Rock Star Sonic Throws the Horns

About this drawing

Rock star Sonic suits the hedgehog perfectly. He is bold, confident and always in a hurry, and his games have been known from day one for music just as energetic as his running.

The tunes in the first game, released in 1991, were written by a musician from a popular Japanese pop band, and many of those melodies still turn up in concerts and fan remixes. When the series moved into 3D in the late 1990s, the soundtrack leaned hard into rock, with electric guitars and vocal theme songs written for each character.

The hand sign Sonic is making, with the index and little fingers raised, is known as the horns. It became a fixture at hard rock and heavy metal concerts in the 1980s, and fans still throw it up to cheer for their favorite bands.

There is another metal link in the series too. Doctor Eggman once built a robot copy of the hedgehog called Metal Sonic, a speedy rival made of steel who has challenged Sonic to more than one race. For a hero who never slows down, a soundtrack full of fast beats and loud guitars just feels right, and many fans can hum his tunes from memory.

• sonic
• rock
• music
• video games