Izzy Sparks

Izzy Sparks is a main character in the Guitar Hero series. He first appeared with the Grim Ripper as one of two unlockable characters in Guitar Hero and has appeared as a regular starting character in each game on home consoles in the series until Warriors of Rock, where he once again was an unlockable character. He is named after Harmonix sound engineer Izzy Maxwell, who worked on Guitar Hero, Guitar Hero II, and Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s, and who also played guitar on Freezepop's tracks on the two former games ("Get Ready 2 Rokk" and "Less Talk More Rokk", respectively).

Descriptions

"Izzy is known for his wild hair, wilder outfits, and even wilder parties - and of course for his crankin' guitar. He says he needs to customize his guitars to accommodate his ultra fast technique. Changing bands like other people change shoes, Izzy has played for dozens of bands including Arsenic, Gold Rush, Medusa's Hair, and Gang of Two. Press and fans alike can't get enough of his bad-boy antics and monster chops. Izzy named his last album "Banned in Seven States", which was true - three states ago. Though most venues cite his unruly stage presence as reason to keep him out, Izzy claims that he gets barred because his guitar "makes girls think impure thoughts." He recently customized his amps to match his outfits. Says friend and band mate Jax Hummer, "you have to be damn good to get away with that kind of behavior. And he is."
—manual bio

"Got any hair spray? King of the insane solo and full-on party animal, Izzy lives and breathes rock 'n roll."
—Unlock Shop description

"A wild man on and off the stage, Izzy is famous for his guitar playing and infamous for his hard partying ways. The press can't get enough of this bad boy, who never leaves a crowd unhappy or a hotel room un-trashed."
—In-game bio

"A wild man on and off the stage, Hair Matheson is not just famous for his virtuoso guitar. His dressing room antics are legendary. Hair lives by the phrase: anything worth doing is worth over-doing."
—In-game bio (prototype version, with beta name)

"A real crowd pleaser, Izzy thrills all with his energetic onstage showmanship while delighting the media with his offstage debauchery, Izzy's fan base is even bigger than his hair."
—In-game bio

"Media darling and pop culture icon, Izzy Sparks is living the rock and roll dream and every mother's nightmare. With his love of legato and leopard skin, Izzy brings metal to the mainstream masses."
—In-game bio

"Daughters, lock up your mothers... Sunset has not fallen upon the Strip! Izzy returns with the flair and the hair, and isn't stopping until your ears bleed pure rock. Glam never tasted so good."
—In-game bio

"Fame and fortune can't buy you happiness... But it certainly can pay for a new liver or two! Izzy is back on tour after the astonishingly fresh sound of his new party album Live'r Let Die."
—In-game bio

"In Izzy Sparks' new autobiography 'Glam Sandwich', he recalls the early years with fondness. He describes his career progression, changes in direction, and the ups and downs of rock'n'roll life over his three whole years in the biz."
—In-game bio

"Izzy's busy with new girl Lizzy, been seen all over this old city; some say Izzy's a wee bit skeezy, but that maybe an image he's rather pleased with."
—In-game bio

Appearance and Outfits

Throughout the Guitar Hero series, Izzy has always been portrayed as a Glam/Hair Metal rocker.

Guitar Hero

Izzy wears a black spandex top with a harness of yellow belts, a variety of wristbands on both arms, black fingerless gloves and a piece of chainmail covering his right arm, topped by a steel shoulder pad. He also wears a skull-shaped codpiece over black leather pants, white shoes, and has the left leg protected by a large white shin guard and knee guard. His makeup consists of a series of red flashes painted across his face, and he wears a black headband underneath his fringe.

Guitar Hero II

Codpiece

As the name suggests, it is an outfit largely similar to his original one. Izzy wears a black-and-yellow spandex top with a harness of red belts, a variety of wristbands (notably a spiked one on each arm), black fingerless gloves, and a yellow resin pad on his right shoulder. He wears the same skull codpiece over black leather pants with yellow details, with one red belt on each thigh, and black platform boots protected by spiked shin guards. He wears more subdued "linebacker" makeup.

Top Hat

Not everybody can pull off a top hat and feather boa. Izzy is not afraid to subvert the dominant paradigm in this ultra-glam ensemble. - Shop description

Izzy wears a white top hat, a black feather boa as a vest, black fingerless gloves, black-and-white striped tight pants and white low boots.

Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s

Izzy wears a jaguar-print headband, a pink sleeveless shirt with a neckerchief, tight black leather pants and boots.

Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock

The Rockstar

Izzy's standard outfit follows the hair metal motif from Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s. He wears a spandex suit which is opened at the torso, an armband, and a wristband on each arm with a bandanna tied at the left wrist and hoop bracelets on the right one. He also wears a neckerchief over a choker, an eye and fang necklaces, fingerless gloves, an assortment of belts over his thighs, and laced-up boots.

Leopard: The spandex is colored in standard leopard print. His headband is red with spots in a lighter red, the same shade of which is the neckerchief, and his boots are yellow.
Lizard: The spandex is colored in green leopard print. He has a yellow headband, green neckerchief, and aqua boots.
Zebra: The spandex is vertically striped in white and black. He has a black headband, deep red neckerchief, and white boots.
Menagerie: Rainbow snakeskin spandex, rainbow headband and neckerchief, and black boots with purple buckles. He also has hair of an iridescent shade of brown.
Bluebird (Guitar Hero: Aerosmith only): Blue spandex and sky-blue hair.
Sea Urchin (Guitar Hero: Aerosmith only): Purple spandex, black headband, and blonde hair.
Viper (Guitar Hero: Aerosmith only): Red spandex, white scarves, and blonde hair. He strongly resembles Shawn Michaels.

The Peacock

In case you thought Izzy's other outfit was a bit too subtle, Izzy puffs himself up with an ensemble inspired by one of the most beautiful creatures in the animal kingdom. - Shop description.

Izzy wears a ruffled jacket with feathers over the left shoulder, netting fingerless gloves, tight lurex pants and buckled boots with ruffled edges. He has teased hair falling over his left eye and wears a different headband from standard.

Fantasy: Main colors blue and purple and his hair is bleached blonde with a yellow headband.
Florid: Main colors white, red and purple and his hair is light blonde with a red headband.
Starry Night: Main colors purple and yellow, with a star's motif and his hair is purple with a black headband.
Neon Knight: Main colors shocking pink and lime green, with a subtle neon tiger motif and his hair is violet with a white headband.
Cock 'O The Walk (Guitar Hero: Aerosmith only): Yellow jacket, red and yellow pants, red and white feathers, and blonde hair.
Magniloquent (Guitar Hero: Aerosmith only): Pink jacket, red and white pants, blue feathers, and blonde hair.
Grandiose (Guitar Hero: Aerosmith only): All black with red details and white feathers, and blonde hair.

Guitar Hero World Tour

Default Clothing

Torso: Leftovers
Pants: Cuffs and Stripes
Shoes: You've Been 86ed

Default Accessories

Left Arm: Demo Wrap
Right Arm: Leathery Spike

Guitar Hero Metallica

Izzy by default looks similar to his appearance in World Tour, except that he is wearing a black vest with black pants and white sneakers. Like many of the other Guitar Hero characters, this is to make him look more Metal.

Default Clothing

Torso: Gilded Glam
Pants: Hurricane Chaps
Shoes: Deez Sneakers

Default Accessories

Left Arm: Wrist Snuggler
Right Arm: Xcessive Rings

Guitar Hero Smash Hits

Izzy wears the same outfit as Guitar Hero World Tour.

Guitar Hero 5

Izzy has new outfits in this game:

Glam Tease: This outfit shows him with his usual, more outrageous style: he has white, blonde hair that reaches his shoulders with a section of it sticking up diagonally. He wears a zebra print jumpsuit with gold fur trim.
Sideshow: This outfit shows him with hair that is black on his right side with pink on his left side. He wears yellow vest with black shoulder guards, black pants and yellow hightops.
Stiki: This outfit shows him with black hair, black lipstick, red jacket, and black pants.
The Immpresario: This outfit shows him with blonde short hair that shades over one eye. He wears a black trench coat with a large amount of black fur trim and red pants.

Band Hero

Izzy has two outfits at the beginning of the game, and one can be unlocked in career. His first outfit called "10 Minutes Till Pluto" looks a lot different than his usual appearance; he has black hair in a style the game calls "The Catolano". He wears a blue shirt under a black vest with scribbled writing covering it, accessorized with a yellow bandana. He wears purple pants with purple and green socks and white sneakers that have scribbles all over them. He wears a wristband on his right arm and his arms have many tattoos.

Guitar Hero Live

While not appearing in the game physically, Izzy's name is shown to be one of the nine opponents in GHTV's Premium Shows.

Songs associated with Izzy Sparks

Guitar Hero II Quickplay songs

"Shout at the Devil" - Mötley Crüe
"Tonight I'm Gonna Rock You Tonight" - Spinal Tap
"Cherry Pie" - Warrant
"Trippin' On A Hole in a Paper Heart" - Stone Temple Pilots
"Jordan" - Buckethead
"Trogdor" - Strong Bad
"The Trooper" - Iron Maiden

Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s Quickplay songs

In-game appearances

Trivia

In early development versions of the first game, Izzy was called Hair Matheson, in reference to Harmonix artist Dare Matheson.
Izzy's signature guitar is a Custom Rising Sun Gibson Explorer, which was made for him in GH1.
Izzy Sparks is one of two characters that you can see, without buying them. (Along with Grim Ripper).
In the Wii and PlayStation 2 versions of Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, Izzy has slightly a darker skin tone.
In one of Casey Lynch's Guitar Hero Aerosmith outfit descriptions, it states that the two of them are “good friends.”
Interestingly, Izzy Sparks' default outfit in Guitar Hero II appears as his outfit in Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock.
- Izzy Sparks is unlockable as a bonus character in Quickplay+ in Warriors of Rock by reaching rank 28.
His appearance in GH5 might have been based on that of the late singer David Bowie, who was also a Glam Rocker.
- Izzy's hair in GH5 is called Hooligan and looks a lot like David Bowie's 1970s alter ego, Ziggy Stardust's hairstyle.
Rumors say the stars shown on Izzy are a symbol of his wife whose name starts with the letter *S*

Gallery

v · t · eCharacters of Guitar Hero

Guitar Hero

Axel Steel ∙ Clive Winston ∙ Grim Ripper ∙ Izzy Sparks ∙ Johnny Napalm ∙ Judy Nails ∙ Pandora ∙ Xavier Stone

NPCs: The Bassist ∙ The Drummer ∙ The Female Singer ∙ The Keyboardist ∙ The Male Singer

Guitar Hero II

Casey Lynch ∙ Lars Ümlaüt ∙ Eddie Knox

Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock

Elroy Budvis ∙ God of Rock ∙ Lou ∙ Metalhead ∙ Midori ∙ Slash ∙ Tom Morello

NPCs: Bret Michaels

Guitar Hero: On Tour

Gunner Jaxon ∙ Memphis Rose

NPCs: The Female Singer

Guitar Hero: Aerosmith

Brad Whitford ∙ DMC ∙ Joe Perry ∙ Tom Hamilton

NPCs: Joey Kramer ∙ The Rhythm Guitarist ∙ Steven Tyler

Guitar Hero World Tour

Aaron Steele ∙ Billy Corgan ∙ Hayley Williams ∙ Jimi Hendrix ∙ Johnny Viper ∙ Marcus Fretshredder ∙ Matty Cannz ∙ Nick ∙ Ozzy Osbourne ∙ Riki Lee ∙ Rina ∙ Rockubot ∙ Shirley Crowley ∙ Skeleton ∙ Sting ∙ Ted Nugent ∙ Travis Barker ∙ Zakk Wylde

Guitar Hero On Tour: Decades

NPCs: Chad ∙ Marcus ∙ Michelle ∙ Ron ∙ Sal ∙ Zach

Guitar Hero: Metallica

Fembot ∙ James Hetfield ∙ King Diamond ∙ Kirk Hammett ∙ Lars Ulrich ∙ Lemmy ∙ Robert Trujillo ∙ Zach Harmon

Guitar Hero On Tour: Modern Hits

Calista Valenz ∙ Simon Grimmsy

NPCs: Miss Heather

Guitar Hero: Smash Hits

Mario Greendale

Guitar Hero: Van Halen

Alex Van Halen ∙ David Lee Roth ∙ Eddie Van Halen ∙ Wolfgang Van Halen

Guitar Hero 5

Carlos Santana ∙ FrankenRocker ∙ Gerald Contest Winner ∙ Golden God ∙ Johnny Cash ∙ Kurt Cobain ∙ Matt Bellamy ∙ Racques Topus ∙ Robbie Lobster ∙ Scrap Heap ∙ Shadow ∙ Shirley Manson

Band Hero for home consoles

Adam Levine ∙ Adrian Young ∙ Gwen Stefani ∙ Quincy Styles ∙ Taylor Swift ∙ Tom Dumont ∙ Tony Kanal

Band Hero for Nintendo DS

Cthulhu

Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock

Arthas Menethil ∙ Austin Tejas ∙ Demi-God of Rock ∙ Echo Tesla ∙ Minotaur

*Characters are listed in their debut video game. Rock Star Creator not included.