Steve Lukather:

The problem with Guitar Hero is that if you can REALLY play the guitar it makes no sense. No real guitar player is good at it cause your brain hears one thing you know you can easily play and then your fingers are forced to do what your brain knows is wrong. haha

It’s great for people that don’t play and it’s fun. Right on.

I have always hated video games from Pong on. I remember back in the "blow era" it was all anyone wanted to do. Why?? No answer. haha

I LOVE Aerosmith. I just wanna say that Brad Whitford does not get the love he deserves.

He played WAY more guitar on those records than he is given credit for and is a really great guy as well. Joe is awesome but it takes 2 in that band. Its like a right and left hand. They both play off each other. I had a chance to do a show with those guys last summer. What an amazing live band. They are all great guys and have made classic music that is timeless. That’s why people come back for more.

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Terry McBride:

Funny thing is we talked to "guitar hero" well before they where even bought by Activision, they where only interested in Classic Rock or mainstream rock, we are still too young to represent any . Same with Rock band we talked long before it hit the market.

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Darrin Buchanan:

GH3 on the Wii, although still stuck in mono, until they patch that and fix it (you can’t hear the vocals for SHIT) is the way to go. Guitar Hero took my 6 year old from listening to Hannah Montana, Joanna and Hilary Duff, to wanting to play co-op to her new favorite tunes Barracuda and Hit Me With Your Best Shot. Why? She says the songs are better. She is SIX…..but she understands well written music and great songs, not the same old, slapped, wrapped and sold for 12 bucks.

I get picked at daily, to get my ass downstairs, off the laptop and onto the GH3, as she opens up harder levels, and learns of "new" music, like Santana and Sabbath. For me, it is a godsend. I can totally see all of the classic acts, like Leppard, Sabbath, Purple, The Who, pretty well any iconic guitar music, becoming a downloadable add on. Better than most of the shit that is being handed to us these days. I do fear the technology becoming too big, and seeing albums of music, created by 4 strangers on Rock Band. Too much of ANY good thing, makes a shit sandwich in my opinion.

And a word to the wise for you, do NOT try Dragonforce’s Through The Fire and Flames on ANYTHING but easy..it is killer…..

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Bob D’Eith:

As far as Guitar Hero goes, I am a big fan. All of my kids (three boys 8, 10, 12) rock at it. More importantly, it has turned them on to some classic music. They like AC/DC, Aerosmith, Rush and many other bands because of this cool gadget. They have purchased nearly all of their favorites on iTunes, which means sales to the bands.

The other thing is that it seems to be more than just air guitar. It doesn’t teach guitar chops, but it does teach rhythm. I was blown away when my 12 year old got off Guitar Hero and then got on his drums and nailed YYZ by Rush. That is a complicated song!

The new Rock Band is even better, because it has a kit and the vocals have to be sung on pitch.

I asked the boys why they like the old songs better than the new ones. They said that the new ones only have singing and the old ones have cool solos and neat parts for the instruments. And they like the songs better. Hmmm. From the mouths of babes.

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Will:

Bob,

I am glad you finally posted something about Guitar Hero. I’d like to share this story-

I have a three year old. A few months ago I hear him in the bedroom singing-

"Smo Gonna Watha, pire en da-die!
Tan tan tan, tan tan ta-tan"

I recognized it, but could not place it. I asked him to repeat it, and after the second go around I figured it out – my three year old was singing SMOKE ON THE WATER!

I asked him where he had heard that song? He said "Guitar Hero". I asked him if he knew any more from the game, and he went ahead to phonetically butcher, "Should I Stay or Should I go", "Freebird", and "Blitzkrieg Bop". I could not have been more proud.

Bob, that game may not save us, but it will certainly help the cause!

Keep up the good work.

Peace, will

Sent from my iPhone

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hey bob,

i think guitar hero is great. im a music nerd (like most who read your letter) so i know 99.9 percent of the songs on guitar hero. But there are a TON of non music nerds being exposed to some great tracks by some great bands. As a DJ i even now get asked to "play that one song from guitar hero…you know, the one that goes like……"

youd be crazy to not license your song to guitar hero. Do it and expose your music to a ton of people who have never, or would have never heard of your stuff!

-Kyle Marxen-

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Bob, have to tell you about a very interesting phenomenon that I experienced with my 15 and 11 year old boys.

My 15 year old is finally paying attention to music-he’s been an all sports kid his whole life until now. His iPod is the craziest collection I’ve ever seen from "The Wanderer" by Dion to the latest Rhiannon and Linkin Park tracks. Last year I got him a Guitar Hero Xbox360 game and then a Rock Band program. He is discovering all kinds of Classic Rock (some good/some bad-Sweet??)

I thought it interesting that he’s downloaded a bunch of songs from the game via I Tunes. I have virtually all of them on CD so he bought them again without knowing.

My 11 year old got a Guitar Hero for Wii. His (new) favorite song is "Paint it Black." My wife bought it for him on iTunes and I have the song on CD. It’s almost like the shift from LP/Cassette to CD’s all over again.

This could open a bunch of Classic Rock sales to the next generation and be the catalyst for them to learn about the music from the (recent) past. If I had tried to play my kids Who music and Led Zeppelin they would have rolled their eyes about it being "Dad’s music" but when Guitar Hero and "Rock Band" sanction it, it’s cool.

Steve Knill
Radiate Group

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Hi Bob:

My kids (ages 8, 13, and 15) are now classic rock fans because of Guitar Hero. There have been numerous times that I’ve heard them singing, or recognizing, a classic rock tune and asked "how do you know that song?" The answer is always "Guitar Hero"! That game has turned them on to a lot of great music that they wouldn’t usually listen to on their own – and as we know, it’s much cooler if THEY discover it, than us trying to tell them about it. We will definitely be purchasing the Aerosmith version.

Leslie Bell

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Hey Bob. I’ve written you a few times and I’m not sure if these all get to you or not. It doesn’t really matter. I don’t need to see my words in your weekly mail. I just wanted to tell you that in my opinion guitar hero is best for ps3 and XBox360. I’m unbiased as I own no system (though I’ve played GH on them all extensively). The play control is slightly different for each. I find that for ps2 and Wii that you need to play a smidge AHEAD of the beat. Not a good thing for those that know the tunes well. PS3 and XBox seem to let you rock out perfectly in time. I find a huge difference.

David A Levine
Toronto Angry Mob

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L.C. Hendricks:

Bob,

Have you heard this youtube story? Dude is playing Rock band or Ghero..whatever. He is crushing expert level in front of a house party of people. They are flipping out and loving his shit while he dominates the Dragon Force song on expert. He finishes the song to an ovation of people. The entire party is loving this guy’s skills on Ghero. He then picks up a real guitar, plugs in and plays the same Dragon Force song on his guitar.

Everyone ignores it and goes about parrtying and hooking up.

The next rock star will be a robot, I about swear to god it will be. I just hope I’m in position to sign it.

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Bob,

Sorry to hear you are being dumbed down with the rest of the lame game society. When you were in the glory days of discovering bands and playing albums, guitar players were studying and playing hours a day experiencing the bliss of perseverance and they still do today. I feel contempt for the purveyors of this stink. Provide games that make it easier to learn the fundamentals OK but this money grab is fucked and so are those who attach their name to it, including you.

Blair Hebert
Vancouver Canada

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Jason Flom:

Well said, Bob. "Rocks" is, to me the very finest pure hard rock album ever made (ok it’s hard to say that "Appetite" isn’t just as good but "Rocks" came first. "Nobody’s Fault" is as good as hard rock gets and it contains one of my favorite lyrical twists ever: "ONE of these days you’ll be sorry, TOO many houses on stilts: THREE million years for just a story, FOUR on the floor up to the hilt! California showtime, FIVE O’clocks the news, everybody’s concubine was prone to take a snooze."

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Rocky Del Balzo:

The main thing that has kept Aerosmith going besides their amazing talent is that they still work their asses off. I worked three or four records on Columbia and Steve and Joe in particular would do whatever I asked them to do. They did it with a smile and they were really good at it. They made everyone they came in contact with at radio or backstage or in the streets, feel special. I really enjoyed every minute working with these guys. My wife reminds me when I was working on those Aerosmith albums she very rarely saw me. I was always on the road with the band. I had to be, just to keep up with the band. They deserve everything they get. If they never make an album again, no one would really care. They have delivered enough great music for a lifetime and worked hard enough for two lifetimes. These guys understand the way it should be done.

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Craig Kallman:

"Lord of the Thighs" has always been my favorite Aerosmith song since a teenager. So cool you mentioned that one.

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Leslie Turner:

I agree with you – Get Your Wings was sooo killer – of course I didn’t discover it until the 80’s – but man I wore that cassette out.
Thanks for reminding me of that album!

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From many:

Next Generation To Take A Pass On Aerosmith

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Andy Yen:

Bob –

Guitar Hero is OVER. Sure this is great for Aerosmith fans, but how many of those hardcore fans own a current generation video game console? How many of THOSE care enough about this game to plunk down $149 to play an air guitar simulator?

By putting this Aerosmith version of Guitar Hero out, Activision has basically ensured that I will not buy this and any further edition of Guitar Hero unless they make some radical changes. They are milking this franchise for all they can before discarding it like a used condom. Where is the innovation? Why would I want to buy a new version of a game every four months when the only thing different is new songs? It’s like they’re turning the Guitar Hero franchise into NOW THATS WHAT I CALL MUSIC! It’s only there to leech money from the uninitiated, the lazy, the GULLIBLE! Activision is feeling the heat from EA and Harmonix who have a much better fake rock star experience in Rock Band in that it includes ALL of the parts of a band. Does Guitar Hero let me pretend to be Steven Tyler? Only if i want to stare blankly at a poorly animated 3d character on the screen and emulate its movements while shouting DUDE LOOKS LIKE A LADY at my TV.

I find Aerosmith tolerable. They have some good songs. But would I ever consider spending $60 on a glorified song pack for a game I already have? Fuck no! Especially if all of the song are from ONE BAND that I only casually like. I’d much rather pick and choose the songs I want to get, like what Rock Band offers me. Each week Harmonix releases new songs from varied artists that I can get if I want them. Radiohead – My Iron Lung? Sign me up. I want some punk? I’ll take some Clash. A pack of Iron Maiden songs? No thank you. The point is CHOICE at a lower cost of entry ($1.99 per track or 3 for $5.50).

And the press release those guys put out? Here, let me give you a "quote" from the great Steven Tyler on the product press release:

"Any band that can go from ‘Don’t Want to Miss A Thing’ (Aerosmith’s #1 smash hit) to the ass-kicking ‘Sweet Emotion’ to the cheekiness of ‘Love in an Elevator,’ to the classic ballad ‘Dream On’ shows why Activision chose us to headline this game based on the diversity of the Aerosmith catalog. Not only is songwriting a bitch, but then it goes and has puppies."

Does that sound like a product that you would be satisfied to buy? Is that a band that is "closer to us"? You answer that.

Here’s a different take from all of the circle jerking you’ve put forth:

Revolution $

PS: I’d keep that ps3 unless you and Felice want to play Wii bowling all day like you live in a retirement home. The PS3 versions of rock band and guitar hero let you download new songs each week (at a price). The Wii does not.