GUITAR HERO GAME- The Frogs Not Swimming<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
 
In the late 1950s, television cameras weren't allowed to film Elvis Presley below the waist. His relatively mild gyrations were considered to be vulgar.  We've come a long way since then, and it looks like we've moved  not forward, but down further than anyone could have imagined.  I am reminded of the proverbial frog in the pot of water that is slowly heating up until the frog is boiled to death.  Only in this case, it's as if the frog's parents have tossed him in the pot and are sitting by letting it happen, while they've convinced themselves that the frog is just going for a swim.
 
Would it surprise you that many of our young children have easy access to songs such as "Suck My Kiss,"  "Talk Dirty To Me," "Sweet Cherry Pie,", "Dead," and "Tattooed Love Boys"  - songs about sex, violence and rebellion?   These songs are being served up in a fun, exciting very popular game called GUITAR HERO.  I know this because I'm a guitar teacher with thirty students between the ages of 8 - 16.  When one of my students, a 12-year-old, came in and asked me to teach him a song by Black Sabbath,  it caught my attention.  He said he'd heard it on Guitar Hero, so I did some research on the game. What I found was very disturbing. 
 
Bands with names like Poison, The Killers, Slipknot, Red Hot Chili Peppers (the band whose bass player performed completely nude at Woodstock 99) Sex Pistols, Dead Kennedys, Disturbed, Slayer and old favorites like Alice Cooper(school's been blown to pieces) among others are winning the hearts and minds of children at a shocking  rate.  As parents, the track list from the Guitar Hero games 1, 2 and 3 should alarm you.  However, what I've discovered after talking with many parents is that most are uninformed about the game.  Johnny wanted it and all the other kids have it and since Wal-mart has it on sale, they buy it.  If their kids don't own it they're most likely playing it at their friends' houses.  One church in our area even had it in their youth group.  Why should this concern you? The best way for me to explain is to print some of the lyrics to the songs.  Here are just a few:
 
SUCK MY KISS - Red Hot Chili Peppers
I am what I amMost m------ f-------Don't give a d---Be my girl, I'll be your man
 
Hit me you can't hurt meSuck my kissKiss me please pervert meIs she talking dirtyGive to me sweet sacred blissYour mouth was made to suck my kiss
 
 
 
 
STACY'S MOM –Fountains Of <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Wayne
 
Stacy's mom has got it goin' on
Stacy, do you remember when I mowed your lawn?
Your mom came out with just a towel on
I could tell she liked me from the way she stared
She's all I want, and I've waited so long
Stacy, can't you see you're just not the girl for me
I know it might be wrong,
But I'm in love with Stacy's mom
 

 
Wouldn't it be grand to take a pistol by the hand?And wouldn't it be great if we were dead?
No one ever had much nice to sayI think they never liked you anyway
 
 
Looking deeper into GH I noticed that the graphics and animation were very sexual, rebellious and strangely demonic in nature.  (can include a picture here)  Some female characters in GH3 even have thong straps coming out of the tops of their low riding pants.  Tattoos abound, as do skulls and other hard rock images, complete with a beer can on top of an amp. 
 
 
Much available research supports the theory that what goes into a mind is what creates the person; in fact, every school in the world runs on this premise.  An interesting report I recently read, written by ARS Technica  stated that after a song appears on GH sales of that song go up dramatically through I-tunes and other media.  It's having a dramatic impact on the listening trend of our youth. 
 
Back in the 70's there was a public service announcement on TV that said, "It's 9:00pm.  Do you know where you're children are?"  Today we need one that says, "It's 2008 and times have changed; do you know what your children are listening to?" 
 
Besides what our children hear and see, what else is it that will mold them into who they become?  
 
For more information including images and lyrics from Guitar Hero visit my website here:    www.craiggleason.com