In 2009, the makers of the hugely-popular Guitar Hero video game series, launched a spin-off, Band Hero, which would allow players to "create the band they always dreamed of.... providing rockers and performers of all ages the chance to experience and interact with their favourite music."
The game featured what Activision called "the hottest chart-topping hits from everyones favourite acts" - a list that included Fall Out Boy, Evanescence, No Doubt, Maroon 5 and The All-American Rejects - and in something of a coup for the company, they also secured the rights to have a Taylor Swift avatar 'perform' three songs in the game, Love Story and You Belong With Me from her then-current Fearless album, released in 2008, and Picture to Burn from the star's 2006 self-titled debut record.
"My band and I love playing the game," Swift declared at the time. "Well, first of all it's fun because we're in the game, so there's that, but it's also just really fun to go and try to play other people's songs."
To advertise the game, Activision put together a TV commercial, referencing an iconic scene from the 1983 Tom Cruise film Risky Business, which featured Swift performing with three musicians she cited as "musical heroes": Fall Out Boy bassist Pete Wentz, Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker and Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo.
