Dancing Mad: The Greatest Final Boss Music Ever Made

Dancing Mad

Disclaimer: Obviously I'm going to be talking about spoilers for Final Fantasy VI so if you care about the outcome for a JRPG that is 24 years old, then it is best to not read through

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Our heroes have journeyed far across the land encountering many obstacles along the way, now with the universal magical order thrown out of balance, previous court jester now god Kefka stands before our party wreaking havoc and killing thousands without breaking a sweat. Standing atop his tower, how will our heroes best him? The only way to go is up, and as the party scales the tower, the organ hums...

The best way to explain how this odyssey of a song is so great is to explain our villain which in this case, a psychopathic court jester who has been the laughing stock throughout the game, and to accompany this character comes with a fitting theme



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After coming across the opportunity to unleash his pent-up anger and killing his previous master as well as tampering with the balance of magic, he becomes the God of Magic smiting everyone that would oppose him and to accompany him, and the result of this is an at minimal approximately 17-minute song with four movements each with their own meaning and art to them.

The fight is separated into distinct parts as the party “scales” the tower before fighting Kefka himself.




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The first of these stages has the party fighting a large demon meant to represent the hellish stage of the fight. And being the first stage of the fight, drums and a line of synth bass lay the beat for the fight as great organs ring ominously as a signifier of the great fight to come. Soon following the initial ring of organs is a less dramatic while still retaining a dark classical feel as a constant C pedal is played under a pairing of a choir and an organ develops on the dark, grand theme that this first movement has. However, this slow dominating presence springs into action as the synth bass from the beginning is kicked back into gear accompanied by an offensive voice and the intensity of the organ is kicked 5 notches above 10.

After the first stage of the boss is defeated the party moves up a stage to the souls of purgatory, depicted by many bodies jetting from each other.



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Starting off this stage is am off-putting, jarring organ section as a line of snare drums and accented voices compliment this jarring this not only to represent Kefka’s jester past but also the general chaos that is currently happening as the party is scaling the tower. Following this theme is an organ solo that sweeps the song back into its initial theme consisting of many second a quarter notes in quick succession in order to set a leaping point in to the third stage of the fight.

Scaling the tower once again to the gates of heaven, and to greet the party is a figure based off a sculpture by Michelangelo titled Pietà.



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A single bell chimes as the party ascends to the top of the tower, upon arriving the organ once again takes center stage as a solo using clichéd but effective religious musical patterns to evoke a sense of what the party is soon to face. However, throughout the piece Kefka’s psychotic is breaking through his holy image as this religious tone is tainted with his very own theme from earlier. Listen to Kefka’s theme once again and compare it to about the 27 second mark of the third tier. Not only is Kefka’s theme referenced through this in a more positive light, it is referenced again a bit later returning to the original song’s toxic tone only a mere 12 seconds later at the 39 second mark. As Kefka loses control of his self-righteous image, the organ springs to an assault of more organ shredding from the first movement which climaxes with heavy chords.

As the party bested the tower there is one more boss to fight, Kefka himself. As organs stack chords Kefka descends upon to the heroes. Upon the start of the fight every thematic piece containing the overall religious and church feel is thrown out the window in favor of a rock organ, electric guitar, electric bass, and rock drums.



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Progressive rock rings through the air as the party takes down Kefka while different references to the original Kefka’s theme are thrown everywhere some more obvious than others which would be a bit of a hassle to name all of them. There are no more themes, no more patterns, just pure chaos how Kefka wanted, he had no goal, no motive, just pure evil and lust for destruction and that theme is reflected in this final movement of the song. However, as the party lays the final blow on Kefka the theme slows down and returns to the classical harmony as an organ paired with an electric bass takes center stage as a beautiful end card.



Although this thread is just me gushing about how great a final boss theme is I would like feedback how to improve on essays like these cause they are a bit fun to make from time to time and I wanted to do something special for my 800th post even though that number is meaningless to a lot of people. Regardless I hope that I got some people to get to like this song even if they're not a big fan of classical music as a whole. Here is the full song for your listening pleasure, each movement is repeated once for a good feel of how grand the song is. Thanks for reading.

Media Limit lol

 

big thonk
smh

 

Anything regarding music on these forums is basically just naming the instruments and the general feel. I have yet to see proper musical analysis. Also about the end, classical music is a term that's thrown around loosely most of the time. I play mostly "classical" music, but I also hate medieval music and I'm not a fan of most renaissance music either. Not that that is super relevant to the thread, but it does serve as a reminder that most musical analysis is incredibly surface level. I don't just want to be told something is intense, sad or happy for that matter. I want to know why you feel that the music has this certain tone. To me this feels more like poetry than an essay.

 

Bruh medieval music is the shit.... I literally prefer it over anything created today (which honestly really anything is better than mumble rap)

 

True, some parts as just listening the instruments and the general feel/references is pretty surface level. However, while writing this including more in depth as going into chord progressions, actual music theory terms to describe how the music is so good seemed that it wouldn't allow a general audience to understand. Cause I can go deep into my research and my own notes of the song, for example the main title theme catastrophe uses distinct 4ths ending on a D flat/C triad creates the musical dissonance that is applied to the beginning of the first movement, now with the synth-bass to completely rewrite the tone of the introduction.

But if anybody does not know of terminology of the music itself, it just creates lost readers and only a piece appreciated by a select few. So I opted for just stating the instruments and general feel because it is easier to understand the natural grand and looming nature of the organ rather than explain that a 1 to flat 2 to flat 3 chord progression over a tonic pedal is creating that ominous feel following the introductory bars in the first movement. I do agree I could've put my personal input more into why I like the song but I wanted to also stray away from tangents of just me just gushing about how I adore the themes of the song.

But yeah, thanks for the feedback, will take note of this if I do anything else like this in the future.

 

I wouldn't know because someone just saying the music is "x thing" doesn't do anything for me. In my eyes I don't see how this would help the general audience understand the music better or help them understand your opinion, though I guess that's for other people to decide. Also I assumed this would be an opinion, since the title is a very bold statement and very clearly subjective. In the introduction you even say "The best way to explain how this odyssey of a song is so great is to explain our villain which in this case, a psychopathic court jester who has been the laughing stock throughout the game, and to accompany this character comes with a fitting theme". From the text it seems you want to explain why you think it's so good and simply stating the very basics of the music doesn't explain your point of view to me.