Top 5 ‘Dragon Ball Z’ Tracks Composed By Texas’s New AG Nathan Johnson

Texas’s next attorney general has a far cooler backstory than his job title might suggest.

Democrat Nathan Johnson won Tuesday’s election, along with just about every other Democrat on the ballot across the state, becoming the first Texas AG from his party since 1994. But before entering politics, he composed music for 67 episodes of Funimation’s Dragon Ball Z dub and several of its movies.

If you’re wondering why Dragon Ball Z needed American music in the first place, Funimation believed a more continuous soundtrack would help hold U.S. children’s attention. The company replaced Shunsuke Kikuchi’s original Japanese score with newly commissioned music, eventually bringing in Johnson for its 2005 redub of the opening 67 episodes. In a 2012 interview, Johnson recalled being instructed to provide music throughout, even when he would have preferred. Apparently, saving Earth wasn’t enough. You also had to stop kids from changing the channel.

To celebrate his electoral victory, we spent far too long listening to a YouTube playlist of Johnson’s work today and picked five of our favorites from his work on the franchise.

The selections include music from Fusion Reborn, whose English-language score Johnson created with Dave Moran. Track titles follow the fan uploads below.

5 – “Welcome To Other World”

Dragon Ball Z’s afterlife is equally haunting and charming. Its music box-like chimes and 3/4 time signature help create an ethereal feeling that fits the shocking resutls of yesterday’s elections.

4 – “Goku Powers Up Kaio Ken Attack”

It’s hard not to get hyped up listening to any of Goku’s power-up tracks, and Johnson and his party colleagues must certainly be feeling at their peaks today.

3 – “Vegeta Vs. (Beast) Zarbon”

For those unfamiliar with the scene, negotiations have broken down. Neither party appears interested in mediation. Sounds familiar.

2 – “SSJ3 Goku Vs. Janemba”

Johnson collaborated with musician Dave Moran on Fusion Reborn, combining metal guitar riffs with orchestral scoring.

1 – “Gogeta’s Theme”

Goku and Vegeta put aside their differences, fuse into one person, and get the job done. Wouldn’t it be great if politicians could do the same?

Honorable Mention – “Piccolo’s Sacrifice”

Piccolo is probably my favorite character in all of anime, so he had to make the list somewhere.

Let us know your favorite tracks composed by Texas’s new AG in the comments below.