The Gun Pointed at the Head of the Universe

The Gun Pointed at the Head of the Universe
Album:	Halo: Original Soundtrack
Composer(s):	Martin O'Donnell and Michael Salvatori
Length:	02:26
Previous:	Ambient Wonder
Next:	Trace Amounts

The Gun Pointed at the Head of the Universe is the eighth track included in the Halo: Original Soundtrack.

Overview

It is composed nearly entirely of percussion, only having a deep bass note towards the middle of the piece and some vocals at the end of the piece. The rest of the sound is produced by a combination of drums, auxiliary percussion and hand-clapping, which is usually unheard of in many tracks written for Halo.

The piece was primarily written by Michael Salvatori with additions from Martin O'Donnell.

Appearances

The track can be heard:

• In the level Halo, when John-117 finds the last group of Marines in the Forerunner structures.
• In the level The Silent Cartographer, when John-117 comes to the Cartographer building for the first time.
• In the level Assault on the Control Room, briefly when John first commandeers an M808B Scorpion, when he encounters the tunnel entrance guarded by two Type-26 Wraiths, and when he battles the Plasma Rifle-wielding Sangheili Zealot.
• In the level 343 Guilty Spark, when John and the Marines are leaving the Flood containment facility.
• In the level Keyes, when Captain Keyes orders John and Cortana to pull out.
• In the level The Maw, while the John blows up the engines of the UNSC Pillar of Autumn

Reorchestrated versions

It is reorchestrated into the following:

• Into the Breach of More Than His Share as a remix in the Halo 3: ODST Original Soundtrack.
• Unless You Mean to Shoot in the Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary Original Soundtrack.

Trivia

• The name of the soundtrack is most likely in reference to the Halo Array, as its near activation can be interpreted as a "Gun Pointed at the Head of the Universe". The phrase is also that of the first section of the level Two Betrayals.
• The drum beat upon which the track is based is one of the stock loops from the E-mu Proteus 2000 synthesizer.
• Martin O'Donnell produced a variation of the piece utilizing hip-hop beats, but the piece was cut from the game. The piece was retroactively named "Seriously?", and O'Donnell later implied that the piece did not survive the test of time.