Guitar Hero 3: The Way It Should Be

If there's one thing we, the managers of Blog: The Video Game, love as much as video games, it's music. Thus, it should be clear why almost universally, one of our favorite games of all time is Guitar Hero. We spent countless evenings warping our eyes, staring intently at multicolored notes flying towards us on rails. We conquered every song on expert. We started a faux Guitar Hero band. Yeah, we were fans.

It was with great expectations that we looked forward to Guitar Hero II, and in many ways it fulfilled those expectations. Certain songs were legendary - Jessica, Sweet Child O' Mine, and Tonight I'm Gonna Rock You, to name a few. However, for each amazing song, there was a turd. Institutionalized. Who Was In My Room Last Night. Freya. Laid to Rest. The good songs were good. The bad songs went unplayed.

To avoid such an incident with Guitar Hero 3, Evan and I have set forth to educate Neversoft (the new owners of the franchise) into what makes a good Guitar Hero song.

Also, we'll link all of the songs to their appropriate YouTube videos. Not the best quality music, to be sure, but it works.


A Look at the Recently Announced Songs

Paint it Black - The Rolling Stones: You know this song, I guarantee it. Did you play Twisted Metal Black? It's the theme song for that game, and arguably one of the most recognizable rock songs ever. It begs the question - will there be a special Sitar peripheral that comes with the game? Or will we have to buy it separately?

Cherub Rock - The Smashing Pumpkins: I've never been a huge fan of the Smashing Pumpkins. I dodged the grunge bullet by mere centimeters. However, the song rocks hard enough, and has a fabulous bridge, with soaring fuzzy guitar hits and a catchy main riff.

Sabotage - Beastie Boys: One of the few Pre-Hello Nasty tunes of theirs that I know, and one of the most exciting tracks they've announced so far. Expect lots of singing along when you play this gem. Bring your own fake mustache.

The Metal - Tenacious D: (Not the best video, sorry.) A strange choice. Out of the D's extensive repertoire, why pick The Metal? Why not one of their incredibly popular earlier songs, Tribute? Wonderboy? I know the Metal has the right attitude (and some incredibly fast licks), but give me Explosivo any day.

My Name is Jonas - Weezer: I'm not a huge Weezer fan, so it's sort of lost on me, but the intro riff should be pretty tough to play. Man, if they had only gotten "El Scorcho" I'd be on board.

Knights of Cydonia - Muse: Since the announcement of this epic gem, I've had visions, fantasies of playing through it. I'll pop the song on iTunes, and try to picture those multicolored buttons flying towards me. It's going to be the most fun song to play, ever, if Neversoft doesn't screw up the remake.

Rock and Roll All Nite - Kiss: I'm lukewarm on Kiss. Well, no I'm not, they're a sucky has-been rock band with a mindless army of goons who, for some reason or another, support their sucky music. But, I guess they are a staple in the rock industry, so a song of theirs popping up on Guitar Hero is inevitable.

School's Out - Alice Cooper: I'm gonna go ahead and vote this one "Song Most Likely To Send Jack Thompson Into a Rage." You know this one, we all know this one - but I for one had forgotten how many fantastic guitar parts there are in this song. I'm looking forward to it.

Slow Ride - Foghat: Seems like a level one song - Not too fast with few challenging riffs. Not my favorite song on the list so far, but easily one of the most recognizable.

Cult of Personality - Living Colour: I always hated the lyrics to the song. They make negative sense. However, this isn't lyric hero, and the guitar part in this song is insane.

Barracuda - Heart: Yes please. If you don't think Heart, and particularly this song, rocks, then you can leave. Hit that little X button in the top right corner of your screen. Everything about this song, the solos, the jogging guitar throughout, and the inevitable singing along - will make it one of the stand-out songs on GH3.


Songs Griffin Would Like To See In GH3

Paranoid Android - Radiohead: Other than the obvious licensing issues, I can't fathom why this song hasn't been featured yet. It just rocks so hard, to levels of extremity that most scientists can't measure with the latest advancements in rock measuring technology.

Black Dog - Led Zeppelin: Zeppelin is notoriously hesitant to lend out their songs to anyone, for anything. I hope that Neversoft can write a check bigger than the sun to convince them to share - because this little gem would be mind-blowing.

Who Are You - The Who: If they used the original master tape for the audio, it would be awesome. Otherwise, well, as we can see with the zombie remains of The Who that still tour today - you really can't top the original.

More Than Words - Extreme: No, I'm not joking. Who says that songs on Guitar Hero have to be gutbucket hard rock? Extreme knows how to make sweet love to an acoustic guitar - and for that, they should be featured in GH3.

I Will Survive - Cake: Amazing bass and guitar tracks coincide to create this rock cover masterpiece. I think this could be the one song on GH3 where the bass guitar takes center stage - that's why I'm picking it over another of Cake's more guitar-heavy tracks (see: The Guitar Man, which would also be an amazing song for GH3.)

Rock You Like a Hurricane - Scorpions: It's important that you actually watch this video. It will change your life. At first you'll wonder if they're making fun of 80's metal videos, but then your realize, no, it really is an amalgam of every hilariously unfortunate music video trend in the 80s. Oh, and it would blow doors down on GH3.

For Those About To Rock (We Salute You) - AC/DC: The only song of theirs I can think of that would be playable with human hands, and not the celestial digits of some sort of guitar-robot-seraph. Although Thunderstruck would make a legendary boss fight song (ala Freebird).

Ballroom Blitz - The Sweet: One of my favorite classic rock songs ever, has some pretty fun riffs that would translate well to GH. Fantastic bass line too. No reason not to include this one.

I Believe in a Thing Called Love - The Darkness: I think I'm the only person on Earth who still loves this song. I know it got annoying like, two summers ago, when it got more radio play then TLC, but the guitar solos on this song are one of a kind. Save your star power for the ending, kids.

Vasoline - Stone Temple Pilots: God, what an awesome, thrashing song. It just never lets up - I can imagine fingers falling off the bone after the completion of this beast on expert. It's slightly repetitive, but so was "Killing In The Name" on GH2.

Aside - The Weakerthans: There once was a time where I called this my favorite song ever. I realize now that that honor goes to "Ignition: Remix" by R. Kelly. Anyways, this fast paced indie-rock anthem would be a great addition to the GH collection.


Songs Evan Wants To See In GH3

Friction – Television: An extremely underrated band. This song rocks too hard, almost.

Heartbreaker / Living Loving Maid - Led Zeppelin: My favorite Zep songs, and the two riffs that get stuck in my head every time I think about…yeah, there they are. These songs are always played back to back on the radio and should appear that way in the game.

Shoot to Thrill – AC/DC: It was between this and "For Those About to Rock" or "Hell's Bells."

Duncan Hills Coffee Jingle – Dethklok: I can't get enough of the men of Metalocalypse.

Ether – Gang of Four: This song is one of the greatest post-punk tracks of all time. Great bass line, great guitar part.

The Wolf is Loose – Mastodon: Mastodon is my favorite metal band. They rock so very hard.

Debaser – Pixies: The bass line! The guitar line! The chorus! This song is monstrously fun.

Dimension – Wolfmother: This song is much better than Woman. The chorus line is wonderful. It's so simplistic, yet so fantastic.

Run Run Run – the Velvet Underground: There are two guitar parts, one rhythm and one lead (which would make for some great multiplayer action). There are some really Dick Dale-esque solo lines. It would be fun and challenging.

Sweet Home Chicago – Robert Johnson: Okay, so the blues haven't been properly represented on Guitar Hero, and I think this song is recognizable enough to be accepted. It has great opportunities for solos and a timeless introduction line.

A Legal Matter – the Who: It's an old Who song, it's a Townshend number, and it isn't as recognizable as Baba O'Riley or Who Are You or anything like that. It would make for an entertaining beginner song, but it also has some of those classic bluesy Townshend lines.


There are more. So many more - countless songs that could be instant Guitar Hero classics. In fact, odds are that none of our suggestions will be on the final version of the game - and the game will still rock. Here's hoping that the new owners of the franchise know what they're doing when it comes to song choices (looking at the choices they've already made, I'd say they're doing just fine.)

Just steer away from the Creed, guys.