IoMP 168: What Is The Most Metal Guitar Hero Game? Part 10
Eddie Van Halen didn’t just change rock guitar — his playing helped inspire generations of musicians who would take heavy music in increasingly wild directions. So when Guitar Hero: Van Halen arrived in 2009, surely a game built around one of the most influential guitarists in hard rock history would have a suitably heavy soundtrack... right?
Well... about that. For episode 10 of “What Is The Most Metal Guitar Hero Game?,” Collin and Tom are starting Van Halen Week by putting Guitar Hero: Van Halen under the microscope and figuring out exactly where it belongs in their increasingly crowded Guitar Hero metal rankings.
The good news? This game absolutely has some metal. The even better news? Some of its choices are surprisingly heavy.
Killswitch Engage’s “The End of Heartache” immediately catches Tom off guard. Out of all the places you could expect to encounter one of the defining metalcore songs of the 2000s, a Van Halen-themed Guitar Hero game probably isn’t high on the list.
Then there’s Judas Priest’s “Painkiller.” Seriously... how did it take THIS long? Between that legendary opening drum assault, Scott Travis’s performance and one of the most instantly recognizable riffs in heavy metal, “Painkiller” feels practically engineered for the full-band Guitar Hero experience.
The soundtrack also reaches into the murkier territory between hard rock and metal with Alter Bridge’s “Come to Life,” Tenacious D’s “Master Exploder” and Deep Purple’s “Space Truckin’.” That last song sends the guys down memory lane as Collin explains why “Space Truckin’” became the first song he ever played in his first car.
Outside those heavier highlights, Guitar Hero: Van Halen serves up everything from Blink-182 and The Offspring to Fountains of Wayne — leading to the discovery that “Stacy’s Mom” may secretly be the heaviest song in Guitar Hero history!
… okay, maybe not… probably…
Next up is one Collin played so much he jokes that he probably broke his Wii with it: Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock.
Before that, though, Van Halen Week isn’t finished.
Later this week, Collin and Tom turn their attention away from the video game and toward Van Halen themselves for another episode of “Are They Rock or Metal?” Are they one of the greatest hard rock bands of all time? Or does Eddie Van Halen’s enormous influence on metal earn the band a place under the metal umbrella?
For now, there’s a Guitar Hero ranking to settle.
Can Guitar Hero: Van Halen make a serious run at the title of Most Metal Guitar Hero Game?
Click play and find out where it lands!
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