Music + Video Games = Awesome!

I’ll go ahead and cover this topic since I briefly mentioned it yesterday. I think that the Guitar Hero and Rock Band franchises were great ideas. Not only are they some of the most addicting games known to man, but they’re a great way of getting more music out there and into the public ear. Yeah, they pick a lot of big songs for the soundtracks, but they pick some of the little guys, too. Rock Band was the first time I heard Flyleaf, and now they’re one of my favorite bands. I probably still would never have heard of Freezepop or The Material if not for Guitar Hero/Rock Band, and lots of people are rocking out some Buckethead and DragonForce these days, too.

I love how the developers of both of those series go out and find some little known bands to put in the game. Granted, some of them are bands that the developers themselves are members of, but still, that’s great exposure. And I love how no genre or era is untouched. You want glam rock? Have some T. Rex! You want thrash metal? We’ve got some Evile for ya! What, you want country, too? Alright, well here’s some Brad Paisley. And literally everything in between. It’s a great way to get those “oldies” in, too. I’ll admit, I’m not a huge classic rock fan. I still totally respect everything rock has gone through because without it, we wouldn’t have the music we have today. I’m just saying that it’s rare that I just crave some classic rock to listen to. But I’m really glad that so much older music makes in into the games. For those of us who weren’t there to experience the music when it was popular, there it is, in all its splendor. I think it’s both strange and exciting to have contemporary music beside the classics. I could talk to you for days about the awesome things about the soundtracks for these games, but I’ll spare you that. ;)

The games are so easy to pick up, too. I love that accessibility. Even if you’re just starting out on the easiest difficulty level, it’s still fun to pick up and play, and because of that broad representation of genre and decade that I just mentioned, there’s something on there for everyone to enjoy. EVERYONE, no matter who you are, has SOME kind of music that they enjoy. So I think that these games were not only just a great idea for how fun and entertaining they are, but for how they bring so many people together. It’s the kind of game you can get your parents in on, or even friends who have never touched a video game controller.

So if you have the means, and you like your music, I’d give any of these games a shot. There’s just something about holding that plastic guitar in your hand and making your favorite songs happen.

One more thing. As I mentioned yesterday there have been some issues lately with a certain music group that doesn’t want to let Rock Band use their songs anymore… And with the bands that this group owns, that means the series is in for some serious pain. I don’t think I have to tell you how much that pisses me off, for all the reasons I’ve listed above. It’s exposure. WMG is only hurting the bands they’ve signed (and their own profits) by cutting off access to the public. It just doesn’t make much sense to me…

So today was a fairly short rant. I’ll leave you with a little band I discovered on Rock Band that you may not have heard of. :)