Rock Band is the new movie soundtrack

Back when I was in high school and later in the Navy, any money I spent on CDs went to movie soundtracks a lot of the time. It allowed me to get pretty much the songs I wanted without having an album full of crap. That said, they also functioned as a way to get me into stuff I'd not normally listen to. Forgive my complete lack of indie cred, but it was thanks to movies like Grosse Pointe Blank that I learned that there was more to the '80s than hair metal and cheesy pop. Those 2 soundtracks introduced me to The Clash, The Pixies, Siouxsie & the Banshees, and Echo & the Bunnymen. The Wedding Singer introduced me to The Smiths and Elvis Costello. And as un-frakking-believable as it is, Queen was virtually unknown to me until Wayne's World. I blame my father for that heinous oversight.

Nowadays, I'm not buying very many CDs anymore. Oddly enough, it's not because of the economy, I have more disposable income than ever before. No, it's primarily because the RIAA. I won't buy a CD from a band that's associated with them unless it's at a concert (the band gets significantly more profit from those sales instead of a buck or two if I bought it at a record store) If I'm going to get new music, I'm probably going to buy it on CDBaby, since they only sell music from independent artists.

I'm still getting exposed to new music, however. Now I get exposed to it through Rock Band. The interesting thing is that people like me are getting exposed to newer stuff we wouldn't normally listen to, and younger people are being exposed to the great things of the past. Some of the stuff that I enjoy playing on Rock Band I wouldn't be caught dead buying (I'm looking at you Modest Mouse and Panic at the Disco).

As for the old stuff that the youngin's (that apostrophe marks the loss of the letter G, not as a way of making it plural) can get exposed to, I'm thinking specifically of Dylan's Tangled Up in Blue, The Grateful Dead's Alabama Getaway (not to mention 2 whole Deadhead track packs), and Judas Priest's Screaming For Vengeance. I specifically am excluding The Who and Boston because although they're very well represented in Rock Band, you get to hear a lot of them on classic rock stations. Not so much with The Grateful Dead, Bob Dylan, and Judas Priest.

This doesn't even include the independent and Harmonix bands that are included. I've bought a number of Freezepop albums (Sorry, I think Liz Enthusiasm is truly outrageous) since first hearing them on Guitar Hero 1. Bands like Bang Camaro are able to book gigs all over the country instead of merely New England thanks to their exposure in Rock Band and Guitar Hero.

Oh! Speaking of independent music. Check out these pair of Youtube videos. The first is Zoë Keating. She's a cellist who's currently touring with Amanda Palmer (of the Dresden Dolls). She uses pedals to loop what she's playing through a MacBook so when she plays it's like a cello quartet (or possibly a quintet or sextet.)



The next person, Kutiman, takes music in existing Youtube videos, cuts them up, and makes something completely different. It may take some time getting used to the jittery video, but it's totally worth it.



Sorry for all the links, but I like to give credit to the people who make such awesomeness possible, and I hope you do at least check out a couple of them.