Guitar Hero and Rock Band, Saving Rock and Roll, One Nerdly Prepubescent at a Time

There’s a lot that can be said about how frigging awesome Rock Band and Guitar Hero are. I won’t say it all here, because, frankly, you don’t need me to. You know they rule. I know they rule.

Now, America is starting to realize they rule. (Yes, by “America” I mean “corporate stiffs and douchebags that still control the music industry”.) Via Heavy D, it appears that not only is the rock and roll becoming more popular with younger kids who didn’t know about the sweet, sweet power of Blue Oyster Cult but that even f’ing jerkstores actual music artists like Metallica are coming around and realizing that they when they’re not popular it doesn’t matter how many kids don’t download their songs illegally.

But “Guitar Hero” and “Rock Band” have prompted kids born in the ’90s to discover artists from the ’70s and ’80s such as Aerosmith, Twisted Sister and Pat Benatar. The games’ amazing popularity — last year, the two brought in more than $935 million in revenue, according to the NPD Group market research company — has helped create success in other markets, according to observers.

Geoff Mayfield, senior analyst and director of charts for Billboard magazine, said he sees a direct cause-and-effect for some of the artists who have licensed their songs to “Guitar Hero.”

“A few weeks ago, when the game featuring Aerosmith ['Guitar Hero: Aerosmith'] came out, there was more than a 40 percent increase in their catalog sales. I expect you’ll see that again when Metallica gets the same kind of treatment in a few weeks,” Mayfield said. iReport.com: Do you shred on “Guitar Hero?”

Once wary of downloading, Metallica has changed its tune with its upcoming album.

“When ‘Death Magnetic’ comes out in September, you can actually download the new album the same day it comes out, and play it on your ‘Guitar Hero III,’ ” Ulrich said — fully aware of the irony, given his band’s past litigation with the Internet music file-sharing service Napster.

Oh, sweet, Lars. Thanks for finally getting hip to the whole “internet” scene and making it a part of your family (earlier in the article, Ulrich talks about how he and his son bond while playing GH3). Glad to have you on board. No hard feelings about all the people’s lives you ruined because you didn’t have enough money and needed to sue them for downloading “Fuel” when the rest of the album blew monkey nuts.

Sorry, where was I? Oh yes, mom’s basement blaring, not quite virtual reality musical video games are saving the industry of rock and roll. G-D right. Viva la revolucion. Now excuse me while I go shred “Enter Sandman”.

Tagged as: Aerosmith, Guitar Hero 3, Metallica, Rock and Roll, Rock Band, Saving Music