Recently I have begun to worry how my kids were going to get acquainted with “the classics.” They have demonstrated no particular interest in expanding their musical horizons, to be fair they are still young, and I have no interest in being one of “those” parents who spoon feeds their offspring their own hip playlists. The fact we don’t drive much is also a setback. Being exposed to ‘70s pop radio during long car rides with my parents left me with a wealth of musical knowledge that not only makes me a bore at parties, but uniquely qualifies me for my job. Was I denying my children this legacy? Everybody should be able to sing along to the Rolling Stones or the O’Jays if sufficiently pressed or tipsy.
I have an effort to play a wider variety of music at home, but I realize now how the next generation will learn the range of classic rock songs from the last 4 decades that will help them in any sticky karaoke moment: GUITAR HERO.
Tonight my son, who is in pre-school, had his first go on Guitar Hero 2. Luckily he was crap and I totally rocked his score, but he didn’t care, he just wanted to hear Motley Crue’s “Shout At The Devil” over and over and over. My daughter, wanted to hear “Surrender” from Cheap Trick and decided when she grows up she wants to be a vet AND a rock star.
The other night I went to the Guitar Hero 3 NYC launch with a friend from work who was not even born at the time both the Scorpion’s “Rock You Like A Hurricane” and Pat Benatar’s “Hit Me With Your Best Shot” were hits. Yet, there they were on Guitar Hero 3 and there he was kicking ass on them, with a line of kids behind him awaiting their turn to rock.
s this the future of Classic Rock? Where else can you even hear the Allman Brothers’ “Jessica” these days? As a radio format Classic Rock might be shrinking, but perhaps this video game franchise is creating a whole new generation of listeners.
Copyright © 2007 SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT. All rights reserved.
November 12th, 2007 at 7:42 pm
You are so right! It seems like many young people are just not getting exposed to the classics. They have NO idea where the songs they like today came from and they haven’t heard of those artists that influenced today’s musical artists. Maybe a game like Guitar Hero IS a good thing because it’s at least giving kids something old to listen to… something that teaches them how music has developed over the years. And ALL styles of music have developed. Rock and Country the most, as so many sub-genres have become wildly popular. You wanna give your kids a little exposure to music? Try Lone Star 92.5! I work with them and you are guaranteed to hear everything from Classic Rock to Roots Rock to Outlaw Country and everything in between. All with almost NO commercials. And, you can access them via the internet at: http://www.lonestar925.com
You might not be able to get a kid to turn the old radio dial, but I bet you can get them to type ‘www.’
Check out the site…. what do you think?
January 4th, 2008 at 6:21 pm
[…] Lisa mentioned earlier, several Legacy staffers are pretty big fans of Guitar Hero. I mean, duh, who wouldn’t love a video game that single-handedly turned on a new generation […]