Guitar Hero nonsense

[Trent Thornton <blisstrent@xxxxxxxxx>]

> Really, kids today just can't connect with
> music unless it's wired up to a phony guitar?
> White is completely right - how depressing...

Unbelieveable.  Look folks, it ain't 1975 anymore.  Kids don't buy vinyl 
records, plug in their headphones and sit back in bean bag chairs while the 
conjure their own visuals for as they listen for the first time.

If Page doesn't want to risk the Zeppelin master tapes after the hell he went 
through to reacquire them in the late 80's and early 90's, I can't argue with 
him.

If he thinks a GH or RB game with likenesses of the Zep members would be 
disrespectful to Bonzo's memory, hey, I can't fault the guy's firsthand point 
of view.  You have to respect that.

But if he's refusing to participate because "that's not how things ought to be 
done", I'm sorry, that's undiluted bullshit.  The reality is that tastes 
change, technology advances and introductions to music vary.

This is not the 70's.

But more broadly, I think it damages Zeppelin's legacy.  The reality is that 
younger folks who otherwise might never have listened to the likes of 
Aerosmith, Guns n Roses, Smashing Pumpkins, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Pearl Jam, 
Deep Purple or any of the dozens of others are doing so by way of these games.

Conspicuous only by their absence is Led Zeppelin, the daddy of several of 
those groups.

Is there any way a mere video game can truly do justice to, say, Bonzo's licks? 
 Absolutely not.  I'm about as musically-illiterate as they come and even I 
know that.  99.99999% of people will never be able to reach Achilles Last 
Stand.  But ya know what?  It was never about raising up a generation of young 
Bonhams, it's about introducing that generation to the *REAL* legend.

People seriously need to put aside their prejudices here and consider the 
opportunity being missed.

- t