'The Beatles Rock Band is a cultural revolution'

16/09/2009

A new computer game brings the world's biggest-ever band to an even larger audience 40 years on

An unprecedented cultural historical force, The Beatles have already changed the world several times over. From destroying old-fashioned ideas of deference to embodying the values of the counterculture and pioneering stadium rock to inspiring generations of music video-makers and studio tinkerers, their influence on the second half of the 20^th century is unassailable. Thanks to a very 21^st century technology, they are now set to do the same thing all over again almost 40 years after they split.

If all goes to plan, The Beatles: Rock Band – a computer game that allows anyone to have a shot at being one of the Fab Four, which hit shelves worldwide this week – will be the spark for a revolution that’s up there with any the band instigated in its lifetime.

“It may be the most important video game yet made,” says technology expert for the New York Times Seth Schiesel. “The Beatles: Rock Band is nothing less than a cultural watershed, one that may prove only slightly less influential than the band’s famous appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964. By reinterpreting an essential symbol of one generation in the medium and technology of another, The Beatles: Rock Band provides a transformative entertainment experience.”

Thanks to the potency of their intergenerational appeal, The Beatles: Rock Band has the potential to bring together children, parents and even grandparents in a way that no other game has done before. Not only will it allow a whole new younger generation to forge a personal relationship with the Beatles’ music, but will simultaneously draw their parents into gaming. In the process it may well validate a cultural force that has since its inception been too frequently denegrated as the sole preserve of spotty teenage boys.

For their first foray into interactivity, Apple – the protectors of the Beatles’ estate – have pulled out all the stops to ensure that games developers Harmonix come up with a product that’s worthy of that legacy. Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison have all been involved in the development and they drafted in Giles (son of Sir George) Martin as music supervisor and creative producer to ensure that the experience is up to scratch.

Martin had already proved himself to be a safe pair of hands whilst working on the remixed music for Love – the hugely successful Cirque de Soleil show that “re-imagined” music of The Beatles through an interpretive circus performance. Though Apple had already backed the idea in principle when they approached him, he admits to some serious initial doubts.

“I wasn’t really a gamer and musicians, as you know, can be incredibly pompous and pretentious and I’m definitely one of those,” says Martin. “To be honest I was thinking, is this really the right thing to do?”

Like so many reluctant gamers before him, Martin was won over by an after-dinner rendition of Bon Jovi’s ‘Living On A Prayer’ on the current edition of Rock Band. The game works in the same way as any other in that you insert a disk into your console – it is available for PS3, Wii and Xbox – but instead of playing with the usual controllers you pick up a plastic guitar and press the buttons on the fretboard, sit at a set of drum pads and bash along or sing into a microphone. Depending on how accurately you perform one of these three tasks, you could find yourself adored by the in-game audience or booed off stage. It’s already proved to be a massive hit since it launched in 2007 – retail sales in north America have exceeded $1bn, and gamers have downloaded more than 40 million songs for $1.99 each. In 2007, Guitar Hero and Rock Band between them made $100m more than all conventional digital music sales from iTunes and its competitors combined ($935 million compared to $835m).

The Beatles: Rock Band takes the idea a stage further – for the first time gamers will be able to fully immerse themselves in the career of one band, as they progress from The Cavern Club to The Ed Sullivan Show and on to Abbey Road. Along the way, top scorers will be able to unlock Beatles trivia, rare photos and previously unreleased recordings of the band chatting in the studio.

Martin is convinced that they have successfully brought the band into the computer age. “We certainly aren’t modernising The Beatles in any way or bringing them up to date because they don’t need to be brought up to date – of all bands, they’re the most timeless,” he says. “I think what this game does is that it allows people to interact with them in a different way and it will bring new generations to the music. It is like singing into your hairbrush, times a thousand. And I don’t think that’s a bad thing.”

Retailers seem inclined to agree with him. HMV’s Gennaro Castaldo says they’re prepared for high levels of demand and calls the simultaneous release of the game and The Beatles’ remastered back catalogue “one of the cultural highlights of the year”.

“Games consoles are becoming increasingly popular platforms through which to access and download songs,” says Castaldo, “music-based franchises such as Rock Band and Guitar Hero now sell in the tens of millions and have huge family appeal, which is why the release of The Beatles: Rock Band, combined with the simultaneous release of the remastered Beatles albums, promises to be such a global event.”

For many in the games industry, the acknowledgment is long overdue. Richard Wilson of TIGA, the national trade association that represents game developers here and in Europe, says that despite the industry bringing in £1bn to the UK economy each year, it is still overlooked by those in authority. Unlike the film or music industries, games development is not eligible for lucrative tax breaks or other incentives to bring in business from abroad. It’s a situation that Wilson is fighting to change – the first obstacle is to convince legislators of the importance of the medium.

“The Beatles: Rock Band is a major event and it confirms that videogaming is now a key part of mainstream society,” says Wilson. “Something like 60 per cent of the UK population play videogames and around 48 per cent of videogamers are women. It’s not just teenage boys playing videogames where you run around blowing things up.”

Wilson points out that much of this shift has been down to Nintendo, since they have agressively targeted new markets with Wii Sports, which allows gamers to bowl or play tennis in their living room, and the Nicole Kidman-backed Brain Training on the Nintendo DS.

“Wii definitely had a big influence – it broke into new markets and enabled people who weren’t traditionally video games players to get interested in videogames,” he says. “Videogames have become embedded in our culture ­– they can even be works of art.”

The idea that games can artistically compete with film and TV is reinforced by screenwriter Paul Dini, who has previously worked on Lost and whose latest gig was writing for London-based developers Rocksteady on number one game Batman: Arkham Asylum. “Games are fast evolving as an entertainment form that’s just as valid and unique as films,” he argues. “That’s one of the things about Arkham Asylum – it’s defining itself as the Rocksteady version of Batman. They’ve given a unique look to the Batman mythos that’s just as valid and just as striking as Frank Miller’s take or Tim Burton’s.”

A scriptwriter was essential for Batman: Arkham Asylum since, unlike many games it doesn’t just rework an existing film or graphic novel for a different medium but tells a totally new story. It’s a move that takes a fair degree of self-belief after the huge success of Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight, but Dini is confident that the game can stand on its own merits.

He’s even positive that their Joker – voiced by Star Wars star Mark Hamill – can live up to Heath Ledger’s memorable performance. “Mark Hamill does such a fantastic job, if I had not worked on this game I would be buying it just to hear him as the Joker. He brings such a spirit of evil glee to it.

As the technology and creative input continues to advance, the gaming industry will be hoping that a bit of Beatles is just what it takes to get them the widespread recognition they deserve. A few key people are still to be convinced, though, Giles Martin admits. Asked whether the remaining Beatles are any good at the Rock Band game they inspired, he confesses that he’s yet to persuade Paul McCartney to give it a go. “Paul was asked whether he wanted to play it but he said, ‘Listen, I was in it the first time round,’” says Martin, dropping heavy hints that one of the musical geniuses behind the biggest band ever and the most successful songwriter in the history of pop music was scared he couldn’t master the bass track on his own songs. “I think maybe quietly, on his own he’ll just plug it in and have a go.”

As a family man with young children and grandchildren, it seems unlikely that McCartney will manage to duck Rock Band for long. And who knows, maybe he’ll find that he enjoys grooving his way through The Beatles’ back catalogue with his family just as much as all the other middle-aged rockers across the country.

The Beatles: Rock Band & Batman: Arkham Asylum are out now.

Laura Kelly