Krist Novoselic has wrote in his Seattle Weekly article that games like Rock Band 2 are a great thing for Rock music.
He cheers that ”people are actually buying music again! HA!!!” Novoselic also admits his shame when a kid beat him at his own song, ”In Bloom,” on Rock Band 2 at a mall. 0wned.
”Rock and roll has been proclaimed dead countless times. After a slump, rock usually bounces back in a wave of new bands and sounds. Things are different today: Rock has found new life with video games, and the phenomenon is leading to a revival of bands that have been around for a long time,” wrote Novoselic.
”I encountered the Rock Band 2 video game. It was set up on display for customers to try.”
”I know about Rock Band, because Nirvana has some songs on it. I had never tried the game before, so I gave it a go. I worked through the menu and found the song “In Bloom.” I picked up the little guitar-shaped controller and hit the stage,” he continued.
”I knew the bass line to the song, of course, but I couldn’t quite master this new, different way of playing it. The game reminded me of Space Invaders. I tried to hit the notes cascading down the screen, but could barely keep up.”
”Meanwhile, this kid was watching me fumble with the game. I became self-conscious and took the controller off. I handed it to him, and he proceeded to jam on the song—and was really good! He had no idea that I was the musician he was emulating on the game, and I didn’t tell him.”
Apart from having his skills blown away by some snot-nosed punk kid, Novoselic is genuinely happy the videogames industry is helping to revive his own. Many musicians are becoming more vocal in their support for this new emerged experience of music and gaming.
”Regardless of my first experience with the game as a player, I’m loving Rock Band. Instead of file sharing, people are actually buying music again! HA!!!”
Rock Band and Guitar Hero have both been attributed to help boost sales of music tracks from as low as 15% to over a whopping 800%.
Source: Eurogamer
