Prince turned down Guitar Hero deal

By Ellie Gibson Published 1 May, 2009

Wants kids to learn to play the real thing.

Prince has said he turned down a deal to put his songs in Guitar Hero. (That's the artist formerly known as the funny symbol thing Prince, not the one who talks to plants or the one who likes to dress up as Nazis or the one who's a massive racist.)

Activision's already signed up the likes of Aerosmith, Metallica and Van Halen for the series - but the man from Del Minneapolis, he say no.

"I ain't mad at them," he told The Tavis Smiley show, as reported by Gamespot.

"I hear it made, like, USD 2 billion and they came to us and offered us a very small portion of that."

Too small, it turns out. "I just think it's more important that kids learn how to actually play the guitar," Prince said.

"It's a tough instrument - it's not easy. It took me a long time, and it was frustrating at first. And you just have to stick with it, and it's cool for people who don't have time to learn the chords or ain't interested in it. But to play music is one of the greatest things." The other greatest things being purple rain and raspberry berets, presumably.

Perhaps he'd be better off starring in a basketball game instead?

Picture of Ellie.

About Ellie Gibson

Since joining Eurogamer in the mid 2000s, Ellie has written about subjects as diverse as the fall of Gizmondo, the rise of Hollyoaks actresses in Red Alert games and the noise a bear makes under NSFW circumstances.

Read more articles from Ellie by visiting the Ellie Gibson archive page.

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Comments (46) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #1 3 years ago

    I am slightly surprised that nobody has yet attempted to make a guitar hero game where you play a real guitar.

    I mean, electric guitars produce signals that can be fed into a console or PC, and from there it's just the same algorithms they use for determining the correct notes in Singstar?

    We can sing and (presumably) drum properly in music games, why are the guitars a shitty plastic button-pressing toy?

  • woodnotes #2 3 years ago

    Prince is right. GH is a waste of time - you could be learning to play the real thing.

    CoD is the same - join the army! And Dead Space? Join NASA.
    Edited by 1 at 01/05/09 @ 11:06

  • Derblington #3 3 years ago

    "I am slightly surprised that nobody has yet attempted to make a guitar hero game where you play a real guitar."

    They have.

  • The-Bodybuilder #4 3 years ago

    LOL @ The Dave Chapelle reference.

  • ChthonicEcho #5 3 years ago

    @woodnotes

    You're a bit of an idiot, you know that? Joining the army might get you ultimately killed, and an astronaut is something you're born to be, and it doesn't mean you'll meet undead crew members infested by aliens.

    The guy has a point. Unlike most annoying people who just tell GH enthusiasts that they're dorks who should be playing real guitars, this guy says it's fine if they want to play GH - he simply disagrees with the mindset (and wasn't offered enough cash, apparently).

  • woodnotes #6 3 years ago

    "@woodnotes

    You're a bit of an idiot, you know that? Joining the army might get you ultimately killed, and an astronaut is something you're born to be, and it doesn't mean you'll meet undead crew members infested by aliens."

    Actually you're the idiot, because you took my post seriously. In fact, I'm still picking my jaw up off the floor after realising that you could actually think I was being serious.


    Being serious now, with regards to learning the guitar, I think GH can actually inspire kids to learn the real thing, rather than the other way round.
    Edited by 1 at 01/05/09 @ 11:19

  • Ninja_Tino #7 3 years ago

    ChthonicEcho, you moron. These views from musicians about Guitar Hero/Rock Band are plain stupid.

  • stepneg #8 3 years ago

    Playing Guitar Hero has certainly inspired more kids to pick up a real guitar than Prince's music ever could, what a cock. More like he got the hump becuase they wern't prepared to pay him enough cash for his half baked tunes, good they won't be missed.

  • woodnotes #9 3 years ago

    "Playing Guitar Hero has certainly inspired more kids to pick up a real guitar than Prince's music ever could, what a cock. More like he got the hump becuase they wern't prepared to pay him enough cash for his half baked tunes, good they won't be missed."

    Dude, he like made Chaka Khan's "I feel for you" and everythin.

  • OdinsEinherjer #10 3 years ago

    I have to agree with Prince on that one.Learn the real thing,kids.It's VERY satisfying.

  • Tuffty #11 3 years ago

    There's a handful of Prince songs that, for someone like me who can't play a chord on the real thing, you'd like to see in GH though. Purple Rain, Bambi, Shhhh, Peach. Most of his most popular tracks wouldn't work in GH as they're not particularly guitar laden. Hardly surprising that Prince is protective of his music though. His purple majesty has been that way since he started.

    Still love the guy though. Horribly underrated IMO, but then this isn't a Prince discussion forum.

    /listens to Batdance

  • Sonic_D #12 3 years ago

    I bought a real guitar partly due to GH, but have not tried hard enough to learn it at all. It cost less than GH3 though!

  • LazyDan #13 3 years ago

    Man who removed his lower ribs in order to be able to auto-fellate himself gives advice on how people should best spend their time.

    No thanks.

  • peterfll #14 3 years ago

    I'm a huge fan of Prince Rogers Nelson. I was hoping one day this might happen. Now it won't. No surprise he's got slightly righteous attitude, he's known for it.

    What about SingStar? Surely the same concerns don't apply - my singing has improved because of SingStar.

    "... I knew a girl named Nikki I guess you could say she was a sex fiend.. I met her in a hotel lobby....."
    Edited by 1 at 01/05/09 @ 11:58

  • Kiigan #15 3 years ago

    Prince is an incredible guitarist, one of the best around.

    And I bought my first electric when I was 12, purely so I could learn to play Prince stuff. So he has a point :)
    Edited by 1 at 01/05/09 @ 12:10

  • silver-jon #16 3 years ago

    @ LazyDan - do you really actually believe that nonsense ? Bless.

    Shame about this news, because I too am a long-time fan of most of his music. He may appear eccentric at times (doesn't mean he's wrong, btw), and his music may not be to all tastes, but most musicians will tell you the guy is a genius.

    My track pack would have been:
    Guitar
    Peach
    Let's Go Crazy
    Alexa de Paris
    I'd have paid my money and been happy about it.

    Oh, and btw - Prince has fought long and hard to have control of his music and its output/use. This is not about money. He's richer than . . . well possibly even richer than Rauper.

  • metalangel #17 3 years ago

    Another of the "greatest things" was getting to fondle that bird with massive cans while filming Purple Rain.

  • zisssou #18 3 years ago

    I think he has a point. If you learn the real thing you can then develop to create new music yourself.

  • IneptPercy #19 3 years ago

    I can second that guitar hero can actually influence people to play a guitar, I have actually picked it back up since the game (learnt basics when i was a kid). Also I am now teaching my nephew who loved the guitar hero games and now wants to learn the real thing.

  • DoctorZoidberg #20 3 years ago

    I find people learning the "real" guitar from Guitar hero very faux.

    I struggle to understand how they are even remotely similar. Playing GH is nothing like playing a guitar, other than the shape of the controller.

    Still people turning off their consoles to actively learn something is always a good thing mind.

  • makeamazing #21 3 years ago

    If it would allow the player to learn how to play a guitar rather than stand there like a robot mashing buttons, I would buy it!

  • geeza2020 #22 3 years ago

    silver jon - "but most musicians will tell you the guy is a genius"

    eeerr i've been playing guitar for the last seven years, and i can safely say, prince aint no genius. Yes, he is an accomplished guitarist, but overall his music is total trash imo.

    purple rain - purple bollocks
    Edited by 1 at 01/05/09 @ 13:14

  • anephric #23 3 years ago

    I'm a fan of Prince's music but the man is a cock to his fans - see how he treated some fan sites recently, for example.

  • ZuluHero #24 3 years ago

    @DoctorZoidberg

    Held notes, hammer ons, pull offs, not having to release a note to play a higher one. Some of the basic princples are there...

  • peterfll #25 3 years ago

    " i can safely say, prince aint no genius"

    In your opinon perhaps? Is it an informed opinion?

    I on the other hand, having seen Prince in conert a number of times, and have most of his collection music. The quaility of which is very inconsistent. Plus he's an eccentric, egotistal twat at times. But is he what one would consider a musical genuis - of his time? His generation? I would say yes. And it's an opinion echoed by many others, including his own musical peers. Accepting the other points I've made.

    Give me other examples of his generation who you think are musical genuises please?

    Sorry, I feel like I'm on EuroMusicFan.net more than Eurogamer.net. I will now make up for this with the following statement: "My ZX Spectrum 48k is better than your C64".

  • doragor #26 3 years ago

    @ stepneg
    'half baked tunes', ho ho very good.

    @ farticusmaximus
    Prince can play more than just guitar and drums... I thought that was common knowledge. Unless I've missed your joke.

  • doragor #27 3 years ago

    @ farticusmaximus

    ah gotcha.

  • gimo80 #28 3 years ago

    Proof that Prince is a genius? Sign 'O' The Times.

    Enough said.

  • BlackKraken #29 3 years ago

    Hahaaaa, seriously, who gives a shit what Prince says these days?

  • frycrayola #30 3 years ago

    @DoctorZoidberg

    It's less about them being similar (aside from some very basic principles they're not), and more about the experience. You're standing there, with a plastic guitar in your hand. Your right hand is strumming and your left is doing some fretwork, you're having fun and more than a little part of you starts to think "what if this was a real guitar...?"

    The skills aren't transferable but the feelings are. You'll have a whole load of work ahead of you and you'll struggle along with every other person who ever picked up a guitar, but the game itself will be in some way responsible for getting you into it.

  • _Price_ #31 3 years ago

    Yep, it's sad to say, but the only reason I own a guitar is GH. It'll take years to build up the skill to play properly, but it was the games that got me hooked.

  • Wyrm #32 3 years ago

    From playing Guitar Hero, my mate now has got himself a real guitar to learn. Works both ways.

  • Kiigan #33 3 years ago

    @BlackKraken

    Quite lot of people actually. The man still makes interesting music, and he's still one of the best performers around. He filled 21 nights in the O2 in 2007, and his current album Lotusflow3r got to #2 in the US despite a very limited release.

    Don't worry, he didnt say anything disparaging about Guitar Hero, so you geeks can relax.

  • dudefella #34 3 years ago

    Would someone tell him playing guitar hero and playing guitar aren't mutually exclusive??

  • t8yman #35 3 years ago

    wow, what a great story.

    more clicks eh EG?

  • owl #36 3 years ago

    I love it how people who claim not to care in the slightest about Prince's music end up calling him all the names under the sun the sun just because he has some principles that don't align to theirs and he has stuck to them.

    Cripes.

    Edited by 1 at 02/05/09 @ 11:01

  • Chalee #37 3 years ago

    @geeza - Yes he is a genius. An arrogant, self-important prick, but a genius as well.

    Yes he is not the most amazing guitar player in the universe (although he is as you note very accomplished, and particularly good at that dirty hendrix feel), but as an all round musician he is incredible. Please he's written some of the funkayest things ever.

  • Zaltan #38 3 years ago

    As an average guitar player (been playing since I was 13, which is sadly 8 years ago!) and a good guitar hero player I can say that I prefer to play real guitar...

  • AOFanboi #39 3 years ago

    Prince is the last in a long line of musicans who scoff at this group of rhythm-action videogames, which happens to have custom controllers instead of using ordinary controllers like their forefathers (Frequency and Amplitude). But they are missing the point entirely: People play the game because it is a good video game, the theme just happens to be music. You could have made a rhythm-input based shooter if you wanted to (i.e. constant QTEs driving the game forward).

    Even if you ignore the anectodal stories of people who have become interested in "real" musical instruments as a result of these games - and it is obvious these sourfaces do - there is a "rule" that says you need 10 000 hours of practice to get really good at something. So it is not only the scant hours spent in Rock Band or GHWT you should be practicing your instrument, but also the time spent in WoW, CoD, going to the cinema, jogging, and whatever else you could be doing instead of practicing. Why are the RB/GH brand singled out when people generally spend LESS time playing those games than e.g. addicts of WoW or Civilization IV spend in the company of their games?

    Also: the musicans need to tread lightly here. After all, how useful is really playing an instrument when you instead can spend your time assisting your neighbourhood elderly, teaching children, clean public areas etc.? If the argument is about wasting time then practicing an instrument is below quite a few activities out there.

  • Dr.Mott #40 3 years ago

    "Man who removed his lower ribs in order to be able to auto-fellate himself gives advice on how people should best spend their time."

    I thought that was Marilyn Manson?

  • Dr.Mott #41 3 years ago

    "Man who removed his lower ribs in order to be able to auto-fellate himself gives advice on how people should best spend their time."

    I thought that was Marilyn Manson?

  • jeebthegreat #42 3 years ago

    Good idea for a real Guitar Hero game - pick up a real guitar, feed a guitar tab around a rolling pin or something and get a friend to scroll it while you play. This coming from an avid (and rather sarcastic too ;P) Guitar Hero/Rock Band fan

  • firefly #43 3 years ago

    @AOFanboi

    To take that train of thought to its logical conclusion what's the use of any the activities you list. Elderly and children alike are all going to die anyway, you could clean the streets but that would be even more futile because they'd be dirty again in a few hours time. Plus it's cleaning the streets, the same thing they make people on community service do!

    Ultimately all of our endeavours will come to nothing - so why not just play Guitar Hero if that's what makes you happy?

  • malloc #44 3 years ago

    Prince is a legend. End of.

  • Zomeguy #45 3 years ago

    Ultimately all of our endeavours will come to nothing - so why not just play Guitar Hero if that's what makes you happy?
    Because Prince says so?

  • dfinit #46 3 years ago

    Created the accout just to say I'm really upset the way this Ellie Gibson biased the story. I appreciate taking position and not just re-print information. But your manner, dear Ellie, just shows a narrow spirit and deranged aesthetics.