Mature Themes
By L. Russell Allen - Nov 21st, 2008 at 5:02 pmMy faithful readers know that I can’t get enough of the game Rock Band. And who can blame me? The game’s designers, Harmonix, work tirelessly to bring me songs that I enjoy to download at my pleasure. Such is the case with Dead Kennedys’ “Holiday in Cambodia” and “Police Truck.” Great guitar parts. Great bass lines. Scathing lyrics.
But, the lyrics.
“Holiday in Cambodia” drops a not so subtle n-bomb about a minute into the song. Rock Band is a game played primarily by young, white audiences. Encouraging teens and young adults to shout n-bombs is not an ideal situation. Sure, the word is blanked out, but, come on. We all know what we’re supposed to sing. They block out the words “go down” in Alanis Morisette’s “You Oughta Know.” People still sing that part. People will still sing the racial slur.
“Police Truck” doesn’t fare much better. The song, sung from the perspective of a crooked cop, features a verse about raping a prostitute. Blocking out the word “dick” is all but useless when the preceding words are “suck my.”
And I’m not even going to get into the lyrics meant to invoke the Holocaust in “California Uber Alles. ”
The problem with adult content in this game is that, unlike super-violent games like Resident Evil, Rock Band is known as a kids’ game. It’s rated “T” for teen. And I know that the online songs are unrated, but do parents know that?
I don’t mean to underestimate the maturity of younger Rock Band players, but a lot of the people playing these music games are in high-schoolers. Or younger. Trust me. I entered a Guitar Hero contest in Washington, DC and got blown away by a 13-year-old. Now that kid is likely going to be singing the n-word. That’s not acceptable and I wish Harmonix would consider the ramifications of putting these songs into their masterpiece of a game.
“Rock Band is a game played primarily by young, white audiences.”
Link? Reference? Anything?
November 24th, 2008 at 10:52 amFrom Nielsen:
While more than two-thirds (67.7%) of all men 18-34 had access to a console in their homes, the percentage was dramatically higher (80%) for men 12-17 years of age. (See figure 1 for full demographic breakdown.)
I still consider the 18-34 demographic to be “young.”
Regarding the issue of race, Rock Band features music that is primarily consumed by white audiences. In fact, I can’t think of a song on Rock Band that comes from a band with a single minority member. I think the guitarist of Soundgarden was Indian-American and I’m sure I’m missing something, but there isn’t any doubt in my mind that Rock Band is played primarily by young whites.
November 24th, 2008 at 1:00 pmA lot of my students (4th grade) love Rock Band. I think you are absolutely right this is a problem. This is not a statistic but it seems to be a popular game in upper elementary school. Not to sound too conservative but I spend a ton of time with 9 year olds as a teacher and I feel I have a gage on their maturity level and this is too much.
November 24th, 2008 at 10:46 pm