Kotaku
Looks like not everyone is happy to have their songs included in Activision's Guitar Hero series. Charlie Daniels of the Charlie Daniels Band recently got a chance to see the cover of "The Devil Went Down To Georgia" from the third installment of the game, and was a might pissed, mainly at the fact that in the game, the devil can win.
I want any of you parents out there whose children have this game to know that I did not grant these people my permission to pervert my song and am disgusted with the result. Unfortunately I lost the publishing rights on the song many years ago in a settlement with a former partner and the license to Guitar Hero was granted by the company who now owns the publishing.Journey with Charlie Daniels into the dark side of Guitar Hero...
Actually the game really has a dark side complete with grotesque monsters on stage with the band, strange, eerie lighting effects and all manner of weird things popping up on the stage.So very torn here. Part of me wants to tear into Mr. Daniels for being behind the times and go into a spiel about Guitar Hero being one of the more innocent games in the industry. I want to tell him that children playing Guitar Hero more than likely never even see these images, so intent on the fret bar than the scenery is just to keep onlookers interested.
The other part of me recognizes that Charlie wrote some of the greatest songs of all time, Devil included, and I should probably just let it go unless I want to get my ass seriously kicked. I live in Georgia, where in the summer they regularly project one of his songs onto the side of a mountain with lasers. Lasers! Not a good place to be dissing the man.
Instead, I leave you with Charlie Daniel's parting words from his soapbox entry last Friday.
At this time I don't know if I have any legal recourse, probably not, but I wanted you folks to know that I vehemently disagree with what has been done to a piece of my work. And would like to pass along a little advice to parents of young children.And after the surprise wears off, snatch the guitar from their hands and show 'em how it's done, and whatever you do, don't mention to Charlie that the devil is a playable character. Might be too much for the old boy to handle.This game looks innocent enough but if you have a child who is playing it, take the time to sit with him or her while they're playing along and take a serious look at the images on the screen.
You may be surprised at the world they're being exposed to.
Guitar Hero - Soapbox [Charlie Daniel's Band Official Site via Terry Frank - Thanks Chris!]
Comments
Guitar Hero sucks. Long live Rock Band
:(
Charlie who?
Take heart, Charlie. It's still better than the Slash or Tom Morello songs.
They did pervert it. They made it almost Expert challenging on Hard mode due to a broken Boss Battle mode.
LOL, they perverted the song, it is about a devil who went down to georgia, it is an okay song, but your the own you lost it to an ex because you probably couldn't keep your weeny in your pants. She probably was a gold digger and she took all your shit, so quit whinning and STFU.
Bah, he's just angry because he doesn't make any money with it!
I'm fucking pissed too. I get all hyped up to play the devil went down to ga on my friends little bros wii, fucking trash started playing.
@cheeses: don't play stupid.
@Kyle81: fucking amen.
Guitar Hero and Rockband both suck, Long Live Audiosurf!
;)
... Why would the Devil being able to win... be a problem? I mean, speaking from a strictly Christian point of view, he can't win against God but..... he can still take peoples souls. And, essentially, that's what he's doing in the game...
they perverted this
+ Watch video
good work GH dev's making this song good
@supercrap: agreed. tom morello is the one who should be suing due to the game making him look like an elderly ex-cokehead. honestly one of the worst character models i've seen.
I love the Guitar Hero games, but I was pissed at that song in the game as well, just for completely different reasons.
The song provided in-game sounded like absolute shit, and that's being polite.
I agree that Guitar Hero games have really lame imagery on stage. The characters and sets are all so faux-goth/punk/hipster. I played Guitar Hero 3 in a store when it first came out and honestly, a huge factor in why I didn't buy the game is in how lame the imagery is. The girl with the stupid mohawk and the piercings in her face, always wearing a mean scowl, just so stereotypical and stupid. The game is still fun and all, but I went with Rock Band instead. Not quite as lame, and there's more to do than just play guitar.
@goodbadorugly: agreed
LOL. This guy is a dumb ass. Great song, but it's sad to think he probably believes the devil is real and that the game having the devil in it makes it satanic.
2006 and we some of us still live in the dark ages.
I donno, he wrote a song about the devil. I suppose he got what he was asking for, I mean really.
I wonder what he thinks about primus?
+ Watch video
@ghnvt: he has every fucking right to be upset. Even the damned primus version is better than that shit thats on guitar hero. If you've never heard the original version of the song you should be ashamed.
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Fahey, Have you been to stone mountain lately? Have they changed the laser show at all in the past 10 years? There was a 5 year interval between my 1st and second times seeing the show when I was young and it hadn't changed whatsoever.
@ Fahey: Yeah, I wouldn't say that too loud unless you want your ass kicked the next time you head out to Stone Mountain.
I'd hate to hear what Daniels thinks of Tenacious D's "Tribute."
It has to be pretty frustrating as an artist to create something and then have no say in how it's used. I can empathize with how he feels, even if I don't really find it to be a big deal.
Those of us who live in the south have to be the first to oppose such redneck asshattery, simply because we know these types of folks as our friends and neighbors and not just simplified media stereotypes. Sure he's behind the times - if the times are 1892. This magic box is conjuring up demons to do a ho-down! Who will protect the children? They should be exposed to only good, virtuous southern values like super-sized testosterone driven men in lightweight battle armor crushing each others spines at max speed over the possession of an oblate spheroid while brass bands and undressed bimbos sing their praises to the heavens. Now THAT, my friends, is good for children.
"Actually the game really has a dark side complete with grotesque monsters on stage with the band"
I usually defend the Guitar Hero games, but have to agree with Charlie here. Seriously, who the hell designed the character models?!
@Parabolee: Oops, 2008 I mean. That was a typo.
Wow, Charlie Daniels outraged about something inane and no one cares? That's truly a first.
If I'm going to go with any militant conservative that's clinically insane, I think I'd rather go with the Nuge. At least he's entertaining. Wilfred Brimley is more likeable than Charlie Daniels (although give Wilfred Brimley a fiddle and have him play at your local County Fair and/or Klan rally, and he arguably would be Charlie Daniels).
@Kyle81: what? rock band? rock band is just a copy of GH. LONG LIVE guitar hero!
@Parabolee: Calling him a dumbass due to his spiritual beliefs is pretty low. Of course he believes in Satan, as I'm sure him being raised in the south would end up making him very tied to his religion.
atleast when I broke away from the church I took with me the better things of the religion.
Rock Band is boring, dumbed down shit for 12 year old girls an d cry baby nerds who can't handle GH's difficulty.
On topic, irrelevant old ass musician is butt hurt he's not getting a piece of the GH pie, so tries to stir up shit by jumping on the ever popular 'VIDEO GAMES ARE DANGEROUS THINK OF THE CHILDREN' bandwagon. Who cares.
@futurebiblehero: Hey now, I was pretty fucking pissed when the song I played wasn't even the decent primus cover.
"I live in Georgia, where in the summer they regularly project one of his songs onto the side of a mountain with lasers. Lasers! Not a good place to be dissing the man."
Yeah, but the Stone Mountain program also includes Lee Greenwood's god-awful redneck-rousing "Proud to Be An American," so let's keep some perspective.
Everyone knows the best version of this song was done by Primus:
+ Watch video
@ManjiKengo: Yeah, that's fair enough.
i said this when the game first came out. they butchered a perfectly good song and made into some sort of screwed up pseudo-metal crap that sounds like it was made by some high school cover band
@Maxilicious: You fail at life.
@Pezdispenser: Hell yes Audiosurf is freaking awesome.
That was my Grandfather's favorite song. I remember more then once listening to in his Camaro cursing down the highway with him my Grandmother and brother going into town to the grocery store. I'll have to download it on itunes when the snow melt and I can drive my Firebird again this spring.
GH butchered that song in the game. Also the terrible Character models was one of the reason I didn't buy the game.
@Struct09: God I despise the character models in Guitar Hero, there absolutly crap
@inanimaterod: er....dood I think maybe Rock band is mainly for people in groups? and GH is more of a solo game even though it has multi-player
@niall077: I agree with you, i really like what they did with the song, is really good and fun to play; the original really sucks, unless you´re a country fan, which i´m not...Anyway, he´s old and delusional, so nobody should really care what he says...
RockBand and Guitar Hero Rules...
@Kinburn: LOLOL what about the animations? If you have no clue what i'm talking about watch the drummer while someone else plays.
Aww... I love Charlie Daniels. And I HATED the version they put in the game.
Guitar Hero RUINED it.l,
@ManjiKengo: I wouldn't call him a dumbass because of his religious beliefs. I think he's a mean-spirited, nasty coot who has been spewing bile and hate for those who are not evangelical Christians (and especially Muslims) all in the name of his religion.
If you have ever read his Soapbox, you would know what an f***ing bigot this man is.
And this ONE HIT WONDER is pissed about something? Get outta town.
Dude, so I can plas as the Devil, and get my gold fiddle back, amairait? :-p
That is a great song, but he seriously needs to get over it. I bet that if he was collecting the royalties from it, he wouldn't care as much. I mean sure, as a writer, you can say, "they fucked up my song." BUT, if you are getting big bucks from it, I think you let it slide.
It isn't like someone rewrote a Pulitzer winning piece. They simply added an alternate ending to a popular song.
@ Charlie, "here's a tissue for your issues."
He should also consider, however, that people who were ignorant to his original recording may have sought it out and listened to it after hearing the remake. This may have gained him new fans, and if he truly believes in the message of his music, then reaching a single new fan should be far more important.
"grotesque monsters on stage with the band..."
Don't worry, Charlie. That's just the vocalist. But rest assured you're not the only person who thinks the character models suck in this game.
I hate the song in-game just because of the broken Boss Battles and general overcharting (but that's a GHIII issue overall).
On the upside, good ol' Charlie Daniels may get the same boost in sales that groups like Dragonforce experienced once they're music made it into Guitar Hero.
Because even if it's not his version in the game, he's given credit for "inspiration" or "based on" or whatever it says.
That's more credit than Steve Ouimette gets.
@ghnvt: ...
@Spoony Bard: Oh it's his racism that you hate him for? Alright, we'll i can let that slide.
@Menolly:
that was supposed to be, "play". sheesh
Wouldn't a solid gold fiddle weigh hundreds of pounds and sound crummy?
@inanimaterod: ...