Rock Band creators make the 2008 Time 100 list

by Christopher Grant { May 1st 2008 at 5:29PM }

Buffeted by presidents, presidential hopefuls, titans of industry, and the occasional blogger on this year's Time 100 – a list of, well, those sorts of people – are Alex Rigopulos and Eran Egozy, better known to you all as "those Harmonix guys." While Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto came out tops on the user-voted list (ie: the popularity contest), Rigopulos and Egozy were cherry picked and their writeup comes to us courtesy of one Mr. Steven Van Zandt, guitarist for Bruce Springsteen's E-Street Band (yeah, the Boss also made the Time 100) and chair of the Rock Band music advisory board.

At the root of their new celebrity is Rock Band, of course, which Van Zandt says "is one of the ways kids will find music in the future" and "may just turn out to be up there with the rise of FM radio, CDs or MTV." While we're not quite ready to sign that declaration, we're thrilled that Rock Band is being put on Time's cultural pedestal and happy to have Little Steven as an impassioned (if somewhat partisan) proponent of the medium. Now what's a blog gotta do to get some Springsteen in the Rock Band Store?

Tags: Alex-Rigopulos, Eran-Egozy, Harmonix, Rock-Band, Time

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

D_Average @ May 1st 2008 5:39PM

What about the guys from Battle of the Bands?

Roofie @ May 1st 2008 5:58PM

I'm very happy for them. Honestly, there's not a single game that I've played more in the past year than Rock Band, and the crazy part is that it's almost always with friends. I'm glad they're getting all of this recognition.

Jevanzz @ May 1st 2008 5:59PM

"And just when I though I was out... they pull me back in."

Tegolin @ May 1st 2008 6:17PM

Finally, they get some recognition they deserve.

343 Guilty Fart @ May 1st 2008 6:46PM

Who's Bruce Springsteen?

bigmac375 @ May 1st 2008 6:54PM

omg, joystiq sounds like mainstream news. please just say "Harmonix" and we will know exactly what you are talking about.

Co @ May 1st 2008 7:18PM

So the guys that copied Guitar Hero make the list.

tcc3 @ May 1st 2008 7:35PM

Were they not involved in creating GH as well?

Besides its not like GH wasn't a ripoff of Guitar Freaks anyway.

Joystick Hero @ May 1st 2008 8:15PM

Considering that Harmonix made the first two Guitar Hero games, I don't really consider it "copying" whatsoever.

Etchasketchist @ May 1st 2008 7:27PM

Since I agree that Steven Van Zandt that "Rock Band... 'is one of the ways kids will find music in the future'" I would greatly appreciate it if they would include tracks that were performed by black people. So far, by my count, the number of black musicians represented in Rock Band's track list and all of it's DLC is currently zero. Moving that up to one would be a good start.