Selling out and other silliness

The AP reports:

Artists who have released songs on its “Guitar Hero” platform have seen separate sales of those tracks triple on average, according to Activision Blizzard Inc. …

-Nirvana, “In Bloom” (1992), DGC, released on “Rock Band,” Nov. 20, 2007: 9,000 downloads, up 543 percent.

-R.E.M., “Orange Crush” (1988), Warner Bros., released on “Rock Band,” Nov. 20, 2007: 3,200 downloads, up 256 percent.

-Smashing Pumpkins, “Cherub Rock” (1993), Virgin, released on “Rock Band” on Nov. 20, 2007: 6,600 downloads, up 843 percent.

Video games are doing a better job of promoting music than the radio or MTV. I have no doubt that most bands are scratching and biting to get a slot on the next edition of Rock Band or Guitar Hero. Some bands are writing songs that appear on these games before they appear on a CD or mp3.

But isn’t it asinine that having a song on a commercial for a car or sneakers is considered selling out, when having a song on a video game that tests how well the player can tap plastic buttons has become a viable promotion tool? I think the way songs are presented on these video games is much sillier than the way they’re used in iPod ads. Why does one cheapen the art form while the other is excused as an exciting new medium?

Someone help me understand.

Infinite sadness

Last week marked the first time since 1994 that the Smashing Pumpkins played Colorado and I didn’t go.

I saw them at Red Rocks last year and it was lackluster. Way too many 15-minute prog metal jams and too few actual songs (and I’d have been happy with new or obscure songs). I think the new version of the band stumbles because it doesn’t understand the Pumpkins’ core strengths — killer guitars, yes, but also unforgettable melodies. So I didn’t lose much sleep over missing their show at the Ogden Theater last week, because reviews of the current tour have been pretty ugly.

There was one song from the Ogden setlist, though, that almost made me wish I’d gone: a Mellon Collie-era b-side called Medellia of the Grey Skies. I’ve never seen them do this one live. Luckily, it turned up on YouTube. I posted the link below.