User blog comment:Shrimpsofthecoast/Inspiration? Or plagiarism? Songs that sound familiar/@comment-28542427-20190519191620/@comment-28542427-20190520114945

Inspiration at best, I'd say. All of the tracks have similar vibes at times, but I wouldn't go as far as to call it a plagiarism, far from that. Now, if you take a look or rather throw your ear at original Fallout 1 and 2's OST's (and compare them with some songs and movies), you may be astounded at times... it's QUITE more than this there. It doesn't change the fact they both have great music pieces and ambient. Go ahead: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orAnm1yM_ZI !

...quite a gold mine of great tracks there. Even... literally... ;) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orAnm1yM_ZI&feature=youtu.be&t=627 That's my absolutely favourite part of this, a GREAT, very climatic song by Snuffy Walden - and there are more where it's coming from, since it's coming from a great movie (actually, 4-part series) based on a GREAT book (Stephen King's The Stand or Bastion as it's translated to Polish) ; the movie has a different scenario and feel, and also gets a bit worse onwards, but IIRC the first two parts are absolutely great. That song was what I instantly recognized when playing F2 and was taken aback by it being there. Made me go back to King's movie and also, to look for the Fallout music a bit more. Looks like there is something going on : P

Beware - the music in the above link is way more creepy (some could say disturbing) than SS's soundtracks... also - reading the comments is recommended.

But - I digress.

So... about two other tracks you've mentioned, since I've known the Reactor bit (knowing NIN to some extent at that time didn't help, I recognized at the back of my mind, but eventually was pointed out it sticks):

Red Rider's Lunatic Fringe seems to be a good piece of what I call "road music". Something to get your motorcycle on the road and just fire away. ("...When I'm on the road, I'm indestructible. No one can stop me. But they try..." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9Oh4rljPeQ ; ) Or car. Or bike. Or anything on wheels that can take you sky-high ; D Naturally, not TOO fast... or at least don't get caught! ; )) ...heh heh (notice the emergency signal at 3:54 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqUa_G1h3pw&t=234 ; )

Anyhow, while the the main motif is indeed similar, there is a resemblance but it's not a steal. In fact, many tracks have similar riffs (listen to some Bruce Springsteen's songs for a good example). I like this track tho. Thank you!

And as for the Phantasm's main theme - it's also a very nice piece of music. I like it... very climatic. Reminds me of a track from Blood (http://www.vgmpf.com/Wiki/images/3/32/203_-_Blood_-_DOS_-_Dark_Carnival.ogg) - I know it's a long shot, but... it's great, so had to share it : D

The music is indeed more similar here, but not by a long shot (at least when compared to this part: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3q356rZqQ4&t=93 ). SS1's music uses 'happy' flute parts and is more upbeat to make this track a lot more cheering and indeed succeds at that, suprisingly. The listener has to really get his ear tuned good to both pieces to notice the simiarity - it's just not that striking. But all in all, these are both good finds, even if it's obvious there's no rips/plagiarism there.

And I'm glad that there aren't any.

Greg LoPiccolo and Tim Ries did their job more than good.. they did outstanding.