RANT: "Power"
I finally got around to playing Saints Row 3 and I'm having a pretty good time committing insurance fraud and tornado DDT'ing gimps with my DDD cups and my zombie voice. After playing the first couple of story missions I ran into my biggest gripe not only with this game, but a common problem in so much of entertainment's marketing over these past 2 years.
Kanye West's "Power" is one of the most overused songs in advertising history. The song was pretty badass... back in 2010 when it was first released. I wrote an article last year bragging how games typically have better soundtracks than movies, Fight Night Champion being one of the highlights. Saints Row on the other hand, is the perfect counter argument with a smorgasbord of overplayed and obvious music choices of the past 3 decades.
Now I know I'm coming off as a elitist music snob and that's a valid claim. But I'm not some snooty hipster who hates music simply because other people like it. I hate music when I hear it too much and I get sick of it. This track by Kanye West, which plays at pivotal moments in the game, and on repeat on the rap station, has been used in so many commercials, trailers, and tv shows that you can hate it both by association and weariness. It's hit everything from The Social Network to Gossip Girl.
I just feel like there's this fucking unwritten law that says "Once someone beats you to a song, that's it. They win. Find a new song for your commercial." The same thing happened a few years back when "the Departed" came out, using "Gimme Shelter" by the Rolling Stones. Afterward, every shitty, uncreative marketing rep demanded that song be in the commercial for things like Prison Break and Call of Duty Black Ops.
I can tolerate two instances of a song being used, who knows maybe by the time the second commercial was ready to air it was too late to change it, but what makes Saints Row so eye-roll inducing was that this song was already a year and a half old and it was already used so much. I don't care how appropriate the song is. I may be a middle class half-honky with very little knowledge on such things but I'm going to go out on a limb and say there's probably another rap song out there about money, power, and respect. Shit, I think its obligatory for a rapper to make a homage to their poster child movie, Scarface.
I'd be totally cool if the song was used ironically but it's not. Skydiving out of a helicopter into a penthouse pool to the beat of this song was meant to be taken as badass. And for the majority of the world, the same majority that throws up the horns to Sam Worthington blowing up stuff to ACDC in Call of Duty commercials, it was.
But for this guy, who is way cooler than the majority of the world, I deem it counter progressive to the culture. (Adjusts eye monocle) (Swirls Wine Glass) (Takes Drag From Cruella Deville Style Cigarette) (Puts on Skyrim Horned Helmet)
XOXO,
Abortion Fist
P.S. While I was double checking my facts and making sure it was in fact a tornado DDT and not a Scissored DDT, I came across this Wikipedia article that details every variant of the DDT officially known to man. You're welcome and God bless Wikipedia.
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