It is very humbling to realize that it has been 32 years(!) since the computer game "King's Quest 5: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow" was released on PC.

It is even more humbling to realize the state of gaming music at the time of that game's release. Game music during the early 1990s was still relegated to the 'bleeps' and 'bloops' that so many would recognize today as 'chiptunes.' And while there were several extremely talented musical artists who created amazing works with what they had to work with, they were still 'bleeps' and 'bloops.'

But all of that changed with CD-ROMs. Finally, computer gaming could use the full power and storage of CDs in order to convey an awesome level of graphics and sound effects that could only be dreamed of a few short years prior.

And with CD-ROMs also came full album-quality music as well. Developers were no longer constrained to the 'bleeps' and 'bloops' of yesteryear and could have traditional music artists render songs that were no different than what could be heard on a soundtrack or a studio album.

Computer gaming in the early 1990s strived for legitimacy amongst more traditional media, such as movies and novels. It wanted to be taken seriously as an art form and certain developers always felt constrained by computing technology up until that point.

One way that developers and studios tried to convey that gaming should be taken seriously was to use traditional music and movie talent in their games. The early 1990s was the era of full-motion video (FMV) and pre-rendered graphics. This was a time of computer games such as "The 7th Guest" and "Myst."

"King's Quest 5" was released both conventionally (on floppy discs) and on CD-ROM. When it was released on CD-ROM, it came with the song, "Girl in the Tower," which was the unofficial main theme for the game. It was encouraged to request this song on radio stations, not just to market the game but to also market the fact that computer gaming could deliver the same quality of entertainment that movies and television could as well. Computer gaming was 'closing the gap' with movies and television and "Girl in the Tower" was proof of that.

Is the song schmaltzy? You bet. Syrupy? Absolutely. Cheesy? Without a doubt.

But it is also a milestone in computer gaming. It marked a turning point that computer gaming needed to be taken seriously by Hollywood. The budgets of games was getting larger. The graphics were getting better. And now the music was no different than what you could buy from any music artist.

I remember being in the dorm room of one of my friends when I listened to this song for the first time. It was awe-inspiring back then that games could have music like that. And it is awe-inspiring today to think that we think nothing of the gap between gaming music and film music and television music today. None. But there was a time when everyone else snickered at computer and video games because all they could produce for their music was 'bleeps' and 'bloops.'

No more. And that happened 32 years ago with this song.

https://yewtu.be/watch?v=H3GM4Z1WF-8