Electro Maestros

To give you an idea of where videogame soundtracks rank in the music industry's pecking order, consider this: You can win a Grammy for writing liner notes but not for composing a 45-minute score for a CD-ROM. To Michael Cihak, director of audio operations for game developer Studio E, that's a grave injustice. ''I mean, I wouldn't expect to be in competition for my work on Beavis and Butt-head,'' says Cihak, ''but certainly [the CD-ROM] Dracula Unleashed would deserve taking a look at.''

But game music is shedding its reputation as a collection of blips and bleeps — not just because game composers like Cihak have better tools at their disposal, but also because pop musicians are getting into the act. Sega is developing a Saturn title around the music of guitarist Ronnie Montrose, who also played on the soundtrack of the CD-ROM The Daedalus Encounter. When Time Warner Electronic Publishing releases the role-playing game Mirage next year, Atlantic Records plans to sell the soundtrack CD featuring such artists as Francis Dunnery, Poe, and Jewel. Electronic Arts, whose 1994 biker game Road Rash featured music by Soundgarden and five other A&M bands, hopes to have another pop-music soundtrack on next year's snowboarding epic ShredFest. Martin Atkins, who has played drums for Pigface and Public Image Ltd., wrote the music for MTV's Club Dead CD-ROM. And classical label Angel Records plans to sell the Wagner-inspired soundtrack for LucasArts' CD-ROM adventure The Dig, due out in November.

With this infusion of talent and technology, videogame music has nowhere to go but up. ''If the theme song from a TV show like Friends can set somebody's career on fire,'' says Nintendo of America VP George Harrison, ''then there's a possibility that that could happen out of a videogame.'' Hear that, Rembrandts? Maybe it's time to record some Doom music.