Malibu Stacy are a band from Belgium. Their song ‘Los AnGeles’ – the capitalised ‘G’ isn’t a typo – was part of the soundtrack to FIFA 07, that’s how I came to know it. FIFA was a yearly grab for me; I’d been playing it since 2002 when the 2003 edition came out and the soundtracks on there never disappointed. It was normally the songs that weren’t from the UK that were the best or, at least to me, the most memorable. Here’s the soundtrack for that particular game. Highlights I would recommend are ‘TMCr Grand Finale’ by The Pinker Tones, ‘Was in der Zeitung Steht’ by d.o.c.h.!, and ‘Understand’ by The Sheer. That song will get its own post one day. It’s worth listening to all the songs on that list.

Anyway, ‘Los AnGeles’ played whenever you were on the menus or sorting out transfers. Generally, navigating your way through the game when you weren’t playing matches. The singer isn’t the greatest in the world, but his tone just really matches the instrumental backing. When I was eleven and hearing this song, I was singing along but I had no idea what the guy was saying. Through the years since then, I’ve seen what are considered to be the official lyrics to this song and I’m still not sure he’s even singing those. It’s all about the feeling, though. You can tell they care about what the lyricism is about. Once you’ve got that main keyboard riff in your head, it will pretty much stick there for a while. I’ve also always enjoyed that small part in the instrumental bridge where the track goes into a swinging tempo for a few measures.

I’ve never thought to go into the band’s back catalogue and dig deep into their material. I think this track’s association with FIFA will be as far as it goes for me. The singing probably sounded better to me back in 2006 than it does now but musically, it still packs a punch.