After almost five years, I honestly thought the Skyrim modding community had shown me every nutty idea it had to offer. Surely after the Troll-face moon and mountable Minecraft pigs and dragons wearing Thomas the Tank Engine’s shocked mug, I’d seen it all.
My friend, never underestimate these maniacs.
The elegantly titled “Stan Bush Combat Replacer” takes all music triggered by combat and replaces them with one of two songs: The Touch by Stan Bush or Dare by Stan Bush. These two classics are straight off the soundtrack for stone cold 1986 classic The Transformers: The Movie. Like any dragon...born in the ‘80s, I knew what I must do. I installed the mod, loaded up my most recent save (from 2013!) and went berserk on the nearest living thing with a broadsword. Here's a video showing what you have to look forward to.
These songs are extremely ‘80s. The Touch is the most ‘80s things to ever happen to my brain, and I got hit in the ear with a Rubik’s Cube in 1989. These songs are thirty years out of date and several genres away from Skyrim’s Latin chants and opera, but it doesn’t matter. This is Skyrim as it was meant to be played: as a training montage.
Stan Bush’s power ballads are incredible with Skyrim’s clashing steel and battle cries. The synth keyboards, the power ballad vocals, the inspirational lyrics all yearn for a good fight. They ache for it. As I fought, the keyboards whispered in my ears: Don’t weigh the odds, Dovahkiin. Don’t get held down. Damn it, Dovahkiin, Stan Bush just needs to you to believe in yourself. You’ve know perfectly well that you’ve got the moves. You know the streets.
Replacing Skyrim’s meticulously crafted and award-winning musical score isn’t just good. It’s beyond good. Beyond evil. Beyond…your wildest imagination.
