Robot Wars Soundtrack

Music was used extensively throughout Robot Wars. In addition to opening and closing themes, music was played during battles, when robots were being introduced, when the battleboards were being shown, and in various other places. The music remained much the same for the first four series, with new music being produced when the series was revamped for The Fifth Wars and Extreme. This new soundtrack remained until the end of the series. Many of the tracks were also used in merchandise and international versions of the show, with only Nickelodeon Robot Wars having music specially produced. All music for the series was by John Waddell and Will Parnell.

The table below lists all music tracks used in the UK series, those included in the Robot Wars video games, and on the videos and DVDs. The names of many of the tracks are unknown, with fans uploading the soundtracks from the games to YouTube creating their own names. All of the PC and large console games simply numbered the tracks, bar Arenas of Destruction for PC, which did provide names, these names being quoted in the table. The original Robot Wars website included various downloads, including some music.

Series 1 - 4
All music in the first four series is dance/techno inspired, with almost all tracks sharing similar elements, such as the same tempo, bassline, drum tracks and sound effects. The gauntlet, trial and arena battle music makes use of samples, such as hammer blows, metal being struck, the sound of pneumatic pistons and gas escaping amongst other things. This battle music would be used without variation for all battles until The Fifth Wars and Extreme.

Series 5 - 7
For The Fifth Wars and Extreme, along with a revamped arena, titles and graphics, new music was introduced, with only the opening and closing themes remaining from the previous soundtrack. Music was this time rock/heavy metal influenced, to tie in with the new more aggressive ‘wrestling style presentation’ of the show. Indeed tracks “Generation Wars” and “Metallic” (see table) sound particularly influenced by the heavy metal band Metallica. There were also now five different battle music tracks used in sequence rather than just one.

Other Uses
Since acquiring the rights to the Robot Wars brand, Roaming Robots have used some original music from the series in their Robot Wars live events, along with other non original music. Unlike the British series, an instrumental version of the Robot Wars single Android Love has also been used.

There have also been one or two strange instances of Robot Wars music being used in other situations, such “Ant” (see table) in this trailer for Power Rangers Samurai. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYUE9XVXuTY&t=58s