How could Rock Band be improved?

LEGOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOS!



IGGY! AS A LEGO! plus, this song is great.

They've got Bowie too!




Oh man, i can't wait! Apparently this isn't news, and trailers have been around for months, BUT this Bowie teaser was just released a few days ago.

Honestly, I thought this whole genre was heading toward the uncanny valley (did you see the Guitar Hero Kurt Cobain? creepy), but this is the BEST POSSIBLE solution to that problem. May the group playing of fake instruments never die. Amen.

they don't love you like I love you

This is what I mean about cover songs. Covers are best when a band takes another band's song and uses it to say something new. So it's the same song, but it's not. It recalls the source material, doesn't mimic it. It's the difference between photocopying a famous painting and painting that same painting using your own brushes and paint. There's depth in the latter, there's feeling, there's passion.

That being said, I really, really dig this Rogue Wave cover of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' "Maps." It comes from Sweetheart, the same Starbucks compilation album that also features A.C. Newman's take on "Take on Me." It's "Maps," certainly, but it's Rogue Waves' "Maps." It is distinct, but in a way that honors the original (instead of mocking or destroying or carbon-copying it). It's the kind of cover that someone could like more the original because it is its own song. Its own gorgeous song.

It makes me feel like I'm lying outside under the stars.


"Maps" is actually an oft-covered song. It makes sense. It's a simple song, with a beautiful and memorable melody. Honestly, I have yet to come across a bad version. Notably, Arcade Fire does a passionately earnest version, and Ted Leo uses it as the bridge to his cover of "Since U Been Gone" giving it an epic urgency.

Also, when I happen to sing the song as a member of one of my Rock Band bands, the vocals are a breathtaking combination of strength and vulnerability that have brought a crowded room to the brink of tears. Not to brag or anything.

It's like, how much more black could this be? and the answer is none. None more black.

I can't believe I'd never seen This Is Spinal Tap before today. What kind of a music fan am I? One that claims to also be a fan of movies and hilarious parody? Mockumentaries and deadpan humor are my favorites! I am ashamed of myself.

Spinal Tap lived up to all my lofty expectations. (It reminded me constantly of my hair-metal-loving friend, Claire, and our Rock Band band, Motorknife). This film is brilliantly written, both in the dialogue and the songs. "Tonight I'm Gonna Rock You Tonight," even though it's a parody song, is a great song! And consequently, is still stuck in my head. It's like Shaun of the Dead or Hot Fuzz, it's a parody film, but it loves what it's parodying, and it actually is what it's parodying. Spinal Tap is a band with a set of legitimate, if slightly ridiculous, songs. It's not hard to believe why people thought this movie was a real documentary.

So, thank you vh1 classic (and dvr) for finally making it possible for me to see This Is Spinal Tap. My life will never be the same.