Sweet Promotion
Didja hear? The makers of the crazy-addictive Guitar Hero game are coming out with the ultimate pander: an Aerosmith-specific version of the game. I guess I'm not really that surprised; they are the top-selling band in this country and have been around since before I was born (and Steven Tyler? ugly back then, ugly now). However, at some point in their more recent history they became irrelevant. Sure, their music has always been full of cheesy lines and cliche phrases, but Permanent Vacation? Great album. Toys in the Attic? Great album. Pump? Frickin' awesome.
Pump came out in October 1989, the perfect time for a nearly-12-year-old kid to start listening to that kind of stuff. It was loud, fun, and suggestive. As I entered high school, I bought all of their previous CDs (and tapes! remember those?) and I distinctly remember going with Jay, Mike, and phil to their concert at Jones Beach (putting it in context, the opening band was 4 Non Blondes).
It took a while for the band to release their next album - actually it took over four years. The band had ridden the success of Pump very far, making it all the way to Wayne's basement. Expectations for the new album were high. When it was released, Get A Grip, lived up to its initials: GAG. The music was not that great, but by that time every teenage boy was drooling so much over Liv Tyler and Alicia Silverstone - the stars of Aerosmith's music videos from GAG (when MTV played videos, sigh) - that the music didn't matter so much. By the way, how is it possible that she came from his seed? I don't get it.
Unfortunately, the band stopped mattering so much as well. They sunk deeper and deeper into ballads, cheese-rock and faux blues, reaching their nadir when they recorded "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" for the dreadful Armageddon. Inexplicably, that was their very first #1 hit. They've been riding on those coattails ever since, releasing a couple of duds and yet popping up everywhere there's a chance to shamelessly promote themselves. And when I say "themselves," I really mean "Steven Tyler and Joe Perry." The rest of the guys seemingly couldn't give a shit.
So their evolution has taken them to this latest mutation. What a coup for Activision and Aerosmith, huh? Last year, people dropped one billion dollars on Guitar Hero. One Billion. Aerosmith has sold 65 million records. You do the math; they're gonna make a whole lot of dough from this.
How do I feel? Well, if the game eventually winds up turning more people on to music and getting more kids to take up actual instruments, then I'm all for it. But Activision - don't stop with Aerosmith. Get some Zep in there. Get some Who in there. Even some Santana. They obviously have to start mainstream. I'm waiting for a niche company to make a jazz version (let those kids fuck with some Charlie Hunter or maybe some Tommy Emmanuel and see what happens), or for some speed-metal company to kick it up a notch and do DragonForce. But what I really think is this: If I play a game that involves playing instruments (kinda) - and I have 20+ years of experience playing ACTUAL instruments - and I am not as good as Matt Engel, then it's a stupid fucking game. Scroll to 20:22; QED.
By the way, it seems that I've been beaten to the punch.
posted by ab @ 12:40 PM
3 Comments:
A) It's an awesome game. Not a stupid fucking game.
B) Check out the set lists for the last 3 guitar heroes. Nothing but rockin.
C) Guitar Hero is second fiddle to Rock Band. I implore all of you reading this to buy a Xbox 360 and then buy Rock Band. We can all play together. My xbox handle is Chipwich. Add me as a friend.
D) Playing Dragonforce on guitar hero is the greatest way ever to get carpal tunnel.
I played Rock Band for the first time Sunday.
On "guitar" with no practice I was getting 90% or so on Medium for most of the songs, but kick it up to hard (i.e. add the dreaded 5th button) and I completely lose all ability to play the game.
The singing is actually a lot of fun. I like that you can scream "HELLO CLEVELAND!" and get points for doing so. Also, they have Run to the Hills. I can't sing Run to the Hills, but I wish I could.
Oh dear god, do I suck at drums. Even on "easy" I suck at drums. I am drastically, horribly uncoordinated. This is probably not news.
I totally understand, and approve of, playing these games with a bunch of friends. It's fun. What I don't understand at all, is the people who actually "shed" Guitar Hero and spend 50 hours of their lives practicing until they can nail the Dragonforce song on Expert.
If you have that much free time, and like shred guitar that much, play guitar for real.
I agree with almost everything you said except 50 hours of real guitar ain't gonna put you close to those Dragonforce fellas. Hell, 50 years might not. In closing, buy an xbox 360. In an alternate closing, I can beat rock band drums on medium...BITCHES!
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