Sleater-Kinney’s Carrie Brownstein has a terrific post over at Slate on the video game rock band. This thing sounds incredible. When I was little, my brother and I would fake being in a rock band: I would play a boat paddle and Rob some pots and pan drums. Later, I started guitar lessons on a rented acoustic.. My parents promised if I practiced diligently (the Mel-Bay Method) and liked the instrument, they’d buy me an electric guitar. Six or seven at the time, I assumed that an electric guitar would make me an instant success – it would essentially play itself. Later when I got that electric – a vintage semi-hollow body Harmony (Jack White eat your heart out) – and my brother got his first drum set – gold-flecked Ludwig’s – we did form that band, originally dubbed “The Sunshines” by our folks (god did we hate that name), later rechristened as “Flagg” (though looking back I’m not so sure it is was any better). Rock Band, as Brownstein describes it is exactly what we would have wanted in the intervening years between pot and paddle band and real band. In the process she also beautifully describes what being is in a real band is like. If things don’t work out for her in music, Brownstein has a heck of a career ahead of her as a writer.
PS: She may have already turned that corner: Check out Brownstein’s blog, Monitor Mix, over at NPR.
December 3rd, 2007 at 12:32 am
This post caused a bit of a flashback in me, since I saw Flagg perform. (Folks, the good Dr. F. was a dynamite guitarist, and Rob was no slouch either.)
The success of Guitar Hero and Rock Band is another instance of the key to reclaiming game consoles from the stereotypical “gamers”. The key is creativity in user input devices. The runaway success of Dance Dance Revolution is another example, as is my favorite, Wii Sports. (I’m seriously addicted to Wii Bowling, to the point where I have to consciously restrict my time on it.)
The further we can progress in natural interfaces between our bodies and our games, the better.
December 3rd, 2007 at 10:12 am
You made my day … week … month.
December 8th, 2007 at 7:22 pm
Sleater-Kinney disbanded a year ago and now occupy a place in Pacific NW rock legend (until their reunion, maybe someday). The NPR site has their final Washington, DC concert on streaming archive, sorry that link’s on another machine.