It has been 20 years after Guitar Hero debuted in North America, giving players everywhere the tools to become a rock star. Figuratively speaking, though you'd be hard-pressed telling that anyone who's nailed the epic four-minute guitar solo in front of an enthusiastic crowd of friends.
Developed by the developers, the game gave players a plastic guitar peripheral to follow coloured notes scrolling down the display in time with the music. Every sequence mimicked specific notes, creating the feel of an authentic performance.
Harmonix had already experimented in the music genre prior to teaming up with RedOctane, later acquired by the gaming giant during the mid-2000s. Together, they established the foundations for a surprising billion-dollar franchise that had a significant impact on numerous of the artists featured, introducing classic bands to a new generation of younger players.
A former executive, former COO from the developer, recalls the early budgetary hurdles of licensing the recordings – even though the first two games primarily featured rerecorded tracks.
“We reproduced every song because the dollar figure prohibitive,” 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 pretty convinced it would fail. But once the game took off, and record sales airtime were going up, everyone wanted to be in.”
He continues: “One of the amazing things was how many parents reached out and thanked us for introducing their children to the songs they adored. It became an intergenerational phenomenon.”
Timeless Music Finds Younger Fans
Irish blues-rock band the Answer included their track in the 2008 release Guitar Hero World Tour. Guitarist the artist recalls how the series revived older hits back into vogue: “Guitar Hero provided a larger, younger audience. Generally this had been seen as outdated material, however when it was featured on the title young people were finding it, abruptly it became trendy. That legitimised the genre, and got rid of the ‘dad rock’ tag. It gave all our music a new life.”
In 2008, the band's debut album remained unreleased stateside, so Guitar Hero served as a primary platform of discovery for the band as they went on US tour opening for the rock giants. “The roadies had on Never Too Late during travel, and some of them knew us thanks to the game,” Mahon says.
Major Band Spin-offs Enduring Impact
Music's biggest acts soon capitalised on the game's success, with Aerosmith, Metallica and others starring in specialized game editions centered around each band’s catalogue and associated lore, visuals and rock’n’roll mythology. For example, the Aerosmith edition, it was said to have made the group more money than any of their records. It sold well over half a million units upon release, and sales of Aerosmith’s music rose significantly at a time when the music business was already collapsing.
Guitar Hero continues to inspire nimble-fingered dedication within the community. Recently, an online personality achieved an impressive attempt of DragonForce’s the challenging track – an infamously tough power-metal song popularized through Guitar Hero – using a fan-made version, a freeware game with similar gameplay but an array of customisation options. The song is challenging even in expert mode, let alone performed at double speed and without missing every one of its near 4,000 notes. They claimed it took nine months of practice.
“Guitar Hero is a fun, imaginary experience. If you play other games, it doesn't imply you ought to use a real gun and enlist,” says musician Herman Li.
The band had already completed a successful tour when Through the Fire and Flames appeared in the third game, but Li says it turned them into widely recognized. “I recall our distributors informing us that our records were moving rapidly,” he says. “Popularity surged on the subsequent tour, and we were playing right ahead of top acts at the event.”
In fact, DragonForce’s exposure from Guitar Hero proved so vast that it threatened to eclipsing all other the band has done. Recently, the song featured in promotional material for a major film. “In the past I thought differently, but I’ve made peace with it,” Li says. “If you only hear one DragonForce song, it’s totally cool – everyone’s got their own path in music and I'm pleased we played a role of people’s lives”.
The Lasting Legacy from the Iconic Controller
Top-tier promotion, whether it’s for cars, apparel or video games, extends beyond mere transactions – it inspires a longing. Was the game able to tap into that? “That’s exactly what we were trying to create,” he confirms. “That thrill of being a music icon on the stage. Since the beginning, the creators believed there’s an instinctive urge to create songs, and they wanted to leverage innovation to enable everyone to do it”.
The majority of Guitar Hero games came out in just a five-year period between 2005 and 2010, featuring derivative titles like DJ Hero, complete with a turntable controller, and Band Hero. After that, the publisher’s interest in plastic instruments died down, aside from a short-lived revival several years later.
Titles like Clone Hero and newer releases have kept the community alive, with expectations of a new product from the original publisher in development. A new studio has entered work on its debut music game. Original co-founders are participating as special advisers. Is the world prepared to welcome another game following Guitar Hero?
“Our team believed such titles might become like Madden where you can update every year,” Dornbrook says. “There’s so much new music it could remain evergreen, thus I remain optimistic. There’s no reason why it can’t persist for future fans.”
