Teen Drops Out of High School To Become Professional "Guitar Hero"

Call it The Decline of Western Civilization IV: Blake Peebles, a teenager in North Carolina, recently dropped out of high school to pursue his dream of playing music. While this sounds like an everyday occurrence, there is a catch: Peebles dropped out so he can concentrate on playing Guitar Hero with hopes of becoming good enough at hitting colored plastic buttons to play in the surprisingly-lucrative world of competitive gaming. Peebles has already won a few Hero tournaments, but so far his winnings include gift certificates, gaming equipment and 52 Chick-fil-A meals. For what it's worth, Peebles was doing poorly to begin with in school, and his parents have since hired him a private tutor. If Peebles lives up to his high-flying Guitar Hero dreams, he could earn up to $80,000 a year on the competitive circuit, though groupies should be slightly harder to come by.

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