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Isle of Wight statue re-branded
Ben Rogerson, Mon 9 Jun 2008, 2:38 pm UTC
Sadly, we'll never know if Jimi Hendrix would have been any good at Guitar Hero, but thanks to Activision, the game's developers, we now have a reasonable idea of what he'd have looked like wielding its dedicated controller.
To celebrate the fact that there will be two Guitar Hero performances on the main stage at this year's Isle of Wight Festival, Activision has re-branded the bronze statue of Hendrix that sits in the grounds of the island's Dimbola Lodge, turning Jimi's guitar into the aforementioned video game peripheral.
Hendrix played the festival in 1970. His performance was plagued by technical problems – at one point, he told the crowd to go and buy hot dogs rather than listen to him – but has become legendary because it turned out to be one of his last.
Of course, Hendrix purists might argue that associating him with the Guitar Hero franchise borders on the sacrilegious, but given how popular the game has become, they'd possibly be in the minority.
By Ben Rogerson
GH is a fun game, but this is taking promotion beyond too far. If they did it to a statue of a so-so guitarist, I wouldn't mind, but this is HENDRIX here!
theyr desrespecting him by doing this shit. its realy not cool.
Crass. Using Jimi as just an advertising tool...its just vandalism. Totally contemptable.
I don't see the Majority changing the world anytime soon. They never had and they never will. The minority is who changes the world. The majority just go around their lives not knowing what's going on and caring about their bussiness like cattle. Following guess who? Those very few who change the world. That's right, the minority.
Guitar Hero has its uses as a social tool, but mostly is just food for cattle.
Yeah this is a cheap shot by Activision and while their ad agency probably thinks it is hilarious it shows a total lack of respect for the great man.
I wonder whose permission they got to do this? It's dreadful. Somebody needs to take it off, gently mind. It'd be a bit hypocritical if the people reverting this "vandalism" damaged the statue in the process.
(Second go at posting this, stupid "Clear" button)
You can count me amongst the minority, then; it's not only bad taste to use a dead artist to promote such a flippant product, but they've implemented their uninspired idea in such a tacky way it almost looks like vandalism. Just rubbish.
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ihitterdal
Mon 23 Jun 2008, 7:27 pm UTC