It has been 20 years after the legendary game first launched across the Atlantic, giving everyday gamers the means to become rock legends. Not literally, but try convincing someone who has mastered the epic lengthy instrumental break in front of a packed crowd of friends.
Created by Harmonix, Guitar Hero gave players a guitar-shaped controller to follow on-screen cues scrolling down the display in time with a song. Every sequence mimicked particular chords, producing the feel of an authentic performance.
Harmonix had already tried its hand in the music genre prior to teaming up with the publisher, later purchased by Activision in 2006. Together, they laid the groundwork for a surprising massively profitable series that had a significant impact for many musicians featured, showcasing decades-old bands to a new generation of gaming enthusiasts.
A former executive, former COO of Harmonix, remembers the initial budgetary hurdles in securing the recordings – even though initial releases mostly used rerecorded tracks.
“We reproduced all the music since the cost prohibitive,” he explains. “Even with the publishing rights alone, it was nearly impossible. We couldn’t get bands like the Who – RedOctane had virtually no money, and we were fairly certain it would fail. However, when Guitar Hero became a hit, album purchases airtime increased, everyone wanted to be in.”
He adds: “One of the remarkable aspects was the number of parents reached out expressing gratitude for exposing their children to the music they loved. It evolved into an intergenerational thing.”
Classic Rock Finds Younger Fans
Irish group one featured act had Never Too Late in the 2008 release the popular installment. Lead musician the artist recalls how the series brought older hits to the forefront: “Guitar Hero offered a bigger, younger audience. Generally this had been considered music that was past it, but then once it got featured on the title young people were finding it, suddenly it became trendy. 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 was still not available stateside, meaning the game was a key medium of discovery for the band during their US tour supporting AC/DC. “Their crew were playing Never Too Late on the tour bus, and several knew us from Guitar Hero,” he notes.
Major Band Spin-offs Enduring Impact
Music's biggest acts soon capitalised on the game's success, including bands like Aerosmith, Metallica and others featuring in specialized spin-off titles centered around their music collections and related lore, visuals and legendary status. For example, the Aerosmith edition, it was said to have made the band more money than any of their studio albums. It moved more than 500,000 copies upon release, while sales of Aerosmith’s music saw an increase significantly during an era as the industry faced decline.
The series continues to inspire quick-handed fanaticism within the community. Recently, a streamer achieved a remarkable feat featuring the challenging track – a notoriously difficult anthem made popular by the game – on Clone Hero, a no-cost alternative with similar mechanics and extensive personalization features. This track is difficult even in the hardest setting, not to mention performed at increased tempo while hitting every one of its near 4,000 notes. The streamer claimed it took months of practice to accomplish.
“Guitar Hero offers a, imaginary experience. If you play Call of Duty, that doesn’t mean you ought to use a real gun and enlist,” says musician the artist.
The band had already completed a successful tour before Through the Fire and Flames was featured in the third game, yet he explains it made them a household name. “I recall the record label calling to tell me that our records were moving rapidly,” he says. “Popularity surged when we next toured, and we were playing just before the headliners on the Mayhem festival.”
In fact, DragonForce’s exposure via the game proved so vast that it has risked eclipsing all other the band has done. Last year, the track featured in a trailer for Despicable Me 4. “Previously I felt differently, but I’ve made peace with it,” Li says. “If you only listen to 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 cars, apparel or video games, goes further than selling something – it evokes a desire. Did Guitar Hero harness this? “Precisely what our team aiming to achieve,” Dornbrook says. “The excitement of performing as a music icon on the stage. Since the beginning, the co-founders believed humans have a natural human desire to make music, and their goal was to leverage innovation to allow people to do it”.
Most installments were released over a mere five-year period from 2005 to 2010, featuring spin-offs like the DJ version, including a turntable controller, and the band-focused game. After that, corporate focus on peripherals waned, except for a short-lived revival in 2015.
Games like the fan project and Fortnite Festival have maintained the community active, with set to be a new product from the original publisher in development. Recently formed developers has entered production on their first music game. The initial creators are both involved as special advisers. Is the world prepared to welcome another game following the classic?
“Our team believed those games could be like Madden where you can update every year,” he remarks. “With abundant fresh tracks that it could be perennially popular, thus I remain optimistic. It's entirely possible for it to persist for future fans.”
