I am always glad for threads like this where I can get ideas for new tracks to add to the mix.
My main criteria is: no lyrics. A lot of players and especially DMs complain about background music with words. They find it distracting. So my background music must be 100% instrumental.
It seems to me there are 4 categories of source material:
Movie soundtracks. This is the most obvious choice. It is designed to be background music, and you can tell if it is good if you saw the movie.
Videogame soundtracks. Also designed for background, but usually just not as good. There are a few exceptions with great music: The Total War series, Diablo... The other problem is that anyone who has played the game has already become sick of the music. Whenever the diablo town theme starts playing, one of the players in my group chimes in with "What can I do for you?" as the shopkeeper from the game.
Classical music: The quieter type of classical will put most groups to sleep, so you are most likely to use orchestral music, opera overtures, etc. This may be discouraging to find, because most people aren't that familiar with classical music. You are probably OK with anything that says "overture." Some of my favorites:
Borodin, Polovtsian Dance
Grieg: Hall of the Mt King
Mussorgsy: Night on Bald Mt
Prokofiev: The Alien God and the Dance of the Evil Spirits
Respighi: Circuses aka Feste Romane
Sibelius: Finlandia
Suppe: Light Cavalry Overture
Wagner: Siegfried's Funeral March, Parsival
Heavy Metal: A lot of gamers are metalheads, but it is tricky to find stuff without lyrics. Here are a few I know, and I would love to find more:
Faith No More: Woodpecker from Mars
Iron Maiden: Genghis Khan, Ides of March
Metallica: Call of Ktulu, Orion
The Police: Behind my Camel
Dredj, I don't know Bal-Sagoth or Man of War. Is any of their stuff instrumental?
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