Dear folks at Guitar Hero,

First of all I want to say that me and my wife really dig your game. All the artistry, craft and fun that went into it shine through. I appreciated the behind the scenes extras… I really felt like I got a feel for the staff making it all happen. We actually bought a second controller which is a bit of a big deal for us as we are not “gamers” in the conventional sense.

As a generally happy customer I just wanted to inquire about what I felt was a lack of black characters and songs with black folks behind the strings. On GH2 you have Slash on “Sweet Child of Mine,” and then there is only one black character and he’s an unlockable - not even available to use as a character until you’ve progressed to a certain point in the game.

I think it’s pretty common knowledge that Rock and Roll started out as black folks’ music. But perhaps i’m wrong… perhaps you might not have been exposed to those black artists and musicians that helped innovate the craft and continue to do so. Much like I was introduced to some newer white artists by playing GH1&2.

In the interest of sharing, here is a list of some of my personal Guitar Heros:

Me’shell Ndegeocello (nasty on bass, and just about everything else)
Prince (might be hard getting clearance but you don’t know until u ask)
Buddy guy (some one jimi Hendrix listened to)
Cody Chestnutt
Chuck Berry (come ON CHUCK BERRY!!!)
BB King (and Lucille)
Robert Johnson (the guy sold his soul to the devil)
Leadbelly
Grant Green
Bad Brains (I defy you to rock harder than them)
Betty Davis (one of the most slept on heros)
Joan Armatrading (folky but she had her moments)
Fishbone (masters of the craft)
Funkadelic
Keziah Jones (trained by Fela, channeling Jimi)
Blood Sugar
Tamar kali (featured musician in the documentary Afro-Punk)
Bob Marley
Lenny Kravitz
Living color (Vernon Reid)

And that’s just off the top of my head

This is not a plea it’s more of a wish list. These are the folks who I see myself as when I play the game. These are the folks whose songs I would love to tackle on my fake guitar :o) Trust me if a knew a cheat or trick to do any of this myself I probably would have never written this letter.
Looking at it from purely commercial aspect for a moment, you have the chance to speak to an entire demographic that are already sorely underrepresented in the public conception of modern rock, while simultaneously exposing new music to your core demographic. I recognize that this is your game and you can really do what ever you want to. And honestly if you make a guitar hero 3 I’ll probably pick it up regardless of the changes you make or don’t.

But I need to know that if you do make the decision to exclude our faces from further projects with the name “Guitar Hero,” that it wasn’t done out of a lack of knowledge but instead a conscious choice.

Either way I hope you see fit to at the very least check out the artists on this list. Each is a legend, each I feel is more than worthy of consideration for a song. And each will expand your musical and sonic vocabulary by leaps and bounds.

I just felt as a customer that you should know how I feel about it. If you want to know what albums or songs of theirs to pick I’ll be more than glad to send a list. If you want to just know more in general about those who birthed this craft and are still innovating above and below the radar you can contact the black rock coalition. http://www.blackrockcoalition.org/
Till then
ROCK ON!

pierre bennu