Marking two decades since the legendary game hit the market in North America, giving players everywhere the tools to become rock legends. Figuratively speaking, but try convincing anyone who's nailed Free Bird’s lengthy guitar solo in front of a packed living-room audience.
Developed by the developers, the game gave players a plastic guitar peripheral to match on-screen cues scrolling down the screen synchronized to a song. Each riff corresponded to particular chords, producing the sensation of a genuine performance.
Harmonix had already experimented in the music genre prior to teaming up with the publisher, later acquired by Activision during the mid-2000s. Collaboratively, they laid the groundwork for a surprising billion-dollar franchise which made a remarkable influence for many of the artists included, introducing classic groups to millions of gaming enthusiasts.
A former executive, former COO from the developer, remembers the early budgetary hurdles in securing the recordings – despite the fact the first two games mostly used rerecorded tracks.
“We reproduced all the music since the cost prohibitive,” he says. “Even with the publishing rights alone, it proved extremely difficult. We couldn’t get acts such as the Who – RedOctane was operating on a shoestring budget, and we were pretty convinced the project would flop. But once Guitar Hero became a hit, album purchases and radio play were going up, everyone wanted to be in.”
He continues: “One of the amazing things was the number of mothers and fathers reached out and thanked us for exposing their kids to the songs they adored. It became an intergenerational phenomenon.”
Timeless Music Gains Younger Fans
Northern Irish group one featured act had Never Too Late in the 2008 release Guitar Hero World Tour. Lead musician Paul Mahon remembers how the series brought older hits to the forefront: “The game offered a bigger, new demographic. Generally such music was seen as outdated material, but then when it was featured on the game young people discovered it, suddenly it was cool. That legitimised the genre, eliminating the outdated label. It provided our catalog a new life.”
At that time, the band's debut album was still unreleased in the US, so Guitar Hero was a key medium for exposure for the group during their a North American tour supporting AC/DC. “The roadies were playing the song during travel, and several recognized us from Guitar Hero,” Mahon says.
Rock’s Heavyweight Spin-offs and Lasting Impact
Music's biggest acts soon took advantage of the series’ popularity, including bands like Aerosmith, Metallica and others starring in specialized game editions that focused on each band’s catalogue and associated stories, imagery and rock’n’roll mythology. For example, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, reportedly to have made the group greater revenue than any of their studio albums. It sold well over 500,000 units in its first week, and sales of Aerosmith’s music rose significantly at a time when the music business faced decline.
Guitar Hero continues to inspire nimble-fingered dedication among its fans. Recently, an online personality completed an impressive attempt featuring Through the Fire and Flames – an infamously tough power-metal song popularized through Guitar Hero – using a fan-made version, a freeware game with almost identical mechanics and extensive customisation options. This track is challenging even in expert mode, not to mention performed at double speed while hitting every one of its near 4,000 notes. The streamer claimed it took months of practice to accomplish.
“Guitar Hero offers a, fantasy thing. Just as with other games, that doesn’t mean you ought to use actual weapons and enlist,” notes DragonForce guitarist the artist.
DragonForce had already wrapped up a profitable run when Through the Fire and Flames was featured on Guitar Hero III, yet he explains it turned them into widely recognized. “I recall the record label calling to tell me that we were selling albums rapidly,” he shares. “Popularity surged on the subsequent tour, and we performed right ahead of top acts on the Mayhem festival.”
In fact, the band's visibility from Guitar Hero proved so vast that it threatened to eclipsing all other the band has done. Last year, the track was used in promotional material for a major film. “In the past I thought otherwise, but I’ve made peace with it,” Li says. “Should you just hear a single track, that's fine – everyone’s got their own path in music and I’m glad we played a role of people’s lives”.
The Lasting Legacy of a Iconic Controller
Top-tier marketing, be it for automobiles, apparel or video games, goes further than selling something – it inspires a longing. Did Guitar Hero tap into that? “That’s exactly what we were trying to create,” Dornbrook says. “The excitement of being a music icon on the stage. From day one, the creators believed there’s an instinctive human desire to create songs, and their goal was to leverage innovation to enable everyone to do it”.
Most of Guitar Hero games were released over a mere five-year period between 2005 and 2010, including derivative titles such as DJ Hero, including a spinning deck, and Band Hero. After that, corporate focus in plastic instruments died down, aside from a short-lived revival several years later.
Games such as Clone Hero and Fortnite Festival have kept the scene alive, and there’s set to be something from the founders in development. A new studio has begun work on its debut music game. Original co-founders are participating as special advisers. Is the world ready to embrace another game following the classic?
“We thought such titles could be like Madden allowing annual releases,” Dornbrook says. “With abundant new music it could remain perennially popular, thus I remain hopeful. It's entirely possible why it can’t continue with new generations.”
