Despite falling out of fashion in recent years, rhythm games played with plastic instruments formed a massive part of 2000s gaming culture due to iconic franchises likeGuitar HeroandRock Band. Now, over fifteen years after the firstRock Bandlaunched, a real-life band plans to pay homage to the series in a music video.
Rock Bandis a rhythm game series started in 2007 by developer Harmonix, which had previously created theGuitar Heroseries in collaboration with RedOctane before both companies were acquired by MTV Games. Both series would be developed in parallel from that point, with Harmonix creatingRock Bandand Activision subsidiary Neversoft continuing theGuitar Heroseries.
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Inspired by theRock Bandseriesand wanting to pay homage to it, the band Vella la Vella customized a car using the car from theRock Bandintro cinematic as reference, making room to fit a drum set inside and taking a picture with several band members posed standing on the vehicle. In the originalRock BandandRock Band 2, a similar car is seen driving through a desert with a similar drum set and a drummer and singer riding on top. The only changes to the design are out of necessity and safety concerns, as the band actually plans to shoot a music video using this vehicle.
In the same post showing the car, Vella la Vella puts out a call for music video producers to help re-create the intro fromRock Band. Doing so would no doubt be an impressive feat, butthere are numerous safety concernswith shooting a video on top of a moving vehicle; even with the wooden structure behind the drummer, it would be very easy for something to go wrong and for band members to be injured. As such, it seems likely the car will be used more as a static prop in a CGI video, but Vella la Vella has not revealed what the exact plans are just yet.
TheRock Bandseries at its peakmanaged to use the foundations laid inGuitar Heroto expand to a wider target market with a variety of music genres. As such, it only makes sense that both series inspired players to learn actual instruments, with the laterRock Bandgames even functioning as actual learning tools with Pro Mode.
Despite sales for the genre stagnating in the 2010s, plastic instrument rhythm games are beginning to make a comeback infan efforts likeClone Hero,Phase Shift, andUnplugged Air Guitar. Harmonix’s ownRock Band 4is also an option, and with Activision executives discussing revivingGuitar Herothanks to the newfound resources of Microsoft’s acquisition, plastic instrument rhythm games may have a bright future.
Rock Band 4is out now for PS4 and Xbox One.
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