The theme is a character analysis of Kefka Palazzo, a history of his ascent told through leitmotif, a snide retelling of Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy, a literal burning garbage fire (assembled as a monument to non-existence), and a final boss theme. I’m happy to have shared it with you.
I think it was Jeremy Jahns who said that using the SNES Soundchip is like using a box of crayons, and so Nobuo Uematsu used crayons to paint the Sistine Chapel.
That does not begin to cover it in my opinion he didn't just paint the chapel he built it from the ground up with twigs and ruct tape. Kefka wouldn't be anywhere as memorable without this theme. I graduated highschool because I put this on while studying.
That is the most accurate depiction of this song. haha I love the "black mages" rendition so much better but it is Nobuou's magnum opum though not my fav....9 is my fav of his even though 7 means more to me
I'll never forget the story behind this song. Uematsu was writing it as the final boss theme for FFVI... and basically said he just kept working on it and forgot to stop. Which is why it's so long. Lol.
"Did someone just laugh at me?" fucking killed me, I love that the SNES sound chip was so good that you could recognize Kefka's laugh, without any in-game context or visuals. This was one, this game has some real good tracks, and this one has endured the most by faaaar
I caught the official Final Fantasy orchestra concert "Distant Worlds" while on vacation to Sidney, Australia a few years back. That moment when every single performer went quiet and all eyes turned to the organist...I could never have the confidence under that amount of pressure. It truly was an astounding performance. That, and I sat two rows directly behind Nobuo Uematsu himself. I felt unworthy to be in that absolute legend's presence!
@@JessesAuditorium life changing does not even begin to describe it. Witnessing this performance live while the musical Demigod who birthed it into existence was right in front of me, words can never express that moment. I actually recorded a video of the performance, which I've got up on my channel for anyone curious. I know, I know. I'm not normally the "record videos at concerts" guy. But the conductor made a point of being okay with fan videos, and I promised my cousin I would capture this performance to take home to him. It is something I rewatch once in a while to always put a smile on my face. As you are checking the Distant Worlds version of this song out in the near future, probably avoid my video until afterwards. 🙃
I saw Distant Worlds in Philly maybe 5 years and my seats were directly in front of Mr. Uematsu. The conductor was speaking in between songs and at one point mentioned his name and pointed directly at me. I turned around and there he was sitting and smiling.
So jealousss! I went abroad for the DW concert last year, it was the Royal Albert Hall and I thought, damn with this organ there, for sure they were gonna play it right? RIGHT? Well, nah. Briefly disappointed, but with that amount of god tier music, couldnt stay that way for long.
So as you discussed, Dancing Mad is comprised of four movements, each representing the monument to non-existence that Kefka created as a mockery of gods and divinity. The first movement is Inferno, it represents the destruction of the world that Kefka actually achieved. He's notable as one of the only antagonists to have accomplished his goal in the whole series of Final Fantasy. Because even after he's defeated, the world is still in the ruined state he left it. The heroes might defeat him, but the destruction he wrought upon the planet will take centuries to heal. The tone of this movement is one of hopeless destruction, and it's very frantic. The second movement is Purgatory. This one is a lot slower and less overt than the previous one in its evil. It sounds a bit like a track you'd expect to accompany a deranged court jester like Kefka. He's totally insane, and that's represented here. The third movement is Heaven. This one sounds a lot more benevolent and classical than the two movements preceding it. It echoes things like Tocacata & Fugue. It's meant to be a mask of divine mercy that Kefka adopts now that he's taken on ultimate power. But you can hear the lie in its benevolence as the underscored melody in the background of the organ is actually the first notes of Kefka's theme, a deceptively mischievous theme that hides the true horrors of what Kefka is capable of. The final movement is Godhood. This is when the party has climbed the tower and comes face to face with Kefka's god form itself during a bombastic intro. It actually echoes Omen, a track from the opening of Final Fantasy 6, and Kefka delivers a mocking line that one might expect from a god gone bad. "Life...dreams...hope. Where do they come from? And where are they headed? These things...I AM GOING TO DESTROY!!!" And that's when the chaos of the fourth movement kicks in following the reference to Omen. It's a frantic, sped up version of the melody that makes up the body of Kefka's theme. He knows he's losing, but he's still reveling in his own madness, as is the song itself, before suddenly bleeding into a tragic sounding little interlude. Is Kefka sad that he's dying? Is he experiencing remorse at the lives he's destroyed? Nope. The song loops right back around, but not before playing his trademark laugh to let you know that even if you kill him, he's literally The Joker. Everything is a game to him, he has no real agenda. He just wants to cause as much chaos as humanly possible, and this divine form hasn't changed a bit of that madness. It's an absurdly complicated piece, even more astonishing that Nobuo Uematsu has no musical training of any kind. He made many bangers before in the series, but this was the first musical track that he floored everybody, and in my eyes it stands head and shoulders above every other final boss song in the entire series. Yes, even One-Winged Angel.
And not to mention, it was programmed into the SNES to loop each movement infinitely until the player progressed and then seamlessly transition into the next movement when the player progressed into the boss fight. It starts out with this statue that has 3 parts, you "kill" the first part and then climb the statue to fight the next, and the movements change when you transition and then when you kill the final one, it smoothly transitions into the final one as Kefka descends down. Very few SNES games transition the BGM like that, I think Super Mario World is one of the only ones I know of that change BGM in mid-song seamlessly (jumping on and off Yoshi), as well as Yoshi's Island I think does it too.
The other part that made his a legitimate masterpiece is the technology he used to make this. The Snes. The snes did not have a good sound chip, and yet Uematsu managed to make it create this. I have seen it described as someone painting the Sistine chapel with a set of crayons, and I can't help but agree. He had to have been tied by so many restrictions, and yet, here we are.
@@Crawver The SNES did not have a good sound chip? Really? There's plenty of non-Uematsu SNES games that had some really good soundtracks, and to be quite honest, for 16-Bit, they were better than anything else SNES's 16-bit competition was putting out at the time, including the Genesis. The only thing the Genesis had going for it, was the CD Add-On, but if we compare the two systems _without_ the Add-On (being able to play CDDA is kinda cheating), the SNES wins hands-down, and you can see that in any game that was ported to both systems.
@@Dhalin When I say the soundchip was not that great, I mean the technology was pretty limited and it simply could not create complex sounds effectively. This meant a lot of composers got rather creative with the tool they had available. Stripping their sounds to their core and making every note count. And I'm really not comparing it to other consoles as I don't care. Console sound technology was fundamentally bad if you wanted to make music as a craft. Which is why it's so impressive just how much depth he was able to get out of such limited technology. There's a reason dancing mad is considered the most impressive song in any game of that generation. Because the tools used to make it were pathetic when compared to synthesisers or real instruments. And yet Uematsu pulled it off. It's a show of impressive talent.
Justin B here. This is by far my favorite FF boss theme. Personally feel this is Nobuo's Magnum Opus. Especially considering he made this with the restrictions of the SNES. The laugh you here near the end is Kefka's iconic laugh from the game. As for there being several movements during the song, the boss fight itself has multiple phases. So each movement goes with a certain phase. It's a long fight. Dancing Mad as a title makes more sense when you get a better grasp of Kefka as a character. One of his quotes - "Hee, hee, hee!! But what fun is destruction if no 'precious' lives are lost!" He is a mad lad.
You're correct that the song is in 4 movements, each of which loops for that phase of the boss fight and transitions to the next movement when you get to the next phase of the boss fight. On the FF14 OST version they're actually released as 4 separate tracks for each movement.
Now you know why this and One Winged Angel are considered Nobuo Uematsu's magnum opis compositions. And when The Black Mages performed Dancing Mad, you lose the 16 bit limitations of the SNES and gain the full beauty and madness of this song.
@@Zephhi I would say that the final battle music in FF8 is a banger if you include "Legendary Beast," "Maybe I Am A Lion," and "The Extreme" altogether in one piece. Such a masterclass.
14:13 aka the reaction of everyone when God Kefka finally shows up Like I already wrote under your reaction of One Winged Angel, this song is just insane. I can't think of any other theme on the SNES that basically uses the whole range of the soundchip (if he threw a techno part in there it would have covered everything) and at the same time is that complex. It had to grow on me for years tbh and I still wouldn't call it my favorite final boss theme or theme in general from Nobuo Uematsu, but I can definitely see why many call it and the entire FFVI OST his magnum opus.
Yes, Kefka Palazzo is mocking you, because you're late for his ascension to godhood. And furthermore, yes, that is Kefka laughing in the background. This all was composed by Nobuo Uematsu.
From a technical standpoint this song is just as impressive as it is from a compositional one. Because this was on the SNES, this is technically 4 songs strung together with each looping section being its own file, at the absolute maximum file size the SNES could handle iirc. Nobuo Uematsu not only made a fantastic song that perfectly encapsulates (in my opinion) the most entertaining villain of the series, but pushed the hardware to its absolute limit in the process. Just an absolute masterpiece from start to finish. Each movement is itself a phase of the final boss, starting at the base of a tower of flesh, each segment representing a piece of the Divine Comedy as you ascend through the levels of Hell into heaven where Kefka awaits you at the pinnacle of all things, acting as judge, jury, and executioner, putting all of existence on trial by combat.
Yes, most of the files are really cramped with information, even though the one with the intro to the last movement only contained five bars of choir and organ. But the thing with the SPC-files were that they always was at their maximum file size. Even if you just loaded it with one tone, it ended up at 64kb no matter what.
@@ludomusicalthingish3091 But are we talking about the format of the data as it existed in the game cart ROM, or the SPC file format used when extracting the data? Those are not the same thing, and the former is surely better optimized than just 64 KiB per track.
Ah yes, the melancholic part of the final movement, where Kefka is basically just like "Were my actions wrong? Will I perish now? Should I have done things differently?" and then the music shifts back, and he's just like "No wait, don't care, did it for the lulz" and literally laughs at you.
The 4th movement is so amazing in that way... It's like, "What? Sudden melancholy? Can he see it then? Can he see that the death and destruction and madness that he lived for is about to come full circle? Is he feeling remorse? Regret? Sorrow? Is he, deep down inside, also a victim of his own nihilism and despair? Is he-- ah, nope, never mind, he's back to laughing at the irony that we cannot kill him without proving his point again."
@@GrahamChapman interestingly Dissidia does suggest that on some level Kefka is in pain because he can't understand life, hopes, and dreams anymore, that the only thing that seems to give him joy is meaningless destruction.
@@Chernobog2 Basically, an obsession with nihilism taken to its ultimate point: "Time eventually destroys and snuffs out all things anyway. With that in mind, it felt so pointless to live for any of those things when, in the end, nothing will remain... Deciding to leave something behind that will persist, I decided to be a part of speeding up the process and leave behind a monument to non-existence." It's a miserable mindset -- a mindset of someone steeped in misery.
Final Fantasy 6 has been my FAVORITE game in the entire series (and of all time for many years). This song is among my favorite Nobuo Uamatsu tracks. It's hauntingly beautiful and fun to listen to. I remember first hearing this in game and WOW!! It was so bad ass!! :D Love your reaction to this one! :) Nobuo Uamatsu is fantastic and I'll always treasure his pieces.
Yeah, the laughter you heard at 16:51 of the video, is actually the laughter of Kefka, the main big bad of FFVI, this entire thing is supposed to be his theme, iirc. Basically imagine a clown/jester who took over an entire empire using his intelligence and afterwards uh, becomes a literal Magic God. Like he'll just erase entire towns/cities from the map when he is bored.(Someone correct me if I'm wrong about this)
IIRC the whole thing is inspired by The Divine Comedy with the different phrases representing Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven with the final being the ascension to God.
End battle music of 6, 7, and 8: Dancing Mad, JENOVA, JENOVA Absolute, The Birth of God, One-Winged Angel, Premonition, The Legendary Beast, Maybe I’m a Lion, The Extreme… so many memories for me, over literal decades at this point. Thanks Nobuo.
Hearing this live with their orchestra through Distant Worlds (FF's live performance tour) is chilling. They always do it when they come to London, as the hall they perform at has a giant organ piano. Shakes the walls, man
I've never really listened to the old version of Dancing Mad but for the time it was made this sounds fantastic. Wish I'd have played the game before I knew all the key moments.
One of the reason its sticks in the minds of FF6 players is each movement contains leitmotifs that weave in musical events of the game with the villain's theme. One of the great things that Soken brought back to FF is that heavy use of leitmotif rather than just total ambient mood music that modern hollywood/games often take.
Fuckin classic. I love this song. I've always been partial to the Black Mages (Uematsu's Rock Band with some other Square composers) version because of the guitar although it is probably the shortest version, but they're all great. I saw someone say once, "For a musician, the SNES sound engine is like an artist using Crayola crayons. Nobuo Uematsu used Crayola crayons to paint the Sistine Chapel." And it feels spot on, it is so well done.
15:36 Damn those organ chords are sooo satisfying. Love that melancholic feel. Reminds me of Wily's Castle from Mega Man 3 a little bit. I'm with you on how anyone could compose in classical style though, lacking structure and just flowing while invoking different emotions, it really is mad.
I know this is two years old but I'm a new subscriber of yours and it's a trip watching you react to the parts of the song I genuinely love. You're one of my favorite reaction channels.
This sure does a damn good job really embodying that feeling of facing a human monster who ascended from nihilism to madness to godhood only to end back on nihilistic madness.
Nobuo Uematsu is a pure legend. What that man could do on those soundchips was nothing short of pure magic. I also love how you can see on "most replayed" where the big moment kicked in. Your reactions are awesome, too! "I feel like this is all a build up. Question is... am I ready?"
The 4th movement was inspired by the first minutes of ELP's Tarkus, Nobuo is a big fan of classic progressive rock. maybe that'll be interesting to listen to
It was a blast enjoying this with you. Probably the best piece of video game music ever made. Especially when you consider the balls and ambition Uematsu had to put this on a 32mb cart. You should react to the live version by The Black Mages. Which is Uematsu's band.
That's 32 megabits=4 megabytes and all that space is shared by all the data of the game. And the sound RAM is only 64 kilobytes so this song had to be split into 5 parts swapping on the fly as the player progress to make it fit (songs consist of sample data for the instrument sounds and note and effect data) in the sound RAM. This is my favourite composition of all music to this day.
Nubuo Uematsu considers his work on 6 the pinnacle of his work because of the limitations imposed on him by the hardware. He had to be extremely creative to do what he wanted on the older consoles, and he feels those limitations pushed him to do his best work.
Not to argue semantics but he's the least underrated villian, possibly ever, even in video games in general. He's the goat. Or sephiroth is. And no one even bothers to argue that point
Loved the reaction, interesting takes on each of the Phases. Found you liking the Percussion very relatable. Thank you for listening to this Masterpiece of the Ages.
I adamantly refused to listen to this track til I heard it in game. The wait was completely worth it. Easily one of the best pieces I've ever heard. Not just in videogames but music in general. This track MAKES FF VI for me. I'm not a huge fan of the game but its soundtrack is one of the best in the series and Dancing Mad is the pinnacle. The only other boss that compares is Ultimecia from FF VIII and that's only if you take all 4 of the tracks that play during the multiple fights in that one
same, I heard the first phase because every one said Dancing Mad is one of the best tracks, I luckily didn't hear the last phase, best intro to a boss in a video game ever
Speaking of timescales, you need to see the sheet music for movement 5. It's like looking at madness manifested on a paper. (If anyone is interested, th-cam.com/video/aIvRRnRKR5A/w-d-xo.html did it a decade ago)
I think IX has a lot in common with VI sonically, so definitely check that one out as well. And since you like that baseline, check out basically every battle theme from I-IX.
Its honestly SUPER difficult to be well versed in music, and not appreciate this kind of art. Its absolutely bonkers what was accomplished here, and even more so if you take into account that this fit into a SNES diskette. Huge limitations on hardware. This was really pushing boundaries to the absolute limit. And it still awes audience throughout the world even without knowing this. I laughed at the "you gonna hate it" remark. A song with these many surprises and creativity in composition, can only marvel and inspire.
I feel like I could actually see your pupils slowly dilate when the drums started at the beginning of act 4 before the full insanity unleashes, that's how good this song is
I loved ff6. I heard this at distant worlds multiple times and even met Uematsu after the show and talked with him for a bit the next morning as he was checking out of his hotel. One of the best moments ever.
I want a faithful FF6 remake PURELY to experience this boss fight, the music, and in general, Kefka, in a fleshed out, voice acted world. I just wanna see Kefka's insanity and maniacal nature on full display.
This is one of that songs that if you listen to it with the story background, it gains a lot of layers in its meaning, telling the tragedy of the journey of the final boss, Kefka, without saying a single word. It's a powerfull track and it makes the last fight of the game one of the most memorable of the game's history
What an introduction to FFVI! It's always cool to see someone experience this music for the first time. FFVI is an old favourite. It was my second Final Fantasy; I played it back when I was 11-12 or so with my sister because the fights could be played two player (and many times either with family or on my own). This fight is massive and with this music? Definitely intimidating and memorable as heck :D Square Enix created Pixel Remasters of the first 6 games that are essentially the original games cleaned up and enhanced with some quality of life improvements. They also remastered the soundtracks. I'm currently playing through VI and some songs are mainly just better quality while others have had some extra layers and flourishes added in. It's been great. However, they also added a music player with everything playable right there and the temptation to see what they did with Dancing Mad has been immense and torturous , but I really want to experience it first hand in-game during the actual fight. It might not even be very different for all I know, but gah! The wait! Music, just music ♥Nobuo Uematsu is so cool and to think this is all came out of a SNES.
Can't be overstated how amazing it was to hear this kind of music coming from an SNES. The stuff Uematsu achieved with such a limited palette to work from is incredible. There are so many iconic songs and melodies from 6. I think most people will admit it was his best overall work when it came to an entire game soundtrack.
What else can I say about this masterpiece except that playing this in theatrhythm (touch-based rhythm game) is certainly intimidating, also ow my thumbs xD
FF6 is literally an Opera play, i don't know why nobody turned the whole game in one yet. The game even has a part that happens in an Opera (Opera "Maria and Draco") and that has been reproduced a lot of times in FF concerts.
There will never be another Uematsu. A genius. A nice man. But a supreme genius. To write this, period, is a feat. To write this on the SNES is almost an impossibility
This was the theme for the final fight in FF6 which is against the main villain Kefka. It's four phases and it's based off of Dante's odyssey. The phases in order symbolize Purgatory, Hell, Heaven, and God. In that fight, your party is essentially going through the same journey.
During part of this boss fight he becomes a mockery of Michelangelo’s Pieta, while a parody of Gloria plays. It’s his way of saying “I, anarchy have become God, and if I am God, all your prayers, all you’ve fought for, is meaningless.” It’s the ultimate Fuck You from Kefka.
Jesse: "Bro... this is mad..." Me: "It's Dancing Mad." 😏 Also, you should really listen to the live performance recording from the Distant Worlds concerts. Goosebumps every time!
Ah, FFVI. My favorite RPG and Final Fantasy. Second favorite game. There are many versions of this song, all interesting and worth listening to. The original and XIV versions are just fine for now. This is VI's One Winged Angel, and my favorite final boss theme of the franchise by an inch over it. Kefka is VI's main antagonist. He begins as an obnoxious court jester of a military general, acting like a self-righteous jackass with relative incompetence. Over the course of the game, his abject cruelty and madness become apparent, and his power grows. He stops being a joke, and he becomes a threat. He increasingly does monstrous and terrible things, and rapidly becomes your greatest foe. And, in his moment of triumph, he ascends to godhood, annihilating your world in an act of his pure nihilism and hatred. The World of Ruin he leaves behind is the setting of the game's final third, as you gather your disparate party members and take the fight back to his godlike form, gaining hope and justice for a world that needs it to come back from the brink. You are right that the song is in four movements, in fact each comprising a segment of his final boss fight. There are four movements in total (you heard each one loop at least twice I believe, which is not how I would've presented them to you but what can I do). My favorite little note comes in the fourth movement, where for a brief moment everything cuts out except for a single instrument playing the theme that occurred when Kefka appeared throughout the rest of the game. It's just a little stab in your gut, a reminder of how weak and annoying he started and far he has ascended to be the literal god standing in your way. This song is Nobuo Uematsu's masterpiece of reference and love for classical music and all of the Final Fantasy tracks that came before. FFVII would start with him exploring new styles with better sound equipment on the Sony Playstation 1, and his options and creative choices would evolve from there. But it's always good to remember where we came from, and what could be accomplished on even the SNES' limited technology. I probably forgot something I wanted to mention, I could ramble about FFVI for hours. There's lots of great music within it, but I'll leave it to the Patrons to get you there. Glad you seemed to respect and understand the pure unadulterated might of this piece. I *would* highly recommend digging into either the Distant Worlds live orchestral version *or* Uematsu's own metal re-enactment (He's recorded this twice with two bands: The Black Mages & Earthbound Papas. Latter may be easier to find legally, but I'm a sucker for his older work with The Black Mages).
Good man listening to the full version. Part of dancing mad appeal is the suspense and repeat of the tiers before it transcends to the next. It’s enough to start driving the listener mad as you expect it to March forward before we start all over again. The organs are the predominant instrument you hear and it’s ridiculous how many ways it’s played here.
Ironically I have not seen that many good Dancing Mad Remixes.... it's like the good remixes are being kept and treasured while the bad ones are literally forgotten by the internet... it's like a mad respect going on with this track
Haven't had a chance to watch your reaction to the ffxiv version yet but since you didn't mention it here I wanted to mention: The melody of the choir near the beginning of the first movement, if you listen to it again on its own and listen to The Twinning (A Long Fall) you can hear it referenced but tweaked. Really cool stuff to see how ffxiv calls back to so much awesome stuff in that way.
I didn't like this track the first time I heard it. It was so long and I hadn't played the game so it didn't mean much to me. Now I really respect it for what it is, it tells a story and you have to be along for the ride.
FF6 is my top favorite of the entire series and one of my top favorite Video Games EVER. It's a game that really needs to be experienced because I could tell you the entire story but it doesn't weigh the same unless you live it. Plus you get to feel the badass energy you can only feel from suplexing a ghost train.
If you listen to "The Three Fates" by Emerson, Lake & Palmer, I think you can see a lot of its influence in "Dancing Mad." The sound style of their Tarkus album also leaks into the FF VI and Chrono Trigger a fair bit.
"Bro, this is mad." - I do believe that's the point! Kefka is by and large one of my favorite Final Fantasy villains and one of 2-3 that have succeeded in their goal (the others being Caius from FFXIII-2 and, you can argue, Ultemecia from FFVIII). His madness is intense and morphed VI into the masterpiece that it is.
This song actually reflect Kefka's Psychology His god rise complex, his emptiness, The way he sees himself as god, his final act of frantic rebellion, and his end..
raised on bach so yes ^_^ was my piano instructors favorite to throw at me for recitals. i immediately jumped to ff music once i "went out on my own" so to say
Kefka was a test subject the empire used to perfect their magic-imbuing procedure (humans in FF6 can't naturally use magic), a procedure said to have been hellish torture even in the finished form used on Celes. He was subjected to these tests repeatedly and eventually snapped entirely. After that, he came to view existence as nothing more than a cruel joke, with no meaning or purpose, and he found pleasure only in moments of destruction. He only stuck around with the empire because it gave him the most opportunities to indulge his twisted desires. He was undeniably powerful after the procedures, but also difficult to control in his madness. Finally, when he and the Emperor found the Warring Triad (ancient deities locked in a perpetual contest of power that kept all three in check), Kefka realized he could use their power not just to destroy on an entirely new scale but to put an end to existence entirely. In taking their power (and casually murdering the Emperor), he shattered the balance and causes massive catastrophes across the globe. Continents were reshaped and even the sky itself changed in the new World of Ruin. Kefka could have killed the party members easily, scattered as they were around the shattered world, but in his madness he wanted to let them gather together all the hope they could so he could enjoy crushing that hope entirely before erasing the world itself. Even though this arrogance led to his plan being stopped and his death, he laughed into the face of oblivion while fading away. After all, he finally got the end of existence he longed for.
"I'm like, breathing heavy" - yeah now imagine actually playing the game and fighting the main antagonist, a crazy powerful deranged clown with world-destroying magical powers, in an insanely cool and godlike form while this music is banging. Honestly, as a child I was enamored by the entire ordeal.
Not to mention that this song has Kefka's theme as a motif all through the song. You might not even notice it the first time, but when you do, you can't stop hearing it.
This song has 4 Acts, they are more clear during the boss fight, each act represents something 1st act: Hell (depicted by the devil in game) 2nd act: Purgatory/Humanity (depicted by three people doing poses a la Michel Angelo ) 3rd act: divinity (depicted by Maria and Jesus) 4rd act: Godhood/Kefka (this act start with the ascencion but moves to Kefka being a God that's why it kinda laughs as you)
I occasionally put this tune, from the Distant Worlds album, and play it as loud as I can through the surround sound, then I just sit back in my chair, close my eyes, and let sweet, sweet bliss carry me away. A treat for the ears and the mind, every time.
Heed the first movement, remember the destruction of the world. Now, behold the destruction of life, dreams, hope; it is the fate of all things. Heed the second movement, and stand in awe. Now, behold your former vain attempts at stopping the inevitable. Heed the third movement, this is the power you oppose. Now, behold your saviour and god; there's no salvation, prayers fall on deaf ears. Heed the fourth movement, the skies are tearing apart. Now, behold the wild dance of a calamitous star.
One of the most bold things Uematsu did in this song, I think, was that he dared to not loop the first 2 movements. For context, this is the final boss music for 6, and the boss has 4 parts to it, which transition seemlessly from one to the next. In theory, each movement goes with a different phase of the fight. But the first 2 movements don't loop at all. You can finish the first 2 parts of the fight too quickly or too slowly to get things to line up perfectly (the 3rd and 4th movements do loop). In general those parts of the fight do last about as long as the time alloted them, but still. It was a bold decision, but it paid off. VI has my favorite soundtrack in the series, and I'm unbelievably excited for the Pixel Remaster for the orchestrated soundtrack. If I had one suggestion, it would be Balance is Restored. Fair warning, it's another long one
The thing that I find simply astonishing is the fact that he had no formal training and he just decided that he wanted to create music and mad something as epic as that
I'm sure you've got wind of them but Nobuo has a rock band named The Black Mages he formed that performs a lot of the songs you've been reacting to, definitely worth checking out
The theme is a character analysis of Kefka Palazzo, a history of his ascent told through leitmotif, a snide retelling of Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy, a literal burning garbage fire (assembled as a monument to non-existence), and a final boss theme.
I’m happy to have shared it with you.
Furthermore, his ascension to godhood reflects on Kafka's Metamorphosis
@@stef96ify That may have been why he was named Kefka.
Tell that to the man who did the soundtrack for Super Metroid.
the first 3 movements tell the divine comedy soo well, i cant put it into words atm
I think it was Jeremy Jahns who said that using the SNES Soundchip is like using a box of crayons, and so Nobuo Uematsu used crayons to paint the Sistine Chapel.
Yup, still one of my favourite FF related quotes xD
That does not begin to cover it in my opinion he didn't just paint the chapel he built it from the ground up with twigs and ruct tape. Kefka wouldn't be anywhere as memorable without this theme. I graduated highschool because I put this on while studying.
That is the most accurate depiction of this song. haha
I love the "black mages" rendition so much better but it is Nobuou's magnum opum though not my fav....9 is my fav of his even though 7 means more to me
@@mercerholt8299 I'd argue the localization was what made him so memorable. If I'm correct, he's pretty generic in the Japanese script
@@Lunar994 That to.
I'll never forget the story behind this song. Uematsu was writing it as the final boss theme for FFVI... and basically said he just kept working on it and forgot to stop. Which is why it's so long. Lol.
This is a fact I know and I love to remember. Like, "Oops, I wrote a masterpiece"! :D
You can really tell that he had the time of his life making and that he kinda forced himself to stop making it even longer
Source?
EDIT: Should probably clarify that I do believe you. I just want to know where I can find this bit of info.
@@Lunar994 Source: his heart!
"Did someone just laugh at me?" fucking killed me, I love that the SNES sound chip was so good that you could recognize Kefka's laugh, without any in-game context or visuals. This was one, this game has some real good tracks, and this one has endured the most by faaaar
I caught the official Final Fantasy orchestra concert "Distant Worlds" while on vacation to Sidney, Australia a few years back. That moment when every single performer went quiet and all eyes turned to the organist...I could never have the confidence under that amount of pressure. It truly was an astounding performance.
That, and I sat two rows directly behind Nobuo Uematsu himself. I felt unworthy to be in that absolute legend's presence!
life changing?
@@JessesAuditorium life changing does not even begin to describe it. Witnessing this performance live while the musical Demigod who birthed it into existence was right in front of me, words can never express that moment.
I actually recorded a video of the performance, which I've got up on my channel for anyone curious. I know, I know. I'm not normally the "record videos at concerts" guy. But the conductor made a point of being okay with fan videos, and I promised my cousin I would capture this performance to take home to him. It is something I rewatch once in a while to always put a smile on my face.
As you are checking the Distant Worlds version of this song out in the near future, probably avoid my video until afterwards. 🙃
I saw Distant Worlds in Philly maybe 5 years and my seats were directly in front of Mr. Uematsu. The conductor was speaking in between songs and at one point mentioned his name and pointed directly at me. I turned around and there he was sitting and smiling.
So jealousss! I went abroad for the DW concert last year, it was the Royal Albert Hall and I thought, damn with this organ there, for sure they were gonna play it right? RIGHT? Well, nah. Briefly disappointed, but with that amount of god tier music, couldnt stay that way for long.
I feel like this song tells you everything you need to know about Uematsu as a composer.
What a comment
FF6 really was his Magnum Opus, why else is there an actual opera you take part in.
@@JCSpyzer Uematsu actually considers FFIX's Soundtrack his Magnum Opus.
@@Volkaru Cool! I think i could see reasons for this!
@@Volkaru Honestly, everything from FF6 to FF9 could be considered one, but I have a very soft spot for this song.
Dancing Mad is the "in a cave, with a box of scraps" of video game music. Such astonishing beauty and power, with such limited resources...
So as you discussed, Dancing Mad is comprised of four movements, each representing the monument to non-existence that Kefka created as a mockery of gods and divinity.
The first movement is Inferno, it represents the destruction of the world that Kefka actually achieved. He's notable as one of the only antagonists to have accomplished his goal in the whole series of Final Fantasy. Because even after he's defeated, the world is still in the ruined state he left it. The heroes might defeat him, but the destruction he wrought upon the planet will take centuries to heal. The tone of this movement is one of hopeless destruction, and it's very frantic.
The second movement is Purgatory. This one is a lot slower and less overt than the previous one in its evil. It sounds a bit like a track you'd expect to accompany a deranged court jester like Kefka. He's totally insane, and that's represented here.
The third movement is Heaven. This one sounds a lot more benevolent and classical than the two movements preceding it. It echoes things like Tocacata & Fugue. It's meant to be a mask of divine mercy that Kefka adopts now that he's taken on ultimate power. But you can hear the lie in its benevolence as the underscored melody in the background of the organ is actually the first notes of Kefka's theme, a deceptively mischievous theme that hides the true horrors of what Kefka is capable of.
The final movement is Godhood. This is when the party has climbed the tower and comes face to face with Kefka's god form itself during a bombastic intro. It actually echoes Omen, a track from the opening of Final Fantasy 6, and Kefka delivers a mocking line that one might expect from a god gone bad. "Life...dreams...hope. Where do they come from? And where are they headed? These things...I AM GOING TO DESTROY!!!"
And that's when the chaos of the fourth movement kicks in following the reference to Omen. It's a frantic, sped up version of the melody that makes up the body of Kefka's theme. He knows he's losing, but he's still reveling in his own madness, as is the song itself, before suddenly bleeding into a tragic sounding little interlude. Is Kefka sad that he's dying? Is he experiencing remorse at the lives he's destroyed? Nope. The song loops right back around, but not before playing his trademark laugh to let you know that even if you kill him, he's literally The Joker. Everything is a game to him, he has no real agenda. He just wants to cause as much chaos as humanly possible, and this divine form hasn't changed a bit of that madness.
It's an absurdly complicated piece, even more astonishing that Nobuo Uematsu has no musical training of any kind. He made many bangers before in the series, but this was the first musical track that he floored everybody, and in my eyes it stands head and shoulders above every other final boss song in the entire series. Yes, even One-Winged Angel.
And not to mention, it was programmed into the SNES to loop each movement infinitely until the player progressed and then seamlessly transition into the next movement when the player progressed into the boss fight. It starts out with this statue that has 3 parts, you "kill" the first part and then climb the statue to fight the next, and the movements change when you transition and then when you kill the final one, it smoothly transitions into the final one as Kefka descends down. Very few SNES games transition the BGM like that, I think Super Mario World is one of the only ones I know of that change BGM in mid-song seamlessly (jumping on and off Yoshi), as well as Yoshi's Island I think does it too.
bruuuuhhhh 👽👽
The other part that made his a legitimate masterpiece is the technology he used to make this. The Snes. The snes did not have a good sound chip, and yet Uematsu managed to make it create this. I have seen it described as someone painting the Sistine chapel with a set of crayons, and I can't help but agree. He had to have been tied by so many restrictions, and yet, here we are.
@@Crawver The SNES did not have a good sound chip? Really? There's plenty of non-Uematsu SNES games that had some really good soundtracks, and to be quite honest, for 16-Bit, they were better than anything else SNES's 16-bit competition was putting out at the time, including the Genesis. The only thing the Genesis had going for it, was the CD Add-On, but if we compare the two systems _without_ the Add-On (being able to play CDDA is kinda cheating), the SNES wins hands-down, and you can see that in any game that was ported to both systems.
@@Dhalin When I say the soundchip was not that great, I mean the technology was pretty limited and it simply could not create complex sounds effectively. This meant a lot of composers got rather creative with the tool they had available. Stripping their sounds to their core and making every note count. And I'm really not comparing it to other consoles as I don't care. Console sound technology was fundamentally bad if you wanted to make music as a craft. Which is why it's so impressive just how much depth he was able to get out of such limited technology. There's a reason dancing mad is considered the most impressive song in any game of that generation. Because the tools used to make it were pathetic when compared to synthesisers or real instruments. And yet Uematsu pulled it off. It's a show of impressive talent.
And Nobuo Uematsu isn't even formally trained. *_He taught himself._*
omfg
Genius needs no instruction
Justin B here. This is by far my favorite FF boss theme. Personally feel this is Nobuo's Magnum Opus. Especially considering he made this with the restrictions of the SNES.
The laugh you here near the end is Kefka's iconic laugh from the game.
As for there being several movements during the song, the boss fight itself has multiple phases. So each movement goes with a certain phase. It's a long fight.
Dancing Mad as a title makes more sense when you get a better grasp of Kefka as a character. One of his quotes - "Hee, hee, hee!! But what fun is destruction if no 'precious' lives are lost!" He is a mad lad.
You're correct that the song is in 4 movements, each of which loops for that phase of the boss fight and transitions to the next movement when you get to the next phase of the boss fight.
On the FF14 OST version they're actually released as 4 separate tracks for each movement.
Correction: the first 2 movements do not loop. They are a set duration, and you can finish them "too quickly" or "too slowly"
If a song could possibly be described as an adventure, I'd say this would be it.
Now you know why this and One Winged Angel are considered Nobuo Uematsu's magnum opis compositions. And when The Black Mages performed Dancing Mad, you lose the 16 bit limitations of the SNES and gain the full beauty and madness of this song.
One Winged Angel is sandwiched between the 2 best final bosses in FF
@@Walamonga1313 that is true, if you're talking about themes. The Extreme and Dancing Mad are really damn good
I have to say this edges out One Winged Angel for me, just. It's almost unbelievable someone thought this up, it bends my mind lol.
@@Zephhi I would say that the final battle music in FF8 is a banger if you include "Legendary Beast," "Maybe I Am A Lion," and "The Extreme" altogether in one piece. Such a masterclass.
14:13 aka the reaction of everyone when God Kefka finally shows up
Like I already wrote under your reaction of One Winged Angel, this song is just insane. I can't think of any other theme on the SNES that basically uses the whole range of the soundchip (if he threw a techno part in there it would have covered everything) and at the same time is that complex.
It had to grow on me for years tbh and I still wouldn't call it my favorite final boss theme or theme in general from Nobuo Uematsu, but I can definitely see why many call it and the entire FFVI OST his magnum opus.
Yes, Kefka Palazzo is mocking you, because you're late for his ascension to godhood. And furthermore, yes, that is Kefka laughing in the background. This all was composed by Nobuo Uematsu.
From a technical standpoint this song is just as impressive as it is from a compositional one. Because this was on the SNES, this is technically 4 songs strung together with each looping section being its own file, at the absolute maximum file size the SNES could handle iirc. Nobuo Uematsu not only made a fantastic song that perfectly encapsulates (in my opinion) the most entertaining villain of the series, but pushed the hardware to its absolute limit in the process. Just an absolute masterpiece from start to finish. Each movement is itself a phase of the final boss, starting at the base of a tower of flesh, each segment representing a piece of the Divine Comedy as you ascend through the levels of Hell into heaven where Kefka awaits you at the pinnacle of all things, acting as judge, jury, and executioner, putting all of existence on trial by combat.
Yes, most of the files are really cramped with information, even though the one with the intro to the last movement only contained five bars of choir and organ.
But the thing with the SPC-files were that they always was at their maximum file size. Even if you just loaded it with one tone, it ended up at 64kb no matter what.
@@ludomusicalthingish3091 But are we talking about the format of the data as it existed in the game cart ROM, or the SPC file format used when extracting the data? Those are not the same thing, and the former is surely better optimized than just 64 KiB per track.
When the fourth movement started I was like "the poor thing is not ready!"
Idk if any of us were ready when we played it in the 90s lol
"Hey I heard you like classical music. I'll give you all the classical music remix AND some prog metal at the end."
Ah yes, the melancholic part of the final movement, where Kefka is basically just like "Were my actions wrong? Will I perish now? Should I have done things differently?" and then the music shifts back, and he's just like "No wait, don't care, did it for the lulz" and literally laughs at you.
"No wait, don't care, did it for the lulz" goes a long way toward encapsulating his mindset throughout the entire game.
The 4th movement is so amazing in that way... It's like, "What? Sudden melancholy? Can he see it then? Can he see that the death and destruction and madness that he lived for is about to come full circle? Is he feeling remorse? Regret? Sorrow? Is he, deep down inside, also a victim of his own nihilism and despair? Is he-- ah, nope, never mind, he's back to laughing at the irony that we cannot kill him without proving his point again."
@@GrahamChapman interestingly Dissidia does suggest that on some level Kefka is in pain because he can't understand life, hopes, and dreams anymore, that the only thing that seems to give him joy is meaningless destruction.
@@Chernobog2 Basically, an obsession with nihilism taken to its ultimate point: "Time eventually destroys and snuffs out all things anyway. With that in mind, it felt so pointless to live for any of those things when, in the end, nothing will remain... Deciding to leave something behind that will persist, I decided to be a part of speeding up the process and leave behind a monument to non-existence." It's a miserable mindset -- a mindset of someone steeped in misery.
Final Fantasy 6 has been my FAVORITE game in the entire series (and of all time for many years). This song is among my favorite Nobuo Uamatsu tracks. It's hauntingly beautiful and fun to listen to. I remember first hearing this in game and WOW!! It was so bad ass!! :D
Love your reaction to this one! :) Nobuo Uamatsu is fantastic and I'll always treasure his pieces.
Yeah, the laughter you heard at 16:51 of the video, is actually the laughter of Kefka, the main big bad of FFVI, this entire thing is supposed to be his theme, iirc. Basically imagine a clown/jester who took over an entire empire using his intelligence and afterwards uh, becomes a literal Magic God. Like he'll just erase entire towns/cities from the map when he is bored.(Someone correct me if I'm wrong about this)
More like if the joker was in the medieval ages with magic powers surgically forced into him
Way too metal
Yeah it’s implied Kefka’s mind snapped under an imperfect magic infusion. He didn’t develop his Joker-esque characteristics until later
IIRC the whole thing is inspired by The Divine Comedy with the different phrases representing Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven with the final being the ascension to God.
Let's just put it this way;
You don't win in FFVI, you pick up the pieces after Kefka does.
If you ever get a chance I highly recommend the Black Mages version of this. The ending is especially spectacular with a transcendent guitar solo.
So much this! The three Black Mages albums are absolutely stunning.
The final boss tracks of VI, VII, and VIII were all absolutely the most epic of all of the Final Fantasy entries.
End battle music of 6, 7, and 8: Dancing Mad, JENOVA, JENOVA Absolute, The Birth of God, One-Winged Angel, Premonition, The Legendary Beast, Maybe I’m a Lion, The Extreme… so many memories for me, over literal decades at this point. Thanks Nobuo.
"Yeah... i did that"
What a perfect quote for Kefka, the villain this song is about.
This song is Uematsu's magnum opus, such an amazing piece.
Hearing this live with their orchestra through Distant Worlds (FF's live performance tour) is chilling. They always do it when they come to London, as the hall they perform at has a giant organ piano. Shakes the walls, man
I've never really listened to the old version of Dancing Mad but for the time it was made this sounds fantastic. Wish I'd have played the game before I knew all the key moments.
One of the reason its sticks in the minds of FF6 players is each movement contains leitmotifs that weave in musical events of the game with the villain's theme. One of the great things that Soken brought back to FF is that heavy use of leitmotif rather than just total ambient mood music that modern hollywood/games often take.
I was at the Royal Albert Hall and they played this live on the massive organ in there with the full orchestra and it was mind blowing
Fuckin classic. I love this song. I've always been partial to the Black Mages (Uematsu's Rock Band with some other Square composers) version because of the guitar although it is probably the shortest version, but they're all great.
I saw someone say once, "For a musician, the SNES sound engine is like an artist using Crayola crayons. Nobuo Uematsu used Crayola crayons to paint the Sistine Chapel." And it feels spot on, it is so well done.
15:36 Damn those organ chords are sooo satisfying. Love that melancholic feel. Reminds me of Wily's Castle from Mega Man 3 a little bit.
I'm with you on how anyone could compose in classical style though, lacking structure and just flowing while invoking different emotions, it really is mad.
I know this is two years old but I'm a new subscriber of yours and it's a trip watching you react to the parts of the song I genuinely love. You're one of my favorite reaction channels.
Your slow sip as the drums and bass came in was just epically perfect.
"this song is mocking you this whole time" yeah thats kefka's shtick through the whooooole game its fantastic HAHAHA
This sure does a damn good job really embodying that feeling of facing a human monster who ascended from nihilism to madness to godhood only to end back on nihilistic madness.
LOL The face you made when you heard Kefkas laugh. IM fucking dead.
Nobuo Uematsu-san probably the best music composer for video games history.
Absolutely Legend
I think Koji Kondo is a contender for that slot. He composed an entire musical score using only 6 notes in OoT. And that's just from a Japanese pool.
I'm 12 minutes in and I am painstakingly waiting for that beat to drop, so I can see the reaction he has.
How was it
Nobuo Uematsu is a pure legend. What that man could do on those soundchips was nothing short of pure magic. I also love how you can see on "most replayed" where the big moment kicked in. Your reactions are awesome, too!
"I feel like this is all a build up. Question is... am I ready?"
The 4th movement was inspired by the first minutes of ELP's Tarkus, Nobuo is a big fan of classic progressive rock. maybe that'll be interesting to listen to
A mi parecer , no solo la parte final , si no que mucho de Tarkus esta presente en Dancing Mad
It was a blast enjoying this with you. Probably the best piece of video game music ever made. Especially when you consider the balls and ambition Uematsu had to put this on a 32mb cart. You should react to the live version by The Black Mages. Which is Uematsu's band.
That's 32 megabits=4 megabytes and all that space is shared by all the data of the game. And the sound RAM is only 64 kilobytes so this song had to be split into 5 parts swapping on the fly as the player progress to make it fit (songs consist of sample data for the instrument sounds and note and effect data) in the sound RAM. This is my favourite composition of all music to this day.
Nubuo Uematsu considers his work on 6 the pinnacle of his work because of the limitations imposed on him by the hardware. He had to be extremely creative to do what he wanted on the older consoles, and he feels those limitations pushed him to do his best work.
Kefka is the most underrated villain in the final fantasy series. People forgot that he's the only FF villain who succeeded in destroying the world.
Not to argue semantics but he's the least underrated villian, possibly ever, even in video games in general. He's the goat. Or sephiroth is. And no one even bothers to argue that point
Loved the reaction, interesting takes on each of the Phases. Found you liking the Percussion very relatable.
Thank you for listening to this Masterpiece of the Ages.
I adamantly refused to listen to this track til I heard it in game. The wait was completely worth it. Easily one of the best pieces I've ever heard. Not just in videogames but music in general. This track MAKES FF VI for me. I'm not a huge fan of the game but its soundtrack is one of the best in the series and Dancing Mad is the pinnacle. The only other boss that compares is Ultimecia from FF VIII and that's only if you take all 4 of the tracks that play during the multiple fights in that one
same, I heard the first phase because every one said Dancing Mad is one of the best tracks, I luckily didn't hear the last phase, best intro to a boss in a video game ever
Speaking of timescales, you need to see the sheet music for movement 5. It's like looking at madness manifested on a paper.
(If anyone is interested, th-cam.com/video/aIvRRnRKR5A/w-d-xo.html did it a decade ago)
the transition at 6:40 remains my fave part of this song. it always gave me "oh shiz, ive done it now" vibes
Nobuo Uematsu
is such genius
just imagine this is made 30 years ago on SNES
and still a quality content
I think IX has a lot in common with VI sonically, so definitely check that one out as well. And since you like that baseline, check out basically every battle theme from I-IX.
Its honestly SUPER difficult to be well versed in music, and not appreciate this kind of art. Its absolutely bonkers what was accomplished here, and even more so if you take into account that this fit into a SNES diskette. Huge limitations on hardware. This was really pushing boundaries to the absolute limit. And it still awes audience throughout the world even without knowing this.
I laughed at the "you gonna hate it" remark. A song with these many surprises and creativity in composition, can only marvel and inspire.
This is my top 5 Nobuo tracks maybe even number 1 hard to say. So glad you got to this masterpiece!
I feel like I could actually see your pupils slowly dilate when the drums started at the beginning of act 4 before the full insanity unleashes, that's how good this song is
I loved ff6. I heard this at distant worlds multiple times and even met Uematsu after the show and talked with him for a bit the next morning as he was checking out of his hotel. One of the best moments ever.
I want a faithful FF6 remake PURELY to experience this boss fight, the music, and in general, Kefka, in a fleshed out, voice acted world. I just wanna see Kefka's insanity and maniacal nature on full display.
If you just want the boss fight, FFXIV has a Kefka fight, based on the original, with an updated version of this music.
Yes i wanna see Celes neutralize a spell of his with her sword & then hit him while Terra flies by casting Ultima in 8K
This is one of that songs that if you listen to it with the story background, it gains a lot of layers in its meaning, telling the tragedy of the journey of the final boss, Kefka, without saying a single word. It's a powerfull track and it makes the last fight of the game one of the most memorable of the game's history
What an introduction to FFVI! It's always cool to see someone experience this music for the first time.
FFVI is an old favourite. It was my second Final Fantasy; I played it back when I was 11-12 or so with my sister because the fights could be played two player (and many times either with family or on my own). This fight is massive and with this music? Definitely intimidating and memorable as heck :D
Square Enix created Pixel Remasters of the first 6 games that are essentially the original games cleaned up and enhanced with some quality of life improvements. They also remastered the soundtracks. I'm currently playing through VI and some songs are mainly just better quality while others have had some extra layers and flourishes added in. It's been great. However, they also added a music player with everything playable right there and the temptation to see what they did with Dancing Mad has been immense and torturous , but I really want to experience it first hand in-game during the actual fight. It might not even be very different for all I know, but gah! The wait!
Music, just music ♥Nobuo Uematsu is so cool and to think this is all came out of a SNES.
There's an 18 minute symphonic arrange of this that just blows everything out of the water.
Can't be overstated how amazing it was to hear this kind of music coming from an SNES. The stuff Uematsu achieved with such a limited palette to work from is incredible. There are so many iconic songs and melodies from 6. I think most people will admit it was his best overall work when it came to an entire game soundtrack.
This song was truly Uematsu's 'Magnum Opus'. It's truly a remarkable piece of work.
What else can I say about this masterpiece except that playing this in theatrhythm (touch-based rhythm game) is certainly intimidating, also ow my thumbs xD
FF6 is literally an Opera play, i don't know why nobody turned the whole game in one yet. The game even has a part that happens in an Opera (Opera "Maria and Draco") and that has been reproduced a lot of times in FF concerts.
There will never be another Uematsu.
A genius. A nice man. But a supreme genius.
To write this, period, is a feat. To write this on the SNES is almost an impossibility
This is a pretty awesome song with many amazing remixes. My personal favourite is Prancing Dad and it's about 12 minutes of insane goodness.
This was the theme for the final fight in FF6 which is against the main villain Kefka. It's four phases and it's based off of Dante's odyssey. The phases in order symbolize Purgatory, Hell, Heaven, and God. In that fight, your party is essentially going through the same journey.
Been waiting for this! I'm a fan of classical music, so this is a huge favorite of mine! Definitely one of Nobuo's finest works!
It's very impressive to hear how Final Fantasy reuses many of its own motifs without sounding repetitive.
This game remains one of my absolute favorites of all time and was so formative for my tastes as a kid- a huge part of it was the music.
Flashbacks of terror and frustration in equal measure the first time I heard this in a seemingly never ending boss fight.
You need to listen to this music in an orchestral live version, it´s mindblowing!
During part of this boss fight he becomes a mockery of Michelangelo’s Pieta, while a parody of Gloria plays. It’s his way of saying “I, anarchy have become God, and if I am God, all your prayers, all you’ve fought for, is meaningless.” It’s the ultimate Fuck You from Kefka.
Kefka's leitmotif in part 3 as well as 4 alongside his iconic laugh... brilliantly woven in.
Jesse: "Bro... this is mad..."
Me: "It's Dancing Mad." 😏
Also, you should really listen to the live performance recording from the Distant Worlds concerts. Goosebumps every time!
Ah, FFVI. My favorite RPG and Final Fantasy. Second favorite game. There are many versions of this song, all interesting and worth listening to. The original and XIV versions are just fine for now. This is VI's One Winged Angel, and my favorite final boss theme of the franchise by an inch over it.
Kefka is VI's main antagonist. He begins as an obnoxious court jester of a military general, acting like a self-righteous jackass with relative incompetence. Over the course of the game, his abject cruelty and madness become apparent, and his power grows. He stops being a joke, and he becomes a threat. He increasingly does monstrous and terrible things, and rapidly becomes your greatest foe. And, in his moment of triumph, he ascends to godhood, annihilating your world in an act of his pure nihilism and hatred. The World of Ruin he leaves behind is the setting of the game's final third, as you gather your disparate party members and take the fight back to his godlike form, gaining hope and justice for a world that needs it to come back from the brink.
You are right that the song is in four movements, in fact each comprising a segment of his final boss fight. There are four movements in total (you heard each one loop at least twice I believe, which is not how I would've presented them to you but what can I do). My favorite little note comes in the fourth movement, where for a brief moment everything cuts out except for a single instrument playing the theme that occurred when Kefka appeared throughout the rest of the game. It's just a little stab in your gut, a reminder of how weak and annoying he started and far he has ascended to be the literal god standing in your way.
This song is Nobuo Uematsu's masterpiece of reference and love for classical music and all of the Final Fantasy tracks that came before. FFVII would start with him exploring new styles with better sound equipment on the Sony Playstation 1, and his options and creative choices would evolve from there. But it's always good to remember where we came from, and what could be accomplished on even the SNES' limited technology.
I probably forgot something I wanted to mention, I could ramble about FFVI for hours. There's lots of great music within it, but I'll leave it to the Patrons to get you there. Glad you seemed to respect and understand the pure unadulterated might of this piece. I *would* highly recommend digging into either the Distant Worlds live orchestral version *or* Uematsu's own metal re-enactment (He's recorded this twice with two bands: The Black Mages & Earthbound Papas. Latter may be easier to find legally, but I'm a sucker for his older work with The Black Mages).
Good man listening to the full version. Part of dancing mad appeal is the suspense and repeat of the tiers before it transcends to the next. It’s enough to start driving the listener mad as you expect it to March forward before we start all over again. The organs are the predominant instrument you hear and it’s ridiculous how many ways it’s played here.
Ironically I have not seen that many good Dancing Mad Remixes.... it's like the good remixes are being kept and treasured while the bad ones are literally forgotten by the internet... it's like a mad respect going on with this track
Haven't had a chance to watch your reaction to the ffxiv version yet but since you didn't mention it here I wanted to mention:
The melody of the choir near the beginning of the first movement, if you listen to it again on its own and listen to The Twinning (A Long Fall) you can hear it referenced but tweaked. Really cool stuff to see how ffxiv calls back to so much awesome stuff in that way.
I didn't like this track the first time I heard it. It was so long and I hadn't played the game so it didn't mean much to me. Now I really respect it for what it is, it tells a story and you have to be along for the ride.
FF6 is my top favorite of the entire series and one of my top favorite Video Games EVER. It's a game that really needs to be experienced because I could tell you the entire story but it doesn't weigh the same unless you live it.
Plus you get to feel the badass energy you can only feel from suplexing a ghost train.
If you listen to "The Three Fates" by Emerson, Lake & Palmer, I think you can see a lot of its influence in "Dancing Mad." The sound style of their Tarkus album also leaks into the FF VI and Chrono Trigger a fair bit.
The "Balance and Ruin" remix album version of Dancing Mad took the ELP influence and ran with it. Highly recommended.
"Bro, this is mad." - I do believe that's the point!
Kefka is by and large one of my favorite Final Fantasy villains and one of 2-3 that have succeeded in their goal (the others being Caius from FFXIII-2 and, you can argue, Ultemecia from FFVIII).
His madness is intense and morphed VI into the masterpiece that it is.
ardynn from 15 achieved his goal too ^^
This song actually reflect Kefka's Psychology His god rise complex, his emptiness, The way he sees himself as god, his final act of frantic rebellion, and his end..
14:34 Just, gotta love how that bass hits you right in ear. Nobuo Uematsu, king of bass! ❤
raised on bach so yes ^_^ was my piano instructors favorite to throw at me for recitals. i immediately jumped to ff music once i "went out on my own" so to say
there was a guy who made a video of him literally playing this on a massive pipe organ it was pretty intense. look up the grissini project.
An all time Top 3 video game song for me! Great review :)
There’s a video out there of someone playing the 3rd movement (might actually be the whole song) on a church’s pipe organ and wow is it an experience
Kefka was a test subject the empire used to perfect their magic-imbuing procedure (humans in FF6 can't naturally use magic), a procedure said to have been hellish torture even in the finished form used on Celes. He was subjected to these tests repeatedly and eventually snapped entirely.
After that, he came to view existence as nothing more than a cruel joke, with no meaning or purpose, and he found pleasure only in moments of destruction. He only stuck around with the empire because it gave him the most opportunities to indulge his twisted desires. He was undeniably powerful after the procedures, but also difficult to control in his madness.
Finally, when he and the Emperor found the Warring Triad (ancient deities locked in a perpetual contest of power that kept all three in check), Kefka realized he could use their power not just to destroy on an entirely new scale but to put an end to existence entirely. In taking their power (and casually murdering the Emperor), he shattered the balance and causes massive catastrophes across the globe. Continents were reshaped and even the sky itself changed in the new World of Ruin.
Kefka could have killed the party members easily, scattered as they were around the shattered world, but in his madness he wanted to let them gather together all the hope they could so he could enjoy crushing that hope entirely before erasing the world itself. Even though this arrogance led to his plan being stopped and his death, he laughed into the face of oblivion while fading away. After all, he finally got the end of existence he longed for.
"I'm like, breathing heavy" - yeah now imagine actually playing the game and fighting the main antagonist, a crazy powerful deranged clown with world-destroying magical powers, in an insanely cool and godlike form while this music is banging. Honestly, as a child I was enamored by the entire ordeal.
3:03 vocals like the theme from Phenomena (1985), very cool.
Not to mention that this song has Kefka's theme as a motif all through the song. You might not even notice it the first time, but when you do, you can't stop hearing it.
This song has 4 Acts, they are more clear during the boss fight, each act represents something
1st act: Hell (depicted by the devil in game)
2nd act: Purgatory/Humanity (depicted by three people doing poses a la Michel Angelo )
3rd act: divinity (depicted by Maria and Jesus)
4rd act: Godhood/Kefka (this act start with the ascencion but moves to Kefka being a God that's why it kinda laughs as you)
And Michelangelo’s influence does not stop on movement 2; the third phase he appears as the Pieta
Basically a Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy reference
I occasionally put this tune, from the Distant Worlds album, and play it as loud as I can through the surround sound, then I just sit back in my chair, close my eyes, and let sweet, sweet bliss carry me away. A treat for the ears and the mind, every time.
Heed the first movement, remember the destruction of the world.
Now, behold the destruction of life, dreams, hope; it is the fate of all things.
Heed the second movement, and stand in awe.
Now, behold your former vain attempts at stopping the inevitable.
Heed the third movement, this is the power you oppose.
Now, behold your saviour and god; there's no salvation, prayers fall on deaf ears.
Heed the fourth movement, the skies are tearing apart.
Now, behold the wild dance of a calamitous star.
The thing about Dancing Mad is that it's not just a track, it's like an entire epic in music form XD
One of the most bold things Uematsu did in this song, I think, was that he dared to not loop the first 2 movements. For context, this is the final boss music for 6, and the boss has 4 parts to it, which transition seemlessly from one to the next. In theory, each movement goes with a different phase of the fight. But the first 2 movements don't loop at all. You can finish the first 2 parts of the fight too quickly or too slowly to get things to line up perfectly (the 3rd and 4th movements do loop). In general those parts of the fight do last about as long as the time alloted them, but still. It was a bold decision, but it paid off.
VI has my favorite soundtrack in the series, and I'm unbelievably excited for the Pixel Remaster for the orchestrated soundtrack. If I had one suggestion, it would be Balance is Restored. Fair warning, it's another long one
You should listen to the DISTANT WORLDS version. Just imagine listening to this in all its orchestra greatness
it's coming 🏄
There's also the Black Mages version
This song just lets you how about kefka’s character even if you don’t know the character.
Madness.
The thing that I find simply astonishing is the fact that he had no formal training and he just decided that he wanted to create music and mad something as epic as that
Pretty sure it also sticks out to people as its a 18 minute final boss anthem.
Nobuo Uematsu has a great prog rock style! Reminds me of ELP a little.
I'm sure you've got wind of them but Nobuo has a rock band named The Black Mages he formed that performs a lot of the songs you've been reacting to, definitely worth checking out