Daryl Tay.net

From previous nights of being a guitar sidekick and booze and Guitar Hero, we spent roughly 7 straight hours on Guitar Hero World Tour on Monday, stopping only to eat dinner (even then, it was a forced stop).

Before I show you the videos (which are hilarious) for your enjoyment, I thought I’d talk a little bit about Guitar Hero World Tour from a musical point of view. First, I like that it’s fairly easy for people to pick up. I have zero drums experience, but by the end of the night I was able to play on medium for most songs, and hard for some slower songs. Second, I wish their songs were a little more mainstream friendly. We had hard time choosing new songs for our “sets” and our only real “singalong” songs were Living on a Prayer, Beat It and Spiderwebs. None of which were contemporary by any means (though maybe the downloadable content can offset this point).

The good thing about Guitar Hero (and by extension, Rock Band), is that it combines two passions of many youth: music and gaming, and to great effect. I certainly hope artists will benefit from this and that the music industry isn’t going to rear it’s ugly, greedy head. Although recent entries on Wikipedia seem to suggest that we’re already heading down that direction with comments about unfair compensation.

However, the music industry has raised concerns that the music labels are not receiving fair compensation considering the success of the games. Edgar Bronfman Jr., chairman and chief executive for Warner Music Group, stated that “The amount being paid to the industry, even though their games are entirely dependent on the content that we own and control, is far too small.”

Basically, the gaming industry has handed the music industry a lifeline, and instead of being infinitely grateful and providing free music and making this as spreadable and shareable as possible, they’re getting locked up in money issues again.

In any case, here are the videos for the night! I strongly encourage watching Living on a Prayer and Johnny’s lazy video because they’re hilarious. But if you’re free, watch them all!

December 29 - GHWT - Beat It from Daryl Tay on Vimeo.

December 29 - GHWT - Living On A Prayer from Daryl Tay on Vimeo.

December 29th - GHWT - What Happens When Johnny Is Lazy from Daryl Tay on Vimeo.

December 29 - GHWT - Spiderwebs (Take One) from Daryl Tay on Vimeo.

December 29 - GHWT - Spiderwebs (Take Two) from Daryl Tay on Vimeo.