of the battle begins and loops on its own.
"This part looks like... the ending"
- The track continues..
"But not yet!"
- Kefka laughs in the song.
The timing is mad
@@MrRyonnsan so mad I'm dancing
@@Cybersomnia yes,we are Dancing Madly
**Kefka Laugh**
And it's absolutely blood-chilling. This is all a game to him, simple amusement.
In 1994, I couldn't believe that this was coming out of my SNES. Decades later, I still can't believe it. Final Fantasy VI's finale was something truly glorious.
The amount of time it takes to play the game through is also amazing..........so much fucking content..........on a cartridge.
I don't know if it was already said but this track is also the very first track to use choir in a video game ever. The console's sound chips weren't able to process them until they were converted into MIDI file format for this track. The Dancing Mad is not only a masterpiece of music, but also a huge moment for game music in general for being the first to use choir.
I always felt this track was a wonderful baby of Toccata & Fugue and ELP's Tarkus.
Organ and Prog Rock.
Nobuo Uematsu LOVES prog rock. Kuja's theme in FFIX too sounds like it came straight out of a King Crimson record.
hard agree. look forward to the next kenshi video. have a good day bro
Instablaster
Lets hear this at the imperial prison with Sean Bean and SS Boy my sempai
@@DagothUr2002 we technically heard it during autism cat's battle with Jyggalag. Which was insanely fitting considering that DLC is about madness
14:41 "it's insane"
*Kefka has entered the chat*
*Kefka laugh track*
“Roo Roo Roo Roo”
"There is sand in my boots"
" Your Hopes, your Dreams,
your Loves,
forget them all... I will destroy them
*ALL! MWAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!* "
Love telling people "it's called, Dancing Mad for a reason"
I'm sure someone has brought this up already, but it's been said that, given the limitations of the hardware Uematsu was working with, coming up with Dancing Mad is like if the Cistene chapel were painted with crayons.
Lol u got that from Jeremy Jahns review of FF6 😂 very true though
@@jk4675 Aha! I couldn't remember where I'd heard it, thanks for reminding me
Accurate
That is such an apt description to what these masters did with that limited hardware. If I were to borrow that metaphor with the crayons - I feel like it's more Nobuo managed to sculpt the statue of David with crayons with how hamstrung he must have been with that tech.
*Sistine*
"And it fades out and starts something else. That's an interesting choice..."
Get this man to play the game
He needs to hear the opera.
@@dr.velious5411 If I had a choice I'd have him hear the GBA version. It improved on the SNES one
@@da-barrera I can practically hear the SNES fans coming for you already lol, people absolutely despise the quality of the GBA soundtrack, that said, I haven't listened to both side by side, so you could very well be right for all I know.
@@dr.velious5411 the snes version has cleaner sounding music
the gba version however did the music justice by giving it more oomph and hype and that's something the (offended) snes fans (if there are any anyway) is gonna have to deal with lol
The Smartphone version is fine
"Playful" and "insane"...Uematsu knew how to personify a villain with his music.
People don't talk enough about the fact that Uematsu is a big Progressive Rock fan, and there are elements in many of his songs that strongly mirror songs by Emerson, Lake, & Palmer.
100%
Can’t forget One Winged Angel’s riff from Jimi Hendrix
Absolutely agree, i said the same thing when I first heard that part
Yeah that prog rock section always reminds me of Tarkus
@@GreyWolfLeaderTW he actually has led a couple prog rock bands. Namely "The Black Mages" and "Earthbound Papas"
This song is an absolute must to hear from a real orchestra. I highly suggest checking out "Distant Worlds - Dancing Mad", even if you don't do a reaction video for it and just listen to it on your own time.
Thanks Kelven, it is getting traction!
@@AtlasBenighted I second this recommendation. The original version is great but limited by the technology back then. The Distant Worlds recording sounds much more like it was envisioned, and is just incredible.
@@AtlasBenighted Or the FFXIV version of it- it has more of the spirit of the original while being updated.
@@SaHaRaSquad also you have to consider the format. It was made for a 4 stage battle, so it repeats infinitely until the battle is over. In orchestrated or black mage version, transitions are smoothly placed having a nice and complete ending.
@@AtlasBenighted Sangnoksu's Arranged version is definitively the best one.
16:54 that was actually the boss, whose fight this music is composed for, laughing at the player.
It’s around that part of the song that he will say something like “The end is near”. And then the screen shakes for a little while, and then after he laughs, if timed correctly, he lets out a really powerful attack that can do a heavy amount of damage to your party
@@00F That attack is called "Goner" - y'all should take a look at the Final Fantasy XIV version of Kefka battle, it is pure goosebumps and chills.
@@TenebrisGladius 100%!
I'm so glad you mentioned how he works metal and rock riffs into his songs, because it's really one of the things that I feel helped define the music in Final Fantasy as a whole, being a mashup of Metal and Classical. I love every song this man has made.
Thanks mate! Well yeah, although I would have to say I'm biased in that regard, but more often than not you can hear some people that went to music school say that metal has a lot or some classical music elements in it so there you go!
More than a few people have called heavy metal "baroque, with distorted guitars"
“This song has so many layers”
So does the boss fight itself!
Literally...
yeah, just like ogres
So, if you look up "Kefka's theme", listen to that, then go back and listen to this, you'll notice that the parts of that song are placed within parts of Dancing Mad, especially in the final movement. Its really cool that Kefka's motif can be heard throughout this song as well. Also, in the final movement, when the slower part is transitioning to the fast part again, the "wup wup wup" sound is Kefka's laugh. It really shows how the song connects to the character, which I love about these songs
Awesome!
Absolutely. I think the part that always gets me the most is in the super Classical section in the middle. It's extremely reminiscent of songs written to glorify God, which is exactly what Kefka has fashioned himself to be at this point. And yet, the purity of it is tainted and pulled down a bit by his theme, letting you know that beneath the image he's shown you, he's still the madman he's always been.
@@AtlasBenighted If you're interested, Destructoid has a great critical analysis of the piece, which goes into a lot of the themes of the game that are being expressed in this piece, as well as noting callbacks to other parts of the soundtrack. As amazing as this piece is by itself, the context makes it even more amazing.
Yeah here's a spot you can hear kefka's theme: 10:53
I love when composers do that well. It gives the game it's own kind of developed personality.
That's not surprising. Uematsu is a master of lietmotif and theming. You can hear bits of One Winged Angel in the opening song of FF VII (Bombing Missions) as well as a sinister-ish reprise of Aerith's theme in the start.
In Final Fantasy VIII as the romance is the main thrust of the song there are tons of variations on Eyes on Me.
And since in Final Fantasy IX is all about not only the lives of its characters but of whole planets and the universe "Melodies of Life" is EVERYWHRE!
A few notes about Uematsu: dude loves his prog rock and metal.
Yeah! So I've been told!
@@AtlasBenighted In his own words he said One Winged Angel is a mix of Tchaikovsky and Jimmi Hendrix.
You can tell Nobuo was a big fan of Bach (Toccata and Fugue specifically in this song).
It is amazing how you, someone who never played the game, was able to put into words and express the themes that Dancing Mad evokes during the final battle against Kefka. I love watching a good analysis of this!
Thank you mate!
This is an intense battle that goes on forever, you start on the ground and fight your way up the boss into the clouds to defeat a living god. Best rpg battle of all time. Kefka's laugh still haunts my dreams,
I highly, HIGHLY, recommend listening, or even reacting to the Distant World's orchestration of this song. I was a latecomer to FF and was listening to some of the tracks on Distant Worlds when Dancing Mad started playing and it was heavenly! It immediately became one of my favorite video game songs of all time and I must scream its praises from rooftops whenever I can. Really enjoyed the video! Keep it up!
Thanks Levi! More FF will come. I'm a latecomer too and I've a looong way to go 😆
Almost 30 years later and parts of this song still give me chills hearing it.. I remember the first time hitting phase 4 of this boss battle and being blown away. Just as soon as you think you beat the tower.. down comes this godly/angel figure.. the music was so perfect.. even my parents came from another room to figure out what was going on and they just sat and watched teenage me beat this boss after some 60 hours playing the game.
This really makes my old man brain want to go replay FFVI. Again.
I'm actually doing this now, I'm playing it on my iPad so I can play in spurts. I love just going back and grinding for a bit. I suggest playing it!
You and me both
you better play it again before shitty remake happened
So in the game, the part where this song plays, you're traveling up a mountain of destruction. Almost the entire world has been destroyed by Kefka and he built the tower out of the destroyed remains as a tribute to himself perhaps as a reference to the tower of babel. This section is somewhat a parody of the story of Dante's Inferno where Dante has to travel through the different circles of hell to reach heaven. Each circle of hell is represented by religious imagery parodied to look similar to Kefka with each symbol having a meaning that would take longer to explain than I have time for here, but basically, Kefka is a narcissist with a tortured and tragic past. The characters make their way up through these challenges, defeating each form of Kefka as they go, and like in Dante's Inferno where Dante reaches heaven and meets god, the characters reach the top and meet the real Kefka who has himself transformed into a god form with purple skin, 4 angel style wings, and 2 demon style wings. Instead of welcoming the protagonists into heaven, he questions why they fight when they know death and destruction is inevitable even if it isn't by his hands. Asking "Life... Dreams... Hope... Where do they come from? Where do they go?" as a sort of depression and self reflection, but being a narcissist, since he can't have those things, he must destroy them for everyone else. So instead of welcoming them to heaven, he welcomes them to their destruction as the last traces of sanity and humanity leave him.
Are we relatives Mr. Greg?
@@AtlasBenighted Perhaps very distant.
25:00 "this sounds very familiar"
*plays leitmotif of Kefka's theme*
*pulls out gangsta's paradise*
well that went in an unexpected direction.
😆😆 kefka is gangsta! thug life!
@@AtlasBenighted there's a lot of leitmotifs in that piece that point back to other parts of the the game. Admittedly that one is one of the harder ones to pick out. 8 bit music theory did a good video on it you should check out.
@@AtlasBenighted Wasn't this released in 1994 and Gangsta in 1995 though? But, that was just a sample from Stevie wonder so it all coming from some where.
1 thing that I don't expect you to know about this, is that this song tells the path that the final boss Kefka took. Each movement (4 movements) tell how Kefka rises from the ground to become a god (movement 1), through deception and trickery (movement 2), then achieves it but a mere human can never be a god as noticed by the change of the parody of Toccata & Fugue from major to minor, and then the breakdown that he really is just a human that can't get to that status, as noted by the change of the organ type from a church organ to synthetic organ. Kefka's theme also plays during the 3rd and 4th movement to show that it corrupted this ascension to godhood.
Its a beautifully made track and to me is the best Final boss theme of all Final Fantasy games, a song telling the story.
I would recommend listening to the "No loop" version if you don't enjoy the backtracking as much, it brings the piece to about 10 minutes as opposed to 18.
Could you react to Pokemon Mystery Dungeon dialga's fight to the finish?
It could happen! give Richie a like please!
@@AtlasBenighted i recommend temporal tower and temporal spire too for context. The soundtrack uses leitmotifs really well
11:45 You actually are listening to bach, the toccata section is inspired by the Toccata and Fugue in D Minor by bach, you got good ears, no surprise coming from a composer
Noice!
With a mixture of Prog Rock at the final phase. Very Emerson Lake and Palmer when Kefka's time to fight begins.
This is not fucking Bach, it's Final Fantasy
@@That1PissedOffBoomer I don't remember where, but I do remember hearing Uematsu say that the Toccata and Fugue was a major influence on this song.
Imagine his reactions if he knew about the motifs used within the song
Right, what he doesnt realize is nubuos ability to have running character motifs through the entire game and pull them flawlessly together into the ending fight as well as the ending theme freaking genius how he managed to put it all together of all the ffs the music in this was the best just how he was able to keep all those character themes flow like that. There hasnt been a game since that even comes close..
@@alexaleman16 ought to check out revos work on bravely default. Does the same stuff as nubuo and hes pretty good with it
Even the beginning... that's the _title screen_ theme and the _opening crawl_ theme. It's so good at building you to understand that this is the culmination.
Movement 3 is almost all just Kefkas theme
The quality of music composers were able to produce on the SNES is incredible.
Secret of Mana, Chrono Trigger, Donkey Kong Country 2, Final Fantasy 6, and Mother 2 (Earthbound) are probably the all time greats.
And Zelda AlttP, Castlevania IV, Super Metroid, and on and on.
Mega Man X 1-3 also.
imagine fighting a man who is mostly manic, can slip into melancholy or depression suddenly but can just as easily fly into blind fits of rage, complete with the incoherent ramblings of a mad man, and also happens to wield unlimited cosmic power.
No need to imagine, I see him everyday in the mirror 😆
@@AtlasBenighted
you and me both.
Shit I fantasize about being like Kefka almost every day.
I actually cosplay him at conventions. It is a hoot. The reaction people give when you unleash the laugh is always great. Bonus touch, I have a small speaker hidden on me to play his music. Have introduced many people to FF6 and its music through this.
I’m glad you listened to this, the piece Uematsu considers his best and most favorite work. You can feel the passion in this song
"It's like many tracks built into one" glad he mentioned this, since that's all it really is (four boss phases which can each loop indefinitely depending how long each takes you). Also glad that in the fourth movement he laughed both times the kefka synth laugh happened.
The transitions are even more amazing in game. This IS the final boss fight, and each movement plays for each phase of the fight, and they transition perfectly. For some reason, each phase was looping twice on whatever version you listened to, but the way it plays out in game is fantastic. You're going through hell, purgatory, and eventually heaven during the fight, so to speak, and that one fadeout before the final part in particular is... something else. And if it helps you understand the chaos in this song a bit, you're fighting a clown. An actual fucking clown. This is easily the best final boss theme yet in all of Final Fantasy. Yes, over One Winged Angel, by a long shot.
They do on the SNES, every other version of the game hard cuts the movement for each transition. Kinda ruins it imo. SNES version is definitive.
Wish you checked out the Distant Worlds version.
Give ChaosLegionaire a like!
@@AtlasBenighted Thanks! Sorry if my initial comment came off ungrateful. I just really like the Distant Worlds version. It's like seeing the vision come to life. (at least for me). ^^
@@ChaosLegionaire that one and the black mage version.
I think there's a lot to appreciate in the original. The technical limitations of the SNES system was a significant set of constraints to make this song. Quite literally the next game and you have CD type sound files and out of the boxed in environment. I'm glad the video got into that part.
The unleashed versions mentioned are worth listening too as well.
@@Zraknul That is very true. And probably something I'd change about my initial comment. While I love the LIVE version. I think it's even better knowing the original.
When it comes to Square Enix's music, they either go hard, or go home and they never go home.
squareSOFT
FF13 has entered the chat
@@kulitmed joke on you FF13 still have bangers
@@kulitmed *Fighting Fate has entered the chat*
@@UNOriginalDraw i dont understand. So FF13 should have left chat?
Its also incredible to think that this game's music is being played back by a sample based music chip with only 8 channels, and the entirety of the all the game's samples its probably less than 500kb
I've always been amazed at how much they did with so little ... Some of my favorite chiptunes are from the NES with like probably four channels but amazing music
SNES's memory for audio is 64kb, most of the space is used for the audio program, reverb effects and composition, the rest is used for samples.
@@MaxwelThuThu I don't think that means that each game can only have 64k of audio information. That's just its work memory for audio.
@@themadmallard Yeah, I was talking about that
“I think the song - you could interpret as a theater play, or something like that.”
Dude, that’s hitting the nail on the head right there! The character this theme was created for is EXACTLY that kind of person - everything he did was basically theatre.
11:50 "I feel like I'm listening to Bach"
Yes, Bach's Little Fugue makes cameos all over that section!
I just commented the same thing. Long sections sound like copying, to be honest.
The most beautiful part is how Kefka's theme is woven into it, corrupting the holy melody at its core.
8 Bit Music Theory also did a very good break down of this song complete with sheet music to help visualize the explanation.
Nobuo Uematsu is a genius. No other way to describe it.
Flashback to hearing how Uematsu-san fitting this monstrosity into a cartridge was like making a one-for-one rendition of the Mona Lisa with budget brand crayola crayons lmao.
😆
Hearing that makes me think that he made it using Mario Paint
What I like about this piece is the theme of the piece which goes along well with the fight, specifically the art of the fight. In this battle, you are essentially fighting God and the phenomenal sprite work of the fight is heavily inspired by renaissance paintings, specifically the Sistine Chapel. The use of organ and the style feeling inspired by Baroque/Classical Era church music, especially in the third phase, creates this very Christian feeling music that goes nicely with the beautiful visuals that remind the player of Christian religious iconography, the combination of which really sell that you are literally fighting God himself.
One recommendation I have is God Shattering Star from Fire Emblem Three Houses
Give Mattias a like please!
@@AtlasBenighted YES PLEASE
I feel like I could write a several chapter story about how this entire game was really the the grand tragedy and exquisite agony of Kefka. Imagine being in such pure pain that you scream until your voice evaporates. Now imagine a pain so eternal that your very soul starts to decay and you hold onto sanity by the ripping fingertips of madness. That is kefka through the whole game leading to his final searing fire of blind dancing mad.
Cid used him as a testing subject. Kefkas force of will to live kept him alive, but the errors of the test were in such a way that such a torture that that worlds universe could barely contain was saturated, magnified and razor focused onto a singular being that wanted to die but could not. Every note of the music is testament to his pure pain and his only hope - void.
Very poetic tragedy indeed for Kefka, just like in life: instead of reflecting on your own injustice that the world is thus nihilistic, we should instead understand where it all comes from.
Living life without meaning is like suffering for the sake of it and that makes no sense except for the mad who wishes for us all to dance along to the tunes of destruction.
This life was never meant to be perfect, those who live for the sake of living will have a harder time to grow old and leave it all behind.
Many will have what you don't but time in death is longer than living in envy, acceptance becomes your peace.
We are one together, where one succeeds another may fail but we as one have always won.
The Beginning will remember me and the End will come to find me no matter where I'm lost. Even as I'm floating in the void of death, this too shall come to pass.
I'm convinced that the game was originally all about Kefka's descent to madness, Godhood, fall and some form of redemption. But it was too epic and they couldn't find a way to make it a good game, so they decided to split everything into different parts and perspectives from other "non-heroes" turning heroes that try to tame the madness of it all. Still turned out an epic game, regardless.
I'd like to read that story
The limitations of hardware were a blessing for the 16bit generation, this is probably the best piece of music in a videogame, probably in the top5.
This entire video game was a phenomenal masterpiece of how much data could be compressed or stored on a cartridge.
Your comments about some of the instrumentation being solo is spot on with storage, but I also take it to represent the solitude of thought Kefka experienced as an insane person who rises to godhood with the singular desire to destroy the world.
As a percussionist and pianist, I enjoy the original and various full orchestrations of this piece across different eras.
You are percussionist and a pianist, that's awesome!
@@AtlasBenighted I’ve clocked nearly 30 years now on piano and 27 on percussion. My wife did percussion as well, and my oldest son is learning classical guitar. All of this is a hobby, but music is the language of the soul that can bring unity to a fractured world.
"Lifes.. hopes... dreams... Where do they come from...? And where do they go...? _Such meaningless things..._ I'll destroy them all!" To me the music represents the ascension of aspiration to godhood, a beautiful benevolent heaven... and then Kefka, having achieved that, despairs because it is not enough, and the final movement shows his alternate nihilistic laughter and the deep pain that he hides behind it.
I would recommend listening to "Kefka", his theme from throughout the game. The last two movements are arrangements of it. Also, I believe it is the very first track of the game? Has the same opening with the organ chords, so that's not just a fitting piece for the battle against the mad god, it's a throwback to how the game started -- bookends, if you will.
(And the track literally does have his laugh in it.
Dancing Mad is definitely in my top 5 favourite final boss song from the Final Fantasy series. This something amazing he made using the snes sound chip, and I still get chills when the fourth movement starts.
Also modern version to try: Masayoshi Soken's version from the Final Fantasy XIV Kefka savage fight (usually abbreviated as O8S). The normal mode ends at the third movement, but the savage has the last movement.
what are your other favorites one winged angel for me
@@michaeljames6737 Who Brings Shadow (ffxiv, The Dying Gasp, the final battle of 5.0), Revenge of the Horde (ffxiv, Final Steps of Faith, final battle of 3.5, though all three songs in Final Steps of Faith are amazing), The Final Battle (ffiv, Zeromus's theme)
@@adriannebee2056 ff7 ( one winged angel) ff9 (dark messenger) ff8 (the extreme) i only have top 3
Great video as always. Real interesting. He not only was in a rock/metal band but he loves that type of music and a lot of his songs have a tinge of it.
The band he was in was called "The Black Mages". They also did a version of "Dancing Mad" that you should give a listen to. Hearing it with actual instruments and not midi will "fill out the track" a bit and I think you would enjoy it. Nobuo Uematsu is a legend for a reason lol.
This is the track that plays during the final area and boss of the game. The start ups and fade away are caused by it being a video game and having transitions (between areas/fights) (though it is all considered one song) and the song is kind of perfect for the character its representing. Maniacal chaos. Its quite brilliant actually.
You should check out his very long catalogue of amazing tracks because while he does like rock he is a versatile composer.
"A place called home" (ff9), "Lifestream" (ff7), "Your not alone" (ff9), "terra's theme" (ff6), Auron's theme (ff10), "drifting" (ff8), "Iifa, the tree of life" (ff9) are some good variety of songs at least in my opinion.
Great video again.
Good requests. All great themes.
Thanks mate! More FF will come for sure!
I expected him to nut his pants halfway lmao. Dancing Mad is THAT good...
I expected him to nut his pants' 😆 I thought november was no nut november 😂 (screw that!)
He did. 6:45
@@jellyspook9548 Hahaha I was literally RIGHT at that part when I read your comment. The timing was perfect. 😆
You're definitely right with the progressive rock influences in Dancing Mad. The whole Final Fantasy VI Soundtrack in general reminds me of various Albums from bands like 'Emerson, Lake and Palmer' or 'Yes'.
Which is why Uematsu remains to be my favorite composer in the VGM industry.
Yeah I can see that being the case
I LOVE that you compared this song to a theater play, because the entire game has heavy inspirations from opera (the atmosphere and drama)! There is even an opera scene!! Makes me happy to think that core pieces of the game can stand out just in a single track all by itself!!
The beauty of well composed music, is that it can tell the story on it's own. Uematsu consistently did that in Final Fantasy. It's fantastic.
This song gives me chills every damn time. Watching someone appreciate it for the first time was great
I’m sure you know this but the reason it fades between movements is because it’s used during a fight and is vamped until you reach a certain threshold. Listen to the arranged version as it’s more a coherent piece that flows better!
Finally a reaction to this masterpiece!
As one of the requesters, I should answer some of your questions about the song, because it's quite complex. What you've experienced my friend, is not even the whole experience it provides, you have to play the game to catch it's whole geniusness :)
First of all, this is the last boss theme. The last boss is Kefka, a chaotic clown who turns into a god, and I dare to say it's the greatest villain ever conceived in a videogame. Due to being chaotic, a clown and a god, it's expected the song to be an "epic mess" with "playful" parts like you mentioned, glad you've captured that! The song combines all emotions we can feel, which's also tackled by the game itself (even suicide).
Regarding the fadeout, that doesn't actually happen progressively in the battle, it's a layered boss. Somehow the song "is calculated" to hit each transition almost on point for an average party level. But the fadeout is actually triggered when you reach it's final form, so it can happen at any point of the song. And that part is there so that you know the shit is real and you're almost there :P
One more interesting thing about the song is that it glimpse's several other tracks of the game, like the intro, Kefka's, battle, and other themes. You kind of revisit the whole game during the fight, so it's whole sentiment of closure involved on that. There's even a Kefka's signature laugh in there!
It's pretty impressive that, even without knowing these things you still managed to catch it's many details, good job man :)
You also mentioned that some parts of the song resembles "theater play", but FFVI has an ACTUAL theater play, you can look for "FFVI Opera House" if you're interested. Nobuo even simulated the opera singer in 16 bits! The song was later reworked his band Black Mages under the name of "Darkness and Starlight".
But going back to Dancing Mad, I HIGHLY recommend you listen to it's orchestrated version performed by Black Mages or Distant Worlds Final Fantasy album. And if you like JRPGs, play FFVI, in my opinion it's still the greatest JRPG of all time.
Again, amazing video man, keep them coming! :D
You know, I can relate to Kefka. Everytime I look myself in the mirror I see a clown with a thirst for entropy 😆😆
"Epic mess" - description of kefka, description of what kefka created
It's cool how he feeds the Title screen music, battle intro music, and Kefka's theme all into section 3 of this piece.
it's also cool how the third section harkens back to the opera sequence from earlier in the game, where Celes had been acting in a 19th century style tragedy, this game is a 20th century tragedy with all the additional themes and purposelessness which comes with that.
And the main boss battle theme used throughout the game
It has other elements too, like the tribal drums of the Veldt in the last movement
I am nearly certain he was listening to a lot of Emerson, Lake, and Palmer while composing the final movement.
I hear it
This guy also has his own band, The Black Mages. They played this and a bunch of his other stuff too. Pink Floyd had some influence on him.
Yes, so I've been told!
And the Earthbound Papas
I do arrangements from MIDI, but ironically enough, most of my top tier work usually comes from Final Fantasy tracks, though if not for Nobuo, those tracks wouldn't have existed, so my respect for those original tracks is always going to be infinite
10:55 "This song has so many layers." Fighting several layers of the Final boss battle. 25:53 "It's like many tracks built into one" This is exactly what it is and the Final Boss battle is divided in four parts in which you rise up after defeating one. 26:08 "Almost like a theater play or something" How about an Opera? You should check out the Opera house piece too. 27:10 Nobuo Uematsu is in a rock band called The Black Mages. 28:10 The fadeouts is the transition between the four layers of the Final boss battle. The last one being the final boss himself.
I'm crying listening to this after so long. Hearing the song and imagining the ending of this story with all the motifs and characters just opened me up and I can't even explain why.
Aeris' Theme used to destroy me every time.
Eyes on Me could make me so sad.
Been binge watching your "Composer reacts" and this video finally made me hit the sub button. Having played most of the games you've covered, it was awesome seeing you enjoy the tracks and nailing the analysis despite not having played the game yourself. Keep doing what you do!
Thanks a lot mate 👍🏻
Kefka Pallazo.... one of my favorites villans until now... and his theme... God!... how powerfull and menacing!!!
The only FF villain that wins
@@MrRyonnsan He proved his point, and got what he wanted, eternal rest
"I don't think this is a boss fight" LOL it's not A boss fight, it's THE BEST boss fight out of any FF...
Not hard considering the shit state the franchise is atm lmao still, incredible geme
Agree, i love One Winged Angel but for me Dancing Mad is THE best theme in all ff games.
Is not boss battle, is a FINAL boss battle.
Great analysis! The reason the track fades out and then goes into something else near the end is because this music is during a battle and the battle is played out in several sections, respective to each section of the music you heard. When it fades out is when the final section of the battle is about to start. Some players might take longer than others to complete a section so the track loops over and over again until they complete it, then moves on to the next portion.
Nobuo fan! Listened to the whole thing with you. Great reaction. I met the guy. Nobuo is a Rockstar! Every unexpected moment of this piece is actually DANCING MAD!
That's awesome!
"I wonder what happens in the game when this is playing " OMG, bless your heart. It's only one of the greatest fights in history.
And to think it was pulled off with stationary sprites
@@Gay_Priest the videogame equivalent of sock puppets 🤣
Final Fantasy 6 is one of my favorite games growing up. It helped me learn to read and having ADHD it was able to keep my attention. Love the whole soundtrack to the is game and "Dancing Mad" so works. "Dancing Mad" is set as the main villain Kefka's personal theme and also the song played when going up the "Tower of Kefka" when heading to he final boss battle.
And people say gaming is bad! Witness this story!
Liked, subscribed, and commenting for the algorithm.
Haven't seen your channel before, but I really loved seeing you enjoy the music I grew up with and giving it a more analytical and informed assessment than I can, with my lack of knowledge of music theory.
Thank you. Please continue doing what you're doing.
Thanks mate, but the point is that I don't know music theory either 😂
@@AtlasBenighted I gathered that once I got later in the video. I hadn't yet completed it. 😅
Either way, I loved this video. Thanks again!
Interesting about the parallel to Coolio’s music; this game came out the year before “Gangster’s Paradise”.
We busted Coolio Erika! Usurper! 😆
@@AtlasBenighted Gangsters paradise is actually based off of a Stevie track called Pastime Paradise from the 76' album Songs in the Key of Life, so it's actually possible Uematsu quoted the original track here
@@wizardlevy Very likely, There's a lot of Boston's Foreplay/Long Time in Dancing Madly as well. The 2 minute intro at least.
@@ChristopherViola That’s interesting. I can’t quite hear the resemblance to that song in “Dancing Mad,” but whenever I hear the boss theme for FF7, I can’t help but think of “Foreplay.”
It's interesting seeing / hearing your reactions listening to this out of context (in a good way!). But man... in context? Whew lawd. I'm super biased since this was one of my first JRPGs growing up lol, but considering the limitations, the way the battle transitions, how the final part slips Kefka's theme in so naturally, just... man I love this game's music and how well it ties into everything, especially for a game in the early 90s.
I get it mate, I feel the same way about other osts 😄
@@AtlasBenighted Indeed indeed. Respect, love the channel so far!
My favorite video game tune of all time. Your reaction and breakdown as a composer is very interesting and appreciated. Going to have to watch more of your videos. Thanks!
An important thing to remember about this song is that it was designed for an RPG boss battle, which could go on for a long time if the player is struggling. So each movement is intended to be able to loop for as long as necessary. For the OST version, I believe it just goes through two loops of each movement.
Great video. Please consider doing more Final Fantasy 6 tracks, they are amazing! The ending one for example mixes all character themes and would be a good starting point.
Each part of this applies to the 4 part battle at the end of the game. It's keyed to change when you beat each part. It's my favorite FF song, followed closely by battle on the big bridge from FF5
I know this video is a tad old but if you have had the time and chance to play through final fantasy 3/6. I HIGHLY suggest listening to the Phil Harmonic song: Born with a gift of magic. It will make you cry.
As someone who grew up playing final fantasy, hearing this piece brought me to tears as it is done so well and it plays through the story with the music and you just feel the emotion from each section.
honestly though anyone who hasn't heard that piece yet I suggest looking it up on TH-cam right now.
The Black Mages version of this is well worth a listen to, it's amazing and does a better job at the transitions and ends full circle with the opening. Also, I kinda view The Castle track from Final Fantasy VIII as a bit of a spiritual successor to this one - check that song out as well!
a person from sony went roge and made the SPC700 for the snes.. The Memory for the SPU is 64Kb. 8 Channels of 32 kHz 16-bit stereo sound
A lot of the music uses a motif so you hear a lot of familiar parts and songs that are in Dancing Mad throughout the game. It being the final battle of the game it becomes a culmination of everything you've experienced through the game. You can almost feel the descent into madness that the antagonist Kefka goes through in the game being the crazy mad clown he is. it's something you feel when you go through the game and it might only apply to people who have that nostalgia who play that game back in 94 like me. I'm sure people out there know what I'm talking about.
Sad part when there's an ad right before a single long note and you saying "and that note is the resolution" had to rewind to get the feeling from it lol
That's the new TH-cam ToS right there 😬
"What the hell's happening?" Kefka just entered the ring and delivered one of the best speeches in videogame history. :)
This is the final boss theme.
So I've been told
@@AtlasBenighted This a multi-phase boss fight, in which the different sections of the music change based on the phases of the battle you're in. The fade out at 13:45 just before the next section is the transition to Kefka himself. The hectic nature of the music that follows seems to play on the fact that Kefka has fallen completely to madness.
Somethings I'd like to bring up.
First, The song is used for a 4 phase final boss.
In tradition of VG soundtrack looping the track twice, each phase of this loops twice before proceeding to the next phase of the song, which my explain some of the repetition.
Also because the phase can happen at any point, the start of the transition can't follow as naturally from the previous phase as possible.
At least, those are my thoughts.
Amen!
Although phase 1&2 only have single transition points, meaning that after moving to a new tier the game will wait until the right (and only) time to transition to the next part. Only between the third and the last phase there are a on que transition that may happened at any point, which may be the reason for the fade out.
I think what makes this the best FF boss song of all time is that it tells a story through the music as movements, which I don't think was really done too often with others except FF8 maybe (OWA from FF7 was amazing, but it was more of a "oh my god" song than a storytelling device)
Uematsu is the man who has influenced me the most growing up. So many timeless classics made by a man with a great heart.
great analysis man!
Thank you mate!
I keep coming back to this video often these days and it's really interesting to hear about this song from a musician's perspective. I remember listening to this song for the first time in 2013 when I beat FF6. The fact that this song existed on the SNES and basically, like the game itself, pushed the hardware to the limits makes this one of my all-time favorite songs in anything. Dancing Mad has so much going on in it from its inspirations to its theming for the character it's made for, plus the fact that it's 10+ minutes long without each tier looping makes this my favorite final boss theme of all time.
There's also the fact that during the final battle, which is 4 phases like the song is 4 Tiers, each time you defeat a phase, the song will naturally transition to the next tier which is amazing.
Which tier of Dancing Mad would be your favorite? Mine in Tier 3 (the part where it's all organ).
The ones where you see me play air guitar 🤘
This song was used for the final boss of the game. The final boss was structured as climbing a tower and fighting parts of the final boss. The fade out part that builds into the last portion comes in when you get to the top and fight the last part of the boss. They weave the final boss's laugh into the song
Thank you so much for making this video, Final Fantasy 6 as a whole means the world to me and brings a tear every time I think of it. I wish everyone in the world could experience this master piece in some way.
That's a good wish 🙂
Great stuff, and I encourage you to listen to Uematsu's band "The Black Mages" playing it in their studio recording. It picks up an additional depth that the SNES's sound hardware couldn't quite capture.
I was a bit disappointed by only one little thing: The problem with a virgin reaction to the track is that it misses out on the impact of Kefka's leitmotif being quoted. That was MY biggest reaction when I heard it for the first time.