No Spandex Required: The Guitar Hero Generation

Before I start I would like to wish all the 3 people who read this blog a very happy new rear. Cheers and all the best for 2009. Last week while I was visiting the fantastic city of Prague my rather drunk and hazy eyes read a quote from Chelsea goal keeper Petr Cech. In the interview he mentioned how when he was growing up Communism helped him in his career in football. To his point he added that today’s kids (under Capitalism) are too busy sat in front of the telly, Playstation or X-box instead of actually physically taking part in sport. Now, I know very little about communism & sport (apart from the butch like shot putting ladies of the old USSR in the 80’s) and also the two are not the reason why I write this blog as you well know, but when it comes to music the big Czech may just have stumbled across a pretty good point. Since the arrival of Guitar Hero a few years back countless amounts of bands including Aerosmith, Metallica & guitarists such as Slash signed up to promote this game. Personally the only video game I play is Snake II on my Nokia phone, and I used to be a bit of a dab hand at Frogger & Donkey Kong, but that’s another matter I suppose. Anyway, I know playing Guitar Hero is not actually playing the guitar for real, but it’s popularity has seriously risen of late (the fools have even included drummers for some bizarre reason!!!), but is that a good thing for wanna be proper guitarists of the future? Is the rise of Guitar Hero gonna revolutionise music? Are gigs gonna be taking place in people’s living rooms, kitchens or even in the shitter? The possibilities are endless. Imagine the following scenario if you can: You’re an 11 year old kid in the future, it’s crimbo morning and you wake up to un-wrap Guitar Hero 15 and you are seriously made up! You then ring your mates and guess what? … They all have the same presents, too. So, over-excited because it’s Christmas, you then decide to form a band. Bingo! Instant band plugged in and ready to raaaawk! Sadly for the guitar purists of this world (me included), it seems the art of learning the guitar properly could quite possibly be a thing of the past. There is a case for the defence of the guitar hero generation, but there is also one for the guitar purists of this world. Silence in court … Case for Guitar Hero Being in a band can sometimes be quite miserable as many of you reading this can vouch for with the only memorable parts usually being the thirty or so minutes you use to spend on stage. Rehearsing, picking up gear, song writing songs, having arguments, musical direction and travelling in the back of a transit van sitting in a deck chair with four other lunatics with seriously bad arses all the way to a gig the other side of the country were all pretty forgettable examples/experiences. Playing Guitar Hero is a much more easy option and also rather cheaper than being in a band as you can sit in the comfort of your living room with a few mates round enjoying a few beers making proper cocks out of your self to the back catalogue of AC/DC or Led Zeppelin whilst wearing a rather tight pair of spandex kex!! Compare that to being in a band and having to shell out XX amount of money each month for rehearsal costs, petrol, tight spandex kex, strings and of course the hundreds of pounds guitars actually cost. In such hard economic times it’s easy to see why many kids are staying in with their mates and doing stuff like this. Case for Guitar Purists When I first learnt the guitar it is was a very personal affair (self taught, ahem). I have fond memories of sitting in my room as a teenager playing for hours on end much to the displeasure of my parents. It was great back then as it was a form of escapism for most teenagers from the boredom of school & college life. Playing the guitar was cool and it sometimes changed people’s perceptions and opinions of you “wow! You play the guitar?” or “you’re in a band???” Even the biggest of school & college geeks (me NOT being one by the way) sometimes received respect from their adversaries down to the fact that they played guitar. Sadly some kids are pretty rubbish at things like footy, skate boarding or even break dancing, but playing the guitar I found brought out a certain degree of self confidence I never really had a kid as believe it or not I was quite shy and withdrawn during my adolescence. The Future So, what of the future of music? I’m not saying that Guitar Hero is going to have a massive effect on music as a whole, but there’s a chance it will have some influence. One thing is for sure though: music WILL always adapt to current trends and technologies it always has done and it always will (does anyone remember saying “I’m not buying a CD player”!!). We are now well into the digital age of music, Guitar Hero is taking the digital age and morphing it with the virtual age that maybe is to come. So, what do you/we do? Do we continue down the usual path of the tried and test good old fashioned band/rehearse/play live scenario or do we embrace this new age of music and form virtual bands with your mates in your living room? One thing that will tip the balance is the one thing that has always been constant during the age of live music: musicians need audiences! Whether they are real or virtual is a question for the history books and the success of this possible new future of music. Virtual Spandex though, that’s a question of how big your balls are compared to the size of your cyber socks you might get for crimbo … if you’re a good kid, or course. Mol