Guitar Hero III Comes Under Fire From Songwriter

Written by Suzanne Bunce | Wednesday, April 9, 2008 |

Charles Daniels, who wrote the song “The Devil Went Down To Georgia“, has criticised the makers of Guitar Hero III for including his song on the game. Daniels, who wrote the song in 1979 when he was a member of The Charles Daniels Band, lost his rights to the song in an earlier court settlement.

Daniels wrote on his blog: “The song, ‘The Devil Went Down To Georgia’, which I wrote, is supposed to be a light - hearted novelty about a fiddling contest between a country boy and the devil and the devil always loses. I would never grant permission for some company to create a video game version of a song I wrote in which the devil wins a contest.”

Daniels further expressed that he was troubled by the character of the devil in the game, who challenges players: “I’m sorely disappointed with the company who owns the copyright for not policing the situation. As it is they have allowed these people to violate the very essence of the song. At this time I don’t know if I have any legal recourse, probably not, but I wanted you folks to know that I vehemently disagree with what has been done to a piece of my work. And I would like to pass along a little advice to parents of young children. 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.”

“The Devil Went Down To Georgia” charted at number 3 in the US single charts, and is Daniels’ biggest hit to date.

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