History YMMV / GuitarHero

*** While the lead vocalist normally gets locked into the appropriate gender of the song in ''Band Hero'' (there are quite a few exceptions actually), the ''backing vocalists'' (if the song has any) definitely don't. [[strike: Try having a male guitarist while performing the Spice Girls' "Wannabe" (which has the lead guitarist sing/rap some of the lyrics in solo, including one lengthy passage)]] Try to keep your composure when watching [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLCUXh_XZ9o this video]] of Johnny Napalm singing/rapping Ginger Spice's lines in "Wannabe" (never mind the [[SuperDeformed short, big headed]] male lead vocalist singing the lines of all the other Spice Girls, or even the voice of the actual ''male'' player [[NightmareFuel singing the song for real]]).

* ReplacementScrappy:
** Midori. Not that there was anything particularly wrong with her, it's just that a lot of people weren't happy that she replaced Pandora.
** And to a lesser extent, the male lead singer. They took a generally attractive, [[HollywoodHomely or at least normal looking]], singer, and replaced him with a shaggy-haired, beady-eyed, needle toothed...''thing''... And pray to God you never [[NightmareFuel see his eyes...]] (unfortunately, the game seems to ''love'' showing his terrifying gaze on "Rock And Roll All Night").

** {{Superboss}} song "Jordan" was, allegedly, originally included as an "unbeatable" joke. Ditto "TTFAF" and the downloadable version of "The Devil Went Down To Georgia". ''TTFAF'', which plays over the end credits after the main game is beaten, is commonly regarded as '''the''' most difficult song to perform in the history of the ''Guitar Hero'' series, and completion of the ''GH3'' version of the song is one of the hardest things to do in any video game; the band behind it, Dragonforce, never completed the game version of it successfully on Hard. You only get a "good luck" comment on the harder difficulties, and completion gets you an "inhuman" achievement on some consoles.

* CrossesTheLineTwice: ''Guitar Hero 5'' avatars based on famous musicians and gives them the ability to sing any song in the game. As seen below under {{Narm}}, this can be pretty funny.

** For a while, there was a one-sided rivalry from players of actual music instruments towards ''GH'' players, believing that those people should stop playing and go take up playing a real instrument instead. ''GH'' players feel that these musicians miss the entire point of the games (it would be like telling a ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty'' player to join the military or a ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto'' player to commit actual violent crimes).

** Tier 7 in ''III'' is a rather nasty spike in and of itself: [[Music/{{Slipknot}} Before I Forget]] and [[Music/{{Disturbed}} Stricken]] in particular are notorious for being overcharted to the point of FakeDifficulty (As is [[Music/QueensOfTheStoneAge 3's and 7's]], though [[BreatherBoss it's not nearly as difficult as everything else in the tier]]) and [[Music/{{Muse}} Knights of Cydonia]], while not nearly as egregious in this regard, is full of long strings of tremolo picking that are sure to tire any player out, and to top it all off, you have to deal eith [[Music/LivingColour Cult of Personality's]] minute-long sweeping solo as an encore.

* DifficultySpike: The last set of ''III'' is far, ''far, FAR'' harder than anything that came before it and generally set a brick wall at the end of Expert difficulty that only the most hardcore players would have even a ''chance'' of clearing. When the ''easiest'' song in a set is ''[[Music/IronMaiden The Number of the Beast]]'' you know [[ThisIsGonnaSuck you're not gonna have a good time.]] And this is ''before'' you meet [[ThatOneBoss Lou]]. Several reviews (including [[WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation Yahtzee]]) cited it as by far the biggest flaw in the game.

** Music/KurtCobain and Music/JohnnyCash being able to sing '''any''' song in ''[=GH5=]'' is also these. They're probably rolling in their graves anyways.

** The ''GH'' Community managed to start a Fandom Rivalry within ''themselves'' over which is the better way to experience the game in the modern PC era. While ''[=FASTGH3=]'', ''II Deluxe'' and ''World Tour Definitive Edition'' are more authentic (using an emulated version of ''II'' for ''Deluxe'' and the original PC versions of ''III'' and ''World Tour'' as a base), they are also a bit harder to set up and lack some of the more modern features like Chord [=HOPOs=] and progression indicators. ''Clone Hero'' is easier to set up and has all the bells and whistles of ''Warriors of Rock'', but the engine being built from the ground up can lead to [[https://youtu.be/PvSWQcyIT2M some pretty jarring gameplay inaccuracies that can even make the rightfully difficult official songs]] [[ItsEasySoItSucks too easy]], on top of accusations that people only play it for the [[WatchItForTheMeme "meme songs"]] and that most of its challenging songs are tap-note spam-heavy chiptunes that are so far removed from the franchise's rock roots while [[ItsHardSoItSucks also being needlessly difficult due to a lack of general design philosophy between charters, especially once conflicting mechanics are brought in]]. Almost no one brings up ''Frets On Fire'' anymore [[SeinfeldIsUnfunny due to it being a relic of its time]], and ''Phase Shifter'' lost all of its edge once it went commercial on Steam (on top of it being more of a ''Rock Band'' clone than a ''Guitar Hero'' one).

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: At the time of its release, ''Guitar Hero III'' was almost ''universally'' seen as an EvenBetterSequel to ''II'', with its sales records being by far the highest of any Guitar Hero game and its online customs community remaining strong for years. As time has gone on, however, better substitutes for custom charts (most notably ''Clone Hero'') have come out, and more people have begun to turn on ''Guitar Hero III'' due to its sharp DifficultySpike in the last two venues and its overcharting of some songs.

* UnexpectedCharacter: ''Guitar Hero Live'' features Music/AlterBridge, Music/TheBlackKeys, Music/RoyalBlood, Music/{{Disturbed}}, Music/SystemOfADown among others, including... Music/EdSheeran, Music/{{Skrillex}}, Music/CalvinHarris, Music/BrunoMars, and Music/CharliXCX?

* GoddamnedBoss: In the form of a song: [[WebAnimation/HomestarRunner "Because it's Midnite"]] is infamous for a hair-raising solo out of nowhere in the middle of an otherwise very easy song. It's only 12 seconds long, but has a blistering 174 notes (keep in mind the song as a whole is 540 notes). Even the "[[BonusBoss unbeatable joke songs]]" like "Jordan" don't have such density. The only reason most players can finish the song is the very generous star power right before the solo.

** BonusBoss song "Jordan" was, allegedly, originally included as an "unbeatable" joke. Ditto "TTFAF" and the downloadable version of "The Devil Went Down To Georgia". ''TTFAF'', which plays over the end credits after the main game is beaten, is commonly regarded as '''the''' most difficult song to perform in the history of the ''Guitar Hero'' series, and completion of the ''GH3'' version of the song is one of the hardest things to do in any video game; the band behind it, Dragonforce, never completed the game version of it successfully on Hard. You only get a "good luck" comment on the harder difficulties, and completion gets you an "inhuman" achievement on some consoles.

** The Music/{{Tool}} "gig" in [=GHWT=], which features three songs by the band, is ThatOneBoss when it comes to Drum career. Good thing it's [[BonusBoss optional.]]