RE: Beatles video game

What is great so about this? Rock and Roll music, prior to its commodification by the music industry, represented rebellion against the norm of oppressive, authoritarian culture.

I can think of nothing more conforming than to commercialize rock in this fashion. My reaction to this is the same reaction that I have to advertisements placed above the urinals in bars–”won’t you please leave me alone?”

This is nothing more than branding is against the spirit of rock and roll, though probably inevitable. If these stooges didn’t do it, some other man in a grey flannel suit would have.

As the Who stated who saw cool conquered long ago, “Rock is Dead”. Time to cash in.

Keep the Metal Faith Alive,

Dave

This segment is proof positive that On Point occasionally gets desperate to provide a topic of conversation.

This is the zeitgeist!
A generation of people so divorced from action and creation that they can find satisfaction in pretending. What happened to working hard to learn a craft, what happened to having a hobby? Games like guitar hero and mass online role playing games are take up hours and hours of peoples lives at the end of which they having nothing to show but a false sense of accomplishment.

get off the couch and make something!

An hour long advertisement for an already heavily advertised video game? I think you have to give a disclaimer at the beginning of the hour to comply with FCC regulations, right?

After 45 years of spending money on the Beatles…45’s, LP’s, CD’s, the Beatles Anthologies (books and more CD’s), DVD’s (Beatles on Ed Sullivan)…I will not be spending any more on the lads from Liverpool.

I am looking forward to this a lot! Some of the other versions I noticed when I was playing, I was not listening to the music as a whole. The Beatles, however, are so familiar that I am looking forward to listening to the songs again that I may not have played on my stereo in awhile. I am glad they allowed the licensing for this!

One of the great things about the Rock Band games is that it introduces a new generation to a back catalog of cultural touchstones. How great would it be to sneak in a few well-chosen string quartets? The game play would be great and a new generation may develop an appreciation for that music too. Also, there are no royalties to pay on the transcriptions of a Bach fugue.

-gabe

Will my Guitar Hero World Tour band controllers work with this game!!!!

I am a musician (I have played piano for over 20years)and I think it’s important for young people to know that it’s okay to enjoy music without actually knowing how to play an instrument.

It is also fun to dance to music, to sing along with music, and to play games with music. Music makes movies better and makes parties more fun. Music was never created soley for the purpose of sitting still and quietly listening and contemplating. Anyone who tries to teach a child this is doing the songwriter and musicians who created it a serious disservice.

Are we trying to make classic rock and roll into “classical” music? Mozart never intended for people to sit quietly and contemplate his music either. He wrote it to entertain. What musician would prefer that years after their death it had become socially unacceptable to have fun with the music they wrote.

Why isn’t a comparison being made with dancing? It’s a viseral interaction.

My 11 year old son, a fledgling musician, has been listening to The Beatles for about a year now. He absolutely LOVES them. We listened to a cd on the way to the beach the other day and had a wonderful time singing along together. It’s so great to share this with my son. I was 6 when they played on Ed Sullivan and remember it vididly. I just wish the game wasn’t so expensive because I know we’ll have to make sure it’s under the tree for Christmas.

While I have nothing against the idea of video games per say I a bit miffed that On Point is giving this company an hour of free advertising on the donors and government’s dime. This would have been better suited as a few minute segment on Here and Now or just not at all.

As far as the learning instrument thing in relation to the game, well it seems that other than singing this game does nothing to enhance that experience.

Part of learning an instrument is the frustration and meeting goals and having the discipline to practice.
This is a game, period.

My son has a form of autism, and I am looking forward to this game. He is starting to love the Beatles, and I think he will enjoy this. We normally avoid video games and using technology, but I think this one will help him access and enjoy music more. It will also help his motor planning. There was a show on PBS recently on how playing music affects the brain. I hope pretending will affect the brain in the same way! As far as comments on pretending being somehow bad, children learn through pretend play, so I think its great for adults to reach their inner child this way!

I can see all the good reasons for this. But I prefer hanging out with my group of friends playing real instruments

Couldn’t On Point have expanded this topic to discuss the overall evolution and future of video games, or something more compelling?

How boring to listen to an entire hour devoted to one product. More than anything else I’m impressed with the company’s PR machine that convinced On Point to do this.

“Rock Band Beatles” is the intersection between two social phenomena: 1) the video games, which represent the current generation; 2) the music of the Beatles, as a bridge between youths separated by several years. It will be very interesting to know if the fab 4 have what it takes to close the generational gap.
This is not a product intendend for “old people”, meaning those who were young before the nineties. As I could read, many simply can not understand what is this about.
“Parents, don´t criticize what you can´t understand” (Bob Dylan).

What a gross advertisement for the product. It’s like listening to QVC.

This program and the BBC reporting is a staged advertising campaign. I am happy to not be the only one who recognized this. All media and the news and the Internet are a corporate pulpit. We cannot forget that.

That being said, I was at first repulsed by the idea of The Beatles doing this (as a huge fan). I remember Paul McCartney once being miffed that Revolution was used in a Nike ad saying their songs were for a bigger purpose. It is hard to imagine why as a billionaire he would change his mind on that. People seem to stand for nothing now (except money).

But having seen the trailer, the graphics do seem cool. It does pull my imagination into being a Beatle in those great moments at Shea, in The Cavern etc. Some of the scenes are like great music videos that the Beatles never made.

I have played other versions of the guitar game (maybe twice) and it is nothing like playing a guitar. The vocal trainer and the drum thing intrigue me though. I would have to try it first since this stuff is not cheap.

People should also note that The Beatles and all the great sixties guys were not Boomers but Beat Generation. To me this is critical. Creativity has been amiss since the Boomers came to dominate. They are the ones making money on all this digital crap hyped on NPR constantly.

Their patronizing of “The Digital Generation” (who comes up with this stuff?) is gross. I hope this can bring people back to The Beat Generation, and to see history and music in a broader light than has been presented over the decades since the sixties. The BEATles song forms, chord progressions, vocal harmonies, lyrical genius are all inspiring.

I think Metal is technically limited retro garbage. Totally played out. It reduces the guitar to a percussion instrument, through ultra distortion, which is very forgiving on the player. It is also limited thematically to some homoerotic caricature of some white Thor devil man “I am Evile” cheese. Hip Hop is also forgiving in learning any instrument or singing, with a requisite Ghetto Thug Caricature. Also retro. Also played out.

Maybe this game will inspire people to learn an instrument for real and to get over these decades long musical genres which appeal to very base ideals and are too easy to sell to the emasculated. Maybe the game can help spark that same creativity of THe Beat GeNeration. For that My money is still on GenX though. It is the oppressed, not the spoiled who create great art.

Tom,

Most of us who went to Public school were forced by
our teachers to listen to The Beatles. It was painful syrupy music but we survived (barely). Why then must
you devote an ENTIRE hour of public programming to
doing additional free ads for this group? How much
money do they really need? They will continue to
suck your generation dry until the day you die.

An hour devoted to classical music would have been
MUCH more educational and easier on the ears!

My problem with this segment has nothing to do with the Beatles or Rock Band. It has to do with your guest, Lisa Robinson. She should know that you don’t have to put one band down to raise up another, not that the Beatles could really be raised up any higher. She said it was much better that people listen to the Beatles than some band like Coldplay. Seriously, Coldplay? While I don’t think they will go down as one of the greatest bands of all time they certainly don’t deserve to be put down simply because they are newer than the Beatles. Some advice Lisa: You can talk about how great one band is without putting down another band.

On Point with Tom Ashbrook hits a new low — a one hour infomercial on a product designed to give the “digital generation” the impression that one can really play music by simply “touching the right buttons at the right time.”

Meanwhile real music is stripped from elementary curricula to make way for more NCLB testing — that’s the real story Mr. Ashbrook!

I find it very interesting to listen to the reactions of baby boomers to Rock Band and also video games in general. It seems like older generations have a really hard time understanding why you would get so much joy out of pushing colored buttons on a plastic controller. I only wish they could experience them through younger eyes sometimes, or perhaps through younger hands! It’s not about trying to delude yourself into thinking you are playing an instrument, its about feeling like you are. It’s not just about the act of playing; its the music, the feeling that you are playing along with rock legends, and also the challenge of it. Even though you are not really playing an instrument, I would like to see even the most accomplished real life guitar player attempt to tackle some of the more challenging songs in any of the Rock Band games.

I am an accomplished pianist AND Rock Band aficionado. I immediately took to the game and especially the drumming. For beginners who don’t want to pay $15 per lesson, Rock band drumming is just as good as garage band drumming. I’d like to see more tutorials and emphasis on teaching fundamentals and techniques in future games, but it sounds like CEO Alex is shooting for mass appeal…bummer.