We all know that the union of music and video games has granted us wonderful games, and not-so-wonderful games. What fewer people realize is that, when combined, music and video games are also capable of handing out some super-weird cameos. Take, for instance, the appearance of these musicians who were thrust headfirst outside their boundaries and into a digital world.
Insane Clown Posse in Backyard Wrestling and Backyard Wrestling 2: There Goes the Neighborhood (2004 / Xbox, PlayStation 2) — Some years before the group beseeched the Internet’s help on understanding the functionality of magnets, ICP loaned its music and harlequin faces to Eidos’s Backyard Wrestling series. ICP is a pretty divisive group: You either love ‘em or hate ‘em. Backyard Wrestling served both sides by offering up the chance to work alongside ICP, or, alternatively, dunking their heads in a deep-fat fryer. Unfortunately, Backyard Wrestling 2: There Goes the Neighborhood was nigh unplayable, so everybody lost in the end.
Aerosmith in Revolution X (1994 / Arcade, Various Consoles) — There’s not much to say about this plastic light gun shooter game that isn’t a swear word, but the arcade version was admittedly good for a couple of quarters that you didn’t want to waste on a fountain and a wish for world peace. Revolution X featured the members of Aerosmith in a dystopian future that abhorred music. What made the game truly unusual, however, is that the band members were hidden throughout the game and had to be rooted out order to achieve the best ending. So, Aerosmith was hiding from the authorities, and you had to find them and back them up? That’s actually a reasonable course of action. In other words, that’s not Aerosmith.
Michael Jackson in Space Channel 5 and Space Channel 5 Part 2 (2000, 2003 / Dreamcast) — Jackson’s video game legacy ranges from loud and proud (Moonwalker for the Arcade and Sega Genesis) to shrouded and mysterious (he very likely contributed music to Sonic the Hedgehog 3 for the Genesis, though nobody can confirm which pieces he composed; his name was dropped from the credits, and we’ll never know if it was because of the controversy that dogged him from the ’90s on, or if he really did hate the sound of his music converted into chiptune form). In the Space Channel 5 games, Michael actually bared his face as “Space Michael,” and his in-game model was capable of busting some familiar moves. Despite Space Michael’s tinfoil suit and vampire-pale skin, his cameo is the least surprising on this list: He really did fit the role of a dancing space guy as snugly as two puzzle pieces locking together. That’s not a jab. That’s just Michael.
Phil Collins in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories (2006 / PSP) — The Grand Theft Auto series has spoofed its share of celebrities, and it was only a matter of time before some bad-ass dawg showed up for real to collect a bit of extra notoriety. The first celebrity up to the plate? Phil Collins. Okay, well, it’s a start. If you dish up $6,000 for a ticket(!!!), you can attend a Phil Collins’ concert wherein he sings “In the Air Tonight” uninterrupted. Well, for that price, he’d better hold it in instead of pausing for a bathroom break.
The Devil in Guitar Hero III (2007 / Various Consoles) — The dark guitarist “Lou” (last name, “Siffer”) might be the devil, or he might be a fellow with a bad skin condition and an inability to stay away from instrument battles that tick away at the pace of a mouse’s heartbeat. Okay, okay: Lou is the Devil, and you stare him down during a rock rendition of “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” in Guitar Hero III. Why is that a surprise cameo? There’s a rumor going around that Satan does his dirty work through rock music, but the truth is, he usually doesn’t have time to touch the stuff. He has all-consuming wars to oversee, dictators to advise, and famine and plague to dole out. In other words, the Morning Star just happened to show up on the set of Guitar Hero III because he had a peck of spare time, which, for him, is rarer than a snowball on his front porch.
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Scott Steinberg is the CEO of video game consulting firm TechSavvy Global, and founder of GameExec magazine and Game Industry TV. Hailed as a top technology and video game expert by dozens of publications from USA Today to Forbes and NPR, he’s covered the field for 400+ outlets from Playboy to Rolling Stone. A frequent on-air analyst for networks like ABC, CBS, NBC and CNN, he’s also the author of Video Game Marketing and PR.
I’d venture to say that most of those were not cameos. Revolution X specifically featured Aerosmith, with heavy inclusion throughout. Same for the Backyard wrestling game and ICP. Phil Collins, on the other hand, is definitely a cameo appearance.