Guitar Hero Gets College Basketball Fever

The “Risky Business” advertising series for Guitar Hero, which has featured Alex Rodriguez, Kobe Bryant, Heidi Klum and other celebrities in the past, has a new installment airing now and throughout men’s college basketball playoffs and championship game.

Image: Newscom

This commercial features four of the legendary coaches–alltime wins leader Bob Knight on the mic, arch rivals Duke University Coach Mike Krzyzewski (Coach K) and University of North Carolina Coach Roy Williams on the guitar, and University of Louisville Coach Rick Pitino on the drums. The foursome are confronted by Metallica, who certainly aren’t impressed with their performance.

You can see the coaches in the commercial below.

“The last few ‘Risky Business’ ads were such a hit with Guitar Hero fans as it showed that even celebrities have rock and roll fantasies,” said Brett Ratner. “This time around, we thought we’d turn the tables and put the spotlight on some atypical Guitar Hero fans, four of the most well-known collegiate basketball coaches. I think fans will be very surprised by their shredding skills off the court.”

This commercial is part of the campaign promoting the latest Guitar Hero game, which released on March 29. Guitar Hero Metallica encourages fans to “Ride the Lightning” with the band and more than 20 other rock groups from Foo Fighters to Queen.

The series of popular “Risky Business” ads has been viewed on You Tube more than 5 million times.  The Guitar Hero craze continues and I’m sure this video game will also be well received. Incorporating the coaches into the commercial is a fun gimmick that will get a lot of attention (though I’m not sure anyone really wanted to see Bob Knight is his underwear).

Here are a few more of the “Risky Business”  Guitar Hero commercials: