‘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 mid1980s, 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.
As a parent, 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.”
My objection isn’t that they’re wholly counterproductive in terms of teaching musical skill. I’ve had that discussion with both my sons: “You know, if you spent the same number of hours that you spend on this game learning to play an actual guitar, you would be pretty good.” No traction there; a nonstarter with both of them. I gave up that fight a long time ago.
But I am dismayed that these games channel a level of mediocre music from the 1970s and 1980s – admittedly a dark period – directly into the ears of a generation that would never once consider tuning into a classic-rock radio station.
Look at the playlist of one of these games and you get a sense of cognitive dissonance: the Rolling Stones next to Kiss, the Ramones next to Blue Oyster Cult, the Police next to Iron Maiden – as though they somehow equate.
Again, I point out: I’m a snob. I hear songs from the 60s or 70s or 80s on a TV show or in a movie and think, “Wow – why would anyone consciously choose to extend the life of that song? Don’t they realize how lame we thought it was back in the day?”
Still, as Noel Coward famously wrote: “Extraordinary how potent cheap music is.” I’m not immune. When I make CD mixes, I routinely drop in songs I like by groups I disapprove of. A guilty pleasure, perhaps, or an ironic choice.
Nor am I naïve. I recognize that the bands that make their music available for these games see it as a form of brand extension, a chance for a quick payday years after the song has gone out of currency. Or a chance to be discovered by a new audience: Look at Aerosmith’s embrace of “Guitar Hero.”
(Aerosmith – another band we critics hated back in the day, who’ve survived long enough to actually become kind of hip.)
I’ve had this argument with friends, who tell me not to be such a hater, that Foreigner had good songs: “What about ‘I Want to Know What Love Is’? These songs are hits – somebody must like them.” To which I routinely reply: “Popularity rarely overlaps with quality.”
I had another argument with the same friend, about whether Kiss belonged in the Rock’n’Roll Hall of Fame (I’d be a “nay” vote on that). They belonged there no more, I said, than a band like Journey. “What’s wrong with Journey?” he replied.
Where do I start?
I know I sound like a grumpy old crank, a snob, an elitist. Guilty on all counts.
There’s only one solution, really: Invent the video-game “Rock Critic.”
Because critics, after all, were so effective at quashing the popularity of bands like Journey and Foreigner.
February 27th, 2009 at 3:36 pm
Amen. I’m amazing that I still hear that garbage. It was bad then, and it’s still bad now.
February 27th, 2009 at 3:46 pm
I’m with ya. Me and a million other sixties rebellious old cranks who will always see Rock Band and Guitar Dork as Pac Man for junior doushe-bags in training . . .our children. Sure we tell everyone how hip, cool and wonderful they are, and discover them “playing” this crap and hang our heads in shame. Where did we go wrong? Time to put acid in the cereal.
February 27th, 2009 at 3:48 pm
Your right you are a snob. You obviously don’t love music. Each of the bands that you oh so nose in the air denigrate have some wonderful pieces of music. And oh yea like all bands they also have a number of mindless pieces of trash. It’s always been about the songs. But a closed minded douche bag like you probably wouldn’t understand that. The perjorative was thrown in to hopefully get your attention but I doubt it because most dogmatic people usully don’t get it.
February 27th, 2009 at 6:12 pm
I once toured the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame with a friend and his girlfriend.
As we were getting ready to leave, the girlfriend offered, “I’m really disappointed that there was no ‘Scorpions’ exhibit.”
God helps us all.
February 27th, 2009 at 7:58 pm
If you’d taken the time to try *playing* Rock Band or Guitar Hero, you might find them enjoyable. You might even realize that there are a lot of newer bands on there, too.
You’re also sort of missing the point. The game is not necessarily about *listening* to the music. It’s about (pretending to) play it or, in the case of the microphone, singing the crap out of it. It’s exhilarating. It is challenging (try picking up the drum sticks).
Or better yet, don’t. You sound allergic to fun.
February 27th, 2009 at 8:02 pm
Two decades ago I was trained as a classical musician. I spent hours a day learning my instruments, voice and guitar. I thought it was worth it, that my music, “classical” as it’s usually called, had stood the test of time. There was even an army of musicologists who certify the quality of the music I aspired to play. I always liked Rock and folk music, but as less serious entertainments that sometimes transcended pop tawdriness.
These days I am on the board of a local chamber orchestra trying to keep this genre and its canon alive for one more generation. It appears an uphill battle. People don’t generally listen to music because it’s good, they listen to it for a complex of social and personal reasons. When it gets too esoteric and dated, it dies.
I see my compatriots in the pop music field hoping to create a canon of their own. Don’t. If we can’t succeed, you have no hope whatsoever.
But I have to agree with you about the worthiness of studying and instrument vs. faking it with a game. There is no royal road to learning anything. Your kid has mastered nothing but a lousy piece of soon-to-be outdated software. A guitar will remain useful centuries hence.
February 28th, 2009 at 7:16 pm
Thanks for giving me a laugh today. I’m glad to see I wasn’t the only one in the 70’s and 80’s who thought it took more than hair to make a good record. (Record–what’s a record?!!!) Now when I see my beautiful niece, playing Guitar Hero as “Slow Ride” blasts out of the television, I just want to shreik, “The children! Won’t somebody think of the children?!!”
March 2nd, 2009 at 3:22 am
Snob Elitist is right. Although I agree that Rock Star and Guitar Hero are just not that good, some of your choices are not so hot either.
You say Rolling Stones good, Chuck Berry good, but the Rolling Stones stole their entire gig from Black musicians who actually created their sound, and the Rolling Stones then sold it to arseholes like you.
Maybe you should leave music to somebody who knows waht they are talking about…
March 2nd, 2009 at 6:07 am
rock hero gtr band at least offers the feel of participation. Sure time is better spent learning to play an actual guitar but that resembles work and ow your fingers hurt too. But have an open discussion about the music with your son. Without the baggage of generational fashion/trendiness it all sounds more similar than you might care to admit. Upbeat guitar driven songs with simple catchy hooks after every verse and usually a bridge and/or solo in the middle. What makes one version better than the other? Critics can criticize but the people will decide what they like anyway.
March 3rd, 2009 at 12:32 am
Mr. Fine,
You are one of the plague of hack movie reviewers, who somehow manages to write quotable praise in 98% of their reviews. The studios love using quotes from you and other Roger Eberts of the world. By allowing this, you contribute to the safe construction of hordes of mediocre movies. One thing is empirically certain: you are not an honest arbiter of taste.
As for music…your argument about bad music being fed to youth is sound, but your examples are faulty. If you seriously group Bad Company in with Foreigner, you have some type of education glitch. Also, Aerosmith was cool music back before you had you finished secondary school. It’s the fact that they have hung on for so long that is disturbing, not hip.
March 3rd, 2009 at 2:16 am
Here through HuffPo.
I agree with you, 99.9%. The 0.1% of disagreement comes from LOVING the games for helping my daughters perfect their pitch. LOL
The only other saving grace from Rock Band, at least, is the family fun time it provides. I have limited time with my family thanks to my work schedule, and right now, I don’t want the few hours I have with them to be taken up with lessons. While Rock Band doesn’t help them at all to play real guitar or read music, it’s something we can all play together, laugh at and have fun with.
I loathe the song choices, but I can put up with schmaltzy muck if it means seeing my 7- and 9-year-olds high-five at the end of a song, tell their Dad he “rocks” or go cheek-to-cheek with one of them while singing Bon Jovi.
Fortunately for me, my iTunes playlists still rule, and no one is tempted to play the local classic rock station.
March 22nd, 2009 at 7:47 pm
If you like the Grateful Dead and hate Cheap Trick, NOTHING you say about ANYTHING matters!
March 22nd, 2009 at 9:09 pm
What if I like the Grateful Dead AND Cheap Trick? Not that I would ever equate the two. Still, in its time, Cheap Trick was a MUCH more interesting band than Foreigner, etc.
May 13th, 2009 at 5:47 pm
Marshall,
You will be dismayed to know that I came across your article while searching for Rock Band equipment. It might be helpful to point out that music, like film, doesn’t always need to be the zenith of art, culture, or snobbery. Sometimes, it can just be fun. Certain bands are part of a phenomenon in which the level of appreciation you have is proportional to the volume at which they’re played. They can be a guilty pleasure. Foreigner is in this group, as is AC/DC (Another band which you undoubtedly dislike). But, isn’t there something to be said about simplicity? Isn’t this genre of music inherently born from being loud, raucous, against the status quo? Is it impossible for you to understand, if not enjoy, the point of Freddy Mercury strutting around on stage in his tighty whities, belting out “We Are The Champions”? Maybe. I don’t think this is an argument we should ever have in person, as we are both supremely stubborn. However, since you mention them both, I will leave you with a quote from Keith Richards on David Bowie, from whom I have yet to find a listenable song: “It’s all pose. It’s all fucking posing. It’s nothing to do with music. He knows it too.”
June 5th, 2009 at 11:18 am
God forbid that your son might develop his own taste in music. Journey rule. They’ve hardly been quashed as they have millions of fans. And not in the ironic sense. Critics are the same as teachers. If you can’t do something right, become a critic/teach. Critics failed so miserably at doing something creative they decided that the world needs someone to tell them what to like.
I’m 27 so I was barely alive when a lot of these bands were around first time, but I grew up with their records and although there is a lot of excellent music being created today, I love searching out the music bands that probably split up before I was even born.