Guardian slams NME's misjudged gaming slur

Games - not the 'new' Rock n' Roll... thankfully.
Games - not the 'new' Rock n' Roll... thankfully.

This week, ailing music weekly the NME ran a feature on the 'power-struggle' between games and music, with some all-too-predictable shock-value reporting from ageing punk journalist Steven Wells, and some even-more-predicable quotes from writer David Quantick and the joke band Nickleback.

NME writer David Quantick chipped in with: "Games are not rock 'n' roll, they're metal – aggressive, loud, violent and scared of women. You can't dance to a game or have sex to it.

"Games are still for nerds. Rock 'n' roll is about f*****g, games are about w*****g. Rock music makes you leave the house and meet drugs, games make you stay in and smell of your own p**s."

Meeting drugs?

Leaving aside the question of why we would want to 'meet' drugs, NME amazingly undermines its own threadbare argument by quoting joke band Nickleback's Chad Kroeger, who urges "ver kids" to "start rock bands... set down the Guitar Hero, learn how to play an actual guitar and start a band..."

TechRadar cannot put it better than the Guardian's Keith Stuart's quick riposte, with the veteran gaming journo noting that: "Personally, I feel that if Guitar Hero has prevented the foundation of just one new Nickleback-inspired band, Harmonix, the creator of the Guitar Hero series, should be given some sort of medal."

Adam Hartley