A few years after the launch of Grand Theft Auto 4, I read a newspaper interview with LCD Soundsystem's James Murphy within which the esteemed frontman spoke about the music that'd shaped his formative years. I'm paraphrasing – I think the interview was conducted in 2011, maybe 2012, definitely before the launch of GTA 5 – but when asked about the songs and bands that first sparked his desire to leave his family home, Murphy cited The Velvet Underground; suggesting that while he was sure he'd outgrown his hometown at that time in his late teens, he later realized the folk he grew up with were perceivably more interesting than the people he eventually mixed with in New York City.
No shade on NYC, but I don't think it's a massive stretch to suggest elements of this sentiment are reflected in GTA 4 protagonist Nico Bellic's beleaguered pursuit of the American Dream. In the game's faux-New York City, Bellic's path is driven by hedonism, granted – not to mention self-destructive, violent and regularly introspective behavior – but the Yugolslavian's (mis)adventurous journey often portrayed the GTA 4 antihero as swimming against the tide in his bid to fit in. Pushing that link further still, Nico's trans-Atlantic pilgrimage was first properly defined, for me at least, by that LCD Soundsystem-scored trailer in early 2008. To the tune of the group's 2007 Kraftwerk-aping hit, 'Get Innocuous!', the promotional video saw Bellic continuously walking towards the camera while the virtual Liberty City backdrop chopped and changed around him in dramatic fashion.
