Are Video Games Saving Rock and Roll?
Wed, Aug 20, 2008 • 09:28 AM CDT - Byraf
Until very recently, rock music had been struggling on the charts, with hip-hop and teen pop taking the top spots. Rock was finding it hard to break through with new music -- or sell more of the old. But the ridiculously popular video games "Guitar Hero" and "Rock Band" have prompted kids to discover artists from the '70s and '80s, such as Aerosmith, Twisted Sister, Metallica, Lynyrd Skynyrd and more. Teens are getting into the rock heroes of the '70s and '80s.
When the game featuring Aerosmith ['Guitar Hero: Aerosmith'] came out, there was more than a 40 percent increase in their catalog sales. Even in an uncertain economy, the video games also have increased interest in guitars, according to the nationwide Guitar Center chain. The games' success has helped sell rock music, guitars, and even music lessons.
Players of the video games use a plastic guitar-shaped controller to simulate rocking out. Guitar Hero takes everything that is fun about performing music and throws out all the rest. They have given the flagging record industry a nice kick in the amps!
Guitar Hero is a love letter to rock and roll, and it just might be saving it.
Isn't it just a case of people being prepared to accept what's being spoon-fed to them and not seek-out alternatives? The industry will always be able to control the market to some extent - and limiting peoples choices makes all that possible. For example, the marketing machine taps into the kind of music that todays youth follow, then saturates the market with a particular kind of "product". It's all about commercial opportunism - and this is why other genres become marginalised. If the music industry was able to make billions from the sale of CD's filled with the sounds of frogs croaking, then it would do it!! Business is business. Talent is something different. So.. are video games saving rock and roll? Somehow, I don't think so.
Wed, Aug 20, 2008 @
07:30 PM CDT
I doubt rock needs to be saved. Contemporary music will be what it will be. Rab is right about the business.. if frogs could sell cd's then the market would be sure to sign them up. Some folks still love Ellington, Dorsey, Goodman and all sorts of big band music and rightfully so. Did big band music need to be saved? Music is an evolutionary process just like the rest of society. And evolution is change.
blah, blah, blah
Sun, Aug 24, 2008 @
04:36 PM CDT
I love that my kids know the music after being exposed to it through Guitar Hero. Nothing was more satisfying than my 17 year old coming to me asking if I knew Buckethead and how to play the intro to "Jordan". However it does strangely echo that South Park episode where kids think mastering that game makes them a rock god. I tried it once and it's totally unplayable by someone who knows how to play guitar.. just in the simple fact that it doesn't always follow the rules of higher/lower fret in relation to note pitch and also rhythmically. So it's not creating musicians as far as I can see just opening doors to bands they might not hear otherwise. Did MTV "save" rock when it came out? Well that was our equivalent and I have to say it served the same purpose.
Mon, Sep 1, 2008 @
06:52 AM CDT
Amen, brother Mike, amen. Exactly my sentiments. My sons have started to understand the music I love through Guitar Hero, but it will never teach them how to play. Honestly, I don't quite get the concept. There is enough technology to enable them to play a REAL guitar (perhaps with a USB connection) to the karaoke-ish backline sounds of Guitar Hero. Why not go for that? hmmmm
