The DISASTROUS VAN HALEN Video Game That Was Given Away For Free!

[@rnrtruestories]

Guitar hero or rock band?

[@AlienMyth64]

both 🤓

[@yoshi211productions]

i agre@@AlienMyth64

[@JacobSegaNerd]

Both are fine, though, I prefer the GH World Tour and Band Hero Controllers.

[@LuigiTheMetal64]

Guitar Hero for having more features. WaveGroup, Steve Ouimette, and Line 6 made great covers. I may play Guitar Freaks since that inspired the US series to begin with.

[@treehann]

Guitar hero 100%. Rock band makes the notes too sensitive to hit and it’s not fun

[@Dairunt1]

Imagine if Beatles Rock Band only included pre-Sgt Pepper content. And George is replaced by Dhani Harrison. And half its content is from other bands. That's Guitar Hero Van Halen for you.

[@metalboy5150]

To be fair, from what I understand, Wolfgang actually picked the "other bands" content. And the Guitar Hero Aerosmith and Metallica games both had other bands in them, too. I had all three, and the Aerosmith one was just okay, but the other two were pretty good, except for the total lack of Hagar content.

[@BathSaltShaman]

They probably leased the rights to the band’s likenesses in some sort of wholesale deal rather than individually, which is probably why they didn’t go out of their way to lease Michael Anthony’s on top of it. Wish they did tho.

[@richardjohnson7638]

At that point, you just might as well put Yoko Ono in the band. Game over!!

[@347Jimmy]

To be fair, you could do a Beatles game and include famous covers of their songs (like Joe Cocker's version of A Little Help From My Friends) and it would still be a winning formula

[@SeanSMST]

I don't think that's an apt comparison cause the whole band was the same from pps to lib. A more apt comparison imo would be if ghm only included burton era tracks (aka kill em all, ride the lightning, master of puppets), included nothing from newsted or trujillo, but still had trujillo represented in game. Idk, there's no full accurate comparison for what happened with ghvh

[@guitarrilho502]

Guitar hero was the biggest influence for me to start listening to rock music, and to see it crumble like that really hurts for me

[@NexusKin]

You can blame Activision for completely oversaturating the franchise to death. Just in 2009, there was Van Halen, Metallica, GH5, Band Hero and Smash Hits all in that same year. GH5 was obviously the best of all those in my eyes, although Band Hero does have some really immaculate song choices.

[@konowd]

Late in Van Halen’s career they were fucking up all over the place. It was sad to see such a once mighty band go out with a whimper instead of a roar

[@thisfreakingguy3833]

I remember when they played live .. on the Ellen show... Their singer was twacked on that tweek badly ... Dude made Scott wilend look like a ballerina,in comparison

[@Captain_Kickass-l1f]

It's not the end I would have wished for such a legendary band, that's for sure. A lot of missteps, a lot of emotional decisions that probably weren't the best choice for anyone. Just enough toxic behavior to put a little tarnish on the bands reputation. I'm particularly salty about how Michael Anthony was treated and I feel kind of bad for Wolfgang, already with a giant's shoes to fill, thrust into the spotlight and into the middle of a bunch of drama that started before he was born. The fact that he seems like a decent, normal person says a lot about him when you consider the pitfalls of being a celebrities kid and all the ways that can go wrong and turn you into an a******, having to play peacemaker, politician, manager, and protector of his father's legacy while trying to strike out on his own and be his own man. I don't think very many people would be able to navigate that as well as he has.

[@SeanSMST]

If a bend ends on their own terms, they're likely to be remembered more highly than if they keep going past their sell by date. For bands that ended when they felt right, The Beatles, Thin Lizzy, and for bands gone past their time, Kiss, Van Halen, arguably Black Sabbath

[@konowd]

In the end they were so out of it they didn’t know their right foot from their left. Too many years of drug abuse, unchecked ego and mental illness brought the whole shithouse down.

[@Captain_Kickass-l1f]

Everybody is talking about Dave versus Sammy but nobody is talking about Michael Anthony. In 2009 I got to finally see Van Halen with David Lee Roth after a half dozen tours with Sammy... And I was actually a little bit disappointed. But it wasn't Dave's fault. I never really appreciated how much of a contribution his playing and back up vocals contributions made to the overall sound of the band. Wolfgang doesn't sing and it left a noticeable hole. So I'm glad that game bombed because they didn't give Michael Anthony the recognition that he deserves. When you've got like THE guitarist and the most outrageous/ hardest rocking vocalist in a band, it's easy for the rhythm section to get forgotten about. Until you need them. Love and and respect to Mikey. Glad he and Sammy got to work together in Chickenfoot. Two of the nicest guys in rock and roll.

[@devilsoffspring5519]

If you ask me, Mike's harmony vocals are the polishing touch made Van Halen sound good. Fact is it's not 1981 anymore and shred-god guitar players are quite common now and have been for years. Great harmony vocals are *special.*

[@Captain_Kickass-l1f]

@@devilsoffspring5519 Sir, you've said what I was trying to say, only better. Those three part harmonies are one of Rock's undervalued treasures and it's nice to know that I'm not just screaming into the abyss.

[@devilsoffspring5519]

@@Captain_Kickass-l1f Unfortunately bassists and harmony vocals are often ignored in Big Flashy Rock type bands, but so be it. As for Eddie himself, iconic axeman but I always thought Mark Knopfler was the drastically better musician. It's just that young people getting into rock music usually dismissed him as boring. Dire Straits had some good harmony vocals too, and could also pull it off live really, really well! (Wembley '85 show)

[@Captain_Kickass-l1f]

@@devilsoffspring5519 although I identify a mostly hard rock/ metal guy, the first album I ever bought as a kid was Brothers in Arms. Still one of my top ten of all kind. It was "money for nothing," that sucked me in and got me to sit still long enough to appreciate the slower stuff. What an album! The hard part would have been "what can I possibly do after that? You're so right about the harmonies. In my head right now, Michael Anthony is singing the repeated "I want my, I want my MTV" and it totally works. Thanks for sharing. There's always something really cool about talking a stranger that totally gets it. have a great 2024!

[@JenevieveDeFer]

Just remember, what was and wasn't in the game was because of the Van Halen (AKA Wolfie and Eddie), not because of Activision or the affiliate studio that created it. PS I agree that it was VERY disappointing that Michael Anthony wasn't included in the song list.

[@kenterminateddq5311]

I played the Guitar Hero: Van Halen and, yeah, it's the video game equivalent of Van Halen III: It's underwhelming and disappointing but I had some enjoyment with it.

[@waltermiller249]

The Metallica version came with an extra foot pedal, so you could play double bass. Amazing!!

[@Captain_Kickass-l1f]

Did it really? I really want that to be true.

[@clothbooster]

Did it come with a wah?

[@Captain_Kickass-l1f]

@@clothbooster only if you're talking about the sound I made the first time I heard the St. Anger album.

[@tenebrousoul9368]

This is literally the first time I've heard of the game

[@NexusKin]

I only heard about it because guitarherorox was doing full playthroughs of all the rhythm genre game entries, and this was one of them.

[@lucass.3389]

For me, GH: Metallica is a masterpiece when it comes to band-centric music games. It was a marriage made in heaven and perfectly showcased all the parts from the contributing bandmembers, both past and present. The Expert Plus difficulty added a new challenge on drums. It's the one game that I would play again and again, even after all these years later. GH: Valen feels pretty lackluster and, in my opinion, too many safe decisions were made during the making of the game.

[@yuothineyesasian]

Lars couldn't beat Expert Plus...

[@jimkalfakis9893]

Even in the game, you can still see DLR’s hair piece

[@MrDlt123]

I'm a gamer, Gen Xer and musician, but I never really understood the appeal of the Guitar Hero franchise. I grew up actually playing a guitar, so I guess I thought that time would be better spent actually learning to play an instrument. However, VH was one of my favorite bands and Eddie was a god. That said, IF I was into such a thing, nothing would piss me off more than seeing Wolfgang packaged as if Michael Anthony never existed. He was so much of their bottom end, and vocal sound. I kind of regarded Van Hagar as a different band, so I could probably have learned to live without seeing him in the game. But the Wolfgang thing would deff have rubbed me the wrong way.

[@TheRockinDonkey]

Van Hagar absolutely was a different band, so I agree with you 100%. That said, I didn't even know that Guitar Hero: Van Halen existed, because, like you, I actually play guitar, so the game never appealed to me.

[@dr.awkward9075]

I play guitar too. Much like yourself i never saw the value in playing Guitar Hero guitar or bass. The vocals & drums were a blast though!

[@Kingofb0ngstyle]

It's more of a millennial thing

[@Stephen_Eee]

This was such a great fad, i used to do pest control, and yes Everyone had GH

[@WREDog]

From what I remember it wasn't just pre orders, you could buy a copy of GH 5 from the stores and you'd get a free copy of GH VH (don't remember if it was a voucher or a download code). It came out around the same time as Rock Band Beatles, and you could tell how half assed and phoned in the game was. VH deserved better.

[@JazGalaxy]

I had jumped shipped to rock band at this point, so most of the things listed in this video I never even knew what happened. It’s all very interesting.

[@facerip2222]

I bought Guitar hero 5 brand new from a Gamestop when it was out, I never got a copy of the Van Halen game. This is the first I'm even hearing that it was offered.

[@alanmichaelbourdon]

The expression is Half-Assed, but you are correct.

[@ThatSockmonkey]

I don't care what anyone says, 5150 is just as good an album as 1984. So to wipe Sammy out of the band in a game about the band, that just screams Eddie's ego.

[@WinterInTheForest]

5150 and OU812 are my favorite Van Halen albums

[@ThatSockmonkey]

@@WinterInTheForest yep, me too.

[@Meatball2022]

5150 is a much better overall album than 1984

[@PassengersMusic777]

Whoa! Let’s not start talking crazy talk now! That’s the most outrageous statement I heard in music all week

[@zeketrick]

I love comments that start with " I don't care what ANYONE says"😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@jgrangervikings1]

The Van Halen Guitar Hero game was fine, but it didn’t include Sammy Hagar. That’s a crime, dude. It made what could’ve been a classic game just a fine game…and ultimately fairly forgettable.

[@trevorburhans5846]

I liked GH Van Halen and played it a lot. I’m also more of a fan of the DLR era so it didn’t bother me that the Sammy Hagar songs weren’t there. My only complaint was with Bohemian Rhapsody cause it’s mostly piano but you’re still playing stuff on guitar for some reason

[@ThatSockmonkey]

Is this just fantasy?

[@NexusKin]

Bohemian Rhapsody was in Warriors Of Rock, not Van Halen.

[@MJAussie360]

The game was part of the Roth/Van Halen pissing show. Roth refused to do it if Hagar was involved and Eddie refused to acknowledge Michael in anyway due to being salty that Michael wanted to actually spend a little time with his family

[@nicksterwixter]

The thing is, if you're a Van Halen fan and a Guitar Hero fan, there was still a lot to love in here just in terms of the setlist. But for all the reasons you mentioned, I remember it feeling like a weird release at the time. The game also used the older, clunkier Guitar Hero: World Tour engine instead of the newer Guitar Hero 5 engine, despite being released after GH5. I think Activision had started up a few too many Guitar Hero projects at this time, and things weren't getting released in the order they originally planned. People had stopped caring by this point and there was no going back.

[@badtripmoses]

No Sammy or Michael, no VH game!

[@badbirdkc]

LOL. I'm the proud owner of a free copy given away on the KOXM podcast for submitting a trivia question. Until this video popped up, I forgot I had it.

[@Lily-oz2dq]

Never played guitar hero I play guitar. The rhythm and timing never added up. I liked rock band played drums on that series.

[@MistaTofMaine]

John the fisherman in guitar hero 2 was my little pound cake.

[@briankaslewicz6130]

I think what hurt the band spin-off games like Metallica and VH the most was they had the same price tag at launch as their numbered counterparts, but roughly half the song list. Guitar Hero VH had 44 songs, while GH5 and GH6 aka Warriors of Rock had 85 and 93 songs on-disc, respectively. Rock Band had the same problem too.

[@ThePizza3d]

Is so wild hearing stuff like this without having any knowledge of the context/drama behind a band. I just listen to their songs and like them and that's it.

[@dimebagdave77]

Manythnx and Happy new year Rock and Roll True Stories 🤘

[@rnrtruestories]

Thanks happy new year

[@psykored524]

Given that Van Halen is my favorite band of course I got it along with guitar hero Metallica since that’s my second favorite. I enjoyed both but I do remember as a kid questioning why none of the sammy stuff was included.

[@Danjoker.]

Guitar Hero Metallica was great, but again, it was awkward not having Cliff or Jason in the game.

[@deadlyoneable]

Omitting Micheal Anthony is straight up disrespectful. That alone is enough for me.

[@sd80mac]

Being a huge Van Halen fan, I was really excited for this game. I remember being really bummed that it only contained DLR-era songs. I just wanted to play Dreams!

[@hellrose18]

Sammy Hagar era is generic cock rock bullshit. Yeah, he's a better singer, but Dave was always the better front man and the perfect choice for Van Halen. Dave was cocky with his moves and could pull it off, Sammy just looked like a clown on stage. You ask anyone whats the first song they think of when you say Van Halen, they're going to give you one from the Dave era

[@sd80mac]

@@hellrose18 cool story bro, no one asked

[@JHamzig]

I refused to buy it because the Hagar era was not acknowledged. So, I just keep playing real guitar, and only jam out to the Hagar songs.

[@scottyo64]

Never did nor wanted to play guitar hero. When you play a real guitar this stuff is just silly

[@thisfreakingguy3833]

I was always a big fan of Aerosmiths revolution x game when I was a kid

[@LordArikado]

I remember getting this one for free from the Guitar Hero 5 promotion. I didn't follow gaming insider stuff at the time, but I could still tell that something was off thanks to its setlist. I figured it wouldn't have any Hagar or Cherone songs, but even odder was the list of guest artists. Knowing that the devs basically looked at Wolfie's iPod library to pick the guest songs makes sense.

[@NexusKin]

I personally think Guitar Hero 5 was better in every way, including the graphics, animations, character designs, lighting, gameplay mechanics, full band features, and unique song challenges. That should've been the sole official 2009 release of the franchise, and everything else could've been cut out.

[@boredstudent]

I actually got Guitar Hero Van Halen a while ago and for the most part, I liked it. Yes, I would agree that the game could have been so much more. One thing I noticed about that game was that there were no behind the scenes videos with the members. And there was only that one trailer for GHVH. There were trailers for Guitar Hero Metallica with interviews with the members. I would have liked to see the Van Halens and David Lee Roth talk about their mocap experience.

[@valleyoforion1]

When I hear guitar finger tapping I feel like I’m stuck in a noisy video game arcade

[@ChainedGraboid]

I played GH Van Halen regularly, and it helped catapult me into the fan I am of the band today. But I would have loved it if they had some of the Hagar stuff. Arguably some of the best musicianship from the band is in the Hagar era.

[@realmr-hyde]

3:18 Yeah if you preordered GH 5 you got a copy. However, I'm pretty sure the same happened with GH Aerosmith. Except I had used the $49 credit for the game and paid an additional $49 for the Aerosmith GH controller. That was I had 2 Wireless controllers.

[@mannhimself]

I got a copy on clearance and it sits on the shelf with my other 360 games still sealed along with a few other GH and RB games either played or sealed.

[@SIGHBOY6]

its funny because 19 songs is more than enough to fit in the hagar and cherone eras.

[@andrewpinner3181]

Thanks for all your great videos. Wishing you a Happy New Year !

[@ChadAV69]

It’s so weird to me that GH VH came out in 2009. I was a big guitar hero player (best in my state) as a teenager and it just felt like that whole period was a lot longer than it really was. I guess that’s because I was a kid. The way I remember it, by the time GHVH came out the GH franchise was pretty much milked to extinction. It’s crazy that there’s only 2 years between gh3 and ghvh.

[@chasebentley2136]

I loved it honestly, while being a Van Halen fan of both Roth and Hagar. I was just happy to play some of my favorite songs. Liked that Painkiller was on the set list as well. Still play the game to this day

[@Midheaven616]

why the hell was painkillers drum intro cut anyway?

[@Loagz]

first video ive watched from you and i loved it, congrats on 500k as well

[@rnrtruestories]

Welcome aboard! Thanks!

[@mazda9624]

It's funny that this video was posted literally one day before I decided to finally play through the career mode of GHVH after all these years. I finally completed Metallica after being too scared to play it because it just seemed so insanely daunting. I've literally had these discs for over 14 years and have never gone through the career mode, only quickplay. Anyway, after greatly enjoying Metallica over the past few days, I turned my sights to the very last Guitar Hero game that I've never beat the career mode on. I got three songs into Van Halen today and was so insanely bored that I had to turn it off. I really love Van Halen, but this game is such a lasy, nothing of a game. I straight up have the free promotional copy from back in the day for PS2 for pre-ordering GH5, and I still feel ripped off. At least it's kind of a cool piece of Guitar Hero history because it's the only time they ever did such a thing. I also obtained a regular retail copy down the line for PS2 - with it being released in December 2009, I wonder how few copies of it exist in the wild since the PS2 was *well* past its prime by then...

[@wyatthatch4031]

Wow, GH on PS2! What a strange a nostalgic thing. I remember only having a PS2 and being happier than ever that I could be playing the game - was introduced to the game on PS3 through my cousins and remember being in awe of how much better GH3 looked on it.

[@Phantom-kc9ly]

Sounds made up. I played the game. Last year. Not buying your story.

[@mazda9624]

@@Phantom-kc9ly What about the story is unrealistic 💀

[@Phantom-kc9ly]

@@mazda9624 just read your story

[@mazda9624]

@Phantom-kc9ly Literally nothing about it is unrealistic, though? It's true: I've owned these games almost since new and I have never bothered with the career modes. All of the songs in every GH game from Metallica onwards are unlocked from the very start, so there's no need to go through the career modes like the older games, unless you want to unlock all of the venues and characters. In fact, I did the same with Smash Hits, Guitar Hero 5, and Band Hero a few years ago. I would always just play the songs in quickplay, but I eventually got tired of seeing the same few stages in the background all the time, so I went through each game's respective career mode in order to unlock the rest of the venues, even though all of the songs were already unlocked. I just never bothered with Metallica and Van Halen until 2023. Is it *really* that hard to believe? I was bored and realized I still had two games left to complete, so I simply went for them, and it just happened to line up perfectly with this video being posted. I'm really not sure what part of my story you don't believe, but I suppose none of this actually matters 🤡

[@zackjay71]

We had already made the jump to Rockband. I had Gh 1,2. But then Rock band came out. By the time Gh came out with drums and vocals. We were into Rb

[@OratoryJamesIV]

Activision is a major reason why rhythm games went under. Their oversaturation of the market with one GH game after the other just fed into the already slowly growing fatigue. They aren't the only reason, obviously, but they played a huge part in the disappearance of the genre.

[@rnrtruestories]

Yeah I was happy when the latest cod got horrible reviews activision loved to milk their franchises

[@Thomasmemoryscentral]

Maybe they’ll get the hint and let it die?@@rnrtruestories

[@TheRickyJZ]

@@Thomasmemoryscentral Not happening any time soon. Even with its poor reviews: MW3 still easily hit the #1 seller of the year.

[@rnrtruestories]

@@TheRickyJZoh was it?

[@theunknown4570]

I used a broomstick and a cassette recorder. Push play and that was my Guitar Hero in the 80s did Eddie Van Halen KK Downing, Glenn Tipton Randy Rhoads

[@zackvanhalen]

I think Guitar Hero VH is one of the best of the series. I didn't buy it until years after it came out, and I had been playing guitar hero since 2007. I might be biased, but I thought the songs were really smooth and fun to play, and I played them all on expert. I remember really enjoying Hear About It Later, Pretty Woman, Mean Street, I'm The One, and others. It does suck that there are Sammy Era songs and no Michael Anthony. I haven't played any Guitar Hero in at least 5 years, but I do remember enjoying the VH one more than the Metallica one.

[@JSJ796]

I'm a big David Lee Roth era fan of Van Halen. He's my favorite front man. I am a little disappointed this game did not succeed! this game has all of the classic hits by them! I do wish Michael Anthony was in the game instead of Wolfgang, not that he's a bad bassist, I just think the game would've probably been a little better with Michael instead. we did not even get a story in the career that was similar to the Guitar Hero Metallica game. my final thoughts on this game is that It's a really fun game for fans of David Lee Roth.

[@TrouserTrumpet]

As a primary arcade based video game fan; Guitar Hero was a lot of fun but it was too much in such a short time. Then add the drums, microphone etc and it was just overkill. It sounds great on paper but for an arcade style game like Guitar or Dance Dance Revolution…the key is to keep it simple.

[@ChunkSchuldinga]

Just Dance got it right when it comes to rhythm games. People got tired of the rock n roll larper clutter and nobody wants to spend an extra $60 on a peripheral designed for an oddly specific microgenre, especially if the main controller is already more than capable to support it. For some reason they removed dualshock support on Guitar Hero 4, meaning you had no choice but to buy the hunk of plastic. Unironically, the smartphone port of the botched Guitar Hero reboot was the best version of that dumpsterfire.

[@meyeboy2]

I really Enjoyed GH-Van halen, it was fun for me and my brother to play the songs on guitar and drums and almost tearing muscles trying to play the harder songs lol

[@digitalchaos1980]

Happy New Year, bud!! 😁

[@rnrtruestories]

Same to you!

[@digitalchaos1980]

@@rnrtruestories Thanks! 😎

[@jordanlopez1438]

They should've added songs from the Van Hagar era & added Michael Anthony & Sammy Hagar.

[@goldentaco4970]

I never played it. But that sounds like a really bad idea to make this game without having both Hagar and Roth songs and the original bassist. The only Guitar Hero games I ever played were around the 2006 era and I loved them. Later on in 2018 when I got a PS4 and PS3, the Guitar Hero games seemed hard to find.

[@andrewsebree4333]

I enjoyed GH Van Halen. It wasn't the strongest game in the franchise. But I still enjoyed it. Had lost of good songs. Also the first GH to have a song by my favorite band Alter Bridge. So that was cool

[@Maniac4Bricks]

I purchased GH Van Halen, or rather a family member bought it for me as a gift. At the time i enjoyed it well enough but nowadays i wish it was handled better especially when i learned more engaging B-tracks of DLR era that couldve fleshed out the game, along with Hagar tracks.

[@dirklogan4699]

I enjoyed it and still have mine. I had to pay for it and get the cool guitar that came with it. It actually made me play guitar more and now I’m extremely thankful to be able to play anything I love including Van Halen.

[@theriverofgordon1470]

I remember when that was a thing and I initially hated the idea. It bothered me quite a bit that younger guitar players I knew spent more time playing guitar hero than their actual guitars😂. But the one thing I really came to appreciate about it when I started playing it a little myself is that it made me think of timing in music differently. Normally I am mostly a soulful player and I kind of do what comes natural at the time but dabbling in these games gave me more appreciation for strict timing.

[@NPK476]

Now younger kids don't play either 🤣

[@8gillinghamfc8]

I got the first guitar hero for I think my 14th birthday, and initially, I was hooked. I loved the first two games not only because of the concept of the game itself but it introduced me to acts that I'd never heard before, and got me into bands that I'm still a fan of now. But by the time 3 came out, I started to lose interest, as like you said, nothing was really changing to make me want to keep buying the games outside of the setlist which wasn't enough anymore. I bought GH Metallica purely because I'd been a fan for years, but there wasn't any reason for me to get VH. The novelty just wore off. I still like revisiting the old games, but that's kind of it. It became a bit of an overkill for me.

[@JeremyTalaczynski]

once you notice the guitar players with no strap, its kinda hard to unsee

[@dawnofapril3055]

I didn't know this came out, and as a Van Halen fan, I wouldn't have cared. The changes they made to their history, the lack of any kind of acknowledgement of Sammy and Mike, and only songs from Dave's era? No thanks.

[@josephpretorius8607]

I have GHVH to thank for introducing me to my all time favorite band in Alter Bridge. Come to Life made me stop and listen to it again, and as soon as i youtubed them i was hooked.

[@joekopel]

I still play Guitar Hero and Rockband. I agree as a stand alone Van Halen was the weakest but also that was a very high bar set by Aerosmith and Metallica. Song choice was good the game play is what you'd expect, in the end it's DLC they made us buy a disk for and looking at it like that, it served it's purpose

[@xxSHADESxx85]

Im still sad that Pearl Jam Rock Band got cancelled. I wish they would at least release the music as dlc on RB4

[@aandrewgarciaa_]

Loved this video game. It’s still very fun with a great set list!

[@bofa83]

I loved the Van Halen guitar hero. best songs of any of the games.

[@TheNewRevolution]

I spent many drunken nights playing Rock Band and Guitar Hero with 2 drunk girls. One of whom, I'm still married to, today. Ahh great memories. I loved those games.

[@baphometazrael1892]

Thanks to this game, I had gotten a taste of non-commercial (in my opinion Queen.! GH VH contained “I Want It All” and when I clicked this song I was expecting the commercial Queen stuff I had grown up hearing on the radio with Bohemian Rhapsody, I want to break free, we will rocky/we are the champions, bicycle, best friend, etc. I kept going back and playing I want it all because I had no way of access to listen to Queen and dive into their catalog until years later and I got explore the lovely catalog I mean the song and album Innuendo is a fuckinf masterpiece!!

[@WhatInTheActual]

Guitar hero Van Halen was great! There should have been a guitar hero led Zeppelin.. guitar hero guns n' roses.. rock band The doors.. guitar hero Nirvana.. .. .

[@powerhitter033]

I was a kid when this came out. I thought it was a fun game. Never would have guessed it was controversial back then.

[@CHUCKSCHUMACHER]

Meanwhile Roth is over there saying "guitar hero was great! I dont see what the problem is" 😂🎉

[@michaelgriffith7033]

Kudos for what you said about the game's importance in your life!

[@rnrtruestories]

Thanks I loved rhythm gaming got me into drumming

[@beckybecky125]

Super close to getting the platinum trophy for this game, really I only own it because I have the other GH games (including Band Hero) for PS3 and just wanted it for completion's sake

[@mrdantegg8686]

Same I wanna unlock all the outfits on band hero

[@beckybecky125]

@@mrdantegg8686 I platinumed Band Hero mere months before all the servers died

[@kevinschoenfeld6294]

I think guitar hero died when it became a rock band clone. And yeah, I agree that the van halen one wasn't great.

[@chrismodlin6262]

I'M YOUR ICE CREAM MAN, STOP ME WHEN I'M PASSING BY

[@dilfbag]

🤘🥳🤘 HAPPY NEW YEAR

[@alderoth01]

I loved guitar hero. Didn't care one bit for tye band centric versions.

[@mikebell2112]

I don't think it would be weird with Wolfgang wearing spandex, it's just something you wouldn't want to see.

[@LaurieMarieValdezRNCCRN]

I'm praying for all of us❤❤❤

[@thegenerikshow8545]

Feels good to hear Sid talk about Rhythm gaming again!!!

[@rnrtruestories]

Haha thanks. Bummed to see harmonix is ending dlc

[@Bonecrusher1022]

I didn't even get this game at launch cause my parents got sick of me asking for new Guitar Hero/Rock Band games every couple months lol. I think I got GH5 for my birthday and this promotion was already over. Another extremely stupid decision was they put Eruption on the demo you could get for free. Like others, I mostly got into rock music from these games so that was THE song I knew (outside of You Really Got Me from Guitar Hero 2) so it just felt pointless to even look at the game lol. I believe I ended up getting it not much later for like $5 used

[@paulosicne8498]

"Fountains Of Wayne" "The offspring" "Blink 182" added as chosen by EVH's kid. Just adds more fodder as to why that runt should have never been added into Van Halen, just different generations and eras. I never liked nepotism. If wolfgang wanted to play in a band, then let him start his own and put in his own bones in the club scene to earn his own success. It sucks how Eddie just tossed Michael Anthony out, even though Anthony was loyal for so many years, just to be replaced by Eddie's undeserving, spoiled brat. Spoiled to the core. I like Eddie for the music he made, but that was really F'd up of him.

[@RDMANGLEYT]

if they kept making band centric games for guitr hero pantera should have been a great pick for one.

[@EmilForsberg_GRYBO]

As a fan of guitar hero i actually love guitar hero van halen, however, i do recognise it's quite lazily put together when comparing many of the other games, and although the guest tracks didn't make a whole lot of sense, i still thought they were really good songs that should have been in a guitar hero game, just maybe not Van Halen

[@ledorzejean-etienne3747]

Too many guitar heroes games killed the franchise, I don't think it was a question of the band behind. Just like Tony hawk games

[@dustblowingman]

Today I learnt that Van Halen had more than 1 vocalist

[@kierenmoore3236]

Sammy could sing rings around David …

[@gyvren]

Went to a guitar hero get together one time. Couldn’t stand hearing “CLACKITY CLACK CLACK CLACKITY CLACK CLACK CLACK” over and over and over and over, ad infinitum for hours. It didn’t matter how loud the tv was, the sound of plastic clacking around was maddening. The game sucked too. Being as high as a giraffes butt only helped for about 5 minutes. You could spend the same amount of money and go see 3-4 live shows. Much better use of time and money.

[@MFFL674]

of course it wasn't going to sell a lot of copies when it was already bundled in guitar hero pre-release. anyone interested in van halen would have just bought the bundle.

[@blackphillip8486]

Remember all these games but never heard any rumblings about this one at the time surprisingly and thinking back on it now how f'n cool would it've been if they'd have put out a Slipknot one?! Woulda been classic line-up back then too! That being said they dropped the ball letting Jay Weinberg go. Dude breathed new life into that band when they desperately needed it. Gray Chapter was a make or break moment for them considering the losses they'd taken and he dropped on that shxt like a bomb.

[@rnrtruestories]

There were always rumours that other band games were coming out including Jimi Hendrix, Queen, the who, zeppelin and pink Floyd

[@Jason_Maier]

Never cared for the Guitar Hero games. When they came out, it was around the time I was starting to play games less and less.

[@philfrank5601]

This game would have been massive if it kept the original 4 members for the Dave era, and add in Sammy as a lead singer swap. The whole discography should have been there. And no, Wolf should not have been in the game.

[@khaotix64]

Like I get the drama with Eddie and Sammy. I came to accept there was no way that him or his songs would be in the game... but completely shafting Michael Anthony was an absolute disgrace because he was so important to the band for those 30+ years. And it was also absolutely disgusting seeing Wolfgang sing his harmonies in the game

[@tomjohnson4922]

I will admit I never got into these games, in all honesty I've never been huge into any video games. I do remember when the first few came out, never knew there was a Van Halen version. Seeing this I can understand why people were pissed.

[@jaketheguitarist6379]

I liked the game for what it was. Didn't know people hated the game this much. Actually glad it didn't have any Van Hagar shit on it

[@lornesguitarcompany6504]

The real question that needs to be answered is why Activision didn't have a Van Halen style guitar controller ready to go. Arguably the greatest guitarist playing the world's most iconic guitar and you're telling your audience to play it on the old controller. They couldn't even put together a package of black and white tape and instructions on how to update their old controller? That in itself shows other than Wolfgang, this project was not even an afterthought to the other band members and another cash grab by a developer. Thank goodness Wolf did get involved because it probably would have turned out a whole lot worse.

[@hydro.pl.27]

Those are different Van Halen fans if they came on board after the Roth era. They’re my favorite group of all time but thats only the Roth era. I’ve heard all the songs with Hagar but it’s definitely not the same Van Halen with him fronting the band. Besides I preferred Hagar as a solo act then rather with a well known group.

[@duanebetz9270]

Sammy did some great stuff with Van Halen, but I do agree that his solo music is better. I feel the same way about Gary Cherone. He was ok in Van Halen, but he belongs in Extreme.

[@Brandons_guitar_covers]

Its kinda funny at one point van halen was 3/4ths all related, imagine roth got replaced with a random cousin, lets name him jerry, thus making it fully van halen 💀

[@idiotburns]

I always hated those games, I played guitar and they bugged the hell out of me and made me quit playing video games

[@RogueBoyScout]

Wolfgang became the Sharon Osbourne of Van Halen...