Guitar Hero Must Die!
Posted Fri Dec 19, 2008 4:40pm PST
by Mick Farren in The MOJO BlogThe new generation of music games are sounding a widdly-widdly death knell for rock ‘n’ roll, argues MOJO’s Mick Farren.
Saturation yuletide advertising has finally convinced me that virtual music games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band, in which participants attempt to “play” classic metal solos by following flashing light sequences on guitar-shaped plastic peripherals, pose an even greater threat to the future of rock ‘n’ roll than Simon Cowell.
That’ just the opening salvo in an anecdote laced diatribe about the state of rock & roll. In addition to holiday advertising we are also presented with the damning evidence of a South Park episode and, “the unseemly rush by many of our current guitar ‘heroes’ to lease their music for inclusion” within the franchise. On that solid foundation of an argument (snort, snort, snicker, snicker) Mr. Farren goes in for the kill:
At a time when musical education in schools has become a cause célèbre, the promotion of video games that offer nothing more than a closed loop of virtual experience, devoid of creativity, does nothing to help. A spokesman for the game makers has claimed that they teach “sensitivity to rhythm, as well as develop the dexterity and independent hand usage necessary to play the instrument,” but this seems disingenuous when the games do nothing to impart the real fundamentals of music.
My eldest daughter plays both violin and cello in school. It does my heart good to hear her sawing away upstairs after her homework is done. This Christmas she asked for, and received, an electric guitar and amplifier as a reward for making the honor roll every quarter in school so far this year. Together we’ve planned regular lessons wherein I’ll impart all my vast knowledge of the fret board–I can see her rolling her eyes at that one–to her.
Now this is something I’ve been looking for, some way to connect with my little girl who somehow with a blink of an eye is suddenly 12 and doesn’t appreciate being chased around the house, tickled, and swung around by her feet the way she used to. I wish I could say I planned it all this way. Truth is, she never liked rock music all that much until she started playing Guitar Hero and Rock Band.
Have you listened to the radio with any regularity lately? Me neither. Every time I turn the thing on it oozes sewage like My Chemical Romance, Katy Perry, and Lil Wayne. When I was my daughters age The Doors, Pink Floyd, The Rolling Stones, and Led Zeppelin were undergoing a Renaissance on the radio. Simultaneously influential contemporaries like Sonic Youth, Smashing Pumpkins, Sound Garden, and Nirvana were rising to the fore. And whats on “classic rock radio” these days, why the perfect match to visionaries like David Cook, Taylor Swift, and Nickelback; R.E.O. Speedwagon, Def Leppard, and Journey. In short, crap. When I hear “John the Fisherman” by Primus or “Blitzkrieg Bop” by the Ramones coming through the walls it gives me hope for freaking future.
5 Comments
In GR we are lucky, we have a radio station that not only plays Ramones and Primus, but Sonic Youth, The Pixies, Elvis Costello and the Clash, as well as some of the better new stuff.
My almost twelve year old has wanted to play guitar since he saw his dad bang out three chords on an old acoustic guitar. Now, not only does he have three guitars, but plays clarinet and keyboards also. He’s never wanted to play Guitar Hero, or get it for his gaming system, because he’s seen his older cousin, who does have it, struggle to learn how to play a real guitar after spending too much time on his Guitar hero.
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I sure as hell can’t play a single song on these games, the timing is off somehow to what I expect as a guitar player. The main thing is I’m glad these kinds of songs have exposure, because they aren’t for the most part on any radio station ’round here. You’re pretty lucky there.
calibrate the game- and maybe that will help with the timing
we have most of the new guitar games- hubby just got rock band 2 with drums last night. he plays piano and i played clarinet and saxophone. i also sang in choir in high school, college, and community. we love the games. i think that if it’s all you do- the best you can hope for is better eye hand coordination and an appreciation of real music. surely, the garbage that has spewed forth from the radio since the mid-1990′s is responsible for the death of rock and roll. but it’s more convenient to blame a game as always. sorry, but when the 50 year old rockers draw more crowds than the ‘new talent’ it’s telling. elvis is rolling around in his graceland grave- and john lennon is hurling in the great beyond with his music being used to hawk wares.
I’ve tried Guitar Hero a couple times and can’t get the hang of it. I approach the fretboard as I would a real guitar when in fact it is just a video game controller.
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That’s exactly it, Agi.