If you really want to create atmosphere, you really need appropriate background music–a soundtrack if you will. For the pirate bar theme, I have a few suggestions that can really add to that air of adventure, freedom, and fun.

1. Pirates of the Caribbean: The  Curse of the Black Pearl: when this soundtrack came out in the early 2000’s, it was an instant hit. In fact, it was challenging to find in stores for awhile when it was initially released, because it was so popular. That’s because its swashbuckling theme developed by Klaus Bedelt and Hans Zimmer instantly transported you to the world of pirates: adventure, gold, cursed ships, and governor’s daughters.

2. Pirates of the Caribbean 2-4: the other Pirates soundtracks have their merit too. My favorite is still the original, but there are some good and recognizable themes in the sequels as well, like Davey Jones’ theme and Jack Sparrow’s theme. The fourth movie,  On Stranger Tides, while arguably the least favorite movie, has an interesting twist with its soundtrack. It has a lot of latin american guitar incorporated in many of the tracks, giving it a very exotic feel.

3. Pirates of the Caribbean 5 was spearheaded by Geoff Zanelli, who collaborated on all of the previous Pirates soundtracks. It contains some new great and memorable themes, like the ones for Salazar and Carina, but also pays a great tribute to many of the previously established and easily recognizable themes from the previous movies and weaves them together seamlessly.

4. Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag: for anyone who has played this truly excellent game, you know how awesome the soundtrack is. It’s vital to that feel of sailing a tall ship, braving the tempest, taking on an island fort, or sneaking around in the dead of night to pick off enemies unawares. Black Flag has an interesting take on the true pirates of history, another reason I like it. The complete soundtrack also has several sea shanty’s, which really help provide a true 18th century period mood.

5. Black Sails: in my opinion, Black Sails is the best media portrayal of the Age of Piracy. It cleverly weaves characters from Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island with true characters of history like Charles Vane, Jack Rackham, Anne Bonny, and Edward Teach. The soundtrack employs a lot of 18th century period instrumentation to create an authentic sound. If you’ve watched the show, this soundtrack will definitely bring you back to it.

6. Tropico 2: Pirate Cove; this installment of the Daniel Indart project has more of a fun, carefree sound to it. Tropico 2 was a pirate-themed world-building game that was very popular several years ago. It was simply a fun game to build your own pirate island empire and keep all of your pirates happy without getting mutinied upon. The tracks for this one reflect that carefree style with a touch of the islands.