Defending gaming against those NME music Nazis
The past few years have seen gaming and music coming closer together and being associated with each other more and more. Be it the success of games such as Guitar Hero and Rock Band, or the eponymous soundtracks attached to most big games, gaming and music now seem to go hand in hand. But that association doesn’t please everyone, and the NME has decided to launch an attack.
You may or may not have heard of the British music magazine NME (New Musical Express). It’s a weekly music magazine that has been published since the 1950s and been criticized heavily by each generation. The main reason is its habit of being music Nazis, imposing its values and views of what constitutes good music on the youth of the day. And now it has attacked gamers. Time to fight back methinks.
There won’t be a gamer alive who hasn’t at one time or another felt the need to defend their hobby to others. I’m sure it’s a lot better for kids at school today, but my generation were seen as geeks for spending our afternoons playing games on our computers or consoles while classmates were out pulling girls.
And I’m getting a similar feeling right now, invoking memories of those summers in the 1980s when I eschewed the company of friends and girls to play on my Commodore 64 and Sega Master System.
An article in this week’s edition of NME rolled back the years by having a pop at gamers, and stating that real music will always be superior to music games. The article bizarrely uses Chad Kroeger from Nickelback as an example of a musician against music games, with him stating “I feel like there’s not enough rock bands out there. So kids, start rock bands… set down the Guitar Hero, learn how to play an actual guitar and start a band…”
David Quantick says in the article:
Games are not rock ‘n’ roll, they’re metal – aggressive, loud, violent and scared of women. You can’t dance to a game or have sex to it. Games are still for nerds. Rock ‘n’ roll is about f*****g, games are about w*****g. Rock music makes you leave the house and meet drugs, games make you stay in and smell of your own p**s.
Wow and wow. First off, since when is Chad Kroeger a serious musician? Nickelback is a joke band playing mock rock music to appeal to that sector of the population who don’t have ears. And David Quantick? Who is he? I’m guessing he’s even older than I am if he thinks gamers are all still nerds. Apart from the really hardcore fanboys and those oddballs who spend every waking minute playing World of Warcraft, us gamers are freaking awesome.
The Guardian newspaper does an awesome job of defending gaming and gamers, but I think we all need to do the same. So please leave comments telling the writers of that NME article (and Chad Kroeger) what you think of them. Please, don’t feel like you have to hold back – they deserve everything they have coming to them.
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11 Responses to “Defending gaming against those NME music Nazis”
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December 5th, 2008
what the fuck PARRACK!!! Nickleback is a great band… why do aussies hate nickleback (your aussie right??)
not everyone has talent for music… BELIEVE ME!!! almost all my classmates from high school “started a band” and “jammed to the awesome songs”… now… never mind… for people who dont have talent… they can play these games… its when they start to think they have actual talent and start participating in crappy reality shows that piss me off…
YOURE NOT A ROCKER!!! ITS A PLASTIC GUITAR!!! Wipe the snot from your nose and go back to your parents basement… lil bitches…
December 5th, 2008
I WANT TO PLAY WANK HERO!!!!!!
Wouldn’t be a great party game… Anyone want to share a fleshlight? …
December 5th, 2008
darkwhitehair,
Sorry, but it’s not just aussies who don’t like Nickelback. I wish guitar hero was released years sooner so that Chad Kroeger would have got caught up playing it and saved some wasted radio time. There are much better bands out there that could of used that air time.
I know alot of posters here hate Guitar Hero and Rock Band. But I will pick it up and play once and awhile. It’s nice to be more interactive with the music I like, and I have no musical talent, so playing the real thing is out. If playing guitar or drums was that easy everyone would do it.
December 5th, 2008
wylie… goddammit man… dont diss on Nickleback man… they have “broke even” on ALL THEIR ALBUMS!!!! THEIR RECORDS SELL BY THE MILLIONS!!! THEY HAD THAT AWESOME SONG TO SPIDERMAN 1… THEY MAKE A LOT OF MONEY!!!
which means… they kick ass and they are talented… so shut the fuck up… cus you dont know NOTHING MAN!!! youre so blinded by “teh man” that you have no idea man…
To all mah fellow fanboys/idiots out there… Im in a connundrum… I can either buy Resistance 2 AND LBP… or… Warhammer Online… because Id like to celebrate my first merican christmas with a kick ass online game… Im lookin at arvis(the pelvis) and bourne ( the bond clone) for good ideas… I finished the first act of MGS 4.. so theres a LOT more to cover… but Warhammer has this overpowered character called The Witch hunter… and Id like to abuse it while its not nerfed… but… R2 would probably played most during christmas…
then again… they would probably be on sale by Jan or feb (when KILLZONE 2 comes out)..
so what do you suggest?? keep in mind… we can play warhammer online togather (and start a clan or something) if youre not a lil bitch…
id be glad to have CAD and harry on our guild… but I will team kill them first… and all the time…
December 5th, 2008
also… Adam sessler (from G4TV) just called Resistance 2 “one of the most beautiful looking First person shooter this year” on Xplay…
cmon kev… tell me Im wrong again…
December 6th, 2008
1.)lol Dave is British.
2.) Also i’ve been browsing NME on google news for a while and i have to say they’re a bunch of wankers. They’re so elitist. If you’re not into the music and trend that they like, you might as well be diseased. I truly hate these guys. Although i do love rock, punk emo etc, thats not the point, these guys create trouble trying to imitate badass behaviour from past era. Quite funny really.
December 6th, 2008
So NME can’t express an opinion? Who CARES what these wanks say, all YOU are doing is drawing attention to their rants and thus letting them conclude that there is some credence to their idiocy. Such far out idiots are best left ignored. They’ve been around how long now and the world goes on despite them? What is it with brits and intolerance of a basic civil liberty such as freedom of speech?
And Blorge, you should be ashamed letting one of your writers associate a difference of opinion with Nazi-ism. What, its been long ago enough now that its OK to bandy about such a term like it’s merely just another negative stereotype?
December 6th, 2008
Idiots will think what idiots want to think.
I spent a year in school trying to tell someone that the only answer to 2+2 is 4, in spite of his arguments otherwise. He never agreed with me.
Oh well.
So many games also manage to make better music with fewer resources than the music industry today. Isn’t it sad that the sex and drugs of those rock n roll bands has messed them up so much that games, and not just the music games, have better music than their last CD?
Compare the SSBB soundtrack to basically any artist still recording today (nothing against some older ones, lots of them are just fine in my book). You will likely find the game has a better colletion of greatness to crap than the music pro.
Note to musicians: start wanking and smelling your own fluids and stop collecting STDs and snorting crack. Maybe then you could make some good music!
P.S. If the drugs and sex don’t apply to you, and you are a musician (a real one), maybe you should be mad at these people too. After all, they made quite a negative statement about who you are and what you do.
December 7th, 2008
Chad Kroeger has always been a stain. Though I do love the video on youtube of him being stoned off the stage in Portugal.
Chad – “Is there any Nickelback fans in Portugal!?”
And NME has always been hated by people who actually like music.
I’m not into Guitar Hero/Rock Band, but I did find this article very interesting.
December 7th, 2008
I’m a Nickelback and Guitar/Rock Band fan. Happy to admit it. As Nickelback sang in one of their songs “I wanna be great like Elvis without the tassels, Hire eight body guards, That love to beat up Assholes.”
Now tell me that wouldn’t be fun.
NME sound like a bunch of turds who really aren’t about publising information on music, but it’s an outlet for childish no talent musicians to vent their frustration at their lack of talent.
Dr Phil could write dozens of books on them lol.
December 8th, 2008
I am not a huge fan of Nickel Back…. they kind of sound like all of the other American Idol rock-ish music. The vocals are not distinguishable in any way. The lyrics suck and the band sounds generic….
He does have somewhat of a point though… I play guitar. I have taken lessons for years and spent hours upon hours of practicing. I kind of have to laugh at these kids who practice for hours at playing Rock band so they can play a song on Expert. If they invested that time and energy on an learning an instrument they could have actually learned how to play in real life…