Marking 20 years after Guitar Hero hit the market in North America, giving players everywhere the means to feel like rock legends. Figuratively speaking, though you'd be hard-pressed convincing someone who has nailed Free Bird’s four-minute guitar solo before a packed crowd of friends.
Created by Harmonix, the game gave players a guitar-shaped controller to follow on-screen cues scrolling down the display in time with the music. Each riff mimicked particular chords, producing the sensation of an authentic performance.
Harmonix had already tried its hand in the music genre before partnering with RedOctane, later purchased by Activision in 2006. Together, they laid the groundwork for an unlikely billion-dollar series that had a significant influence for many of the artists featured, showcasing decades-old groups to millions of gaming enthusiasts.
A former executive, former COO from the developer, remembers the initial budgetary hurdles in securing the recordings – despite the fact initial releases mostly used rerecorded tracks.
“We reproduced every song because the dollar figure prohibitive,” he explains. “Even with the publishing rights by themselves, it proved nearly impossible. We couldn’t get acts such as the Who – the publisher had virtually no money, and we were pretty convinced it would fail. But once the game took off, album purchases and radio play increased, all artists desired to participate.”
He adds: “Among the remarkable aspects was the number of parents got in touch expressing gratitude for exposing their kids to the songs they adored. It evolved into an intergenerational thing.”
Classic Rock Finds Younger Fans
Irish blues-rock band one featured act included their track in the 2008 release the popular installment. Guitarist Paul Mahon recalls the way the game revived older hits back into vogue: “The game provided a larger, new demographic. Generally such music was considered music that was past it, however when it was featured on the title and teenagers were finding it, suddenly it was cool. That legitimised the genre, and got rid of the ‘dad rock’ tag. It gave all our music renewed popularity.”
At that time, the Answer’s first record remained not available stateside, meaning Guitar Hero served as a primary platform of discovery for the group during their US tour supporting the rock giants. “Their crew were playing Never Too Late on the tour bus, and some of them knew us thanks to the game,” Mahon says.
Major Band Spin-offs and Lasting Influence
Rock’s heavyweight names quickly capitalised on the series’ popularity, including bands like Aerosmith, Metallica and others starring in dedicated spin-off titles that focused on their music collections and associated stories, imagery and legendary status. For example, the Aerosmith edition, reportedly to have made the group more money than any of their records. It moved more than half a million units in its first week, and demand for Aerosmith’s music saw an increase of up to 40% 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 completed a remarkable feat of DragonForce’s the challenging track – an infamously tough power-metal song made popular by the game – on Clone Hero, a freeware game with similar mechanics and extensive personalization features. The song is difficult enough on the hardest setting, not to mention played at double speed and without missing every one of the thousands of cues. The streamer claimed it took months of practice to accomplish.
“Guitar Hero is a fun, imaginary experience. If you play Call of Duty, it doesn't imply you should pick up a real gun and enlist,” says musician Herman Li.
DragonForce had already completed a successful tour before their hit appeared in the third game, but Li says it made them widely recognized. “I recall our distributors calling to tell me that we were records were moving rapidly,” he says. “It exploded when we next toured, and we performed right ahead of top acts at the event.”
Indeed, the band's visibility from Guitar Hero proved so vast that it has threatened to overshadow everything else accomplishments. Recently, the track was used in a trailer for a major film. “In the past I felt otherwise, but I’ve made peace with it,” he admits. “If you only hear one DragonForce song, that's fine – everyone’s got their own musical journey and I'm pleased we played a role in fans' experiences”.
Enduring Impact from the Plastic Guitar
The best marketing, be it for cars, 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 rock star on the stage. From day one, the co-founders felt that humans have a natural human desire to make music, and their goal was to use technology to allow people to participate”.
Most installments came out over a mere half-decade between 2005 and 2010, including derivative titles such as the DJ version, complete with a turntable controller, and Band Hero. After that, corporate focus on peripherals died down, except for a brief comeback in 2015.
Games such as Clone Hero and newer releases have kept the community alive, with expectations of a new product from the original publisher on the way. A new studio has begun work on their first music game. Original co-founders are both involved in advisory roles. Is the world ready to embrace another game following Guitar Hero?
“Our team believed such titles could be like Madden allowing annual update every year,” Dornbrook says. “With abundant fresh tracks that it could be evergreen, so I’ve always been hopeful. It's entirely possible why it can’t continue with new generations.”
