Why I hate Guitar Hero and why is it in my house???

[voxwoman]

As part of the current societal meme that only the very few and elite should create art, some goober at some game company thought it would be fun to make a guitar-shaped controller with 5 buttons on it so people would look even more ridiculous than they do playing air guitar to old and moldy songs, and also killing all those songs for any actual musician wanabees who are in cover bands because who wants to play a song that's on Guitar Hero? Or sing a song that's on Karaoke Revolution?

But my child will not be denied her desires; she latches onto them like a pit bull and will not give up until she's convinced someone in the family with more money than sense to pony up the dough for her to purchase her latest heart's desire. (My mother-in-law to the rescue again. I suppose there could be worse things in the world. She really is a kind-hearted woman. Is it the grandparent's perogative to override parental control? I had better reign over my parent's influence when they were in present-buying moods. [now that mom's dead and dad's an  Alzheimers victim, the days when they would get things for the grandkids is long gone]),

And I will admit to a perverse pleasure to be the person in the house to break the cherry on the guitar controller, if only to irk my kid for 10 minutes, in advance retribution to the hours of misery I'm going to be subjected to. However, after pushing colored buttons and flicking a switch to Foghat's Slow Ride for 15-20 minutes (alternately getting booed offstage and "practicing"), I started to feel carpal-tunnel-like twinges in my forearm. So I doubt that I'll be risking injury to play a stupid video game, and mess up any chance of mastering an actual instrument.

Which reminds me - I'm still stuck on the laptop as the desktop hasn't been replaced, and there is no padded wrist rest for me when I type. So I'm not going to continue this for much longer.

I wonder what it was specifically and when it was that I became so down on video games. I used to really like them when I was younger. Maybe because I completely lack the hand-eye coordination to do get anywhere with them (I never got out of the first corridor in the Episode I computer game) made me lose interest. And I suppose the gaming companies don't really consider me or my ilk a market demographic to pay any attention to at all. Soon enough we'll be spending our erstwhile video money on things like Depends and Assisted Living.

I remember when my disdain for popular culture made me cool. Now it just seems like another version of "you kids get off my damn lawn!"

it doesn't help that I had to learn all the songs I loathe as a teenager for the cover bands I played in, either. Or that I'll probably be subjected to people playing me Led Zepplin in the nursing home, like the folks in my dad's residence are subjected to the Andrews Sisters and Perry Como. I think my mother made a good decision to get cancer and die before she became infirm and senile and had to live in one of those places.

Yes, it's been a rough week getting back in the workforce. And not just because I can't get my software tools to do what their advertising and help files say they're supposed to do, either.

Oh and happy Valentines Day. And get off my lawn!

Comments

[voxwoman.livejournal.com]

It's a combination of video games that purport to turn you into a singer or a musician (but don't), and shows like American Idol, and Hollywood nepotism, mixed in with a liberal amount of personal cynicism and bitterness at having to rejoin the 9-5 workforce because I can't make a living as an "artiste".

I never made a living as artiste, but I had a hell of a good time

[flat-lander.livejournal.com]

Didn't you?
I might like to try Sousaphone Hero one day :-D

Re: I never made a living as artiste, but I had a hell of a good time

[voxwoman.livejournal.com]

I had moments of "good time" interspersed with long periods of utter frustration. It was either the BS trying to get into a band or keeping one together.

[wolfhound668.livejournal.com]

Wife's suggestion that she get that abomination for the holidays was met with a resounding "Don't you even think about it!". For once she took the hint. :)

Wife's cousins (Little Wolf's 'adopted' grandparents) are pretty good about not overstepping the boundaries we've set. They've taken a "what happens at grandma and grandpa's house stays at grandma and grandpa's house" approach. On the other hand we stayed at their place a few days last week while our bathroom was re-modeled. They made it clear to LW up front that even though it was their house some of mom and dad's rules, like asking to be excused from the dinner table, would be enforced.

Now, where did I put those mines for the yard? Spring will be here soon.

[wolfhound668.livejournal.com]

I'm with you there. Mine turns four in June. Last year we took him out to see his cousins on the west coast. He had a blast on his older cousin's drum kit. A few weeks ago I took him out to Guitar Center so I could pick up a keyboard. He made a bee-line for the drum room. How he even *knew* there was a drum room is beyond me. At least I was able to steer him towards the electronic kit (acoustic drummers don't come with a volume knob).


The little one seems to be a drummer, but he's only three, so give it time. =)

Emily would love to have Guitar Hero.

[spud31.livejournal.com]

I've played it and I'm pretty meh about the whole game. It's not hard it you've played piano, actually, because it's actually a lot like piano. You hit keys to a rhythm.

But we're hooked on the Wii games we have now, so it probably won't get bought until her birthday in June. Then I imagine we'll get it. And I will kick her skinny butt at it.

[enotnert.livejournal.com]

I play it, it's fun, it's a rhythm game. I have rock band I play it too with my buddies.

I have an old guitar I actually fuddle on, but my real fun is hacking the guitar hero and rock band controllers to make them into synth instruments. You can do quite a bit in synthetic environment with a cheap drum kit (rock band drums) and can even turn the guitar controllers into controlling whatever sound you wish.

It won't be long till some nerdcore rappers have a full band playing on rock band gear on stage, mark my words. The only difference will be they actually have to figure out how to make the right sounds come out of them for their own music.