Rock and Technology, 1.5

So I bought Guitar Hero 2.

I had been thinking about it so much since I played it the first time, I just needed to go ahead and get it. In many ways this is the perfect game for me: Excellent party game, can play it just a few minutes at a time, and all about the rock and roll.

Most surprising was the game’s almost magical ability to make people want to learn it. The night I bought it, a bunch of friends (most of whom had a passing interest in video games at best) came over to have a gander (I had talked about it so much).

Guitar Hero has a short but steep learning curve. The first time you pick up the little plastic guitar (guitar player or not) it seems like those dots are flying down the screen at lighting speed; both hands simply refuse to work together. It’s enough to scare away anybody that didn’t already spend money on it, especially those who aren’t really into video games. That scariness is all but squashed out by three things:

1. This game is filled with great songs that are fun to play.

2. When looking at the song list, pretty much everybody had a ‘I love that song’ moment, so they had a song they already knew and were excited about playing.

3. After fumbling for around for 2 or 3 songs, everyone ‘got it,’ to the point that they could keep up and have fun.

For Bliss ‘the’ song was ‘Salvation’ by Rancid. Bob and Steph were both surprised to find ‘Possum Kingdom’ by the Toadies. Brian really wanted to try ‘Killing in the Name’ by Rage Against the Machine. Kevin somehow made it through ‘Jessica’ by the Allman Brothers on the first try. Joe and I have decided to do a cover of ‘Surrender’ by Cheap Trick after playing the song a few times. Personally, I went straight for ‘War Pigs.’

But nearly every song is fun to play, and most are tracks you will recognize once you hear them. I was doing pretty well one play through and unlocked a hidden song, but I had to play it (and pass it) to keep it. When I saw ‘Shout at the Devil,’ I flipped out. It didn’t matter that I had never played the song (and I was already playing medium difficulty, which was kicking my butt), I have known that song for years. The play is so organic that I was able to just lay into it; of course I couldn’t help dancing and striking poses, the toy guitar my personal Ouija board to Mick Mars.

We had so much fun trading off the guitar and watching friends rock out. But it got even better when Metal Mike graced us with a second guitar so two could play guitar and bass on the same song. Kevin was jonesing to try out the bass, so of course I insisted that we play a Primus song. Since the song separates the guitar (and bass) tracks from the rest of the song, when you mess up a part, it doesn’t play the audio. This means if one player is messing up, the other player does not have their part for musical reference, thus making the song harder to play; just like a real band, playing a song successfully depends just as much on playing off of the other instruments as it does knowing what you are playing (seeing the little dots, in this case). This game would be pretty much impossible without sound (and absolutely no fun to boot).

I’m super stoked about what games like this could mean for rock appreciation in general. Just like playing an instrument or playing in a band, an interactive experience like this draws fans further into the music, increasing people’s understanding of nuance and musical mechanics. There is a real understanding of structure that comes with playing these songs: a driving punk song like ‘Search and Destroy’ plays completely different to the weird rhythmic bouncing of Primus or Rage Against the Machine.

Time spent learning these songs can also make fans out of the formerly indifferent. There are plenty of bands on this list that I had either never heard of or didn’t care about before. I know I’m late to the dance, but Wolfmother is awesome. Ditto for The Sword, which has to be the best name for a rock band ever.

For those curious, I’ve made a Rhapsody playlist with all of the main songs (not the hidden ones) in the order that the game presents them to you (ie, the order of difficulty). You’ll only be able to check out 30 second clips; if ya wanna hear more, come over this weekend rock out with me.

~ by fistfullofcats on September 13, 2007.