Pop Talk by George Varga

Yeah, yeah, yeah!

Guitar Hero and Rock Band didn't set out to transform the struggling music industry, but they are doing exactly that by letting tech-savvy music fans simulate the experience of being rock stars on stage.

Since their introduction in 2005 and 2007, respectively, they have become a $3 billion success story at the same time that record stores are closing, the album in physical form is dying and illegal downloading of music continues to surge. A cultural phenomenon, Rock Band has enabled veteran groups such as Motley Crue and relative newcomers like DragonForce to expand their audience and boost their sales.

Now, following a reported 48 percent jump in music video game sales in the first half of this year, the Sept. 9 release of "The Beatles: Rock Band" could see the group once known as the Fab Four inspire an unprecedented number of Fab Fauxs.

"People still love music and I have a feeling they always will. It's just the medium they get the music through that's changing," said former Beatle Paul McCartney, 67, who believes music video game may help counterbalance the dramatic decline of CD sales.

Eighteen months in the making, "The Beatles: Rock Band" offers 45 songs, from "I Saw Her Standing There" to "Get Back." They cover the English quartet's evolution, from its early days in the Cavern Club in Liverpool through such visionary studio albums as "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" and beyond.

A savvy businessman, McCartney has already started promoting "The Beatles: Rock Band." His summer series of North American stadium concerts included "Got to Get You Into My Life," which was accompanied by projections of computer-generated avatars of The Beatles performing the same 1966 song from the upcoming Rock Band game (list price: $59.99).

"I've seen music come a long way — from records and cassette tapes to CDs and downloads — and it's as cool as it ever was," McCartney said from England. "I don't mind how the music gets to them, as long as it's good quality."

The potential impact of Rock Band and Guitar Hero extends beyond the games. More than 800 songs by various artists are available for downloading through the Rock Band library, which has had more than 50 million paid downloads (at $1.99 per song) since launching in late-2007.

Motley Crue has sold an average of five times more songs through Rock Band downloads than on iTunes, while the 2007 release of "Guitar Hero III" saw DragonForce's album sales rise 126 percent.

The games' enormous and immediate success caught the music industry by surprise, including the members of Aerosmith. They were the first stand-alone band in the Guitar Hero series, which had previously featured individual songs by dozens of groups. Aerosmith's Guitar Hero game sold 560,000 copies in its first week last year, grossing more than $25 million and sparking a 40 percent spike in the band's album sales.

The Fab Four is expected to top that figure.

"I think 'The Beatles: Rock Band' game is going to be a must-have, not just for fans of Rock Band, but for fans of music," said Gary Arnold, 57, the senior entertainment officer for Best Buy's 1,000 stores nationwide.

"Everybody loves The Beatles, including my 15-year-old son, Nick. This is a way The Beatles can continue to be relevant to future generations."

Rock Band and Guitar Hero combine elements of karaoke and air-guitar playing into a multidimensional medium. By simulating the experience of playing and singing in a band, regardless of your ability or level of experience, they are changing the way people of all ages listen to and engage with music.

The games also appear to be helping drive sales for musical instruments and may even have increased the demand for guitar teachers.

"I have 27 students and some of them directly told me they wanted to learn guitar after playing Rock Band and Guitar Hero," said Daniel Page, 26, a guitar teacher in San Diego. "I find they're usually a little more enthusiastic."

The basic format for "The Beatles: Rock Band" is the same as in previous games. Players choose a skill level and match notes that scroll on their video screen to colored fret buttons on their guitar and bass guitar controllers, while vocalists follow the on-screen lyrics and the drummer plays along to his or her own color-coded cues. But the quality may set a new sonic and visual standard for music video games, which can be played on Microsoft Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii and Sony PlayStation 3.

As they play, Rock Band gamers can follow the arc of The Beatles' career through a video story mode. An online option lets you play along with up to five other people anywhere in the world. And while previous music video games accommodated just one singer, this is the first to let players do three-part vocal harmonies, a Fab Four trademark.

"While it's hard to think of even the need to introduce people to The Beatles, you can deepen their relationship with the music," said Chris Foster, 39, lead designer of "The Beatles: Rock Band" and a project director for Harmonix, which makes the Rock Band games.

McCartney and former Beatle Ringo Starr, 69, provided constant input as the game was being developed and honed. So did Yoko Ono, 76, the widow of John Lennon (who was murdered in 1980), and Olivia Harrison, 61, the widow of George Harrison (who died of cancer in 2001).

While The Beatles still won't allow their music be sold digitally by iTunes or any online music store, they did agree to Rock Band. The key was Harrison's son, Dhani, 31, who now works for Harmonix, a company owned by MTV Networks.

"Dhani was essential," Foster said. He credits a chance meeting several years ago between the younger Harrison and Van Toffler, the president of MTV Networks, which used to own Guitar Hero and two years ago launched Rock Band.

"I'm proud of The Beatles' legacy," Dhani Harrison said from Los Angeles. "When I brought the project to Rock Band, I thought it was a great way to showcase the technology I love and The Beatles. It's our responsibility to keep their music fresh for young people."

The appeal of these games extends to multiple age groups, said Joe Lamond, 48, the president and CEO of the National Association of Music Merchandisers. His 12-year-old son and 15-year-old daughter are both music video gamers, as are many of their friends and their friends' parents.

"The music in these games is bridging the generation gap," said Lamond, who in the 1980s was a drummer in the band Tommy Tutone. He credits music video games for "tapping into the dream people have of being on stage, with a guitar around their neck, in front of an adoring crowd."

The impact of these games prompted the association to award a grant to Drexel University to research how Rock Band and Guitar Hero may inspire or be learning tools for teens to develop real musical skills. A recent survey in the United Kingdom found that of the 6 million people under 18 who regularly play video music games, 2.5 million are now learning to play real musical instruments.

"Where iPods have isolated people, these music games make them excited about interacting with music in groups, said Drexel assistant professor Youngmoo Kim, 36, who is overseeing the study.

"The interest has greatly been raised for people to pursue music who never considered it before. I love the games, even though you're not really playing the music, the music is playing you. But as a fun activity for people, it's great, because we all want to interact with music in some way."

To find out more about George Varga and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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