I am Legend
July 18th, 2006, By Duncan Gough
Following on from a conversation with some friends just before the last Black Crowes concert, came a discussion with sometime AICN contributor Nick Wilson, about I am Legend. This twist at the end, that the last remaining human fighing off the zombies is in fact a mass murderer who refuses to accept that zombies have taken over and humanity is dead is pretty much how I feel about anything that isn’t live music.
Yes, I’m the kind of person who still has a ‘Keep Music Live’ sticker on his guitar case. I used to look like this
But it just hit me. Rock music, guitars, drums, bass, keyboards and vocals. I like it becasue it’s visible. It’s visceral. I can see them play, I can see the music being created. There are no secrets, the foundations are right there in front of me, each component is celebrated (drum solo!). At the moment, there’s only one connotation I can make that now refuses to shift.
Rock music is the aural equivalent of the Arts and Crafts Movement.
Either that means I’m getting old, or I have to build a ‘being in a band’ MMO. Passive, casual, starts with a browser based interface and ends with a digg frontend to YouTube-style home videos of each players’ band/group/solo spot. That’s an MMO with a virtual avatar system meshed together with a Pop Idol, lowest common demoninator style talent show.