Confessions of a Game-Mistress

Throughout the year 2000, NPR presented the stories behind 100 of the
most important American musical works of the 20th century. These
special features cover music from a wide variety of genres –
classical, jazz, rock’n'roll, country, R&B, musical theatre and
film scores. NPR 100 stories aired on All Things Considered, Morning Edition, and NPR’s weekend news magazine programs.

http://www.npr.org/programs/specials/vote/list100.html

This link takes you to the page on the NPR website that lists the coverage NPR did for this, and intimate looks into the background of each song that was chosen. There’s also a list of their 300-song starting point, and a discussion of how the songs were winnowed to 100.

While this in itself may not seem much like gaming, listening to the coverage of individual songs sparks ideas and creativity. For instance, the last work on the list is the soundtrack to the Wizard of Oz. The discussion covers how the songs were chosen and developed, and how they caused their impact. The discussion of recurring themes for characters, a new concept in this picture, illuminates how music shapes our perception of a story. And isn’t that key for GMs - the perception of a story? Given the reason to think about it, don’t we know that some songs are defining for the characters? Who thinks of Vader without hearing the Imperial March? I don’t, anyway.