http://www.gamespot.com/news/6186099.html
I don’t know if this is the right band choice to ease young buyers into the idea of buying an entire music game based around their favorite band. Yeah they’re a good band and have some good tunes, but they haven’t really been relevant in over a decade. Have they even put out a new album in the new millenium? How many young folks are going to buy this?
They had to have asked Metallica first followed by a couple of other bands before reaching Aerosmith.
I think that it’s obvious that they’re not really looking to the kids for this one. Otherwise, they’d pick “Wham” or “Chumbawumba” or “Sugar Ray”…you know, the things that the youngsters are into these days.
Guitar Hero and Rock Band are for kids? Riiiiight.
Dude, they’re totally for thirtysomethings.
Guitar Hero: Nickelback proved too tough to code, as they couldn’t figure out how to make the note charts different for all the songs.
My biggest gripe with both Guitar Hero and Rock Band is the lack of 70’s and 80’s music.
Aerosmith is the perfect band for this format. Now dad and mom can rock out and show those whippersnappers a thing or two.
And Guitar Hero: Pink Floyd didn’t fit on one disk. Though rumor has it it could sync up beautifully with a game of Halo 3.
The majority of video game consumers are over thirty years old. This is aimed squarely at their biggest demographic.
My response is there hasn’t been any good bands in over a decade. I am buying this the second it is released. I love Guitar Hero 3 precisely because it has lots of older stuff that kicks ass. Now if they can just get AC/DC on board.
I’m just having trouble finding 40 or 50 Aerosmith songs I’d want to play.
When I think Aerosmith, I can come up with maybe a dozen songs I like (14, actually):
Walk This Way
Dream On
Sweet Emotion
Janie’s Got a Gun
Same old Song and Dance
Draw the Line
Rag Doll
Dude Looks Like a Lady
Love in an Elevator
Cryin’
Crazy
Living on the Edge
Pink
I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing
That’s a lot of good songs, but it’s not enough to fill an entire game. So there will be lots of filler, I imagine.
I like that the music games are trying new things, but instead of a single band disc, I would rather see genre-specific titles. This should have been “Guitar Hero Rocks the Arenas” or something. Dedicate one tier to each band - Foreigner, Journey, Aerosmith, Cheap Trick, Boston, Kansas, Queen, Led Zeppelin, and AC/DC. Pick 6-7 of the best songs from each band.
Now that would be a great game.
Later, they could do “Guitar Hero - The British Invasion”, “Guitar Hero - The South Rises Again”, “Guitar Hero - Masters of Electric Blues” - that sort of thing.
Well, I’m not a youngster anymore, but when I was in 6th grade (circa 1994-1995) I became pretty immediately aware that Aerosmith are gods of rock, even though one wouldn’t really call them popular even then. I knew guys who were obsessed with AC/DC, and I discovered the awesome reality of Rush about 3 years ago. Young people know greatness when they hear it. With all the young kids I know who are into everything from Hendrix to The Smiths to Nirvana, I’m beginning to wonder if we’re past the whole ‘‘old music is lame’’ trend. Rock music is pure rebellion no matter what decade it comes from.
…Except when it’s lame.
I told my friends that a pre-1996 discography of Metallica would make the greatest rock band/guitar hero game ever. I bet Metallica wants to sell their songs one by one to different franchises to make the most possible money though.
Aerosmith, though? Eh.
Aerosmith’s current stuff might be lame, but their work from the 70s and 80s and even some stuff from the early 90s is kick-ass. That qualifies them for their own video game in my opinion.
What little experience I have with Rock Band is that there are many many ‘new’ songs that I know I’ve never heard before.
In response to PunditLisa above, Rock Band has a pretty decent selection of 70s songs. A quick google turns up:
* Aerosmith "Train Kept a Rollin'"*
* The Who "Won't Get Fooled Again"
* Boston "Foreplay/Long Time"
* Mountain "Mississippi Queen"*
* The Police "Next to You"
* David Bowie "Suffragette City"
* Black Sabbath "Paranoid"*
* Blue Oyster Cult "Don't Fear the Reaper"
* The Ramones "Blitzkrieg Bop"
* Deep Purple "Highway Star"
* KISS "Detroit Rock City"
* Molly Hatchet "Flirtin' With Disaster"
* The Outlaws "Green Grass & High Tides"*
* Sweet "Ballroom Blitz"*
They skimped a little bit on the 80s, however. I would kill to play some Talking Heads.
As you can see, “Train Kept a Rollin” made it into Rock Band. It just might be my least favorite song to play in the whole game. It’s a dead heat between that one, Fallout Boy and Coheed & Cambria. Needless to say, I don’t have much interest in an Aerosmith GH game.
Um, I think you’ll find that “young folks” are a lot more aware of classic rock than the OP seems to think. I’m not sure what age range you are defining as “young” but I’m 20 and I would not hesitate to say that more of my peers are aware of Aerosmith than Metallica.
I adore Aerosmith, but like Sam Stone, I think more genre based disks would be a good idea. Similar to Rocks the 80’s I guess, but an actual full game. I would be all over a classic rock disc, where I wouldn’t have to play all that new crap that always ends up on GH.
I was obsessed with Aerosmith around '98-'03, and I’m currently 25. I have Rock Band, but I think I’m gonna have to get GH: Aerosmith. Train is hard on Rock Band (I prefer drums) but I think it’s one of the more fun songs to play.
Here’s to hoping the two companies can get over their gripes and allow their guitar controllers to work with the other’s.
One of the best things about Guitar Hero is watching my nine year old son say “that’s a great song” to something that was popular when I was in Junior High.
In my experience, my son has eclectic musical tastes - at least when it comes to decade. If its a “cool song” it really doesn’t matter if it comes from the 1970s.
It seems like bad timing considering the nation’s 5 to 14 year olds have officially decided to skip over Aerosmith. It was just in the news on Monday.
I disagree; I suspect they were at the top of the list. I think Aerosmith has about the broadest appeal possible, especially as others have said, in the game’s demographic. Add to that a long career which will be mapped out in the game. Aerosmith covered the 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s and appeals to both men and women. Plus they manage to show up periodically.
What other bands would work that well? The Rolling Stones seem too old. The Who didn’t have much after the 70’s, right? Zeppelin stayed popular throughout the years; maybe they would work. ZZ Top is similar to Aerosmith, but I always think of them more as a guys band.
BTW, the article mentions that the game will include songs by bands that influenced Aerosmith. Maybe they’ll show up early on, when the band was doing covers?