Bobby Prince, the composer of Doom’s iconic soundtrack, has died at 81

Bobby Prince, the composer of the iconic soundtrack for the original Doom, has passed away at the age of 81.

Robert Caskin ‘Bobby’ Prince III – who served as a platoon leader in the Vietnaam War before turning to counselling, law and video game music following his military service – died on Tuesday, his family confirmed.

Prince started composing video game music in the early 1990s and regularly worked with id Software and Apogee Software.

His work included the soundtracks for Wolfenstein 3D, Rise of the Triad and numerous episodes of the Commander Keen action platformer series.

He was best known, however, for composing the iconic soundtrack for Doom (and its sequel Doom II), which was famed for its frantic, heavy metal-inspired tempo.

In a later interview, Prince explained that he didn’t work on the Doom soundtrack in-house with the rest of the id Software team, instead relying on the ‘Doom Bible’ – a design document for the game – for inspiration.

“What helped the most with the sound in Doom was the Doom Bible that Tom Hall compiled,” Prince said. “Much of what was in it never appeared in the game, but it set a mood for starting on the project. Within a few months of receiving that document, I had roughed out a lot of music and most of what turned out to be final sound effects.”

Prince went on to work on the music for other games such as Duke Nukem 3D but it would be his Doom soundtrack that would cement his legacy in video games.

Just last month, the Library of Congress announced that Prince’s soundtrack for Doom had been selected for inclusion in its National Recording Registry, declaring it one of 25 newly inducted ” audio treasures worthy of preservation for all time based on their cultural, historical or aesthetic importance in the nation’s recorded sound heritage”.

It joined such other new additions as Turn! Turn! Turn! by The Byrds, the original cast album of Chicago, and Fly Me to the Moon by Kaye Ballard.

Doom co-designer John Romero paid tribute to Prince on X, writing: “Everyone at Romero Games is deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Bobby Prince. He left an incredible mark on games and on my life.”

Apogee / 3D Realms co-founder George Broussard also wrote his own obituary for Prince on X, calling him “the epitome of a Southern gentleman”.

“Bobby would often fly down for a week at a time on large projects (like Duke Nukem 3D) because he thought it was important to be in the office and mingle with the team and talk to people and dial in what sort of music was appropriate,” Broussard recalled.

“Bobby could often be found with a recorder going around the office recording sounds for a game. It was a joy to have him in the office and he felt like every other team member.

“One of Bobby’s defining traits was his ear for melody. He created tune after tune that you could hum in your head. His music was sticky. He could effortlessly transition from happy cheerful music in Cosmo’s Cosmic Adventure or Commander Keen to dark and moody music for Doom, Rise of the Triad or Duke Nukem 3D. Or period style WW2 movie influenced style of music in Wolfenstein 3D. What that man did on an AdLib card with limited instruments was staggering.

“Bobby was a prolific creator. Looking back and considering his body of work, he was essentially the Hans Zimmer of early shareware games. And all of that came from him being so passionate about music, and video games which were just emerging, that it started as a hobby and was the polar opposite of being a lawyer.

“Bobby was blessed with a creative gene and a generation of early gamers were blessed with his music. Bobby defined a generation of music for early shareware games and he was recognized for his work. His impact is eternal and he’s been a legend for 3 decades. His work lives on and he will be greatly missed.”