Metal Gear Solid Main Theme stolen?? 

He laughs because he knows someone is getting fired when he gets back to the office.

Kojima : Tappy played us like a damn FIDDLE !!

I come back to this video every few years just to watch Kojima as the music plays. He goes from curiosity to "Oh. Oh shit, what is this... oh no..." in a split second.

‎"The main theme of your game is stolen." Kojima: :D

I think Hideo, haven't even knew that the composer borrowed an inspiration from Sviridovs music. Just look at the Hideos reaction. Also, after that interview, main theme never appeared in MGS series.

Gutting as it is to watch one of the all-time greatest VG themes dissolve due to copyright: unfortunately for Snake, this is how the system works. Kojima and Gregson-Williams can't really be held responsible. Gregson Williams didn't attach to the franchise until MGS 2, once the theme had aleady been established in MGS (ps1). Kojima would place his trust in music supervisors and team of house composers to craft the music design - it is here the research should maybe have been more thorough.

"Ah shit" - Hideo Kojima

I remember hearing this years ago and shrugged this off as overreacting. Now it just sounds clear as day the MGS theme was made with this in mind. It really is a shame, especially since the Gregson-williams -version is an iconic, brilliant piece. Winter road is a stunning composition, by the way.

For those trying to pull the "it only sounds slightly similar, there's no problem here!" card on this for no other reason than because you're fans of MGS, Kojima, the composer, or video games in general...all you have to do is look at Kojima's face in the video. It tells the whole story. Clearly it sounds similar enough to him. He goes from amused by the initial similarity, to visibly concerned by it enough to ask about the composer and want to know what the track is called, to clearly quietly panicked about it.

I can translate what Kojima is saying. "Oh fuck." "Oh fuckety fuck." "They're going to sue us."

sucks this is the reason the classic MGS theme is now completely removed from the series

Kojima: ..... TAPPYYYY!!!!!!

"Even the technology that gave birth to these weapons is Russian, developed by us!"

Imagine if Kojima Productions licenses this music into The Phantom Pain... oh, I wish this would happen.

Normally I'd consider that this might be a coincidence, but the fact that the tune matches up at not one but two points eliminates almost any doubt. I'd say this tune was definitely the basis for the MGS theme.

On a PSP too 😭 Koji got served here

For those who don't understand japanese: Hideo Kojima keeps repeating "Sugoina kore" = "Wow this is impressive". It's clear that it's the first time he is hearing that song.

Should've just apologize, buy it and continue to use.

Look, if I was a game-developer and had hired a person who was supposed to Create a theme song for my game and was put on spot like that. This is what I would have done: I would have gotten in contact with the composer I hired and would fire him. And then I would simply apologize for his douchebagery. I would however try to make some sort of deal with the folks whom handle the original composer's melodies, respectfully, explaining that we had no idea that our employee had plagiarized another piece but were rather astonished how beautiful it was and how well it worked with our game series. That's the right way to go about it. This wasn't a thing where ''sooner or later we're all going to more or less use the same keys for our songs in the future''. No..the composer knew what he did and stole the melody and you can clearly hear that from the transitioning throughout the melody.

If you look in more detail, Georgy Sviridov died on the 6 January 1998, Metal Gear Solid was released on the 3rd September 1998. Maybe the person who chose the music for the game was highly inspired by Georgy Sviridov. I don't think Hideo Kojima would had a way to know and even if he did, he would probably assume that all the proper rights had been granted (I can only speculate on all of it)

"I also got it on PSP" lol

Эх , это выражение лица Кодзимы когда ему наконец дошло что к чему , безценно )

I heard he refused to talk or even saying hi to Logvinov (guy in the glasses) since then in other gaming events, but maybe it is just a rumour. Btw, stuff like this is pretty common, Shiro Sagisou used James Bond score for one of Evangelion tracks (Decisive battle), and the whole Star Wars soundtrack is based on The Planets by Holst. Btw, Snatcher is visually the same as T-800 robot, they even had to recolor it's eyes for American release, Policenauts is inspired by Lethal Weapon etc etc.

I only recognize the first tones.

The sad thing for me is, I can't tell the difference any more. It's shocking every time I hear it now. And for me, though there are original touches to either piece, what makes the MGS theme recognizably stand out, are the two major melodic themes-particularly the trumpet solo in the MGS2 arrangement that invokes a mournful military feel. Those themes are what was taken from Sviridov, and all the sudden what makes the piece standout, is what now makes it unoriginal... again, IMO

The Main theme has been already changed and eliminated completely from any soundtrack currently sale, and it will no be in MGS4. What a shame...

This should've been brought up to him in private. He clearly wasn't aware of the lift, and he was put on the spot by these dopes with their camera. This kind of fanboy gotcha journalism is juvenile.

I held such high esteem for TAPPY all these years because I loved that song. I would listen to MGS2's opening over and over in high school, it would literally get me high. I wonder if he jacked any other music for Suikoden's sountrack.

А ведь могли же просто извиниться за своего "композитора", лицензировать эту мелодию для своей игры и ставить эту тему в продолжениях.

I wonder if this is why some of the music in the GameCube version of Metal Gear Solid is different . The end music for Metal Gear Solid The Twin Snakes is different than the PlayStation 1 game .

Why couldn't they just license this song tho

But I, as a Russian, am pleased that our music is inspired in other countries. This composer has already received fame and money during his lifetime. It would be better, of course, if he were listed as a co-author.

The MGS theme was first shown at the 1997 E3 with the MGS trailer. So Sviridov's death didn't affect the creation of the theme.

К меня от этой мелодии мурашки по всей коже , столько воспоминаний...

This russian it's Anton Logvinov) His russian videoblogger and game journalist!

Talent borrows. Genius steals.

I love how after almost a decade we are still arguing over this. Haha.

Kojima just sitting there like: ...shit

TAPPY didnt plagiarize Winters Road but he did write Snowy Streets

kojima noooo why did you tell me about this best friends

there's elements borrowed from it but hardly a complete rip off

So I'm a big fan of Henry Gregson-Williams' new theme that was introduced in MGS3. So having the classic theme gone is not a huge deal breaker for me. The sad part is, I must have played MGS1 30 times (I stopped actually counting at 22), so at the end of MGS4, I REALLY missed that theme...its the one that should have been there, its what started Solid Snake's story for me (and many others, though I would go back and play the MSX titles years later), even as great as the new theme is.

Свиридов - гений, Кодзима - гений!!! Привет ,из 2к19 года!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Видиомания помним((

Sounds like something out of a squaresoft game from the 90s

idk. i always felt it was distinct enough. this whole debacle was pretty stupid. copyright law is a joke

It's an honor for George to try making MGS music.

WHYY JESUS?? I WANT THIS SONG IN MGSV :(

I love all the people making such lame excuses for the two biggest melodies in the composition being lifted. No matter what you may try to explain it away, the two biggest melodies were taken and only slightly altered (Vanilla Ice Under Pressure anyone? It's that little bitty change). I don't think it says anything about Kojima, he entrusted a composer to come up with something good and the composer relied on stealing something because he thought no one would ever find out about such an obscure song.

There's only so many notes in the world, we have to share 'em.

Jeez, I really like this theme... So sad they removed it :

You gotta love his actual interest in music too

Interestingly enough, the original Russian composer died the year mgs was released on ps1, about 8 months’ before its release.

This is genuinely sad. This marked the beginning of an end to an era. Kojima didn't deserve to hear this news, the same way he didn't deserve to lose his franchise to a company that was with him from the beginning.

Or the theme from the movie, Speed.

It sounds similar but the melody is different. There's tons of pop music with much more blatant copying.

well imagine if you paid a composer you trust to make a theme song for your game, and discover he stole the song from another composer, how would you feel?

Who cares! It was written by a Soviet composer! It belongs to the people!

Don’t blame Kojima. Blame Tappi Iwase. He composed that MGS theme.

If you guys consider this plagiarizing, then TAPPY is the plagiarizer, not Kojima.

I don’t understand where the hatred for Sviridov comes from. No one says that the soundtrack turned out bad - it’s still wonderful! But not everyone agrees to recognize as wonderful “origin”. Why? Russophobia and prejudice?

The real reason Kojima was fired.

Who is the owner of the original rights and why Kojima did not try to authorize the use of this epic music?

It's not plagiarism, it's a cover. In the same way Dre covered thousands

This shit here is why metal gear solid games dont feel the same anymore. That and no more david hayter.

@FredrickSylar While it is close, it's really hard to call it plaigarism as both songs are very different in their own ways and really have their own unique tone to them. It's likely that maybe tappy heard this song a long time ago and forgot about it, thinking that it was his own melody he was creating when it was based on a memory of this song. Either way, both are awesome so who the hell cares?

It's hard to defend this. I love Metal Gear, and I know it's a great theme, and it fits the series so well, but come on. It's clearly a ripoff. It's not just "similar" it has the exact same melody and progression. You kids need to realize that plagiarism is never ok, for any reason. Ever. You can't say this is ok just because Metal Gear is your favorite series. As much as I love MGS2's arrangement of this, TAPPY is an asshole. Konami cannot just "buy the rights" after having used it without the artist's permission. That's not how this works. The composer, or whoever owns the piece, if they were sane, would never, ever agree to that. And even if they did, they would have to re-arrange it to sound closer to the original and as far from Harry's version as possible, when the original piece doesn't even fit Metal Gear.

It is plagiarism but lucky for Kojima the composer died before the game came out so they didn't get sued for it .

Kojima's face. Priceless!

The thing is, this sort of stuff happens all the time in music. There's no shame in using other tracks as an inspiration - a basis for something new. Not everyone has the ability to make something innovative, this is peak creativity at play - and this is what creativity is built on. Using something else as a basis for something new. The two pieces c l e a r l y discern themselves from each other. They sound very similar, they are twins. They, in many ways, complement each other. But they're different. Both are beautiful pieces in their own rights and this isn't considered plagiarism. The two entities responsible - the proprietors of the score and Konami & Kojima - could have found a compromise. The original track would have greatly benefited from the exposure, and Konami & Kojima could settle the dust.

The theme is clearly stolen and it's a damn shame too because it's a beautiful piece of music. They were right to bring this to light but taking Kojima by surprise part way through an interview is a very underhanded way of doing it. It's almost like they wanted to provoke him. Kojima didn't write the theme and not only that but he was so offended that he chose to remove it from the later games, he wasn't forced to. That alone shows that he didn't deserve to find out in such an insulting way.

i believe his name is tappy

Then probably every 3th Song out there is stolen. Yeah there are parts in it that sound very similar, but only small parts. In my opinion not a big deal.

lol, Hideo's face the whole time. Did this ever get resolved?

Meh, not that similar. Pretty funny to have the Russian connection there though, like the mercenaries in mgs2, Olga and Sergei Gurlokovitch too.

GENIUS.

Sviridov wrote this theme in 1964, not in 1974 (it must be the year of this particular recording), for Vladimir Basov's movie "The Snowstorm" after Pushkin's "The Tales of Belkin". Which are in prose. So it's not "the sountrack for Pushkin's _verse_ "Metel"", you must have mix it up with the SONG "Winter road" by Sviridov, which shares the name with this part of the "Snowstorm" suite, but it is a totally different piece. So, you confused all the details, you should always check it out first.

이노래가 얼마나 중요한지 알면 제발 판권사서 넣어줘요...

METEL GEAR SOLID

Yeah you really can't argue. At first I thought it was a stretch but then it comes in with the 2nd part

@freakdante not harry gregson williams, it's tappy iwase that wrote, but it is questionable, why does the tune of MGS2's rendition of the main theme sound so similiar?

cuando los canapés te juegan una mala pasada

I think the Metal gear solid version is a little better in my opinion more action in this one

It's like hearing the songs Daft Punk sampled

In mousic nothing is copy. Something is different. Every time. The musicians know that. This track isn't stolen. The MGS4 IS ONE. ITS MUSIC IS ONE. THE CHARACTER IS ONE.

I came faster than Sony's magic SSD...

"plagiarism is ok when the theme is used in my favorite series"

You created a time paradox!

Wow, eu não fazia ideia isto!

MGS1 wasn't made by him but by a japanese compositor. He made all the others.

jajaja la cara de Kojima es impagable

Hideo sounds like Georgy Vasilevich Sviridov came to the future and took our song !!!

@mastermantrox They likely canceled it to avoid lawsuits

I'm an MGS fan and I don't hear any similarities Of course Hideo can see it and everyone else but I just can't hear it can't find which note is coinciding...

I really hope this will be part of MGSV. Not sure if he needs to buy the rights for it or what the intricacy of the situation is but MGS is not the same without it.

Harry-Gregson Williams made the theme for MGS3 and 4 except for the last 2 min of MGS3 which was the tappy theme re-mixed

@TheDocGoblin I'm talking about Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, for the MSX. My mistake the first one was one NES. And, no most westerns I've seen sound nothing like Morricone but you can tell that they were inspired. MGS Theme however, sounds too "Similar" enough to be considered ripped off.

Логвинов просто молодец, откопал)

A Hideo Kojima plagiarism.

the original metal gear solid theme 1998 (the one harry gregson built on) was composed by TAPPY (Iwase Tappi). nuff said to destroy your argument.

I'm not sure why people seem to keep bringing Kojima up in this. "Omg Kojima rocks he wouldn't do this rabble rabble rabble." He's a game designer! He had nothing to do with composing this song! It was done by Tappi Iwase (that was also the only song he did in the original Metal Gear Solid). To say this is a coincidence is completely foolish. Do I like the Metal Gear solid version more YES (mainly HGW's take). The theme was HIGHLY "borrowed" from Sviridov's piece and thus hardly original.