Filed under: Family
I am a fan of music. My father before me was a fan of music. He said their were two kinds… country… and… western. I like to think I’m a little more open than that. I played trombone in my middle school band. I don’t know many (if any) really good rock bands that have a trombone in them.
I like all kinds of music. My favorite genre would be music from the 80’s. We have a satellite dish and we get Sirius music stations. My wife and I love “The Big 80’s” station. It rocks. Our kids don’t like it so much… but they don’t have much taste when it comes to great/classic music. I like to say that I grew up in the 80’s. I went to high school in the 80’s. Music then was awesome. The Cars, Blondie, Hall & Oates, Duran Duran, Culture Club (yes… I like Culture Club), Billy Joel, Rick Springfield, Michael Jackson (when he looked like Michael Jackson), Van Halen, Foreigner, Pat Benatar, Men At Work, AC/DC, The Outfield, and then, all of the Hair Bands of the late 80’s.
Who hasn’t stood at the side of the gym/cafe at a dance playing air guitar and looking for a girl to dance with? Okay… really just looking for a girl because we were all too scared to dance. Well, David Gibson wasn’t. There was the dream I had of dancing with Miriam Holmes… but I digress…. on to Guitar Hero.
I think that playing Guitar Hero is ruining future garage band lead guitarists. You get to listen to some great music. You get to play along on the guitar with some great artists. Yet, you really aren’t playing along. You are pushing five colored keys on the neck of the guitar and strumming a switch on the body. It’s really not like playing a guitar. It’s like playing a video game to some rocking music. My two pre-teens (11 & 12) are pretty good at the game. Oh, how I wish they had real guitars that they would spend the time with. Real guitars to make real music. Real guitars that they can use to entertain themselves and their friends. I’m not opposed to the game… I’m just opposed to it taking away real opportunity to learn music and to play music.
I think the writers of the code for this game are pissed because they were the guys always standing on the side of the gym waiting to dance. Or wanting to dance. They never got to. They are getting even. They are getting even by ruining the future musical careers of guitarists.
Maybe I’m wrong… maybe I’m not… but I have to go… it’s my turn.
