Rock Band Doesn't Get a Whole Lotta Love from Jimmy Page

Apparently Rock Band and Guitar Hero do not please the Great Jimmy Page.  A Reuters interview with the former Led Zeppelin guitarist, along with Jack White of the White Stripes/Raconteurs, produced the following quote:

     

"If you start with the first track on the first (self-titled Led Zeppelin) album, 'Good Times Bad Times,' and you think of the drum part that John Bonham did there, how many drummers in the world can actually play that? Let alone Dad on a Christmas morning? There might be a lot of alcohol to be consumed over Christmas, he still ain't gonna get it."

Rock Band puts a bad taste in the mouth of Jack White as well.  He had this to say:

“I do know it’s depressing to have a label come and tell you that this is how kids are learning about music and experiencing music. That’s like the only outlet now, that you have to put it in a videogame to get it in front of them. That’s a little sad. But I don’t like to tell people what format that they get things in … But I do think there’s a loss of romance.”

You can read the full article here at Reuters.

I agree with what Page and White said to an extent, but I have my own opinions about Guitar Hero and Rock Band.  It is true that there is a lot of alcohol consumed on Christmas morning.  It's also true that Dads around the world may be testing their chops on the drums, especially to the tune of Good Times Bad Times.  But does it mean that if they can play it on the drums in Rock Band, they'll lose touch with the magic of the song?  Of course not, especially when the person behind the drum kit remembers what the world was like before video games or the internet or any of this confounded electromagnetic hoo-hah.  Any father would be able to view Rock Band or Guitar Hero for what it is, a video game.

I also heartily disagree with Jack White's quote.  Games such as Rock Band and Guitar Hero have introduced children to hundreds of artists who they may have never gotten around to hearing.  The children who still have a genuine interest in music will discover it through other outlets besides video games alone.  And who is there to say that a game like Guitar Hero won't motivate more kids to pick up instruments?  Hell, I ended up taking 4 years of tennis lessons after Mario Tennis sparked my interest in the sport.


What Jimmy Page and Jack White are forgetting is that Maass Media is another fantastic outlet for discovering good music.  Pft.  No respect.  They'll come around someday.  When they do they better pray that I'll be willing to take them back after such a blatant disregard for all that my blog stands for.  Here's my favorite song (in reality it's 2 songs) from Led Zeppelin I, Your Time is Gonna Come + Black Mountain Side.  The audio is a little fuzzy at the beginning, but unfortunately it's the only version I could find on YouTube.

Peace!