The Sonic the Hedgehog video games have featured a number of beloved music tracks over the years. The Sega Dreamcast game Sonic Adventure 2 was no exception, which featured a memorable song from the band Crush 40. Ever since that game’s release, the track “Live and Learn” has been closely associated with Shadow the Hedgehog. Sonic the Hedgehog 3 wisely brings that song to the big screen, and viewers can hear it several times throughout the movie. In an interview with ComicBook, director Jeff Fowler talked about the importance of bringing that track over from the games, and the effort that was put into weaving it throughout the film.
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“Honestly everything that’s in this third movie was very purposely there. I think ‘Live and Learn’ and Crush 40 are such inseparable elements from Sonic Adventure 2. We just knew that was essential to this film. Tom Holkenborg, our composer, very smartly identified opportunities all over the movie to weave it through and make it inseparable from Shadow, including the very first scene in the movie where we get a few notes of it on Maria’s guitar. So it’s like from the beginning of the movie to the end of the movie, we just knew it had to be there. We knew fans would just love having us lean into it as strongly as we did.”
Sonic Adventure 2 is the video game that first introduced fans to Shadow. That game laid much of the groundwork for Sonic the Hedgehog 3, which brought over several elements of the game’s story. While the filmmakers tweaked certain parts of the narrative to better fit the world of the first two movies, many of the most important elements remained the same. In particular, Maria Robotnik’s friendship with Shadow is at the forefront of the movie. As Fowler notes, one particular change from the game is the fact that Maria is the one that first plays “Live and Learn,” which happens at the start of the movie. The Sonic movies have used music from the games sparingly so far, so the inclusion of “Live and Learn” was a pleasant surprise!
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Paramount licensed the use of “Live and Learn” for Sonic the Hedgehog 3, but the track’s use in other Sonic media has been a source of controversy over the last few weeks. Crush 40 member John Gioeli recently filed a lawsuit against Sega, claiming that he is the owner of the “master recording and composition” for the track. The song has appeared in a number of games over the years, from Sega’s titles, to Nintendo’s Super Smash Bros. series. Gioeli alleges that he was unaware of this usage, and that Sega has been doing so without his permission. What that might mean for the future of the track remains to be seen!
Are you happy that “Live and Learn” was featured in Sonic the Hedgehog 3? Have you ever played Sonic Adventure 2? Share your thoughts with me directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp, on Bluesky at @Marcdachamp, or on Instagram at @Dachampgaming!
