A Real, True Guitar Hero
So already, much ado about Neil Young licensing "Rockin' In The Free World" for a video game.
But we're bound for moving on since we've been through that a hundred times or more.
Which brings us to our post here on a real, true rock hero.
We've been reading the Washington Post newspaper for literally decades. And this morning a story really jumped out at us that said, this is what guitar heroes are all about. A top of the fold weekend Style section story written by a 14 year old in one of the world's leading establishment mainstream media publications.
The elite professional music critics disdain this type of writing as a "fan-gasm". And we say to them, throw your hatred down.
A must read for any kid who wants to be a guitar hero someday: Guitar Hero: When Heartbreaker Mike Campbell met a young fan, he didn't just string him along by Griffin Black.
After reading article, watch the accompanying video. It is truly an AMAZING dream come true story, once in a lifetime story they we can all dream about. It's just true.
ps - and please spare us the cynicism.
by thrasher@PermaLink: 8/14/2010 10:22:00 AM
22 comments
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22 Comments:
what Neil does with his Music is his business...he can change his mind just like anybody else, I don't care (yet)...as for the bigger story--inspirational, no cynicism (for a change)
asg
Hi T-Man,
Thanks for putting this up. Truly inspiring. Have forwarded it to some aspiring teen guitarists that I know.
Interestingly, I just finished watching the Heartbreakers 4 hour documentary "Running Down A Dream". Elliott Roberts is interviewed throughout this film. I had no idea he co-managed Tom Petty in the late 70's until 1987 during the famous backrupt trial when Petty was breaking big. The "Damn The Torpedos" master tapes were hid in Roberts car trunk nightly as to not be seized by the record company.
Great job as always with TW T.
OTB
Thank you for sharing this wonderful story. My whole day just got better. Best of luck to Griffin on his journey with the guitar.
I was just reading about how when Jimmy Page was a little bugger, his school superiors took his guitar away from him when he brought it to school to practice!
How do they think young kids get interested in guitar? They hear something and want to BE PART OF THE SONG! THEY WANT TO BE PART OF THE EXPERIENCE OF DOING THE SONG!!!
Ya know, we've really come a long away from using tennis racquets & air guitars & whatever we could draw from our imagination to groove to the music...
Great story! I always wanted to hear a collaboration with Tom Petty and Neil Young. Their voices would fit together great.
As a huge Neil fan with absolutely no musical talent, I am excited at the opportunity to mash along on to his music on a toy guitar. I never thought the day would come, and I hope there are more songs to follow.
Brian, Tinley Park, IL
They should do a Guitar Hero: Neil Young and Crazy Horse, kind of like they did with Metallica.
Imagine Neil's entire discography with the Horse crammed into a guitar hero game??
I mean, personally I have mixed feelings about guitar hero itself. But introducing a whole generation of kids to The Horse through Guitar Hero would be really cool, I think.
Plus, it wouldn't be half as difficult as the Metallica edition. Perfect for Guitar Hero non-players like me, who can barely make it through most Guitar Hero songs without wanting to break the little plastic guitar over my knee and scream. heh heh
Matt
Thrasher come home.
Same old greedy crap from Neiler.
He's releasing his new album on Sept 28.....but you'll have to wait until November to get the BluRay addition.
So what's a Neil diehard going to do?
Well, you'd likely buy the album the day it comes out in Sept.....but since you're a diehard (like me) you very likely purchased a BluRay player to play the Archives....so in november, you'd likely buy the BluRay addition as well. Remember - Neil told us how much superior the BluRay format is. So, if it's so great, Neil, why not release it on Sept 28th?
I'll tell you why - because Neil loves to find ways for his loyal fan-base to buy things twice.
I'm sick of it.
And guess what - i refuse to purchase Neil releases from now on.
You rip me off, i will rip you off.
Say what you want about a rip off or whatever, I can tell you that Guitar Hero and similar games turned my kids on to great music (they can't stand a lot of the pop and hard rock, or whatever you call it these days). All three of my boys play guitar now and hardly ever play the guitar video games. These games were a gateway to actually learning guitar and to appreciating a wide variety of rock music. I had my doubts initially, being a guitar player myself. But now that I can sit around and jam with my 9, 12, and 14 year old, I understand the importance of these games in introducing a lot of the classic music to the next generation of rockers. To that end, I applaud Neil Young and all others who may have been a bit reluctant to make their music available but now see the value in these games for getting their music out there. Please save the greed comments - EVERYTHING is a rip off these days!!
JohnnyProdder -
i wasn't saying that Guitar Hero is a rip-off (it just might be but i havent a clue)...
I was talking about Neil not releasing the BluRay format at the same time as he's releasing the CD/MP3 format.
Neil is the one who told all of us that BluRay format is by far the most superior listening format. He released Archives in that format for that very reason.
Well, if that's the case, why not release it at the same time as the CD format? I'll tell you why - he wants fans to buy each format, so he increases sales. Cha-ching!
That's the bottom line and you won't convince me otherwise.
And btw, BluRay format is not being embraced by the masses. This format will be an antique within two years.
Archives has been one of the most over-hyped music releases in history. Yawn.
On the one hand I'm thinking, why would Neil Young licence a song of his to Guitar Hero? Te me that's kind of lame, as it's just a one issue game, you buy this rather expensive plastic guitar looking thing and then it can only be used for one game (no I don't count the countless add-ons as new games) and in the end it has nothing to do with guitar playing at all! Hell, it has little to do with music at all, as you are fully focussing on what button sequence to press as it shows up on the screen. There might as well be no music playing at all. Anyway, on the other hand, a lot of my guitar playing friends hardly (or don't even) know Neil Young or his music at all, apart form me talking about it (then again, they have never heard Rory Gallagher or Stevie Ray Vaughan play either). They do worship guys like Steve Vai and Joe Satriani, who, although playing technically perfect cannot provoke any of the emotions Neil can with his 'three chord solos'. Maybe this is an opportunity to introduce Neil Young to a new crowd, which I'm sure Warner had something to do with.
By the way, @Anon 8/22/2010 11:12:00 AM
WHY would you buy the CD if you already KNOW the Blu-Ray version is coming along in a month anyway. If you regard it as the superior medium, why not wait. You can download an (illegal) copy of the CD and listen to that in the meantime. As for me, I play CDs more regularly as DVDs or Blu-Rays, so I'll stick with the CD version and will buy the Blu-Ray if it has additional material that is worthwhile (live footage of the current tour perhaps?).
Anyway, as for patience; a while ago they did a study on kids, in which they put them in a room with a candy bar. They told the kids that if they could leave the candy bar alone during their stay in the room, they would be awarded with a second one afterwards. The kids that patiently waited and received their second candy bar ended up to be much more successful in life, bar none. The study thus showed that people with a little patience are much more successful in life. Now, if you cannot even wait the extra month for the Blu-Ray version, what does that make you?
Finally, I would like to add that I find it despicable that every single blog entry by Thrasher ends up in a flamewar about how much of a sell-out Neil is. It has even sparked a reaction form Neil Young on the NYTimes section of his website. It would be a damn shame if TW ceased to exist because of the anonymous cowards sucking the life out of this blog by nitpicking an trying to find something negative in everything Neil does. It's my prime source for NY News, even above Neil's own site, so Thrash, if you are still reading this: Don't Let It Bring You Down. And as Neil said: Fuck the Audience!
this is really rich.
so we're talking about Neil Young, a man who has created an amazing legacy by speaking out, ripping others for hurting other people.
He's always taken a stand and we love him for it.
So, you're trying to tell me it's not OK when the shoe is on the other foot? The internet gives us a forum to do the same thing Neil has been doing for years.
I love Neil, but he's become a capitalist slob the last few years....and I'm using the Internet to call him out.
i'm sure good ol' Neil would understand.
Hey Anon,
How about this: WAIT until the Blu Ray version comes out. In the meantime listen to the stream for free on Neil's website when that goes up.
Gee.
Solutions.
Who'd have thought.
Can't have those.
You'd much rather be FORCED to buy something TWICE, now wouldn't you???
You create your own problems, dude.
@Harm: I totally hear you, man. Unfortunately, attempting to reason logically with people like ANON (strange, how all the haters are "Anon") is a futile endeavor. I can totally understand why Thrasher has decided to take a break.
@ Anon: Talk about rich.
Now you insinuate that Neil is HURTING you.
Ha ha ha ha!!!
Am i the only one who's actually noticed the duplicitous practices Record Companies - and by extension - artists engage in?
Sales are so low, they are doing anything possible to spike 'em.
What Neil pulled with the Archives is Exhibit A. He released some Performance Series discs (ie, Filmore, Massey), people bought 'em, only to find out that months down the road you'd be buying 'em again when the Archives got released.
These are the times in which we live. Everything is not as it seems.
Yes, Neil is at the mercy of his record company....but does that not mean he's not culpable as well, even just a little?
And this Tyson Foods debate is a whole 'nother ball of wax.
Is it worthy of spirited debate? As Sarah Palin would say - You Betcha!
But we're not supposed to debate it because we're all card-carrying Neil fans?
Come on now....
Well, If I remember correctly, the NYA VOl. 1 were only going to be released on Blu-Ray at a point. Not everyone wants to shell out 300 bucks for the complete set, so those CD versions were the ideal solution for the more 'causal' fan. After Neil decided to release both CD and DVD versions as well as including an MP3 download voucher with the DVD and Blu-Ray set, partially (or perhaps mainly) because of demands (or requests if you like) right here on TW, those initial CD versions became obsolete, or did they? Via Neil's Website, you are able to buy the individual discs, for each set. And as Archives Guy said, we can't have a boxed set for people that only own Massey Hall, or Fillmore East or both, or none... for the CD version that would mean 4 different versions.
Anon, you can debate it all you want, but we've gone over it again and again, and logic dictates that you are just trying to turn a non-issue (exhibit A) into an issue.
It's over, man. If you can't deal with getting a previously released performance series disc in HIGHER QUALITY than its initial release, included as part of a boxed set, good for you. Or bad for you. Or something.
My lord, man.
And this time around, Neil is careful to let everyone know ahead of time that there's going to be all these different formats, so you have the option of WAITING for your preferred format, so you don't end up paying for a CD and then for a Blu Ray disc down the road.
So there, you have an option, nobody is forcing you to buy anything, and as long as you can control your impulses, you have the option of only buying something one time.
In fact, you can just listen to the stream on Neil's website a few times when it goes live, enjoy it, then never buy anything at all, and still get to hear the album.
Sounds like a really swell deal to me.
My children (aged 6 to 9) are the same way. They can be happy as clams and then if I buy ice cream for one of them the others start bitchin and moaning and rolling around on the ground crying about why didn't they get some. It makes no sense, what does one have to do with the other. If Neil's putting out new music, if he had put out both the regular and Blue Ray in November you'd have been ecstatic. So what, he's coming out with the regular version a couple months early, what does on have to do with the other? I'd bet the delay for Blue Ray is from a longer production cycle as the runs are smaller. Obviously, the regular CDs can be cranked out fast, the higher end Blue Rays probably take longer. Should Neil delay the CDs? Hell no. I think what irks so many of us is that some people/fans/bloggers just complain about everything, turn every positive into a negative, assume the worst in every situation, its ridiculous. Do you really think Neil is purposely delaying the Blue Ray launch to screw people? Come on, that is so stupid, I bet Neil makes no money on the Blue Ray as the sales levels are way to low. Consistent with his philosophy, his sound decisions (aka Blue Ray) are totally divorced from economics otherwise he'd be doing the same thing as everyone else -- putting out only crappy CDs. The fact people turn it around and accuse him trying to rip him off is the kind of crap that Thrasher is sick of seeing on his blog. I'm all for thoughtful critique but can we get past this mindless complaining / conspiracy theorism / just plain negativity and enjoy Neil and his prolific art?
Dan
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