I’ve always been a huge fan of the demoscene. Some time in 1993 I discovered the work of a group called Future Crew in an AOL download area, and got to work making my 50 mhz computer turn out some amazing demonstrations of design. The first demo I ever downloaded, Second Reality, still amazes me every time I see it.

Throughout the years, these deo programs have evolved. Different competitions have come and gone, and many groups have produced incredible examples of their creative mastery. One such group, headed by Skal, created a controversial demo called State of Mind. This fantastic piece caused a multitude of arguments because the demo was made with a popular band’s song as the soundtrack. Whereas most demoscene videos include custom music made by the musician of the group, Skal’s work was to be a music video for an already popular song.

Senser’s “States of Mind”, a gritty and biting look into consumer mentality, was given a video that complemented its sharp attitude. The end result was wildly popular, despite the haze cast over the song’s original message by the controversy surrounding the demo.

My exploration into the video background aspect of step-fu began with this song, as I edited down Skal’s demo along with the song to fit DDR’s standard length. The result is the only song in the Plaguemix Series thus far to include a full-motion background video!