Discover El Paso’s Musical Talent In Popular Video Games

As one who appreciates El Paso music AND video games, I love when both worlds collide. There have been several times that this happened; here are a few local artists that have made it onto video games that you've probably played before.

At The Drive-In

Starting off with arguably the most popular rock band to represent El Paso is At The Drive-In. They've appeared in at least 4 video games as of April 2026:

• "One Armed Scissor" has appeared in Guitar Hero World Tour & Rock Band 3. It appeared in the beta for Forza Horizon but was cut during development.
• "Cosmonaut" appeared on Tony Hawk: Shred.
•  "No Wolf Like the Present" appeared on Forza Horizon 4.

The Mars Volta

One of the bands to come from the split of ATDI is The Mars Volta. They have made 3 video game appearences.

• "Goliath (El-P Remix)" appeared on Gran Turismo 5 Prologue. It was featured on the trailer for the game too.
• "L'Via L'Viaquez" appeared on Guitar Hero World Tour.
• "Zed and Two Naughts" appeared on MLB 12: The Show.

Sparta

The other band to appear from the break up of ATDI was Sparta led by Jim Ward. They've made one video game appearance; "Taking Back Control" appeared on Madden 07. Although it was under a different title (Future Words) & it's a slightly different version but it IS the same song.

The Royalty

One of the many local bands we wish would come back has had TWO songs appear on the same game: Tap Tap Revenge Tour. "I Want You" & "Bartender" were included on the soundtrack for the 2012 mobile game. You can find gameplay of Bartender on YouTube here.

The Bobby Fuller Four

The Bobby Fuller Four's version of "I Fought the Law" has appeared in a few different video games like Mafia III & Battlefield Vietnam.

Other times El Paso artists have appeared on video games

• The Chamanas appeared on Forza Horizon 5 with their collab with ODESZA for  "Everything at Your Feet".
• Xalavier Nelson Jr (who was born in El Paso) composed music for his own video games "El Paso, Elsewhere" & "Kill it With Fire 2".
• Khalid has grown up in El Paso & has quickly become a big star from the 915. He's been included in SEVERAL video games like Madden NFL 18 & Beatstar
• The video game Clone Hero has made it where you play user created charts to any song out there; including some by Cigarettes After Sex or bands with El Paso musicians like Bridges Ablaze.

If you want to see more local artists on popular media, you can read about artists who have been featured on movies and tv shows here.