Charlie Daniels of "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" is pissed about the cover version in Guitar Hero III, and that's probably funny enough right there. And more than a little sad, because it underlines how creative people often sell away the rights to their art, for whatever reason happens to make sense at the time. Nobody ever talked to this guy about his song, and he only recently heard the mangled "new" version present in GHIII, complete with the silly Satan boss battle.
Sympathies over ownership issues aside, what makes it funny is Charlie Daniels' typically reactionary old-person view on the game, calling it perverted and grotesque. Moreso in regards to the dark imagery than the heavy metal rendition of his song. Hey you kids, get off of Charlie Daniels' lawn with your portable telephones!
And then he goes for the ol' "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." Seriously. He said that about Guitar Hero.
But what I really enjoyed was the Kotaku comment thread, which had me laughing nonstop.
FIRST COMMENT: "Guitar Hero sucks. Long live Rock Band." - Kyle81
YEP, WRONG GENERATION: "Charlie who?" - cheeses
MAKING ASSUMPTIONS: "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." - ghnvt
ONE MAN'S OPINION: "they perverted this: [embeds video of Charlie Daniels original] good work GH dev's making this song good" - niall077
MORE FROM THE PARTISANS: "Rock Band is boring, dumbed down shit for 12 year old girls an d cry baby nerds who can't handle GH's difficulty." - inanimaterod
FOR ALL THE WRONG REASONS: "Hey now, I was pretty fucking pissed when the song I played wasn't even the decent primus cover." - ManjiKengo
YEAH, THAT'S WHAT HE CARES ABOUT: "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." - doubtful
EXPOSED, AGAIN: " 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." - Spoony Bard
YOU MUST BE NEW HERE: "What is wrong with you people? This guy has done more in his life than most of you ever will. I personally believe some of his beliefs are antiquated (or even straight up wrong), but I don't personally attack someone with vitriol for simply believing something different from me.
He didn't attack gamers or anyone else -- he spoke directly to his fans about something that bothered him. What does it have to do with you? Nothing.
If you disagree, say so ... but show a little culture and maturity. Cursing him, using foul language, and worse is just pathetic." - jayntampa
WHICH GOD OF WAR DID YOU PLAY, LIT NERD?: "This is partially why I enjoy the God of War series - it has a hint of the kind of character development and sophistication towards classicism that I refer to - but I am constantly haunted by the feeling that the developers always went with the fanboy, violent, over-the-top, crass decision at each juncture, vs. going with a more classicist response at least part of the time." - Mohican
TRUE DAT: "I'd be pretty pissed if my song was used to destroy the Guitar Hero franchise too." - dowingba
