Radio Stations in GTA London

Although Grand Theft Auto: London 1969 was treated as an expansion for the first game (Grand Theft Auto 1), the soundtrack is completely different. Here, once more Rockstar puts radio stations that the player can listen when driving a vehicle, in addition to a police radio station.

It is worth noting that the subsequent expansion, Grand Theft Auto: London 1961 uses this same soundtrack (even though all the songs would be anachronistic, given the years they were released).

In order to capture the essence of London in the late '60s, and give the feeling of the British crime scene from the period, Rockstar decided to license music from the era. This would be the first use of licensed songs in the game series, a feature that would become recurrent in subsequent games. So, this soundtrack uses a combination of early reggae and Italian pop, beat, soul and jazz from film scores of the period.

All radio stations have DJs, but unlike GTA 1 which had a couple of DJs named, in GTA London only one is named.

Running time for all the stations in GTA London is very short, even shorter than the GTA 1 standards, they play only 1 or 2 songs (Westminster Wireless being the sole exception, playing 3 instead). In fact all the 12 stations rank among the shortest stations in the game series.

Radio stations

 * † - The song is an original creation, and thus its year of release is that of GTA London: 1999.

Bush Sounds
Genre: Reggae
 * The Upsetters - "Return of Django" (1969)
 * The Upsetters - "Dollar in the Teeth" (1969)

Bush Sounds plays reggae music by The Upsetters. "Dollar in the Teeth" was released as part of the double A-side of "Return of Django", reflecting its presence alongside "Return of Django" in the station.

Heavy Heavy Monster Sound
Genre: Reggae, Ska, Skinhead
 * Harry J All Stars - "The Liquidator" (1969)
 * Symarip - "Skinhead Moonstomp" (1969)

Like Bush Sounds, Heavy Heavy Monster Sounds is a reggae-oriented station, but features two varied bands as opposed to centering around one. The bands are seminal skinhead acts. Its DJ states that the station broadcasts on 666, on the medium wave.

Blow Upradio
Genre: Beat
 * Riz Ortolani - "Beat Fuga Shake" (1967)

This station is notable because, at a running time of only 1 minute and 55 seconds, it is effectively the shortest radio station in the entire GTA series.

"Beat Fuga Shake" is taken from the soundtrack for "Il mistero dell'ombra" (also known as "Tiffany memorandum" or "The Tiffany Memorandum"), a 1967 Italian film.

Kaleidoscope
Genre: Pop, Beat
 * Francesco De Masi & Alessandro Alessandroni - "Hot Camera Shake" (1967)
 * Giulia De Mutiis - "L'Uomo Che Saprà" (1967)

"Hot Camera Shake" and "L'Uomo Che Saprà" are taken from "Troppo per vivere... poco per morire" (also known as "Your Turn to Die"), a 1967 Italian film.

Sounds of Soho
Genre: Jazz
 * Francesco De Masi & Alessandro Alessandroni - "Tema di Londra M. 1" (1967)
 * Riz Ortolani - "Latin Quarter" (1969)

"Tema di Londra M. 1" is taken from the soundtrack for "Colpo maestro al servizio di Sua Maestà britannica" (also known as "Master Stroke"), a 1967 Italian film, while "Latin Quarter" is taken from the soundtrack of the Una sull'altra, a 1969 Italian film.

Radio Penelope
DJ: Doctor Peter Pants-On, the Premier Purveyor of Primary Pop

Genre: Pop, Beat, Soul
 * Riz Ortolani - "The Roaring 20's" (1969)
 * Riz Ortolani - "Teresa L'Illusa" (1973)

"The Roaring Twenties" is taken from the soundtrack of the 1969 Italian film "Una sull'altra", while "Teresa L'Illusa" is taken from the soundtrack of the 1973 Italian film "Teresa la ladra" (also known as "Teresa the Thief").

Radio Andorra
Genre: Pop, Beat
 * Riz Ortolani - "Tiffany Sequence M. 8" (1967)
 * Riz Ortolani - "Tiffany Sequence M. 22" (1967)

The tracks are taken from the soundtrack for "Il mistero dell'ombra" (also known as "Tiffany memorandum" or The "Tiffany Memorandum"), a 1967 Italian film.

Westminster Wireless
Genre: Soul, Jazz
 * Piero Umiliani & Gian Franco Reverberi - "Le Malizie Di Venere - Seq. 3" (1969)
 * Piero Umiliani & Gian Franco Reverberi - "Le Malizie Di Venere - Seq. 4" (1969)
 * Piero Umiliani & Gian Franco Reverberi - "Le Malizie Di Venere - Seq. 6" (1969)

"Le Malizie Di Venere - Seq. 3" is also used as the game's theme song, and thus it plays in the main menu and during the credits.

The tracks are taken from the soundtrack for "Le malizie di Venere" (also known as "Devil in the Flesh"), a 1969 Italian film.

Radio 7
Genre: Beat, Funk
 * Rockstar Games(Chris Sears, Jim Browski, Dr.Gilo Allen, Duncan "limpdick" Scott) - "Saturday Nite at Dirty McNasty's" †
 * Rockstar Games(Chris Sears, Jim Browski, Dr.Gilo Allen, Duncan "limpdick" Scott) - "BOOK 'EM (Murder One)" †

GTA Pomp
Genre: Classical
 * Rockstar Games(Charlie Clarke, JL, Sarah Daly, Paul Powell) - "GTA Pomp" †

GTA Spy Theme
Genre: Jazz
 * Rockstar Games(Charlie Clarke, JL, Sarah Daly, Paul Powell) - "Spy Theme" †

Austin Allegro Drag Race
Genre: Funk
 * Rockstar Games(Chris Sears, Jim Browski, Dr.Gilo Allen, Duncan "limpdick" Scott) - "Austin Allegro Drag Race" †

Trivia

 * The number of new songs in this soundtrack is 21.
 * The year with the most songs is 1969, with 9 songs.
 * GTA London is notable for having the shortest radio station in the entire GTA series: Blow Upradio, which has a running length of only 1 minute and 55 seconds.
 * In fact, all of the stations of GTA London rank among the shortest stations in the entire GTA series. In a ranking, 12 of the 13 shortest in the game series are from GTA London (The Fergus Buckner Show FM, from GTA 1, being the sole exception).
 * From top to bottom, the shortest stations are: Blow Upradio (1:55), Radio Andorra (2:22), GTA Pomp (2:46), GTA Spy Theme (3:00), The Fergus Buckner Show FM (3:11), Kaleidoscope  (3:12), Austin Allegro Drag Race (3:13), Bush Sounds (4:42), Sounds of Soho (5:00), Heavy Heavy Monster Sound (5:45), Radio 7 (5:48), Radio Penelope (7:00) and Westminster Wireless (7:18). In comparison, the closest station after those is N-CT FM (7:25), also from GTA 1.
 * First use of licensed music in the game series, a feature that would become recurrent.
 * The use of obscure Italian film soundtracks and early reggae by Rockstar can be understandable because at that point (1999) it was still a small company and couldn't afford to buy the rights for more widely known songs.
 * Both Grand Theft Auto: London 1969 and Grand Theft Auto: London 1961 use the same soundtrack.
 * Which makes its use in GTA London 1961 anachronistic given the years in which the songs where released (with the earliest songs being from 1967), with the exception of the songs that are original creations by the Rockstar staff.
 * Riz Ortolani's "Teresa l'illusa", from 1973, is the only anachronistic song in the GTA London 1969 soundtrack.
 * GTA 1 had 2 DJs named, but GTA London has one - Doctor Peter Pants-On, the Premier Purveyor of Primary Pop from Radio Penelope.
 * First use in the GTA series of an original police radio track: Rockstar created a police track for this game with appropiate British accents and references to locations in London. In contrast, GTA 1, GTA 2, and GTA III use a generic police track used in countless films, series and games ("5 George K, number 30 Broad street" is said) with American accents. Original police tracks wouldn't be repeated until GTA Vice City.