Most "Rock Band" players might not know who Roy Orbison is, but a good rock song is a good rock song, argued the late Roy Orbison's wife, Barbara Orbison, in an early morning phone interview with us this week.
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You may not know the name Roy Orbison, but you probably know the songs "Oh, Pretty Woman" and "You Got It." Don't worry, until a few weeks ago, I didn't know him, either.
But earlier this week, I learned more about Orbison and the reasons Harmonix and MTV Games approached widow Barbara Orbison -- Roy passed on in 1988 -- about bringing some of his iconic musical contributions to "Rock Band."
"[Rock Band is a] game that introduces different generations to older catalog," said Barbara over the phone earlier this week. "I have played 'Rock Band.' My staff has played 'Rock Band.' My friends are familiar with [it]. I have known about 'Rock Band' ever since they started. I love playing the drums."
I was honest with her and admitted I didn't know who Roy was until recently, though I knew his songs. She laughed it off, and said that was the point.
"You are exactly the person we were aiming for," she laughed. "We need someone who has an interest in music and somebody that has a curiosity. So when you play Pretty Woman on 'Rock Band' and enjoy it and you try to sing like Roy and you figure out you really can't…then you go and do research and realize 'oh, this is the guy that Bruce Springsteen said that nobody else sings like, so no wonder I can't!'"
Barbara views "Rock Band" as a time capsule of sorts, a way to preserve music for music listeners -- like myself -- who aren't familiar with Roy.
"We had a really, really successful year last year with a box set -- "The Soul of Rock and Roll" -- [that was released because] it's [been] 20 years since Roy passed on," she said. "When you do a box set, you really, really cater to the fan that has bought everything and somebody that loves the history of music. It's something you do to create a sense of history. [With 'Rock Band'] you get a whole, complete new generation, and what you do with it is the same as with a box set and you preserve a sense of history."
Some artists have come out against games like "Rock Band" and "Guitar Hero" because it might not encourage users to play real instruments. Barbara didn't express that worry, and believed if Roy would have felt the same.
"I think we would have totally, totally gotten it and enjoyed playing it," she said. "In a way, I think, Roy would have said 'now kids can belong to a band.' He had to create his own band. Today, kids can belong immediately to the band of the world, which is 'Rock Band.' They can play and have that feeling what it must have felt like for Roy to belong to a band."
The Roy Orbison track pack was released this week on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Harmonix has said the Wii version accept downloadable content soon.
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