Rock Band, Guitar Hero: Murdering Musical Taste
I climbed into the car the other night, thankful that my 17-year-old son finally had his driver's license so he could pick me up at the train station. I could hear the music thumping before I got in.
As soon as I opened the door, it hit me. That song.
It was Foreigner, playing Jukebox Hero. It wasn't on the radio or even on a CD. It was coming from his iPod, which was jacked into the car's sound system.
Foreigner?
My God, I thought, haven't I taught him any better than this?
"Why are you listening to this?" I asked, trying to hide my horror.
"It's on Rock Band," he said. And then he flashed through some of the other video-game-inspired selections that he'd downloaded from iTunes: Journey, Rush, Boston.
Aargh.
What's next -- Bad Company? Asia? Kansas, for pity's sake?
It's bad enough that so-called classic-rock stations clog the airwaves with the worst of the 1970s and 1980s -- but to have the videogame industry spoon-feeding it to a generation that doesn't know better is too much.
OK, so I'm a snob. I admit it.
I spent 20 years writing about popular music and had strong likes and dislikes, as any critic should. Hooray for the Allman Brothers -- and fie on the Outlaws, Molly Hatchet and the rest of the mindless Allman wannabes. Yes to David Bowie and Lou Reed; no to Yes and ELP and the Alan Parsons Project.
Since I stopped writing about music in the mid-1980s, I've still maintained my interest, even as I shifted my professional focus to film, theater and TV. I pay enough attention to know who's who and what they sound like; my ears are always open, as they say.
And I tried to school my sons in the classics: Beatles. Rolling Stones. Chuck Berry. Bruce Springsteen.
And that's why I hate the games Rock Band and Guitar Hero.
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You may call it "cheese" but it obviously stands the test of time, unlike MOST of the music from the last two decades.
In about 30 minutes from now, I'm turning off the Ipod, the computer and MSNBC and heading downtown to hear some live local music. I hope you all have an opportunity to do the same some time soon. Celebrate the music today, and it will still be there for you tomorrow.
P.S. The past can take care of itself.
I'm not going to defend Guitar Hero. But "no to Yes and ELP and the Alan Parsons Project"? You probably dislike Led Zeppelin and love Billy Joel, too. No accounting for your distinct lack of taste!
Frank Zappa stinks.
thats like saying calculus stinks. i think you have lazy ears.
The thing that gets me is that with the amount of unique music of ALL styles available today, the masses are still content listening to the same recycled cheese (for the most part) on the radio, day in and day out. Whenever I'm forced to listen to the radio in a car because of a lack of cd player or ipod, it takes all the self control I have to keep from buggin out. As far as the Rock Band and Guitar Hero craze, they're fun for parties and hopefully will keep a lot of untalented wannabes in their place.
my dad was a rock snob. we cut our teeth on zappa. zeppelin was strictly forbidden in our home on the grounds that it was mediocre. you know what we blared from our bedroom stereos when we wanted to tick him off? niel diamond (uck).
I do not see a single mention of probably the greatest band of modern times....a little band known as Flock of Seagulls!
Sorry Marshall.
But I've gone back to listening to a lot of Arena/Classic Rock recently. I do have Foreigner on my Ipod now. Along with 70s R&B, Thin Lizzy, Wu-Tang, 80s Rap, Philip Glass, MILES, RUSH, Joni Mitchell, some Euro-Chill/Lounge, and more Classic Rock. I gave up on most of today's popular music. And Rock in definitely in the crapper. A lot of these bands today have no lasting power because they have nothing memorable. The last great Rock movement was so-called Grunge. And look how long that lasted. But I remember most of those bands and their songs. Plus I've always love a good guitar hook.
If anything, games like "GUITAR HERO" and "ROCK BAND" have only heightened interest in Classic Rock mainly because in those days, musicianship matter. And with all the Black and Latino kids I see buying those games, if it gets them into wanting to play instruments, instead of thinking that Rap, processed R&B, Reggaeton, etc. are the only music out there, I'm all for it. I have a lot of younger Black folks at my job asking me for music recommendations after playing "GH" and "RB". And they initially clowned me for being Black, a Classic Rock fan, too old, etc. I kept coming to work with my RUSH and Pink Floyd caps.
If you only knew how much I get asked about "old" music at my job. LOL
The trouble with a lot of people who see themselves as musical snobs is that they mistake cool for talent, and write off certain bands and styles of music out of hand.
Lou Reed, sure, Bowie, love him. But Reed never wrote anything as musically daring as some of the things Yes wrote. I am not a Yes fan: they were nerds. But, speaking as a musician myself, they were undeniably great musicians.
Conversely, Lou Reed is overrated, and Bruce Springsteen and Bowie were both excruciating for a while during the 80s -- "Dancing in the Dark"? "Little China Girl"? Give me "Jukebox Hero" any day.
I really dislike most music that was made before 1980, call me a snob, but classic rock is one of the worst musical offenders, and that includes music after 1980 as well. If I never hear "born in small town/ jack and diane" (are those two songs or one? I don't remember) it will be too soon.
wow, great parenting. why would you ever want to discourage your kid from listening to any band? let the kid develop his own tastes.
Why can't we just play a fun video game? Why does everything have to be about "quality" music, and ruined by self proclaimed "snobs"?
i'm not saying those 4 bands are bad, i'm saying that any time i tune in to the radio for more than 5 minutes, i will without a doubt hear a song by one of these artists. they're fine bands, but yeah, come on.
and metal? for the most part, metal's always been alien to the radio world. at least since the 80s. you'll get some classic metal (on classic rock stations - and guitar hero i might add), but modern metal is harder to find.
i think the bottom line is maybe not that radio BANDS are in the twilight of their careers artistically (though they might be), but that RADIO as a medium is in the twilight of its artistic relevance. in LA, indie 103.1 just went off the airwaves, 97.1 talk radio just became top 40 pop. in dc/baltimore the same thing happened to WHFS. radio is dead.
Just by admitting you are a musical snob means you were a two bit critic.
I've been reading Cream, Rolling Stone, NME, Melody Maker and etc. since the early 70s. I have seen critics blast an artist on one release and drool over the next, and this is across the spectrum of acts. The idea is to never write anyone off for not having "gravitas"; some people are fans.
PS I don't recall your name attached to a review in any of those pubs -- go figure. Oh, and Dave Marsh was the Springsteen expert..
That whole southern rock movement, with the exception of the Allmans, ZZ Top, Lynyrd Skynyrd and the Dixie Dregs (they were on Capricorn Records originally), was a big waste of time. There were some really good musicians in some of those bands, but the songwriting wasn't really there.
I liked the first two Boston albums and some of Rush's stuff. I also have the single for "Jukebox Hero," which was about the only highlight on a lackluster Foreigner record. Their best work was their first two albums and it was a steep dive from there. Journey was little more than glorified elevator music.
Anyway, rock critics tend to be prejudiced against bands that can play their instruments, which is why so many of them are fans of alternative music and rap. They also tend to be afflicted with an overweening political correctness bordering on the ridiculous.
I listen to some pretty out there jazz every now and again, Sun Ra, Art Ensemble of Chicago, Air, etc. But those guys are real musicians and not just a bunch of moping, art damaged whining flailers like most alternative (non) musicians.
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