Charlie Daniels Is Not Happy With Guitar Hero III

Andy Chalk

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Nov 12, 2002
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Charlie Daniels Is Not Happy With Guitar Hero III


Country musician Charlie Daniels has expressed disgust over the "The Devil Went Down To Georgia," [http://www.guitarherogame.com/gh3/] and warned parents that in-game content may be inappropriate for children.

In an April 4 entry on the Activision [http://www.charliedaniels.com/].

Daniels seems particular disturbed the imagery contained in the game, writing, "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. To tell you the truth the whole thing bothered me and struck me as something that is not the healthiest thing in the world for young, impressionable minds to be exposed to, but the thing that really got me was what they had done with my song."

"The song, 'The Devil Went Down To Georgia,' which I wrote, is supposed to be a lighthearted novelty about a fiddling contest between a country boy and the devil and the devil always loses," he continued. "That is not the case with the Guitar Hero version which comes complete with a horned, guitar-playing devil who battles the player and very often wins."

"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," he wrote. "I would never grant permission for some company to create a videogame version of a song I wrote in which the devil wins a contest and I'm sorely disappointed with the company who owns the copyright for not policing the situation. As it is they have allowed these people to violate the very essence of the song."

Daniels added that he doubts he has any legal recourse with regards to Activision's continued use of the song, but offered "a little advice to parents of young children. 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."

Daniels' music career began in the 1950s, and while he is best known for "The Devil Went Down To Georgia," he also had hits with "In America" and "Still in Saigon," and has played on records for musicians including Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash and Leonard Cohen. His Guitar Hero III opinion piece can be read in its entirety here [http://www.charliedaniels.com/soapbox-2008-040408.htm].


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MrKeroChan

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I'm just upset with the cruddy treatment the song got... Jerry Reed had the orginal electric guitar version in 1979...
 

Andy Chalk

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sammyfreak said:
I cant say i agree with the man, but i do understand that he is upset.
So do I. And I'd like to express my own disappointment in the Guitar Hero III version of the song, because it should've been a hell of a lot more shredding than it was.
 

magnus gallant

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i can understand hes upset that they changed his song, i mean to him, whats wrong with the original, and thats where the whole ownreship of music battle comes in play and who really owns the music, but really, hes upset the devil can win? it affects impressionable minds? its things like this that bother me as satanism(if hes refering to the devil being "cool") is a completly stupid religion, i am of course speaking about the anton levey(spelling?) satanism. and what kind of a world do we live in where a cartoon devil which you can overcome and beat is bad for kids, if anything it tells them they can beat the devil. but in all honesty i dont believe in god and i dont believe in the devil, i think they're relics of a far more simple time, and any kid demented on guitar hero is obviosuly a retard anyway and should be checked out :p haha
 

magnus gallant

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TheNecroswanson said:
Malygris said:
sammyfreak said:
I cant say i agree with the man, but i do understand that he is upset.
So do I. And I'd like to express my own disappointment in the Guitar Hero III version of the song, because it should've been a hell of a lot more shredding than it was.
By that do you mean it should have sucked less, or that it wasn't difficult enough? I'm hoping it's the former.

Anyway, Charlie needs to just kick the bucket already. He first perverted his song when he "Found God" and changed it from "Son of a *****" to "Son of a gun". If anything the guy ruined his own song.
agreed
 

oneplus999

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TFA said:
"a little advice to parents of young children. 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."
Good thing it's rated Teen for Lyrics and Mild Suggestive Themes. Any parents who buy it for small children should already be aware that it may contain content too mature for them. Though I suppose it's not particularly surprising that he wouldn't be aware of the ratings system, you'd think that whoever showed it to him would have addressed these concerns.
 

Andy Chalk

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TheNecroswanson said:
By that do you mean it should have sucked less, or that it wasn't difficult enough? I'm hoping it's the former.
Sorry I wasn't clearer - it should've sucked less. It started off reasonably well but the duel was very weak and the whole thing lacked punch.

The rest of your post is really beneath comment, but it does seem that you've managed to miss Daniels' entire point of contention.
 

REDPill357

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Because we all know that devils that wear sunglasses and biker jackets are going to corrupt our youth into doing evil, such as showing off their video game skills! THIS EVIL MUST BE STOPPED!
 

Melaisis

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"The song, 'The Devil Went Down To Georgia,' which I wrote, is supposed to be a lighthearted novelty about a fiddling contest between a country boy and the devil and the devil always loses," he continued. "That is not the case with the Guitar Hero version which comes complete with a horned, guitar-playing devil who battles the player and very often wins."
Look, Charlie, for a start he isn't the Devil; he's Lou. Secondly, What difficulty are you playing it on, exactly? I'm sure more people fail to do My Curse - does this mean the game is secretly endorsing people who have Voodoo hexes upon them? No! The game's depiction of the Devil and - well, the rest of that scene - is even more 'lighthearted' than the tone of the original song. I think you're just jealous because your version didn't make the damn cut!
 

WingedFortress

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Charlie Daniels rules, but he's an out of the loop nowaday's, obviously.

Either way, totally hilarious. Awesome burn.
 

FubarJaxxon

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"That is not the case with the Guitar Hero version which comes complete with a horned, guitar-playing devil who battles the player and very often wins."

I laughed pretty hard.
 

darthzack79

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The only explanation for why he's got his panties up in a bunch is that he's got no idea about the rest of the video gaming world...he just pulled his head out of his ass whenever it directly invovled him but he otherwise slept through the national-news-making things like Hot Coffee. There are things far worse than a rock 'n roll game featuring "Lou."

I was actually upset that it was some made-up record company guy named Lou and not Satan.
 

Andy Chalk

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Somebody already said this on another forum, but apparently the point needs to be made here as well.

Charlie Daniels wrote The Devil Went Down To Georgia. As a result, Charlie Daniels is exempt from criticism regarding anything stupid he may say or do in the future. If Charlie Daniels chooses to believe in a literal interpretation of the devil, and as a result gets a little uppity about the inclusion of his greatest creative effort in a videogame he doesn't personally approve of, well, that's Charlie Daniels' business and we should leave him to it. Anyone who writes a song like that deserves no less.
 

Mausenheimmer

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I think he should be offended that the GH3 version of the song managed to miss the point so terribly. The difficult-to-the-point-of-crappy-music aspect of the song managed to overshadow any of the novelty gained from a new take on the song.

As for the Son of a Gun versus Son of a *****, I prefer Son of a Gun to a Radio Edit, like GH3 had. Nothing ruins the song more than "I told you once you son of a... I'm the best that's ever been!"
 

Anton P. Nym

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Malygris said:
Charlie Daniels wrote The Devil Went Down To Georgia. As a result, Charlie Daniels is exempt from criticism regarding anything stupid he may say or do in the future.
I am very interested in your "get out of criticism for stupidity free" product and would like to subscribe to your newsletter.

-- Steve