Fallout Music Timeline

A Music Timeline from the Fallout series based on their recording date.

Background
While many songs are from the 40s and 50s, others are markedly newer than those decades. Reasons cited by the developers regarding the inclusion or omission of newer or older recordings vary considerably ranging from the cost of licensing, wanting to use tracks that would be new to the audience, or changes in the licensing companies.

It primarily deals with the licensed tracks which were not specifically composed for the Fallout series. However, several songs are described as existing in the Fallout world in the future. Music supervision and licensing were primarily done by Christopher S. Parker, Tim Scanlin, and Ian M. Anderson, music coordinator for Brandracket, LLC.

Inside the Vault
Celebrating Fallout’s Songs, Inside the Vault 2022 Oct 10

1950s
Note: Hank Thompson did record a commercial version of "Hangover Heart" for Capitol Records. However, the end credits indicate that the Soundies Inc. version was scheduled to be used.

1980s
Phillips had unveiled the compact disc (CD) in 1979 giving way for a new format for the decade.

1990s
Much of the soundtracks to the Fallout series also contain songs from various production music libraries. These tracks were never meant to be sold to the public and recording information is often obscured. These recordings appear on CD compilatins, but indicate they are meant to imitate older songs though they are newer, stereo recordings based on the liner notes, copyright information, and the age of the composer.

''Note: Since January 2017, APM Music no longer holds the rights to Carlin Production Music. All Carlin tracks are currently represented by Warner/Chappell Production Music.''

Post-War
Fallout also features a number of songs recorded after the Great War. Some were written for the games while others are covers of established songs, but all were newly recorded for the games. In-universe, the player character encounters the songs being played "live." The year for the main events of each game are as follows:

Recordings with uncertain dates
''Note: Since January 2017, APM Music no longer holds the rights to Carlin Production Music. All Carlin tracks are currently represented by Warner/Chappell Production Music.''

Much of the soundtracks to the Fallout series also contain songs from various production music libraries. These tracks were never meant to be sold to the public and recording information is often obscured. These recordings appear on CD compilations, but indicate they are from older mono, archival sources based on the liner notes, copyright information, and the age of the composer.

Vault 101 PA System
The Vault 101 PA System and Fallout Shelter features several easy-listening instrumentals licensed from Westar Music. However, it appears that the same tracks have been re-released on multiple occasions under various titles and artists.

Enclave Radio
Enclave Radio consists of public domain patriotic compositions also recorded by Westar Music.


 * America the Beautiful - Samual A. Ward (1910)
 * The Battle Hymn of the Republic - Julia Ward Howe (1862)
 * Dixie - Dan Emmett (1861)
 * Presidential Entrance - Rick Rhodes and Danny Pelfrey (1996)
 * Marine's Hymn - Jacques Offenbach (1867)
 * The Stars and Stripes Forever - John Philip Sousa (1897)
 * The Washington Post - John Philip Sousa (1889)
 * Yankee Doodle - Dr. Richard Shuckburgh (1770's)

The recordings appear on the album WSR171 Proud & Spirited, but with a release date of 2014. Fallout 3 was released in 2008. The artist given is Rhodes & Pelfrey, as well as Kelly Richmond/Craig Riley.

Other stations
Radio Freedom plays colonial fiddle music and both Classical Radio stations play various tracks of classical music. The dates of the exact recordings and musicians are not known.

Behind the scenes

 * The Fallout Bible makes passing references regarding the music of the world.
 * Despite Fallout: New Vegas having numerous references to Elvis Presley, developer Jason Bergman revealed on the Bethesda forums that performance rights to any of Elvis' songs would be too costly.
 * Developer Joshua Sawyer commented on the use of library music in Fallout: New Vegas because it was "low-cost."
 * Audio director Mark Lampert commented on the music in Fallout 4 being a mix of the "instantly recognizable," "lesser-known tracks from well-known artists," and "obscure tracks from long-forgotten bands."
 * The original source material for the tracks encompasses a broad range of music formats which run the gamut from the traditional vinyl LP and 45 and the shellac 78 rpm record to the more obscure 16 inch transcription disc, Old Time Radio broadcasts, Snader Telescriptions, and library music as well as newer CDs.