Marking 20 years since Guitar Hero debuted in North America, offering players everywhere the opportunity to become rock legends. Not in reality, though you'd be hard-pressed convincing anyone who's mastered the epic four-minute guitar solo before an enthusiastic living-room audience.
Developed by Harmonix, the game provided users with a plastic guitar peripheral to match coloured notes moving along the display in time with a song. Each riff corresponded to particular chords, producing the sensation of an authentic performance.
Harmonix had already tried its hand with rhythm games prior to teaming up with RedOctane, later acquired by the gaming giant in 2006. Together, they laid the groundwork for a surprising billion-dollar series that had a significant influence on numerous of the artists featured, showcasing classic groups to millions of younger players.
A former executive, former COO from the developer, recalls the initial financial challenges of licensing the songs – even though initial releases primarily featured cover versions.
“We rerecorded every song since the dollar figure prohibitive,” he explains. “Even with the necessary permissions alone, 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 the game took off, and record sales airtime were going up, all artists desired to be in.”
He continues: “One of the remarkable aspects was the number of mothers and fathers got in touch expressing gratitude for exposing their kids to the songs they adored. It evolved into an intergenerational thing.”
Classic Rock Gains Younger Fans
Northern Irish group one featured act had Never Too Late on the 2008 game Guitar Hero World Tour. Guitarist the artist remembers how the series brought classic rock back into vogue: “Guitar Hero offered a bigger, new demographic. Typically such music was considered music that was past it, however once it got included in the title young people discovered it, abruptly it became trendy. That legitimised the genre, and got rid of the outdated tag. It provided our catalog a new life.”
At that time, the Answer’s debut album was still not available stateside, so Guitar Hero was a key medium of discovery for the group during their US tour supporting the rock giants. “Their crew were playing the song 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 soon capitalised on the series’ popularity, with Aerosmith, Metallica and Van Halen featuring in dedicated game editions centered around their music collections and associated lore, visuals and rock’n’roll mythology. In the case of, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, reportedly earned the group greater revenue than any of their studio albums. It sold well over half a million units upon release, while sales of Aerosmith’s music rose significantly during an era as the industry faced decline.
The series continues to inspire nimble-fingered dedication among its fans. Earlier this year, an online personality completed a remarkable feat of DragonForce’s Through the Fire and Flames – a notoriously difficult anthem made popular by the game – on Clone Hero, a freeware game with similar mechanics and extensive customisation options. This track is difficult even in the hardest setting, not to mention performed at increased tempo and without missing a single one of its near 4,000 notes. They stated requiring months of practice to accomplish.
“The game offers a, fantasy thing. Just as with Call of Duty, that doesn’t mean you ought to use a real gun and go to war,” notes DragonForce guitarist Herman Li.
DragonForce previously completed a successful tour when their hit was featured on Guitar Hero III, yet he explains it made them widely recognized. “I remember the record label informing us that our selling albums like crazy,” he shares. “Popularity surged when we next toured, and we performed right ahead of the headliners at the event.”
Indeed, DragonForce’s exposure via the game was so immense that it has threatened to overshadow everything else the band has done. Recently, the song featured in a trailer for Despicable Me 4. “Previously I felt otherwise, but I’ve made peace with it,” he admits. “If you only hear one DragonForce song, it’s totally cool – everyone’s got their own path in music and I’m glad we played a role of people’s lives”.
The Lasting Impact of a Plastic Guitar
Top-tier marketing, be it for automobiles, clothes or video games, extends beyond mere transactions – it evokes a longing. Was the game able to tap into that? “That’s exactly what our team aiming to achieve,” Dornbrook says. “That thrill of being a rock star on the stage. Since the beginning, the creators believed there’s an instinctive urge to make music, and their goal was to leverage innovation to allow people to do it”.
Most installments were released in just a half-decade between 2005 and 2010, including derivative titles such as DJ Hero, including a spinning deck, and the band-focused game. Subsequently, the publisher’s interest in plastic instruments waned, except for a brief comeback in 2015.
Games like the fan project and Fortnite Festival have kept the community active, and there’s expectations of a new product from the original publisher on the way. Recently formed developers has begun work on its debut music game. The initial creators are participating in advisory roles. Is the world ready to embrace a new entry following the classic?
“Our team believed those games might become similar to sports games where you can update every year,” Dornbrook says. “There’s so much fresh tracks it could remain perennially popular, so I’ve always been hopeful. There’s no reason for it to continue with new generations.”
