How Videogames Saved Rock n Roll

In an era when sales of traditional CD have dipped on a yearly basis, and the music industry has been caught off guard by digital distribution - going to the extreme of suing its customers - the one bright spot for music has been videogames. Over the past few years, the videogame industry has emerged as the driving force for launching new artists and debuting new songs. Some music experts have gone as far to say that videogames are the new MTV, and anyone who's turned one of those MTV channels on these days will be hard pressed to find music videos playing.

It's been a quick evolution on the gaming side. Play any of the retro games that are currently the rage, and you'll get an idea of the beeps and blips that doubled for music in the early days. And as fun as Mario Bros. and Sonic were in the 16-bit days, their musical tracks left much to be desired. Activision ushered in an era of licensed songs from a mixture of bands with its Tony Hawk Pro Skater games. But while licensed songs were an improvement over the established norm, they quickly grew old and repetitive, forcing most gamers to eventually hit the mute button and listen to their own CDs.

Tony Hawk's American Wasteland sports an original soundtrack.