Marking two decades since the legendary game hit the market in North America, giving players everywhere the opportunity to feel like rock legends. Not in reality, but try convincing anyone who has mastered the epic lengthy guitar solo before a packed crowd of friends.
Created by the developers, Guitar Hero gave players a plastic guitar peripheral to match coloured notes scrolling down the display in time with the music. Each riff mimicked particular chords, producing the feel of a genuine performance.
Harmonix previously tried its hand with rhythm games prior to teaming up with RedOctane, later acquired by Activision in 2006. Together, they established the foundations for an unlikely billion-dollar franchise that had a remarkable impact for many of the artists featured, introducing classic groups to millions of younger players.
Michael Dornbrook, ex-chief operating officer from the developer, recalls the early financial challenges in securing the recordings – even though the first two games primarily featured cover versions.
“We rerecorded all the music since the dollar figure was so high,” he says. “Despite having the necessary permissions by themselves, it proved extremely difficult. We couldn’t get acts such as legendary groups – the publisher had virtually no money, and our team was fairly certain the project would flop. But once the game took off, album purchases and radio play increased, all artists desired to be in.”
He continues: “Among the amazing things was how many parents got in touch expressing gratitude for exposing their children to the songs they adored. It evolved into an intergenerational phenomenon.”
Classic Rock Gains Younger Fans
Northern Irish blues-rock band one featured act included their track in the 2008 release Guitar Hero World Tour. Guitarist Paul Mahon remembers how the series revived classic rock back into vogue: “The game provided a larger, younger audience. Typically this had been considered outdated material, but then when it was included in the game and teenagers discovered it, abruptly it was cool. That legitimised it, eliminating the ‘dad rock’ tag. It gave all our music renewed popularity.”
In 2008, the band's first record was still not available stateside, meaning Guitar Hero served as a primary platform of discovery for the band as they went on a North American tour supporting the rock giants. “Their crew were playing Never Too Late on the tour bus, and some of them recognized us from Guitar Hero,” Mahon says.
Major Band Spin-offs Enduring Impact
Music's heavyweight names soon capitalised on the series’ popularity, including bands like Aerosmith, Metallica and others featuring in dedicated spin-off titles centered around their music collections and related lore, imagery and legendary status. For example, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, it was said to have made the group more money than any of their records. It sold more than 500,000 units in its first week, and sales of Aerosmith’s music saw an increase significantly during an era when the music business was already collapsing.
Guitar Hero continues to inspire nimble-fingered dedication among its fans. Recently, a streamer completed a remarkable feat of DragonForce’s the challenging track – an infamously tough anthem popularized through the game – on Clone Hero, a no-cost alternative with similar mechanics but an array of customisation options. The song is challenging even in the hardest setting, not to mention played at increased tempo and without missing every one of the thousands of cues. They claimed it took months of practice of practice.
“Guitar Hero is a fun, fantasy thing. If you play Call of Duty, it doesn't imply you ought to pick up actual weapons and go to war,” says DragonForce guitarist Herman Li.
DragonForce previously completed a successful tour before Through the Fire and Flames was featured in the third game, yet he explains it made them widely recognized. “I recall our distributors informing us that we were selling albums rapidly,” he says. “Popularity surged when we next toured, and we performed right ahead of the headliners on the Mayhem festival.”
Indeed, the band's visibility via the game was so immense that it risked overshadow everything else accomplishments. Recently, the song featured in a trailer for Despicable Me 4. “In the past I thought differently, but I’ve made peace with it,” Li says. “If you only listen to one DragonForce song, it’s totally cool – everyone’s got a unique path in music and I’m glad we played a role in fans' experiences”.
The Lasting Impact from the Plastic Guitar
Top-tier marketing, whether it’s for automobiles, clothes or video games, extends beyond than selling something – it evokes a desire. Was the game able to tap into that? “Precisely what we were aiming to achieve,” he confirms. “The excitement of performing as a rock star in the spotlight. Since the beginning, the co-founders believed humans have a natural urge to create songs, and they wanted to use technology to enable everyone to do it”.
Most of Guitar Hero games were released over a mere half-decade from 2005 to 2010, including derivative titles like the DJ version, including a turntable controller, and the band-focused game. Subsequently, corporate focus on peripherals died down, except for a brief comeback in 2015.
Games like Clone Hero and Fortnite Festival have maintained the scene alive, with set to be a new product from the original publisher on the way. A new studio has entered production on their first music game. Original co-founders are both involved in advisory roles. Are gamers prepared to welcome a new entry following Guitar Hero?
“Our team believed such titles could be similar to sports games allowing annual update every year,” Dornbrook says. “With abundant new music it could remain perennially popular, thus I remain optimistic. There’s no reason why it can’t persist for future fans.”
