Insanity: The Yogg-Saron Soundtrack

I am surprised as to the number of songs written and sung about the mental state, and how diverse in musical style that collection is. This inspired me to compile a selection of those songs into an alternative soundtrack for the Yogg-Saron encounter in Ulduar.

Since actually mixing a full track would require me to pay royalties (and my disk jockey (DJ) skills are rudimentary), I will simply describe it. I will first present the entire list, then attach some commentary after it for those interested in the reasons for my choices.

The playlist

• Phase 1: Flo Rida, Ke$ha 2009, 'Right Round', R.O.O.T.S., Atlantic Recording Corporation, track 5.
• Start of Phase 2: Lady Gaga 2008, 'LoveGame', The Fame, Interscope Records, track 2.
• Phase 2: Merritt A, Seals B; Brown C, Allen R, Rihanna 2007, 'Disturbia', Good Girl Gone Bad, Universal Music, track 14.
• In brain room: Alex Gaudino, Jerma 2006, 'Destination Calabria', Reaction, Ministry of Sound, track 3.
• 20 seconds prior to finish channelling Induce Madness: South Street Player 2010, '(Who?) Keeps Changing Your Mind', Daniel Bovie & Roy Rox remix, Ministry of Sound Clubber's Guide to 2010, Ministry of Sound, disc 1, track 20.
• Britney Spears 1999, '(You Drive Me) Crazy', ...Baby One More Time, Zomba Recording LLC, track 2.
• Low Sanity: South Street Player 2010, '(Who?) Keeps Changing Your Mind', Daniel Bovie & Roy Rox remix, Ministry of Sound Clubber's Guide to 2010, Ministry of Sound, disc 1, track 20.

Flo Rida (2009) ('Right Round')
This song effectively captures a sense of dizziness and disorientation. This complements the nature of phase 1, where strange green clouds continually circle the centre of the main encounter room. Where an adventurer is not careful, they can lose track of them!

Lady Gaga (2008) ('LoveGame')
This is mainly a cue to complete Kiss and Make Up. The 'ding' played at the same time the word "kiss" is sung closely resembles an achievement 'ding'. However, this song still fits the general sense of panic, since the synthesised cello and viola sounds are reminiscent of an alarm.

Rihanna (2007) ('Disturbia')
The lyrics are relevant to the subject matter of sanity (and lack thereof). The other vocals (the echoing scream at the start and taunts throughout), as well as the low-pitched beep are likened to the sounds an insane person would apparently hear.

Alex Gaudino (2006) ('Destination Calabria')
The brain room is very unlike the main encounter room; in fact, the adventurer is taken to a faraway place through time. In the song, the singer is similarly going to a "destination unknown". The saxophone riff mimics the thought processes happening in a bewildered traveller.

South Street Player (2010) ('(Who?) Keeps Changing Your Mind')
This is a cue for situations when an adventurer is close to becoming insane. This occurs when they are in the brain room and Yogg-Saron has almost finished channelling Induce Madness, as well as when their Sanity is low. The synthesised violin and percussion function as effective alarms, and Yogg-Saron really is trying to change the adventurer's mind (in terms of allegiance).

It would be important to note that this song was not released when Ulduar was released, thus it is being used in an anachronous manner.

Britney Spears (1999) ('(You Drive Me) Crazy')
Like Rihanna (2007), the lyrics are relevant. In addition, the chimes do sound rather annoying, if not the entire song.

I reject your reality and substitute this very cute one by Tharion Greyseer.

A note on the citation method
There is no de facto citation method for music, so the one used is a hybrid one based on the Harvard styles for books, journal articles and unpublished content. For the list of authors, the composers are listed first, then the contributing artist, then any featuring authors. For convenience, the contributing artist and song name are bolded, and previews are linked to.