As one of the most important games ever released, Grand Theft Auto San Andreas had a soundtrack fit for the title of the greatest game of all time. Such a title is reserved for a few games in the history of all consoles; it’s also objective and can cause a flurry of emotional opinions at the mere suggestion that another game should deserve this moniker over your favorite title.
In any event, even if you’re not a fan of Grand Theft Auto games, you can’t deny the huge cultural impact that each game has had from GTA 3 onwards. Part of this immense appeal has been because of the number of iconic songs that have appeared in the games over the years.
Back in 2004, San Andreas was by far the most ambitious that Rockstar had ever undertaken. It boasted three islands, including Las Venturas, where you could play a whole casino floor of games, which was a huge leap from Vice City. In San Andreas, you can play at a number of roulette tables across several different casinos on the Venturas Strip. Rockstar expanded this idea to incorporate the style of roulette games you see online today, with their GTA V model their most successful and ambitious yet.
A lot of the casino music in San Andreas is synonymous with the game. While James Brown was a tough omission from today’s list, the saxophone from his iconic track is something many of us attach to those roulette games on those old, nostalgic casino floors of San Andreas.
San Andreas was seen as a monster of an upgrade from Vice City, which was a phenomenal game in itself. A big part of this was the extensive catalog of radio stations and songs – more than double that of its predecessor, Vice City. You could easily make a top 15 or 20 GTA song, but we’ve been tasked with the unenviable task of boiling it down to the top five.
5 – Ice Cube – It Was A Good Day
Cruising around Los Santos in the low-rider golden days. Few songs could match the summer vibe of Los Santos like Ice Cube’s classic song. It was a staple of Radio Los Santos and those early Grove Street missions. The famous sample is one of the most iconic in the history of rap – and it remains a song that is synonymous with the era, rap music, and the G-funk era that defined the West Coast in the early 1990s.
4 – Rage Against The Machine – Killing In The Name
As one of the biggest bands of the early 1990s and hailing from the West Coast of the US, Rage was an almost guaranteed inclusion in the San Andreas soundtrack. Their song gained traction again just a few years after the release of San Andreas when they got to Christmas number one in the UK.
It’s such a huge part of the game that its omission of the widely criticized re-releases was noticeable and attracted negative attention on social media. It doesn’t take away from the fact that Rage was such a big part of the game and introduced a new legion of fans to their music via this landmark Rockstar classic.
3 – Dr Dre & Snoop Dogg – Nuthin’ But A “G” Thang
Everything we said about Ice Cube applies to Nuthin’ But A G Thang – from the immortal Dre album The Chronic – for some, this is the quintessential San Andreas track. It exemplifies driving around Los Santos and many of those early missions when we were first getting to explore what the most anticipated game ever released had in store for us.
2 – Lynyrd Skynyrd – Free Bird
We’re not sure about you – but if you were cruising over Mount Chiliad in a private jet, Free Bird seemed to be the song that would crop up often. Many consider Free Bird to be the greatest ever Lynyrd Skynyrd track, and it’s definitely their most recognizable. Free Bird introduced a whole new wave of fans to the iconic rock band – and it’s definitely one of the most nostalgic for those of us who still have fond memories of playing San Andreas all those years ago.
1 – Guns N Roses – Welcome To The Jungle
We’ve put Welcome To The Jungle at number one because it was a song in the first-ever TV trailer. For those of you who can still cast your minds back that far, the excitement was truly palpable. The trailer focused on all of the new advancements: the Venturas strip, private jets, bicycles, helicopters, parachutes, and a whole raft of other innovations.
This Guns N Roses classic is one that many of us still attached to the main protagonist, CJ – who we rank as the number 2 GTA protagonist of all time. While there might be more iconic individual GTA songs – Welcome To The Jungle perfectly encapsulated the game, and the era the game was set. Simpler times for many of us, I’m sure!
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