Video Killed the Radio Star

Scott Hardie | October 13, 2007
It's about time that the bands featured in Rock Block had more of a presence in the game besides just their faces. Now you can click on any card in the game to watch the band perform on video. Maybe it will give you some music to listen to while you play, or make you better acquainted with a new band that you haven't heard before. It plays in a popup window, so you can return to what you were doing.

If you'd like to suggest better videos than what I've selected, it's welcome, but don't expect every suggestion to be taken. I tried to strike a balance between hit songs and footage of the band performing, which wasn't always easy. Iggy Pop's video is obscene, but shows him at his most riveting and I just had to use it. Prince's record label removed all of his videos from YouTube so I had to improvise. Enjoy, and let me know what you think.

Steve West | October 13, 2007
You continually amaze me, sir. Incredible.

Erik Bates | October 13, 2007
[hidden by request]

Scott Hardie | October 13, 2007
Thank you, Steve.

Good idea, Erik. I'll add it shortly.

Russ Wilhelm | October 13, 2007
Great idea. I just listened to Marilyn Manson, just to check the feature out, and I was rather stunned. I would never have even ventured to listen to him otherwise, but this song reminded me of something Alice Cooper might have done in days gone by, mixed with stuff I don't particularly care for (Screaming). I give you a 10 on this feature, and Marilyn a 6 for this song.

Scott Hardie | October 13, 2007
It's fun. I'm discovering a few surprises myself. I never got into Grand Funk Railroad or Bachman-Turner Overdrive before, but now I might have to – wow, do those guys rock hard.

Russ Wilhelm | October 13, 2007
Yeah, they were before MTV, so they had to rely almost totally on the music they created, and not the image.

Erik Bates | October 13, 2007
[hidden by request]

Scott Hardie | October 13, 2007
Hoobastank isn't nearly as terrible as I expected.

Amy Austin | October 13, 2007
*Very* cool... and just the perfect thing to watch while waiting between turns! Takes about the same amount of time as a turn, makes it seem more like a real concert... and (perhaps best of all?) will help me to keep "Dory Syndrome" to a minimum (music stops... what was it I was doing? oh, yeah... playing RB!) -- just awesome!!! ;-DDD

Scott Hardie | October 14, 2007
Glad you like it, Amy.

Searching for rock videos online means wading through a lot of footage from people who recorded themselves playing Guitar Hero. Cause that's soooo impressive. That's like someone trying to show off their driving skills on a Power Wheels, with the camera aimed at the tires so you can't even see them drive.

Jacob Martin | October 14, 2007
I completely agree......its even worse when they think the can play guitar just because they can master "Iron Man" on expert. its like "Im so kool I can press buttons while simultaneously pushing a lever"

Justin Woods | October 20, 2007
Russ, that is awesome band and video two thumbs up!!!

Scott Hardie | November 1, 2007
When I launched this feature, I mentioned that Prince's videos were obscure on YouTube, not counting the handful placed there by his record label for which embedding is disabled. I had to resort to a blurry video of two schoolgirls practicing their dancing to "1999" and giggling. Apparently it could get even worse:

In the latest online copyright brouhaha, the British tech-news website The Inquirer reported Tuesday that YouTube has sent a letter to a woman who posted a 29-second video of her baby in which the child bopped to the music of Prince's "Let's Go Crazy." The woman, Stephanie Lenz, said that she was told that Universal Music Publishing Group had demanded the video be removed. "It was Universal Music Publishing group, and I was afraid that they might come after me," she told the Inquirer. She eventually hired an attorney who was able to persuade YouTube to restore the video. But Universal has fired back with legal action of its own.

Scott Hardie | March 31, 2008
You can now control the videos for each performer, by removing broken videos and adding some of your own favorites. There's now multiple videos allowed per artist, and even no videos in the case of performers like Prince whose lawyers refuse to let a single snippet of their music on YouTube. Share some of your favorite videos by your favorite musicians and you'll enhance the game for all of us.

Please note, many of the videos posted directly by record labels have embedding disabled. If you don't see html embed code on the right side of the page, the link won't work on this site. And sorry, YouTube videos only for now, please.