If you’ve been following the news about Guitar Hero 5, you know that all anyone can talk about is the fact that they made Kurt Cobain into a playable character. This leads to the inevitable: making him sing ‘You Give Love a Bad Name’. (The videos of it all seem to be getting removed; the one featured in the article at Blabbermouth.net got taken down. A search of Youtube should turn one up though.)
Dead people as playable characters is a tad bit creepy, as has been pointed out on other sites. That seems to be another trend; Cobain is in Guitar Hero 5, and all of the Beatles, alive and dead, are in the Beatles edition of Rock Band. That being said, Cobain is a lot creepier than the deceased Beatles. I think it’s because Cobain looked like a zombie when he was alive. Making him a playable character in a regular GH game, where he can be plopped into all sorts of random scenarios (like singing ‘You Give Love a Bad Name’) just makes the zombie comparison a natural.
The Beatles in Rock Band don’t seem to have the same ‘ick’ factor. Maybe it’s because I’m far fonder of the Beatles. But Harmonix was far more respectful of John, Paul, George and Ringo when they created their game. Placing the Rock Band versions of the Beatles into the detailed recreations of real venues or into the period-accurate “dreamscapes” while playing their own music prevents the disconnected ‘eww, zombie!’ reaction. The characters are always in a proper context, and it’s more like playing along with the Beatles than manipulating their corpses.
And yes, I may be forced to purchase the Beatles edition of Rock Band. My parents found out about it.
Related posts:
- Bon Jovi announced for Guitar Hero 5
- Van Halen Edition of Guitar Hero Leaves Out Members
- Metal on Metal headed for Rock Band
- Long Hair Makes Rock Better
- On Fantasy, Hair, and Other Things
Tags: Bon Jovi, Guitar Hero