And the reason for this cultural enquiry? To discover some methodologies for investing newer popular culture media forms with some of that same magical juice. And so we can start to see projects rise up from the mass market mediocre middle ground – rising above anything we have ever really experienced before – let’s take some breath away and up the game!

So many of the newer entertainment forms: ARG’s, games, interactive social and transmedia products suffer: from being genre based / over intellectualised / nothing more than low grade interactive TV repurposing / just plain crappy!

I have been ruminating on this theme and for a while it looked like music would be the only form of existing media product I could really make sense of with this line of enquiry. Music has such a strong emotional recall for me, it gives me such massive emotional energy; a resonance with my inner thoughts and feelings.

Sometimes I hear a song after twenty or thirty years and I instantly remember what I used to feel when I listened to it all that time ago. Often the lyrics are still hard-wired in my brain and I can sing along instantly. Songs from my childhood bring me vivid recollections and the most positive feelings I can remember from being a child.

This brings me back to the Beatles and Beach Boys. I didn’t experience either act at the time they were releasing. The Beach Boys I never had a love of as a kid, I got into ‘Pet Sounds‘ about 10 years ago (and it blew me away) but the Beatles were our family obsession. I loved listening to their records, singing their songs and I really liked the fact there were lots of other Beatles experiences: the record sleeves, the films and the personalities being projected.

I used to pore/paw over the red and blue albums – the photos of young and old, the consistent vertical horizon, the interaction between the team. The Beatles were a whole experience and very consistent. Their output was consistently shot through with positivity, intelligence or a simplicity that I totally engaged with. And tunes you couldn’t stop singing.

In the Nick Kent book, Brian Wilson says: (and I misquote without worry as the detail of this is unimportant): he wanted to make music that made the listener feel special or loved. When I listen again to Pet Sounds and some of their other best songs I see that he really made it work on that level – I challenge anyone to sit watching a September sunset listening to “Don’t Talk (Put Your Head on My Shoulder)” and not feel moved – even special or loved.

All members of the Beatles were (mis-)quoted similarly about their incredible body of work – they were proudest that all their output was about love. Culturally it could have just been because of the time that it was.

Is it love that makes a thing special? I don’t think so. A special thing is a special thing. At this critical time in the trajectory of western culture going down the toilet I think that a revolutionary political edge should be applied to the best new interactive transmedia work.

So what is the juice?

What about forms other than music?

TBC

They prioritise the audiovisual aesthetic to create experiences that give real insight into what videogames can be. In their own words; “We respect our players and want to contribute meaningful, enriching experiences that touch and inspire them”.

Their latest game, Journey, sounds like a truly innovative interactive experience with high and worthy ambitions; “Journey is an interactive parable, an anonymous online adventure to experience a person’s life passage and their intersections with others.” It is also now the fastest-selling game ever realeased in the SCEA region of the PlayStation Network.

“In the world of games, so little has been made so far that it’s like an empty space.” David Cage (EDGE #240, May 2012)

And that was the, “I can see for miles and miles and miles” moment – know the basic story you want to tell and then work out how to tell it. Basic stuff, really. As soon as we had a ‘placeholder’ story content to work with, the functionality and innovative thinking followed. It’s actually shaping up to be a pretty damn good tool!

My favourite period is the 60′s and 70′s when musical popular culture went into creative overdrive. A really interesting time when recording technology developed in leaps and bounds, the market facilitated the global sale of records by recording artists (some of whom leveraged immense creative control) and the whole notion of the music industry was positive and inspirational – that last bit might just be me! So I like to read, finding out how the magic that created iconic music ‘products’ like Pet Sounds, Abbey Road, The Ramones and London Calling (…obviously that list could go on for pages) was in the hands of obsessives who truly believed in their music, songs and messages.

Recently I read a great book on the Beatles, You Never Give Me Your Money and then I read Nick Kent’s books. He was a journalist for the NME and after some troubled times continues to write and work based out of Paris. Apathy for the Devil is great, the Dark Stuff is great too containing a mad article about a mad Brian Wilson.

The article was quite sad, Brian Wilson was very troubled and unhappy – seriously dark – but he said some brilliant things about his work. It’s worth reading if you like the Beach Boys music. Listening again to those amazing songs, then mixing in some of the most excellent moments I’ve had recently on Beatles Rock Band gave me such a great sense of what music can really do. The way a record can hit a deep spot in your memory making it possible to actually remember a mood or a feeling so vividly in your conscious mind that you think you might burst.

Which brings me to writing this – my love of interactive media-transmedia-multi-convergent-thingy-stuff driven by my favourite stories, films, music and technology – I’m trying to work out where this is all heading or at least work out what we need to consider to be creating emotionally engaging global interactive transmedia experiences – I have some more ideas on this subject which I’ll jot down shortly but right now I’m going to strap on the plastic Les Paul and nail some of the Let It Be tunes on top of the Apple Corps headquarters circa 1969…   tbc

Pet Sounds promo featuring the elusive Brian Wilson and a Zombie (?)

Before the Law