BioShock Infinite uses modern pop covers in Columbia to drop major plot clues

A PC Gamer Soundtrack Sunday column argues that BioShock Infinite, now 13 years old, uses its soundtrack as a deliberate narrative device—especially the era-crossing covers heard around Columbia, the city in the sky. The piece highlights the Bee Sharps’ a cappella rendition of the Beach Boys’ “God Only Knows” drifting through Columbia, a cue that helps sell the city’s dreamy image while feeling subtly wrong.

The writer points out the game is set in 1912 yet uses a song that didn’t release until over 50 years later, which creates an unsettling, almost hypnotic dissonance. Developer choices extend beyond that track: the game features old-timey versions of 1985’s “Everybody Wants to Rule the World,” 1965’s “Tainted Love,” 1991’s “Shiny Happy People,” and a calliope-style cover of 1979’s “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.” The article says these selections sit deep in nostalgia without skidding into modernity, noting work on the game began in 2008 and the team avoided more contemporary hits that would give the twist away.

Those anachronistic covers are explained in-game: composer and upper-class citizen Albert Fink uses tears—dimensional rifts—to peer into the future and pluck songs, then stylizes them for Columbia. “God Only Knows” is called out as one of the earliest clues to Infinite’s major plot, and voxophone recordings reference “wonderful music trumpeting from holes in thin air,” reinforcing the breadcrumb trail.

bioshock infinite soundtrack, columbia music clues, bee sharps god only knows, albert fink dimensional rifts, old-timey pop covers, everybody wants to rule the world, tainted love cover, shiny happy people, girls just wanna have fun, voxophone recordings, booker and elizabeth, will the circle be unbroken, pc gamer soundtrack sunday