I Can't Believe I Never Thought of This

The first band I was ever in was a cover band. We played the hits of all the greats like Red Hot Chili Peppers, Stone Temple Pilots and House of Pain. For some reason, I never thought to play the music from my favorite video games although it's probably for the best as there's apparently a glut of 8-bit cover bands out there.

When I first heard of The Advantage, I was intrigued. A band who play only songs from classic NES titles? Could they be better than the Beatles? It took me a few years to actually hear them and I must say, it's a great concept but it wears a little thin over the course of an album. Also, they play songs that are unfamiliar to me so the joy of hearing rock versions of 8-bit classics is too often lost on me. Take for example this obscure gem from their brilliantly titled second album, Elf Titled: "Solar Jetman - Braveheart Level." Not quite as familiar as the Super Mario Dungeon Song which every gamer knows by heart but that's probably more a poor reflection of me and my lack of in depth knowledge and no sleight towards the band.

In the latest Game Informer there's a short article on the proliferation of video game bands. As expected, they almost all have punny names but they are also almost uniformly awesome. These aren't just some untalented hacks in the basement, these are talented musicians who have actually put down the controllers and practiced some songs. I still think it's a fun concept and the technical brilliance on some of these songs is absolutely incredible. Since I've already posted a video from The Advantage, here are some other masters of the genre:

The Minibosses rock the theme song to mildly forgotten classic "Wizards and Warriors."

Wizards And Warriors - The Minibosses

Moving beyond simply aping the songs note for note, The OneUps reinterpret the music as they see fit as on this Bossa Nova version of "The Legend of Zelda."

The Legend of Zelda - Bossa De Link - The OneUps

Lastly, Powerglove shred the Mario theme. Changing it from the major to the much more metal minor key, they shred the song beyond belief. Their album is titled, Metal Kombat for the Mortal Man and sounds like Dragonforce if you removed the Wagner influence and replaced it with the music of Koji Kondo.

Mario Minor - Powerglove