Five times musicians entered the video game world
The video game industry is now worth more than film and music combined, valued in the hundreds of billions globally. According to many studies, 2013’s Grand Theft Auto V is the “most financially successful media title of all time”, surpassing any book, film, or music release—excluding Minecraft and Tetris, which exist across countless platforms. Long gone are the days when gaming was the niche domain of computer hobbyists and little kids.
With such a lucrative opportunity, it’s no wonder that many bands over the years have been more than happy to slap their name and likeness on a video game to make a quick buck. Whether out of crass commercialism or genuinely invested intrigue in gaming’s creative possibilities, there was a time when your favourite artists may well have offered a gripping, first-person adventure quest along with a T-shirt, mug, and, in Metallica’s case, a licensed Monopoly board.
The line between games and ‘interactive media’ has always been a little blurry. With the rise of home computers in the 1990s, a wave of CD-ROM ‘point-and-click’ menu-driven projects emerged, varying wildly in quality. Bob Dylan’s Highway 61 Interactive offered a no-frills graphical overview of the folk icon’s storied career, while Laurie Anderson’s Puppet Motel received acclaim for its surreal accompaniment to 1994’s Bright Red LP. Devo Presents Adventures of the Smart Patrol, co-written by the band, featured two unreleased tracks, and eyeball-masked enigmas, The Residents, fully embraced their multimedia phase during the decade, with 1995’s Bad Day on the Midway earning praise for its innovative and immersive storytelling.
No franchise brought rock heritage into the gaming world quite like Guitar Hero, though. Launched in 2005, it gave bands like Heart and Pat Benatar a new lease of life—and let’s be honest, does anyone know DragonForce outside of their ‘Through the Fire and Flames’, famously heralded as the series’ most difficult track? Even The Beatles joined the rhythm game craze, with their landmark 2009 remastering project largely driven by the need for quality masters to score The Beatles: Rock Band. With projects like Radiohead’s Kid A Mnesia Exhibition on the PS5, video games may open new and exciting possibilities for artists embracing digital frontiers.
Five times artists entered video games:
Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker (1988)
Beyond just playing some futuristic console with his sister in 1995’s ‘Scream’ video, the King of Pop had a keen interest in video games. Contributing to uncredited music production for Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and starring in his own sci-fi shooter on Sega’s AS-1 interactive motion simulator arcade ride.
It’s the tie-in with 1988’s theatrical Moonwalker musical that most geriatric millennials will remember. Navigating through the various environments of his iconic videos, from ‘Thriller’s zombie-infested graveyard to ‘Smooth Criminal’s gangster hide-out, a retrospectively uncomfortable objective sees Michael Jackson have to save all the kidnapped children from the sinister Mr Big (played by Joe Pesci in the movie) before Bubbles the chimp leads the way to the exit. Featuring 16-bit bangers of his biggest hits, a special power turning the star into a robot, and a full unified dance routine killing his enemies, Jackson’s jump into the Mega Drive was everything eccentric about the late pop star.
Give My Regards to Broad Street (1985)
Having neglected his filmmaking itch since his experimental Magical Mystery Tour TV project, Paul McCartney felt the silver screen’s pull once again, fresh from Wings’ disbandment. What materialised was the maligned Give My Regards to Broad Street, a ripping yarn following Macca’s efforts to retrieve stolen master tapes for an upcoming record; not even Ringo Starr’s and Tracey Ullman’s presence saves the movie from existing firmly as a curio for the most dedicated Beatlehead. If you were lucky enough to watch in your local theatre, you’d be treated to Rupert and the Frog Song as an entrée to the main event.
Driving the movie’s Ford Prefect around a ZX Spectrum London with a chiptune ‘Band on the Run’ evaporating whatever patience the player might be clinging on to, the aim is to figure out where McCartney, his wife Linda, and various other characters are hanging out to acquire special ‘notes’ before midnight. It’s as interesting as that, and the designers’ oversight of not inputting a zebra crossing outside Abbey Road is criminal.
Kiss: Psycho Circus: The Nightmare Child (2000)
You knew they were coming. Naturally, the fire-breathing hard rockers Kiss‘ perpetual dollar-signed eyes would see video games as another tantalising merchandising opportunity, along with lunchboxes, ‘kondoms’, and even a funeral casket. Alongside Kiss Pinball for the PlayStation, the Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley Corp also oversaw a video game of their Psycho Circus comic book series.
Released on Sega’s final console, Dreamcast, the game is essentially a Quake clone where a Kiss tribute band is transported to some mythical ether of hellish, carnival monsters and bosses lifted from the comic’s villains. Progressing through the game, you’ll acquire power-ups corresponding to the band members’ theatrical identity, Simmons’ firepower, etc. Not a bad effort for 2000, but pedestrian when considering the competition around at the time.
Spice World (1998)
By the late 1990s, the UK hadn’t exported such a global pop phenomenon since Beatlemania. From their debut single, ‘Wannabe’, Spice Girls trampled boybands underneath their platform boots and ushered a new wave of girl pop groups, some respectable like All Saints, less so Vanilla. Rivalling the Fab Four’s mountainous merchandise during their commercial peak, plus their own movie, a game was inevitably spun to try and crack a new market of ‘dance games’ spearheaded by PaRappa the Rapper.
Incorporating full motion video of their various concerts and a cycle of stiffly recorded exclusive dialogue from each Spice Girl caricatured with massive heads; the gang prepares for a live TV event with various dance routines performed by the player hitting button combinations. For the big event, you’re behind the camera, switching between different camera angles and recording the big number, each save of a dance costing a whopping one block on the old Memory Card system! It was a shabby game, but it didn’t matter, selling out in a matter of months and stuffing more dosh into the Spice Girls’ pockets.
Revolution X (1994)
For a band that boasts an official roller-coaster at Disneyland theme parks around the world, the Boston hard rockers turned MTV megastars Aerosmith saw the early 1990s arcade ‘silver age’ resurgence as a tidy opportunity for a decent cash grab.
Developed by Midway, Revolution X is an on-the-rails shooter where players must take down the nefarious New Order Nation and their leader, Helga (portrayed by glamour model Kerri Hoskins), who have kidnapped the band and scattered them across various global locales. From tearing through the Amazon and a Middle Eastern desert to a jungle, the game also features a low-res cameo from the band itself before culminating in a showdown with the big boss at Wembley. While the original arcade version received critical acclaim, the various home ports were widely panned. Nevertheless, Revolution X became one of the most popular arcade shooters of its era.
