Sonic Rush has good music
Nanostary had some decent trance/techno music.
Back in the 80s the music was mostly all origonal since there was no way to take recorded music and throw it in without remaking it for that specific machine.
So alot of times we'd here origonal music that was great becuase they were made using that sound board rather than say real instruments. So everything became fine tuned in its own way.
Remember how the SNES sounded so darn great with its really nice Midi board? Now that was good stuff aslong as it was used right. Alot of games used it well, some others just used the basic midi recordings and let the sound board do its thing, wich would play some instruments that didnt fit sometimes.
When the CD games came to the market, everyone was still stuck on the origonal music making front. Development teams still had a sound/music sub-team to deal with that part. Or sometimes theyd go out and get an artist of some sort to make an origonal soundtrack specificly for the game.
Now back when PSX and Saturn started a few games werer starting to use music from bands rather than their own custom soundtrack specificly for the game.
They didnt do it a whole lot but the PSX games did it the most.
To be honest I think its rather annoying how games will use music that isnt origonal. Its like having a piece of your radio on the game. Thats good for some things, but Id rather just turn on my radio while I play in that case.
Now if they had bands make origonal music, it just fits so well.
Like how EA's SSX Tricky had its one oriognal track "SSX Tricky" wich happens to be my most memerable moment in the game. It was good how they edited the other songs to change with the action of the game. That is a good way of keeping things fresh and well fitting with the game. (and Im a non sports game/ non EA game player too)
Now a days they take songs from bands or wherever they can get just to add music to the game when they origonal werent even gonna bother with music.
Its a cheap move to try and get that "golden soundtrack" for the game.
Skipping the whole origonality all together.
From what I see is that companies are trying to go for the cheap and fast route of game developing. Game physics and things are alot bigger and harder to code, I can say its understandable to use someone elses physics code to make things easier, but to just take some random music and throw it in. It just doesnt equal good stuff.
Plus some games with oriognal music arent too great either, but sometimes thats just the band's fualt. Like say how sonic games have Crush 40 for its music. They do some good songs, but some are just kinda annoying, though I do love the games and music anyway (Sonic fan from the beging)
It really depends on a few factors of who makes the music.
If its the same Team that developed the game, alot of times the music will fit the game since they know what they are looking for.
Sometimes they might just take some music they had done already or just make some random tunes or even think the game is like something else and end up with something that doesnt fit. It just depends on how well they work as a team.
Othertimes they might just grab some Band's song and throw it in as well.
Some teams dont even have a music department. They might just have a small one for sounds and just use that bare minimum since they can rely on Band's to make music and just pay a few royalties and what not.
Though sometimes they find music already out there that really fits the game. Wich tends to work out with a little effort.
So to put what Im saying in breif.
Back when games started developers were forced to be oriognal and often times have a team for the music or atleast someone dedicated to making music for the game.
Now a days theres alot more options. You can either record your own songs or get a band to do it, or even just take their pre recorded music and throw it in. MIDI music (having the machine be the instrument sort a speak) has ended up being no longer popular and rarely even heard of now since REAL recorded music has seemed to be most popular. Its alot easier to do since all thats needed is to record the music and play it on cue. No more making the machine make the noises to sound like the real instruments.
Drawbacks are that with REAL music it can open up cheap methods of implementation and sound rather off key with the game action.
Yet it can sound really good and its easier to implement in a game since all you need is a way to play it on cue.
For MIDIs theres more options for control and synchronization. However the sound can vary between machine unless the developer has each sound recorded for playback in sequence to make the actual song. Wich does sound really good, but can take alot more work and planing.
Also with MIDIs they happen to be very controlable. You could have the song play normaly then have programed sequences to change the song during play. Say add more instruments or even go from one point in the song and gracefully phase into the more actiony sound without breaking the flow of the song.
But again, this takes work to prefect.
So MIDIs tend to be the big time taking method, but for games are the best choice in my opion.
Real time music is a cheaper easier method that wasnt avaible in the old days. It can sound good if the effort is put in to synchronise with the game action or simply fit with the mood of the current game situation.
So the only real answer as to why game music must be lacking lately would be only one thing in my opion, the game developers are being cheap and lazy.
Most of the time thats why the music sucks, cuase someone didnt put in the effort to fit it all together.
For me, good music tends to make boring gameplay alot more withstandable. But music that changes depending on whats happening in the game tends to make things feel alot more energetic. And well, ya dont see that method too oftenly well implemented. It just takes too much work for some developers.