Assignment 5-1 Guitar Hero

Guitar Heroism

A video game with a plastic guitar as a controller has become a cultural phenomenon in today’s society. The guitar has different colored buttons on the fret bar and by hitting the button at the right time; you unlock real music that has been played by the original musician. Although the individual is not really making music by pushing the buttons indicated on the screen, the illusion is there when you unlock the code (Levy, 2007).

This video game has spread like wildfire, with 14 million units sold; it is now even making debuts in bars as “Guitar Hero Nights”, instead of Karaoke with the atrocious vocals. These bars were looking to pick up business on the slow nights and now with business tripled they are offering “Big Hair” wigs and costume accessories to give the patron even more of a thrill while performing. It has also made it debut on such television series as, South Park and Gossip Girl (Wikipedia, 2008). The popularity has gone as far as injuring Detroit Tigers pitcher Joel Zumaya; he played so long that inflammation of the wrist kept him out of three postseason games. And guitar hero is a staple on many tour buses; lead guitarist Ed Robertson of Bare Naked Ladies has been so engrossed in a solo of “Free Bird” that he barely made on stage for his real concert (Levy, 2007).

There is a positive side to the Guitar Hero craze, Classic Rock has become more interesting to the younger generation, and there has been a dramatic increase in rock music sales. And in the second installment of Guitar Hero, the company squeezed in an unknown band by the name of Bang Camaro and since their debut on the game alone, with no promotions or big label, the band has been able to sell out shows around the country and rack up sales on iTunes, they may very well be the first band to launch a career strictly through a video game (Farber, 2007).

References

Wikipedia, (2008). Guitar Hero. Retrieved February 6, 2008, from Wikipedia Online Encyclopedia Web site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guitar_Hero_(series)
Levy, S (2007, January 29). The Low Cost of (Guitar) Heroism. Newsweek, Retrieved February 6, 2008, from http://www.newsweek.com/id/70181Farber, J. (2007, October 5). Bang Camaro is "Guitar Hero". New York Daily News, Retrieved February 6, 2008, from http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/music/2007/10/05/2007-10-05_bang_camaro_is_guitar_hero.html