Game Theory was an American power pop band, founded in 1982 by singer/songwriter Scott Miller, combining melodic jangle pop with dense experimental production and hyperliterate lyrics. MTV described their sound as "still visceral and vital" in 2013, with records "full of sweetly psychedelic-tinged, appealingly idiosyncratic gems" that continued "influencing a new generation of indie artists." Between 1982 and 1990, Game Theory released five studio albums and two EPs, which had long been out of print until 2014, when Omnivore Recordings began a series of remastered reissues of the entire Game Theory catalog. Miller's posthumously completed Game Theory album, Supercalifragile, was released in August 2017 in a limited first pressing.
Game Theory publicity photo in 1986 (Scott Miller, Donnette Thayer, Shelley LaFreniere, Guillaume Gassuan, Gil Ray)
First Game Theory line-up, Davis, CA, 1982. L-R: Irwin, Juhos, N. Becker, Miller.
Game Theory, Sacramento, 1982. L-R: Irwin, N. Becker, Juhos, Miller.
Game Theory band photo, 1983. Unused outtake from original cover shoot for Real Nighttime. L-R: Gill, N. Becker, Juhos, Miller.
Scott Miller (pop musician)
Scott Warren Miller was an American singer, songwriter and guitarist, best known for his work as leader of the 1980s band Game Theory and 1990s band The Loud Family, and as the author of a 2010 book of music criticism. He was described by The New York Times as "a hyperintellectual singer and songwriter who liked to tinker with pop the way a born mathematician tinkers with numbers", having "a shimmery-sweet pop sensibility, in the tradition of Brian Wilson and Alex Chilton."
Scott Miller in 1983, during recording of Game Theory's Distortion EP.
First Game Theory lineup, Davis, California, 1982. L-R: Irwin, Juhos, N. Becker, Miller.
Miller and Gil Ray, prior to first show of new lineup, 1985.
Alex Chilton and Scott Miller, Berkeley, 1986.
