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Showtime (Original Mix)

track cover

Additional or alternate names:

  • Showtime ((earlier MSPA credit))

By Malcolm Brown dragonxvi SoundCloud dragonxvi Tumblr DragonXVI Twitter ← Showtime (Piano Refrain) Previous track by this artist → Showtime (Imp Strife Mix) Next track by this artist.
Cover art by Homestuck ← Harlequin Previous track art by this artist → Sburban Jungle (Brief Mix) Next track art by this artist.
Released 8/9/2009.
Duration: 2:09.

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Artist commentary:

Malcolm Brown:

Probably the first bit of music accepted for HS (The piano version came afterwards but was used in the comic earlier). Difficult to fully recall what was going on with this one, but from what we knew about John at this point (i.e. Bit of a prankster, likes his movies) there was something about the name and the melody that just fit.

Early on in HS Music dev, Andrew would basically announce "Need boss music for upcoming battle: go!" and we'd all whip up some music and present it. These days that doesn't happen any more (larger team, ludicrous amount of already made-but-not-used music) but back then it was a fresh slate. I personally whipped up 3 30-second 'Looping boss battle music in the style of NES chiptunes' as per the original request. (I think it was Andrew's idea to start things off chiptune style and we've been evolving since)

The other 2 unused tracks (Which I still have somewhere) were ok - One was very piratey but quite sinister, the other was incredibly evil sounding, but Showtime had that initial-boss 'fun-ness' to it and apparantly just hit all the right notes.

The melody itself is very simple: It's just a square wave doing some broken chords. For the album version we were told to add some bits to the loopable tracks to make 'em 2 minutes long and have a proper ending, so the album features an intro and second part with a little solo.

Crediting sources:

Andrew Hussie: (MSPA newspost re: [S] STRIFE!, excerpt)

Many thanks to Malcolm Brown for making such an awesome boss battle tune to go with this page.

Homestuck: (Bandcamp about blurb) captured 8/14/2009

Extended original version

Homestuck: (Bandcamp credits blurb) captured 8/14/2009

by Malcolm Brown

Homestuck: (Bandcamp credits blurb on Homestuck Vol. 1-4) captured 10/28/2011

by Malcolm Brown

Homestuck: (Bandcamp about blurb on "Homestuck Vol. 1-4 (with Midnight Crew: Drawing Dead)") captured 10/24/2020

by Malcolm Brown

Homestuck: (MSPA sound credits, excerpt) captured 1/13/2010

Page 1990 - "Showtime"
By Malcolm Brown

Homestuck: (MSPA sound credits, excerpt) captured 1/13/2010

Page 2544 - "Showtime - Sleep/dream sequence"
Showtime theme by Malcolm Brown
Arrangement by Bill Bolin

Homestuck: (MSPA sound credits, excerpt) captured 11/5/2010

Page 2544 - "Can't Sleep, Harlequins Will Eat Me"
Showtime theme by Malcolm Brown
Arrangement by Toby Radiation Fox

Homestuck: (MSPA sound credits, excerpt) captured 8/5/2012

Page 1990 - "Showtime (Original Mix)"
Available on Bandcamp in Homestuck Vol. 1-4
By Malcolm Brown

Page 2544 - "John Sleeps"
[...]
"Showtime" by Malcolm Brown
Arrangement by Toby Radiation Fox

Homestuck: (Homestuck sound credits, excerpt) captured 7/17/2018

Page 90 - "Showtime (Original Mix)"
Available on Bandcamp in Homestuck Vol. 1-4
By Malcolm Brown

Page 644 - "John Sleeps"
[...]
"Showtime" by Malcolm Brown
Arrangement by Toby Radiation Fox

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