Was AC/DC supposed to be in the GTA III Soundtrack?

[KNDM1]

Hello everyone I'm a new user so this is my first time posting here.

While I was watching videos about deleted/unused content in GTA games I remembered reading a post about an interesting rumor that claimed that the song Dirty Deed Done Dirt Cheap by AC/DC was apparently used in promotional material for GTA III.

Back in 2016 a post (https://gtaforums.com/topic/875101-grand-theft-auto-3-betacut-songs/) mentioned that the song being used in a commercial/trailer was nothing but a rumor; however, another post made in 2020 (https://gtaforums.com/topic/941960-songs-that-shouldve-been-in-gta-iii/#comments) claimed that the song “appeared in a trailer” but "didn’t make it to the full game".

As a matter of fact, the trivia section in the TvTropes page of GTA III also claims that the song was apparently supposed to be played in the radio but it was removed because they couldn’t secure the rights.

I always thought that it wasn’t until Vice City that Rockstar started to use mainstream licensed music instead of using in-house composers or lesser known indie tracks.

Can I get some clarification about this rumor? Was the song actually used in some obscure commercial or teaser for the game (even though I listened to all the GTA III trailers/commercials/early promo videos available and none of them anything resembling Dirty Deeds)? Or maybe this is all just a bunch of misinformation? 

[Jenci]

yes in the early beta they had dirty deeds done dirt cheap song on head radio if i know right

[Rico Suave]

It would feel strange hearing that song in 3. I don't know why. I guess it doesn't seem to fit for me.

[LeatherJacketSoldier]

If AC/DC had songs in the game's radio system, I certainly would have listened to the corresponding radio station all the time I was in a vehicle. GTA III is the only 3D Era PC game that I've mastered without ever listening to the radio, not even for 2 seconds.

[CynicalMexican]

On 7/30/2021 at 10:07 AM, KNDM1 said:

Hello everyone I'm a new user so this is my first time posting here.

While I was watching videos about deleted/unused content in GTA games I remembered reading a post about an interesting rumor that claimed that the song Dirty Deed Done Dirt Cheap by AC/DC was apparently used in promotional material for GTA III.

Back in 2016 a post (https://gtaforums.com/topic/875101-grand-theft-auto-3-betacut-songs/) mentioned that the song being used in a commercial/trailer was nothing but a rumor; however, another post made in 2020 (https://gtaforums.com/topic/941960-songs-that-shouldve-been-in-gta-iii/#comments) claimed that the song “appeared in a trailer” but "didn’t make it to the full game".

As a matter of fact, the trivia section in the TvTropes page of GTA III also claims that the song was apparently supposed to be played in the radio but it was removed because they couldn’t secure the rights.

I always thought that it wasn’t until Vice City that Rockstar started to use mainstream licensed music instead of using in-house composers or lesser known indie tracks.

Can I get some clarification about this rumor? Was the song actually used in some obscure commercial or teaser for the game (even though I listened to all the GTA III trailers/commercials/early promo videos available and none of them anything resembling Dirty Deeds)? Or maybe this is all just a bunch of misinformation? 

That's an unsourced claim, though, and I have to imagine AC/DC would've been extremely expensive to have and kinda jarring, like where the hell would it fit in. If AC/DC was cut than that means an entire station must've been cut out.

 

It might have only been for promotion. Derrick May's "Chaotic Harmony" was used for the trailer yet isn't in the game and I don't know if it was intended to be in the game either.

[KNDM1]

So at the end of the day it was only an unsourced claim? well, in any case, thanks guys for your answers.

[Yannerrins]

GTA III radio stations was mostly created by R* themselves and don't have licensed songs. It's wierd to have one licensed song while others isn't. Then why doesn't add a licensed songs to the other stations as well. like Lips 106 or HEAD Radio?

I think R* could use AC/DC song somewhere outside the game, probably for game commercial.

Edited August 5, 2021 by Yannerrins

[universetwisters]

10 hours ago, Yannerrins said:

GTA III radio stations was mostly created by R* themselves and don't have licensed songs.

 

I mean Double Cleff FM and KJAH and Rise FM and Flashback and MSX FM and Game Radio all had licensed music on them tho

[CynicalMexican]

57 minutes ago, universetwisters said:

 

I mean Double Cleff FM and KJAH and Rise FM and Flashback and MSX FM and Game Radio all had licensed music on them tho

Only Flashback had well known tracks and even then they were older and from Scarface. DCF is just opera which I don't think is particularly expensive. 

 

The underground/alternative music really adds to GTA 3's charm.

[Lioshenka]

Thank god it wasn't included. Wouldn't have fit the game at all, unless they had a complete new station for music of that type.

Edited August 7, 2021 by Lioshenka

[Sergiu]

On 8/6/2021 at 12:45 AM, CynicalMexican said:

Only Flashback had well known tracks and even then they were older and from Scarface. DCF is just opera which I don't think is particularly expensive. 

 

The underground/alternative music really adds to GTA 3's charm.

Though Game Radio has pretty big hip hop hits of the time, featuring rappers like Black Rob and Royce da 5'9, the latter of which was about as popular as Eminem at the time.

 

DnB and Trance were also fairly popular for a while so you got MSX and Rise licensed.

 

K Jah and Double Clef are fully licensed, but I assume K Jah was pretty cheap. Meanwhile, Double Clef had Maria Callas and Luciano Pavarotti. In 2001, Pavarotti met new peaks of his career in popularity.

 

So yeah, saying that GTA3 had primarily in-house music is a huge stretch. Only Head and Lips do.

 

 

 

As for AC/DC being in GTA3 early on, that's entirely false. It was a rumor picked up from the wikia because one of the old beta mods used Dirty Deeds as the song for their trailer in the late 2000s.

Edited August 8, 2021 by Sergiu

[CynicalMexican]

1 hour ago, Sergiu said:

Though Game Radio has pretty big hip hop hits of the time, featuring rappers like Black Rob and Royce da 5'9, the latter of which was about as popular as Eminem at the time.

 

DnB and Trance were also fairly popular for a while so you got MSX and Rise licensed.

 

K Jah and Double Clef are fully licensed, but I assume K Jah was pretty cheap. Meanwhile, Double Clef had Maria Callas and Luciano Pavarotti. In 2001, Pavarotti met new peaks of his career in popularity.

 

So yeah, saying that GTA3 had primarily in-house music is a huge stretch. Only Head and Lips do.

 

 

 

As for AC/DC being in GTA3 early on, that's entirely false. It was a rumor picked up from the wikia because one of the old beta mods used Dirty Deeds as the song for their trailer in the late 2000s.

 

I forgot that an Eminem beat was used on GTA 3's Game Radio.

 

KJAH was entirely Scientist so you are right about that.

 

Drum and Bass is still a pretty underground genre overall though, though yes it was very popular circa 1997-2003, the peak years of that genre IMHO.

 

Trance was definitely popular but was also mostly composed by one artist (who was and is a devout Christian and now just does generic gospel but whose songs were fantastic on RISE and iconic) with maybe one or two songs, and these artists certainly weren't known ones like Moby, Paul van Dyk, Tiesto, and so on.

 

(By the way, I lean towards the opinion that "Or-Bit FM" is the beta name for RISE)

 

The one mysterious one is Tom Novy. His song "Back to the Streets" was cut from Head Radio i think? It makes me think that a house radio station was planned (i LOVE 1998-2002 house) but cut, but there's no evidence otherwise.

[Sergiu]

Well, we spoke to a Scottish game journalist who got into contact with Tom Novy a few years ago and Novy confirmed it that they meant to use his song in the game. Journalist assumed it was Head Radio since that's what the community thinks overall.

 

So yeah, it was gonna be in the game, hard call where exactly. Most likely Head though I guess, despite the genre difference.

[LeakyLine]

12 hours ago, Sergiu said:

Well, we spoke to a Scottish game journalist who got into contact with Tom Novy a few years ago and Novy confirmed it that they meant to use his song in the game. Journalist assumed it was Head Radio since that's what the community thinks overall.

 

So yeah, it was gonna be in the game, hard call where exactly. Most likely Head though I guess, despite the genre difference.

Genre difference wouldn't matter anyway. They put GTA 1's hip hop theme song on Lips 106.

[unopescio]

20 hours ago, CynicalMexican said:

 

I forgot that an Eminem beat was used on GTA 3's Game Radio.

 

KJAH was entirely Scientist so you are right about that.

 

Drum and Bass is still a pretty underground genre overall though, though yes it was very popular circa 1997-2003, the peak years of that genre IMHO.

 

Trance was definitely popular but was also mostly composed by one artist (who was and is a devout Christian and now just does generic gospel but whose songs were fantastic on RISE and iconic) with maybe one or two songs, and these artists certainly weren't known ones like Moby, Paul van Dyk, Tiesto, and so on.

 

(By the way, I lean towards the opinion that "Or-Bit FM" is the beta name for RISE)

 

The one mysterious one is Tom Novy. His song "Back to the Streets" was cut from Head Radio i think? It makes me think that a house radio station was planned (i LOVE 1998-2002 house) but cut, but there's no evidence otherwise.

 

Yeah most of the music was made in house or an entire radio station would come from the same source making the licensing fairly simple. Id assume most of the final choices with the radio stations came down to R*s limited budget at the time. To quote a post I made a few years ago;

 

Head Radio - Songs made in house

Lips 106 - Songs made in house / Stuff they had from past GTAs

MSX 101.1 - Moving Shadow miX (1)01.1 (there's some connection here to R* or reason to promote that label, midnight club 1 and GTA2 also used their tracks)

Rise - Fairly obscure trance, only 4 different artists all from Chicago label Generation Recordings

Double Clef - Classic music with expired licenses

Game - Not sure what the go is here, royce da 5'9'' was semi famous. Maybe these tracks were chosen specifically by Stretch Armstrong and Lord Sear? (btw watch stretch and bobbito on netflix good doco)

K-Jah - All from one record by one artist (Scientist Rids the World of the Evil Curse of the Vampires)

Flashback - All from the Scarface OST

 

 

Never heard of ACDC possibly being in the game though, this is the first time Ive heard that in 20 years.

Edited August 9, 2021 by unopescio

[KNDM1]

It's pretty obvious that Rockstar simply couldn't afford big name bands like AC/DC back in 2000-2001. It was only after the success of GTA III that they started to license real bands and singers instead of music made by in-house producers. Dirty deeds being used in trailer for a mod is something I haven't thought about, but honestly it makes a lot of sense; I guess years later people who looked at the trailer were confused and mistakenly thought that Rockstar actually put AC/DC songs in GTA III.

[ThatBenGuy1998]

It sure would have been cool. Best GTA game meets one of the best rock bands.

[NeverLate]

I've heard in a few places that it was a fan-made idea. I also agree with this.

[Ivan1997GTA]

On 8/9/2021 at 7:14 PM, KNDM1 said:

It's pretty obvious that Rockstar simply couldn't afford big name bands like AC/DC back in 2000-2001. It was only after the success of GTA III that they started to license real bands and singers instead of music made by in-house producers. Dirty deeds being used in trailer for a mod is something I haven't thought about, but honestly it makes a lot of sense; I guess years later people who looked at the trailer were confused and mistakenly thought that Rockstar actually put AC/DC songs in GTA III.

Maybe they really should've put Dirty Deeds on V-Rock in VC or VCS.

[IndianaLiam1]

On 8/3/2021 at 2:00 PM, LeatherJacketSoldier said:

If AC/DC had songs in the game's radio system, I certainly would have listened to the corresponding radio station all the time I was in a vehicle. GTA III is the only 3D Era PC game that I've mastered without ever listening to the radio, not even for 2 seconds.

Saints Row 2 hangs on the edge of "f*ck it, put a playlist on" and Gat out of Hell has no on-foot radio. WHY?!

[CynicalMexican]

On 9/3/2021 at 12:12 PM, IndianaLiam1 said:

Saints Row 2 hangs on the edge of "f*ck it, put a playlist on" and Gat out of Hell has no on-foot radio. WHY?!

 

I actually quite liked the Saints Row 2 soundtrack.

[IndianaLiam1]

On 9/9/2021 at 1:57 AM, CynicalMexican said:

 

I actually quite liked the Saints Row 2 soundtrack.

 

I don't remember making this reply. I f*cking love the SR2 soundtrack, tf?

[CynicalMexican]

41 minutes ago, IndianaLiam1 said:

 

I don't remember making this reply. I f*cking love the SR2 soundtrack, tf?

 

Sorry, I misinterpreted your post lol. I completely forgot you could do custom playlists in that game.

[Badman_]

AC/DC released "Stiff Upper Lip" in the early 2000s. Any song from that album would be a better fit than Dirty Deeds.

 

 

Edited September 12, 2021 by Wolfman_

[Ceasey]

Yes, there might've been ACDC if i remeber correctly, but they droped it due to licensing issues, correct me if i'm wrong