Flotsam and jetsam collected and annotated when I should instead be working...
Poor poor Allmusic. I used to love this site, but not even the mightiest adblocker can block all the crap it throws at you. Some other sites are almost getting as good Discogs, SoundUnwound, Last.fm, but none claim the (actually quite good) editorial vision of AMG.
halp
Random thought: Some bands create far better graphic design/style/photos than they do music. And vice versa, other bands make superb sounds, but have such terrible overall aesthetic. Is it rhetorical to ask which is worse?
But…
Fashion music (visual aesthetics over sound) made today can be crap next week, but mind-altering to the kid who rediscovers it 10 years later. Case in point: discovering Spandau Ballet’s ‘Gold’ at 15 in 1993 while stuck in one of the fashion musics of that time, ‘grunge’.
To ask this question is to ask what makes pop music Pop, and is it less authentic because of the image surrounding it? Or rather, is authenticity something to be valued in the first place?
@4 months ago with 19 notesRecent tweet I sent (with spelling errors corrected plus a little more detail):
“intent to buy is more important than inherent quality (of a product - or in this case Amplitude by Harmonix) but actually purchasing that product/art is more important.”
Unpacked:
I was listening to Eran Ergozy, one of the founders of Harmonix, speak to a class of students in the lab. Basically, here’s what he was talking about and my take on it: in market studies (done by their publisher, Sony Computer Entertainment of America), Amplitude did not test well for ‘intent to buy’ tests because it was hard to define in a screenshot or a DVD cover. The kicker is that those playing the game, once having played it, enjoyed it and said they would then now buy it. Thus, because they never intended to buy the game, they never would have experienced the game. I don’t know if they changed anything after the fact (release a demo, put more advertising into it, actually try to figure out how to market it right). Whatever happened, Amplitude still didn’t sell more than 150k units (which for music is damn respectable, but not for games). And the game didn’t get a reprint or a sequel, and instead they made a game about being a fucking 80’s hair metal douchebag rather than make another game for aficionado’s of quality late-90’s pop electronica (BTW: no anger here).
Market Capitalism made Harmonix create Guitar Hero and the rhythm and music game genres have felt that loss (in quality, in innovation) since. Which is ironic since now rhythm and music games (ie, Guitar Hero, Rock Band, and all those since) now account for 20% of game sales (although possibly because of the cost of the controllers).
That said, market capitalism gave Harmonix a shit-ton of money to spend in order to make a bunch of market failures (improvisational play music with a joystick product, awesome beat-matching PS2 games Frequency and Amplitude). Harmonix then makes a killer product Guitar Hero which gets them bought by people with not just money, but connections in the music industry (MTV). Harmonix then gives MTV Guitar Hero+, ie Rock Band. Even more money gets printed. Now, finally, Harmonix is at a place where they can finally further explore their original ideas (give everyone the experience of making/playing music) and not have to worry about where the next $2 million is going to come from.
They better deliver or I’ll be pissed.
POSTSCRIPT:
I finally did get that Amplitude sequel I wanted, in essence if not in fact. Rock Band Unplugged for the PSP plays out in the same way as Amplitude, but because it’s ‘Rock Band’ the closest I get to my fantasy music game about music I actually care about is a Nine Inch Nails track (1996’s “Perfect Drug”).
@4 months agoBRUTAL LEGEND ROCKS!!!
Just finished the Brutal Legend demo. Took longer to download than to play (2GB with tons of cutscenes, but only about 10 min of game play time). Soo worth it!
Best part - the start menu is a live action video of a old LP (w/ requisite brutal metal artwork) being opened and closed by real live hands!
The first time Eddie curses and the first time a head is decapitated, you are asked what’s funnier - cursing or bleeps, and what’s better - gore or no gore. Very awesome - rather than assuming one is more ‘adult’ or ‘mature’ than the other, the game is allowing you to chose what you would prefer without judging you for the choice. No choice was given when the sexy demon nun came on screen if I wanted boobs or no boobs (luckily no boobs is the default option in this case).
This is the level of expertise and mixology I aspire to. I had to keep myself from skipping forward into the mix - I was so excited about what might come next and I had to remember that my main interest was how he went from track to track.
Thanks 530techno, for reminding me that I subscribe to this podcast.
Recent tweet I sent (with spelling errors corrected plus a little more detail):
“intent to buy is more important than inherent quality (of a product - or in this case Amplitude by Harmonix) but actually purchasing that product/art is more important.”
Unpacked:
I was listening to Eran Ergozy, one of the founders of Harmonix, speak to a class of students in the lab. Basically, here’s what he was talking about and my take on it: in market studies (done by their publisher, Sony Computer Entertainment of America), Amplitude did not test well for ‘intent to buy’ tests because it was hard to define in a screenshot or a DVD cover. The kicker is that those playing the game, once having played it, enjoyed it and said they would then now buy it. Thus, because they never intended to buy the game, they never would have experienced the game. I don’t know if they changed anything after the fact (release a demo, put more advertising into it, actually try to figure out how to market it right). Whatever happened, Amplitude still didn’t sell more than 150k units (which for music is damn respectable, but not for games). And the game didn’t get a reprint or a sequel, and instead they made a game about being a fucking 80’s hair metal douchebag rather than make another game for aficionado’s of quality late-90’s pop electronica (BTW: no anger here).
Market Capitalism made Harmonix create Guitar Hero and the rhythm and music game genres have felt that loss (in quality, in innovation) since. Which is ironic since now rhythm and music games (ie, Guitar Hero, Rock Band, and all those since) now account for 20% of game sales (although possibly because of the cost of the controllers).
That said, market capitalism gave Harmonix a shit-ton of money to spend in order to make a bunch of market failures (improvisational play music with a joystick product, awesome beat-matching PS2 games Frequency and Amplitude). Harmonix then makes a killer product Guitar Hero which gets them bought by people with not just money, but connections in the music industry (MTV). Harmonix then gives MTV Guitar Hero+, ie Rock Band. Even more money gets printed. Now, finally, Harmonix is at a place where they can finally further explore their original ideas (give everyone the experience of making/playing music) and not have to worry about where the next $2 million is going to come from.
They better deliver or I’ll be pissed.
POSTSCRIPT:
I finally did get that Amplitude sequel I wanted, in essence if not in fact. Rock Band Unplugged for the PSP plays out in the same way as Amplitude, but because it’s ‘Rock Band’ the closest I get to my fantasy music game about music I actually care about is a Nine Inch Nails track (1996’s “Perfect Drug”).
Random thought: Some bands create far better graphic design/style/photos than they do music. And vice versa, other bands make superb sounds, but have such terrible overall aesthetic. Is it rhetorical to ask which is worse?
But…
Fashion music (visual aesthetics over sound) made today can be crap next week, but mind-altering to the kid who rediscovers it 10 years later. Case in point: discovering Spandau Ballet’s ‘Gold’ at 15 in 1993 while stuck in one of the fashion musics of that time, ‘grunge’.
To ask this question is to ask what makes pop music Pop, and is it less authentic because of the image surrounding it? Or rather, is authenticity something to be valued in the first place?
This is the level of expertise and mixology I aspire to. I had to keep myself from skipping forward into the mix - I was so excited about what might come next and I had to remember that my main interest was how he went from track to track.
Thanks 530techno, for reminding me that I subscribe to this podcast.
