Third-Party Rebels

Lyrics

[Intro]
There were no names on the box.
Just a part number, a corporate logo.
We were the ghosts in our own machines.
Just another asset in a Sunnyvale high-rise.

[Verse 1]
A memo came down from marketing.
Read it under the buzzing lights.
It said, 'Anyone can make a cartridge.'
Anyone.
After the all-nighters, the hand-drawn maps.
After the bugs we killed at 3 a.m.
We poured ourselves into the silicon.
And they called us 'towel designers.'

[Chorus]
So we walked out into the October sun.
1979.
Crane and Miller, Whitehead and Kaplan.
We're not building their world anymore.
We're signing our own names now.
This is Active Television.
This is Activision.

[Verse 2]
No more corner offices with borrowed air.
Just a garage, a folding table, a plan.
The smell of solder flux and Xerox toner.
Copying the first royalty agreements on a legal pad.
A promise made between the four of us.
Every pixel, every line of code will have a home.
Every creator will have a name.

[Chorus]
We walked out into the October sun.
1979.
Crane and Miller, Whitehead and Kaplan.
We're not building their world anymore.
We're signing our own names now.
This is Active Television.
This is Activision.

[Bridge]
They thought the magic was in the plastic shell.
They thought the box was the product.
They forgot about the people inside.
We'll put our name on the front, next to the TVs.
We'll make sure they never forget again.

[Outro]
Sign your name.
Our names on the box.
David Crane.
Alan Miller.
Bob Whitehead.
Larry Kaplan.
Sign your name.
Our names on the box.