Rock Out Wing Commander III Style (January 22, 2026)

[Bandit LOAF]

We recently mentioned that Wing Commander III's quotes file includes lists of media that inspired the team. One of these is a "team soundtrack" which lists off 38 different musical artists that were apparently enjoyed by the team while they were hard at work on the game:

TEAM SOUNDTRACK
Tori Amos ; Concrete Blonde; Nine Inch Niles ; Holzt ; Kodo Drummers ; Fabu ; Ryuichi Sakamoto; Nirvana; Machines of Loving Grace; Chick Corea; Poi Dog Pondering ; Vangelis; Sarah McLachlan; Seal; Carmina Burana; Melissa Ethridge; Arrested Development; Patty Larkin; Bunny Wailer; Dazed and Confused; Peter Gabriel; Flash Gordon; Cranberries ; Alice in Chains; John Williams; Siouxsie and the Banshees; Pat Benatar; Duran Duran; Bob Marley; Wagner; Miles Davis; Bill Evans; Indigo Girls; John Gorka; Orlando; Jimi Hendrix; STP; William Orbit

Armed with this background, I decided to try to put together a playlist that could let people feel like they were back at Origin making Wing Commander III! I picked one song from each group/artist that would've been available before the game shipped in December 1994. I prioritized tracks that charted and if none were available I went with the most played era-correct song on iTunes. We're still missing "Fabu" and "Orlando" which I couldn't match to anything commercially available at the time. Do you remember either of these? Let us know on the forums! You can access the Apple Music playlist here and if you aren't an Apple Music user, I've included the list as a spreadsheet.

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Original update published on January 22, 2026

 

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I feel like Fabu is probably this group - a 90s Detroit R&B duo:

Searching youtube music also did come up with their bigger hits but not on an account by them. Eventually I came across one of the singer's instagram accounts here https://www.instagram.com/iam_janine_williams/?hl=en and they appear to have shifted into hairdressing/design and own a salon.

Orlando seems to be an English band that started in the alt-rock scene and relaunched as a "romo" group https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orlando_(band)

 

[st3lt3k]

I'm not familiar with either Fabu or Orlando.

That soundtrack info is a great time capsule! I do think that the Wing Commander III Dev Team may have listened to some different songs than on the current list.

Dazed and Confused
Their answer might be very meta, a soundtrack within a soundtrack. The 1993 film Dazed and Confused was filmed in Austin and had quite the soundtrack.
Dazed and Confused soundtrack on Amazon

Duran Duran
I'd be surprised if they weren't listening to Duran Duran's 1993 ethereal sensation, Come Undone.

STP
Creep from 1992? Maybe. If limited to one song, 1994's Interstate Love Song might be more likely and has a tempo that's more compatible with crunch time.

 

[MadMac_5]

STP
Creep from 1992? Maybe. If limited to one song, 1994's Interstate Love Song might be more likely and has a tempo that's more compatible with crunch time.

As much as I listened to and enjoyed that song in the 90s, for me it's cemented into my brain due to playing it in Rock Band. It was just so much fun to play fake-guitar to!