Marking two decades since Guitar Hero first launched in North America, giving players everywhere the means to become a rock star. Figuratively speaking, though you'd be hard-pressed telling that someone who's nailed Free Bird’s lengthy instrumental break before an enthusiastic living-room audience.
Created by Harmonix, the game gave players a plastic guitar peripheral to follow on-screen cues scrolling down the display synchronized to a song. Each riff mimicked specific notes, creating the sensation of an authentic live show.
Harmonix previously experimented in the music genre prior to teaming up with the publisher, later acquired by Activision during the mid-2000s. Collaboratively, they established the groundwork for an unlikely massively profitable franchise that had a remarkable influence for many of the artists featured, showcasing decades-old bands to millions of younger players.
Michael Dornbrook, ex-chief operating officer from the developer, remembers the initial budgetary hurdles of licensing the recordings – even though initial releases mostly used rerecorded tracks.
“We rerecorded all the music since the cost prohibitive,” he says. “Even with the publishing rights by themselves, it was extremely difficult. We couldn’t get bands like the Who – the publisher was operating on a shoestring budget, and our team was fairly certain the project would flop. But once the game took off, album purchases airtime increased, all artists desired to be in.”
He adds: “One of the amazing things was the number of parents got in touch and thanked us for exposing their kids to the songs they adored. It became an intergenerational thing.”
Classic Rock Finds Younger Fans
Irish blues-rock band one featured act included their track on the 2008 game the popular installment. Lead musician the artist remembers how the series revived classic rock back into vogue: “The game offered a larger, younger audience. Generally such music was considered outdated material, but then when it was featured on the game young people were finding it, suddenly it was cool. This validated the genre, and got rid of the ‘dad rock’ tag. It gave all our music renewed popularity.”
At that time, the band's debut album remained unreleased in the US, so Guitar Hero was a key medium for exposure for the group during their US tour opening for the rock giants. “Their crew were playing Never Too Late during travel, and some of them recognized us from Guitar Hero,” Mahon says.
Rock’s Heavyweight Spin-offs and Lasting Influence
Music's biggest acts quickly took advantage of the game's success, including bands like Aerosmith, Metallica and others featuring in dedicated spin-off titles that focused on their music collections and associated stories, imagery and rock’n’roll mythology. For example, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, it was said to have made the band more money compared to their records. It sold well over 500,000 units upon release, while demand for Aerosmith’s music saw an increase of up to 40% during an era as the industry faced decline.
Guitar Hero continues to inspire quick-handed fanaticism among its fans. Recently, an online personality achieved a remarkable feat of DragonForce’s Through the Fire and Flames – a notoriously difficult power-metal song popularized through Guitar Hero – using a fan-made version, a freeware game with similar mechanics but an array of customisation options. The song is challenging enough on the hardest setting, let alone played at double speed and without missing every one of its near 4,000 notes. They claimed it took nine months to accomplish.
“Guitar Hero is a fun, imaginary experience. Just as with other games, that doesn’t mean you should pick up a real gun and go to war,” notes musician the artist.
The band previously completed a profitable run when Through the Fire and Flames appeared in the third game, yet he explains it made them widely recognized. “I remember our distributors informing us that our selling albums rapidly,” he says. “Popularity surged when we next toured, and we performed right ahead of top acts at the event.”
In fact, DragonForce’s exposure via the game proved so vast that it has risked eclipsing all other accomplishments. Last year, the track featured in a trailer for Despicable Me 4. “Previously I thought differently, but I’ve made peace with it,” he admits. “If you only listen to a single track, that's fine – everyone’s got their own path in music and I’m glad we’ve been part in fans' experiences”.
Enduring Impact from the Iconic Controller
The best promotion, whether it’s for automobiles, apparel or video games, goes further than selling something – it inspires a longing. Was the game able to harness this? “Precisely what our team aiming to achieve,” he confirms. “That thrill of being a rock star on the stage. Since the beginning, the co-founders believed humans have a natural human desire to make music, and they wanted to use technology to allow people to participate”.
The majority installments came out in just a five-year period between 2005 and 2010, including spin-offs like the DJ version, including a turntable controller, and Band Hero. Subsequently, the publisher’s interest on peripherals died down, aside from a short-lived revival in 2015.
Games such as Clone Hero and Fortnite Festival have maintained the scene alive, with set to be something from the original publisher in development. Recently formed developers has begun production on their first rhythm-based title. Original co-founders are both involved as special advisers. Is the world ready to embrace another game following Guitar Hero?
“We thought such titles could be similar to sports games where you can releases,” Dornbrook says. “There’s so much new music it could remain perennially popular, thus I remain hopeful. It's entirely possible why it can’t persist with new generations.”
