During a recent interview with Gene Park of The Washington Post, famed Nintendo composer Koji Kondo reminisced of his work with Nintendo and the impact that his music has had on the industry after its induction into the National Recording Registry.
One particular anecdote that caught our eye occured just one year after the launch of Super Mario Bros. for the Famicom / NES. Koji Kondo and Shigeru Miyamoto happened to be in attendance at a Paul McCartney concert in Japan when the former Beatle learned of their arrival. The songwriter had apparently loved the music featured in Super Mario Bros. so much, he invited both Kondo and Miyamoto backstage.
When the pair arrived backstage, McCartney and his then-wife, Linda, approached Kondo and Miyamoto and simply sang out the opening notes of the Super Mario Bros. theme. We're going to guess that they then engaged in conversation; it would be incredible awkward if they'd simply left it like that.
Regardless, Kondo relayed the story to The Washington Post and described it as "an incredible moment".
It's so nice that Koji Kondo's work opened up such a wonderful opportunity for the composer. Of course, in addition to the Mario theme being added to the National Recording Registry, Kondo himself was also recently inducted into the AIAS Hall of Fame.