Just because it's good enough for The Beatles doesn’t mean it's good enough for everyone.
In an interview with the BBC, ex-Rolling Stone bassist Bill Wyman expressed his general displeasure with music games, claiming they distracted kids from rocking properly.
No rocking in a virtual world.
"It encourages kids not to learn, that's the trouble" he told the BBC. "It makes less and less people dedicated to really get down and learn an instrument. I think it's a pity so I'm not really keen on that kind of stuff."
Interestingly, Wyman's mini-tirade came during a break from a recording session at the legendary Abbey Road studios, where the longtime Stones member was laying down tracks for a charitable Beatles cover song. Anticipated music game The Beatles: Rock Band launches this week.
Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason was also on hand and offered a few no-so-gentle words of his own.
"It irritates me having watched my kids do it," he said of playing music video games. "If they spent as much time practicing the guitar as learning how to press the buttons they'd be damn good by now."
The two join the likes of Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page, The White Stripes' Jack White and the one and only Prince as some of music video gaming's most famous critics.
However, Wyman's griping is a bit bizarre considering that the Stones have appeared in both Guitar Hero and Rock Band before, including the just-released five-song Rolling Stone Track pack for Guitar Hero. He also seems to be missing the fact that music games can turn people on to playing real-world music.
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Posted: 9 Sep 2009
