With the news that Activision and Neversoft are to release Guitar Hero: Metallica, its a good time to look at how close the music and video game industries are now intrinsically linked. Its a win win relationship for both industries; the video game gets signed bands for background, menu music etc, many familiar, many not so familiar and retrospectively the bands, whether globe conquering metal gods like Metallica (this is me being biased as I am a rather big Metallica fan......) or newly signed bands, both get exposed to people that wouldn't ordinarily listen to certain genres of music and thus new fans are made, more albums bought, more gigs filled to capacity. The advent of games such as Guitar Hero and Rock Band has taken this symbiotic relationship to further heights – the music isn't just in the background anymore as you thunder round streets in supercharged race cars or while creating a formation in the Fifa series, now the music is the game and you are, to a degree, making that music.
Throughout both Guitar Hero and Rock Band editions, you get to play hundreds of songs, many that you wouldn't ordinarily go out of your way to listen to yet having to conquer those songs to continue and beat the game means more and more exposure for the bands concerned as you get further and further into the game, more songs are unlocked, and yet more exposure for the bands featured. Even guitar brands themselves are now getting in on the action with many replicas of famous guitar brands now available for the Guitar Hero/Rock Band series, Guitar Hero 3 actually comes with a replica Gibson and you can also purchase guitars in-game for your guitar wielding avatars to play.
From a personal perspective, it all began for me with Tony Hawks Pro Skater on the Playstation One, with the inclusion of lots of punk/ska/rock songs and it seems to have grown from there. I wouldn't have become a massive fan of the band Goldfinger if not for this video game and music industry relationship. I just now have to convince Activision and Neversoft to release Guitar Hero; Slayer at some point in the future.......