Blake Peeble’s “Guitar Hero” Career

Article By: Joshua ‘The Red’ Russak (Red@aclion.com)

I’m pleased to write that North Carolina decided to “ok” 16 year old Blake Peebles decision to drop out of high school and pursue his dream of becoming a music legend – on Guitar Hero!
Say it out loud this time “Blake Peeble’s “Guitar Hero” Career”. Feels weird to say it, but according to the RollingStone article Teen Drops Out of High School To Become Professional “Guitar Here” , “Peebles was doing poorly to begin with in school, and his parents have since hired him a private tutor.” His parents basically let him drop out of school to persue a career of his choice…one of which I feel is necessary to define Guitar Hero to truly get an understanding and illustrate the current situation. As defined by Wikipedia…

Guitar Hero is a series of music video games published by RedOctane in partnership with Activision. The series is notable for its use of a guitar-shaped peripheral to simulate the playing of music, represented on-screen by colored notes that correspond to fret buttons on the controller.”

EscapistMagazine article Teen Dropout to be Pro Guitar Hero quoted his parents saying, “We couldn’t take the complaining anymore,” said [his father] Hunter. “He always told me that he thought school was a waste of time.”
He must have had a real taste of the “good life” and sense of success from his earlier winnings to make such a life altering situation…right? Well, let’s see what lead Blake Peebles to make this decision: “At the contests he has entered thus far in his career, he has won the typical takeaway prizes for local game contests: $1000 in prizes, gift certificates, gaming equipment and chicken sandwiches.” (escapistMagazine)
It is possible in some parallel universe that one could earn up to $80,000 a year on the competitive circuit, though I imagine those are 1 in a million. Could this be Blakes break? Could he be the 1 in a Million? Well, to get an idea of what he’s up against I took a look at the Guitar Hero Community, where I found no sign of Blake Peebles anywhere…though it could be that his username is one of many attempts to sound more like a distant cousin to R2D2.
Oh and I have great news…. Blake was just on Dr. Blogstein’s radio show. I have t admit this is a great attempt to get some serious attention. I’m not saying he’ll find Michael Phelps level endorsements, as I discussed last week in my article Michael Phelps Pulls in $5MM in Endorsements, but he’s definitely on his way to gaining Activision’s attention. He may remain a “blip” on our radar, but in the world of gaming, this is real news.
On a more personal level, I just want the world to know I LOVE GUITAR HERO! I’m not afraid to admit it. My past room mate and good friend, Mitchell Goldford and my room mate and my true Guitar Hero, Sam Shron have been rocking the plastic guitar and mastering the game on Expert. You try “Through Fire and Flames” on Expert without ending up with some level of Alzheimer’s! Try and imagine a world without Guitar Hero? …wait, stop, that’s just not okay for me to make such demanding requests. Instead, just imagine that there would have been no “South Park” episode about Guitar hero…
South Park Guitar Hero scene 2 — HILLARIOUS
…and that’s just not right to say! Either way, I promise to follow up on him in due time. Until then, he needs our support and I have no doubt there’ll be a “fan” site where we could all do just that.