Monty on the Run

Composed by Rob Hubbard

The score for this game may be short. Very short. Roughly ten minutes long in fact. But it is still regarded as one of the greatest scores in video games from the 80s, as well as a prime example of the sound potential of the Commodore 64. Rob Hubbard was a guitarist since the age of seven. All his life, he had worked as a professional musician. Whether it's playing in a band, arranging, or transcribing, he was more than capable of doing his work. And this was before he joined the video game industry.

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He worked on what he describes as music educational software for the C64. He couldn't actually make a profit off what he had worked on, which served as a motivator to work on video games. He actually wrote a complete video game, but the company he made the game for went bankrupt. What impressed people the most was the audio work, specifically the first game studio he worked on, Gremlin Graphics. 

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As a primary composer for Gremlin Graphics, he composed much of C64's most memorable scores including Commando, Knucklebusters, Warhawk, Sanxion, and of course, Monty on the Run. The main theme is reported to be an inspiration of Charles Williams' The Devil's Gallop, the main theme of the radio thriller series, Dick Barton. Hubbard doesn't consider his score for the game to be his best work, but acknowledges that it's fast paced energy helped make the score resonate with so many people back then, Commodore 64 fans, and to video game music enthusiasts today.

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Rob Hubbard became the standard for how music should sound on the Commodore 64. His passion for music, his dedication to the craft, and his willingness to put the game itself before his own personal feelings helped amplify the experience of playing the Commdore 64, and helped make such scores like the one for Monty on the Run become one of the 80s most memorable video game scores.