In our last post, we explored the melody of Mega Man’s cooler older brother Proto Man. Today, we’ll look at one of the original Robot Masters: Elec Man.
Elec Man was designed to oversee atomic energy power plants. Like Godzilla, he is a Japanese metaphor for The Bomb. Like other ego-magnetic electro-maniacs, he wears a cool lightning mask. Quick Man may be quicker, and Spark Man may have more volts, but Elec Man’s Theme is more memorable, even if it is just a Journey rip-off.
Sit with this melody for a moment. Notice the symmetry of the rests and the 4 notes, beginning and ending with D#, framed by a quarter rest.
These 4 notes of the Elec Man Theme are also found in the same rhythm and key in Journey’s “Faithfully”. Nintendo’s Golden Age music was heavily inspired by ’80s New Wave, Metal, and Prog. Both songs from Journey and Elec Man are in B Major, repeat the same simple melody over 8 bars, and follow a similarly descending bassline.
The 4 notes are a popular cliché (3rd, 2nd, 4th, 3rd), and not exactly the same as Journey’s intro piano riff, so we might’ve just chalked this up to a Vanilla Ice kinda scenario, where the subtraction of a single note creates an entirely new song. But wait till the end of “Faithfully”, and Steve Perry sings straight Elec Man in “woahs”; it is undeniable. The bassline is similar in that it descend, while the melody vamps, but it’s slightly different. In Elec Man, we descend from the dominant 7th: I VII IV iv V, or B A E/G# Em/G F#7, while in Journey, it’s a I vi V IV progression: B G#m F# E.
If there ever were a legal battle, the court case would be as epic as a boss battle: Journey vs. Mega Man, and in typical Mega Man series fashion, it could only be settled by the creation of a Steve Perry Robot Master to be included in an alphanumeric sequel.
Can you think of any other songs that use this melody? Please write them in the comments below. Honorary mention to the M.A.S.K. Theme Song.
