Marking 20 years since Guitar Hero debuted in North America, offering players everywhere the tools to become a rock star. Not in reality, though you'd be hard-pressed telling that someone who has mastered Free Bird’s four-minute instrumental break before an enthusiastic living-room audience.
Developed by Harmonix, Guitar Hero gave players a guitar-shaped controller to follow on-screen cues scrolling down the screen synchronized to a song. Each riff corresponded to specific notes, creating the feel of an authentic live show.
The studio previously experimented with rhythm games before partnering with RedOctane, which was acquired by Activision during the mid-2000s. Together, they established the groundwork for a surprising massively profitable series which made a significant influence on numerous musicians included, introducing classic bands to a new generation of younger players.
A former executive, former COO of Harmonix, remembers the early budgetary hurdles of licensing the recordings – even though initial releases mostly used cover versions.
“We reproduced all the music since the dollar figure prohibitive,” he explains. “Even with the publishing rights alone, it was extremely difficult. We failed to secure acts such as legendary groups – the publisher was operating on a shoestring budget, and our team was fairly certain it would fail. However, when Guitar Hero took off, and record sales and radio play were going up, everyone wanted to participate.”
He adds: “Among the remarkable aspects was how many parents got in touch and thanked us for exposing their children to the songs they loved. It became an intergenerational thing.”
Timeless Music Gains Younger Fans
Northern Irish group the Answer included Never Too Late in the 2008 release Guitar Hero World Tour. Guitarist the artist remembers how the series revived classic rock to the forefront: “Guitar Hero offered a bigger, younger audience. Typically such music was seen as music that was past it, however once it got featured on the game young people discovered it, suddenly it was cool. This validated it, eliminating the ‘dad rock’ tag. It gave our catalog renewed popularity.”
In 2008, the band's debut album was still not available in the US, so Guitar Hero served as a primary platform of discovery for the group during their a North American tour opening for AC/DC. “The roadies were playing Never Too Late during travel, and some of them recognized us thanks to the game,” Mahon says.
Major Band Spin-offs Enduring Impact
Music's heavyweight names soon took advantage of the game's success, including bands like Aerosmith, Metallica and Van Halen featuring in dedicated spin-off titles that focused on each band’s catalogue and related lore, imagery and legendary status. For example, the Aerosmith edition, reportedly earned the group more money than any of their records. It moved well over half a million copies upon release, and sales of Aerosmith’s music rose of up to 40% during an era when the music business was already collapsing.
The series continues to inspire quick-handed fanaticism within the community. Earlier this year, an online personality completed a remarkable feat featuring 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 gameplay and extensive personalization features. The song is challenging enough on expert mode, not to mention played at increased tempo while hitting a single one of the thousands of cues. They claimed it took months of practice of practice.
“The game offers a, imaginary experience. Just as with Call of Duty, that doesn’t mean you should pick up actual weapons and enlist,” says DragonForce guitarist the artist.
DragonForce had already wrapped up a successful tour when their hit was featured on Guitar Hero III, but Li says it made them widely recognized. “I recall our distributors informing us that our selling albums rapidly,” he shares. “Popularity surged when we next toured, and we were playing right ahead of top acts at the event.”
Indeed, the band's visibility from Guitar Hero proved so vast that it threatened to eclipsing all other accomplishments. Last year, the song featured in promotional material for Despicable Me 4. “Previously I thought otherwise, but I’ve made peace with it,” he admits. “If you only hear one DragonForce song, that's fine – each person has their own musical journey and I’m glad we’ve been part of people’s lives”.
Enduring Legacy of a Plastic Guitar
Top-tier marketing, be it for automobiles, clothes or games, goes further mere transactions – it evokes a desire. Did Guitar Hero tap into that? “That’s exactly what our team trying to create,” he confirms. “That thrill of performing as a music icon in the spotlight. From day one, the co-founders felt that there’s an instinctive human desire to make music, and their goal was to use technology to enable everyone to participate”.
Most of Guitar Hero games came out over a mere half-decade between 2005 and 2010, including spin-offs such as DJ Hero, including a spinning deck, and the band-focused game. After that, the publisher’s interest in plastic instruments died down, except for a short-lived revival in 2015.
Titles like Clone Hero and newer releases have kept the scene alive, with expectations of something from the original publisher in development. Recently formed developers has begun work on their first music game. The initial creators are participating as special advisers. Is the world ready to embrace a new entry following the classic?
“Our team believed such titles might become like Madden allowing annual update every year,” Dornbrook says. “There’s so much fresh tracks that it could be perennially popular, so I’ve always been optimistic. It's entirely possible for it to persist with new generations.”
