Weeklybeats is a 52 week long music project in which artists compose and publicly release 1 song a week for the entire year.
Starting January 1st 2024 GMT each participant will have one week to upload one finished composition. Any style of music or selection of instruments are welcomed and encouraged. Sign up or Login to get started or check our FAQ for any help or questions you may have.

Polybius

By Cosmic Cairns on September 13, 2024 10:58 pm

Polybius is both an important Greek historian, and also interestingly an urban legend about an arcade game that was supposedly set up by the government as a psychology experiment in the early 80's.  According to the legend it was extremely addictive and gave its users intense side effects like seizures, amnesia, insomnia, night terrors, and hallucinations.    Allegedly the machines just appeared mysteriously one day, were visited by men in black who analyzed the data, and then disappeared completely after about a month.  There's no evidence any of this is true, but it is kind of fascinating.

Anyway, somehow while thinking about Greek historians and government run video game experiments, I came up with this intrumental.

Audio works licensed by author under:
CC Attribution Noncommercial (BY-NC)

whoa, that is quite the legend!
and this quite the track!
really fun instrumental play, love it big_smile

I bow down to your musical buildups!
and the guitar is excellent

I first heard about the Polybius urban legend from the AVGN! I can totally see/hear this being used for that mystical government-backed video hame psychological weapon, hahahahaha... Very fun!

I want to play the Polibius game in an orlop and get hypnotized while listening to this fun song.

Very interesting story it reminds me of the arcades of old, a fun fact is I was toy tester as a kid for Fisher-Price where we were watched by staff in lab coats behind a double sided mirror.

This is all great! Like a psychedelic rollercoaster ride smile. Truly a technicolor track, I love this.

Man, I remember being really into this myth like 7-8 years ago, I think they talked about it on the Indoor Kids podcast.

This track is really awesome too, that glitchy sparkling build-up that kind of resets before the guitar kicks in sounds so nice.

A jolly fun romp, happily easing us into the possibly freaky experience of the Polybius. I like the different movements in this, fun ride. Cool urban legend too. I feel like I have been seeing more and more Greek myth references in culture these days, having a moment. Polybius would like that maybe. Maybe we're getting prepared for a the next iteration of the Polybius game ..

woah feels like I was playing the game and under a bit of it's mythical hypnotic powers at the min mark and then bam like I'm chasing after or being chased by men in black on my bmx bike smile  Such a fun track!

Loved it right from the start! Such a catchy melody. Fun as hell, and the urban legend story is a sweet backdrop. If I can't sleep tonight I'm blaming this song.

jwh wrote:

whoa, that is quite the legend!
and this quite the track!
really fun instrumental play, love it big_smile

Thanks!  I find urban legends interesting in general, and this is a cool one.  Where do they come from?  And how did they spread so far and wide, especially before the internet?



cfurrow wrote:

I bow down to your musical buildups!
and the guitar is excellent

Thanks!  Had some fun with this one.



jegasus wrote:

I first heard about the Polybius urban legend from the AVGN! I can totally see/hear this being used for that mystical government-backed video hame psychological weapon, hahahahaha... Very fun!

That video does a good job of summing up the legend.  I'm ready to write soundtracks for government-backed psychology experiments!



Q-Rosh wrote:

I want to play the Polibius game in an orlop and get hypnotized while listening to this fun song.

That sounds like a good time.  Perhaps I'll join you!



mzunguko wrote:

Very interesting story it reminds me of the arcades of old, a fun fact is I was toy tester as a kid for Fisher-Price where we were watched by staff in lab coats behind a double sided mirror.

Whoa, that's pretty cool.  Do you remember anything about doing that or were you too young?



Ashen Simian wrote:

This is all great! Like a psychedelic rollercoaster ride smile. Truly a technicolor track, I love this.

Thanks!  Psychedelic rollercoaster ride is a good description.  I like it!



Sodabelly wrote:

Man, I remember being really into this myth like 7-8 years ago, I think they talked about it on the Indoor Kids podcast.

This track is really awesome too, that glitchy sparkling build-up that kind of resets before the guitar kicks in sounds so nice.

I don't remember when I first heard the legend, but I remember finding it intriguing from the get-go.  Thanks, I was happy with how that sparkly mid-section turned out.



miraclemiles wrote:

A jolly fun romp, happily easing us into the possibly freaky experience of the Polybius. I like the different movements in this, fun ride. Cool urban legend too. I feel like I have been seeing more and more Greek myth references in culture these days, having a moment. Polybius would like that maybe. Maybe we're getting prepared for a the next iteration of the Polybius game ..

I wouldn't be surprised if some sort of government spooks were working on a new Polybius game as we speak.  It seems like the kind of thing they would totally do.



Tone Matrix wrote:

woah feels like I was playing the game and under a bit of it's mythical hypnotic powers at the min mark and then bam like I'm chasing after or being chased by men in black on my bmx bike smile  Such a fun track!

I can picture that, too.  It's all about the bmx bikes!



SQF wrote:

Loved it right from the start! Such a catchy melody. Fun as hell, and the urban legend story is a sweet backdrop. If I can't sleep tonight I'm blaming this song.

Hopefully I didn't keep you awake too long!  smile

You need to login to leave a comment.
Login Sign-up