The Time is Right to Fight

Thanks to Anton, who the other day re-ignited an old flame I once had with Atari Teenage Riot, I dug out another old WIRE magazine with an Alec Empire interview in it. If we've spent anytime talking in person, it's likely that at some point I've attempted a comparison of the music and games industry for various reasons. Mostly because I grew up with one foot in the rock and roll door, and also because I can't help but long for the maturity and diversity that the music industry continues to foster in each of it's various micro-genres. One thing I found interesting about Biba Kopf's article was his framing of ATR in the context of video games:

"Just because ATR come on like a lurid, excessively violent Manga comicbook, programmed at flicker-speed with all the sensitivity of a video arcade cop-killer game, certainly doesn't make them less 'artistic' then the Empire solo discs, which are couched in the 'art music' trappings of the Mille Plateaux label."

Without opening up the "Games as Art" debate, I think it's interesting to note that both music and comic's have come through the gauntlet of "Is it Art?" and emerged as some of the foremost harbingers of culture and popular art of our times. I continue to look forward to this broadening of scope when it come to video games because I can't listen to Digital Hardcore for the rest of my life, but I want to keep playing games that stimulate my adult mind.



"The time is right to fiiiiiiiiigigggggigiiggigghhhhht!"