10 songs that were included in the FIFA games

This 2024 that We had the honor of seeing Keane live on his Hope & Fears 20th anniversary tour. One of the strangest things we noticed at both shows – both at Tecate Pal’ Norte and at Palacio de los Deportes – was the first introduction many of us had to the British band.

This has probably happened to more than one person When Keane sang songs like “Nothing in My Way” (from the album “Under the Iron Sea”), some people referred to this song as a “FIFA” song.. Nothing strange considering that thousands of us got to know Tom Chaplin and Co. thanks to this video game.

FIFA was a doorway to discovering other bands and genres of music through video games

Although MTV and radio were some means through which the majority of Anglo-Saxon music was exposed, it is also true Video games like FIFA have helped us get to know bands or artists which are now loved by the public in Mexico and Latin America.

Keane, Foals, Kasabian, Franz Ferdinand, The Strokes, The Vaccines, LCD Soundsystem, Bloc Party, Billie Eilish, Gorillaz and Royal Blood are some of the bands and artists who have appeared on FIFA video game soundtracks since the 2004 edition, which was the first official music for the game.

10 songs that were part of the FIFA soundtracks

Those responsible for the soundtrack also included renowned Spanish artists Café Tacvba, Vicentico, Los Amigos Invisibles, Kinky, among others, which reached the ears of Pambolo fans and video game lovers through various editions of FIFA.

We’re feeling very nostalgic here, so let’s list 10 pretty iconic and well-known songs that I’m sure many don’t remember hearing in the FIFA soundtracks, but they musicalized these games:

10.- “Helicopter” by Bloc Party

A great song that Bloc Party gave us on their debut album “Silent Alarm” was “Helicopter”, Song that was not only the first single from the album in question (which we heard live at Corona Capital a few years ago), but was also part of the FIFA 06 soundtrack.

9.- “Machu Picchu” by The Strokes

“Angle” (2011)The Strokes’ fourth album, stood out for its being the first record album on which Julian Casablancas was no longer the sole composer of songs, as all members were involved in the creation of the 10 songs that made it up.

The album starts with “Machu Picchu”, song written by Julian Casablancas and Nick Valensi, which was released as a promotional single for “Angles” and later It was included in FIFA 2012, Video game that stood out at the time for the remarkable improvement in its graphics.

8.- “Splitting The Atom” by Massive Attack

“Splitting The Atom” is the title track of the EP of the same name, which Massive Attack released in 2009. And this came at a stage the Bristol group was going through in their career, when they were under pressure from an announced fifth album that they wanted to put together from scratch.

Damon Albarn, one of Massive Attack’s best friends, worked with the band in their London music studio and “Splitting The Atom” was the first song to emerge from these sessions. The song later appeared on the FIFA 2011 soundtrack.

7.- “Supermassive Black Hole” by Muse

Not only did the song give us one of the best scenes in the world of cinema (yes, we talked about that in Twilight, with the Cullens playing baseball in the middle of a storm), but it was also the album’s first single “Black Holes and Revelations”.

As we told you before, this song was inspired by New York club music and influenced by bands and artists like these The Beatles, Rage Against the Machine, Soulwax, Prince and even Kanye West himself. It appeared in the 2007 edition of FIFA.

6.- “Call it What You Want” by Foster The People

Many believe that Foster The People was just “Pumped Up Kicks,” but the truth is Mark Foster’s American band had other great songs from their acclaimed debut album “Torches”, and one of them was exactly “Call It What You Want”.

The song was written by the band’s frontman Mark Foster.and was produced by Paul Epworth. “Call It What You Want” also appeared on the soundtrack of the video game FIFA 12 and in the World Cup mode of FIFA 23.

5.- “EO” from Café Tacvba

FIFA 2004 had one of the most important soundtracks in the history of the famous video game, Well, this title was the first to feature a tracklist of more than 20 songs, which was also curated with music from artists from all over the world.

Quite Included in this edition was “EO,” a track from Café Tacvba’s “Cuatro Caminos.” Album that refers to the Cuatro Caminos area, in the municipality of Naucalpan, in the State of Mexico and which the students of FES Acatlán know perfectly.

4.- “Blue Monday” by New Order

OF COURSE one of the most important songs of the 80s could not be missing from the FIFA soundtracksespecially because at the time – and as already mentioned – these video games also represented a door to discovering music from other genres, artists and eras.

“Blue Monday,” considered a cornerstone of the EBM and electronic music genre worldwide, It was added to the FIFA 2005 soundtrack.

3.- “Dangerous” by The XX

For fans of The xx there is a before and after of the album “I see you” (2017), Well, in this case the British trio (Romy Madley Croft, Jamie xx and Oliver Sim) delved into a more optimistic sound, leaving aside the melancholy we still saw in albums like ‘Coexist’.

“Dangerous” is a song that perfectly embodies the essence of “I See You.” and was featured on the FIFA 2018 soundtrack along with other artists such as Lorde, alt-J, Run the Jewels and others.

2.- “Olympic Airways” by Foals

He “Antidote”Foals’ debut album, It was one of the most important in the British band’s careerfor with this they began to appeal to the youth of the United Kingdom, who, compared to the American youth, welcomed an album that was praised by American critics.

But not everything was bad for “Antidotes”. In the case of “Olympic Airways” – a song that failed to make the Billboard charts and was inspired by melancholic feelings related to England’s Heathrow Airport, The track was part of the FIFA 2009 soundtrack.

1.- “Nothing in My Way” by Keane

Obviously we couldn’t leave it out “Nothing in my Way” by Keane, one of the British band’s most iconic songs, which has managed to resonate with an entire generation through his lyrics and melodies that talk about the pain of feeling alone and hopeless in life.

We don’t say it. Keane’s own fans, both those who knew the band from other singles and those who knew them thanks to FIFA 2007, agree the perfect, special and melancholic song that expresses the most human part of many.

What other song featured on FIFA game soundtracks would you add to the list?