‘Fallout’ Season 2, episode 1 includes iconic ‘New Vegas’ song ‘Big Iron’

The Fallout games have been long celebrated for their soundtracks, a plethora of ’30s, ’40s, ’50s, and ’60s tunes that somehow make the horrors of the Wasteland more tolerable. It’s something Season 1 of the Prime Video adaptation appreciated, and the first episode of Season 2 makes it clear we’re in for more where that came from.

In particular, thanks to music supervisor Trygge Toven, the first episode includes one hell of a needle drop: “Big Iron,” Marty Robbins’ iconic 1959 Western ballad, a song known to Fallout fans as associated with the game Fallout: New Vegas.

At the start of episode 1, we find Lucy (Ella Purnell) and Cooper (Walton Goggins) in a literal bind, with Coop captured by the Great Khan raiders, a gang from Fallout: New Vegas located in the Mojave Wasteland. For the Fallout show, the gang’s base is actually the Dino Dee-lite Motel, another location from the game which features that giant T-rex in which Lucy is hiding.

Of course, Coop and Lucy fight their way out of peril in signature Fallout style, and it’s all set to “Big Iron.” The song is available to play in the New Vegas game through the radio station accessible on your Pip Boy (the wearable computer all Vault-Dwellers have). When you’re not listening to the game’s score, you can tune into America’s last bastion of broadcasting with either Mojave Music Radio or Radio New Vegas. The jaunty tunes make it wildly less terrifying to venture into locations infested with enemies, just as “Big Iron” makes surreal the bloody scene in episode 1.

It’s also not the only needle drop in the episode, with Peggy Lee’s “Cheek to Cheek,” The Del-Vikings’ “Come Go with Me,” and The Ink-Spots’ “It’s All Over but the Crying,” and Roy Orbison’s “Working for the Man” all featuring in scenes.

And importantly, “Big Iron” is not the only Easter egg for Fallout fans.

Fallout Season 2 premieres Dec. 16 at 9 p.m. ET on Prime Video, with a new episode every week.