Marking 20 years after Guitar Hero debuted in North America, offering everyday gamers the opportunity to become a rock star. Not in reality, though you'd be hard-pressed convincing someone who has nailed Free Bird’s four-minute guitar solo before an enthusiastic crowd of friends.
Created by Harmonix, Guitar Hero provided users with a plastic guitar peripheral to follow on-screen cues scrolling down the display in time with a song. Each riff mimicked particular chords, creating the sensation of a genuine live show.
The studio had already experimented in the music genre prior to teaming up with the publisher, later purchased by the gaming giant in 2006. Together, they established the groundwork for a surprising massively profitable series which made a significant impact on numerous musicians included, introducing decades-old bands to millions of gaming enthusiasts.
A former executive, ex-chief operating officer from the developer, remembers the initial financial challenges in securing the recordings – even though the first two games primarily featured rerecorded tracks.
“We rerecorded every song because the dollar figure prohibitive,” he says. “Even with the publishing rights by themselves, it was extremely difficult. We couldn’t get bands like legendary groups – RedOctane had virtually no money, and our team was fairly certain it would fail. But once Guitar Hero became a hit, album purchases and radio play were going up, everyone wanted to be in.”
He adds: “Among the amazing things was how many parents reached out and thanked us for introducing their kids to the music they adored. It became an intergenerational phenomenon.”
Classic Rock Gains a New Audience
Irish blues-rock band the Answer had Never Too Late on the 2008 game the popular installment. Lead musician Paul Mahon remembers how the series brought older hits back into vogue: “Guitar Hero provided a bigger, new demographic. Generally this had been seen as outdated material, however when it was included in the title young people discovered it, abruptly it became trendy. That legitimised it, eliminating the ‘dad rock’ tag. It provided all our music a new life.”
At that time, the band's first record was still not available in the US, meaning Guitar Hero was a key medium of discovery for the band during their US tour supporting AC/DC. “The roadies were playing Never Too Late on the tour bus, and some of them knew us thanks to the game,” he notes.
Major Band Titles Enduring Impact
Rock’s heavyweight names soon took advantage of the game's success, with Aerosmith, Metallica and Van Halen featuring in dedicated spin-off titles centered around each band’s catalogue and related lore, visuals and rock’n’roll mythology. For example, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, it was said to have made the group more money compared to their records. It sold well over half a million units in its first week, while demand for Aerosmith’s music rose significantly during an era as the industry faced decline.
Guitar Hero still motivates quick-handed dedication among its fans. Recently, an online personality achieved a remarkable feat of DragonForce’s the challenging track – an infamously tough power-metal song made popular by Guitar Hero – using a fan-made version, a freeware game with almost identical mechanics but an array of customisation options. The song is difficult even in expert mode, let alone played at double speed and without missing a single one of its near 4,000 notes. The streamer stated requiring months of practice of practice.
“Guitar Hero offers a, fantasy thing. Just as with other games, that doesn’t mean you ought to use actual weapons and go to war,” notes DragonForce guitarist Herman Li.
The band had already completed a profitable run when their hit appeared in the third game, yet he explains it made them a household name. “I recall the record label informing us that we were selling albums like crazy,” he shares. “It exploded when we next toured, and we were playing just before the headliners on the Mayhem festival.”
In fact, the band's visibility from Guitar Hero proved so vast that it has threatened to overshadow everything else the band has done. Last year, the song was used in a trailer for Despicable Me 4. “Previously I thought otherwise, but I’ve made peace with it,” Li says. “Should you just listen to a single track, it’s totally cool – everyone’s got a unique musical journey and I’m glad we played a role in fans' experiences”.
The Lasting Legacy of a Plastic Guitar
Top-tier promotion, whether it’s for cars, clothes or video games, goes further mere transactions – it evokes a longing. Was the game able to harness this? “Precisely what our team aiming to achieve,” Dornbrook says. “The excitement of being a music icon in the spotlight. From day one, the co-founders felt that humans have a natural urge to make music, and their goal was to leverage innovation to enable everyone to participate”.
The majority of Guitar Hero games came out over a mere five-year period between 2005 and 2010, including derivative titles such as the DJ version, including a spinning deck, and the band-focused game. After that, the publisher’s interest on peripherals waned, aside from a short-lived revival several years later.
Titles such as the fan project and newer releases have maintained the community active, with expectations of something from the original publisher in development. Recently formed developers has entered production on their first music game. The initial creators are participating as special advisers. Is the world ready to embrace a new entry in the spirit of the classic?
“Our team believed those games could be like Madden where you can update every year,” Dornbrook says. “There’s so much new music that it could be evergreen, so I’ve always been hopeful. It's entirely possible for it to continue with new generations.”
