It has been two decades after the legendary game debuted across the Atlantic, providing everyday gamers the opportunity to become a rock star. Figuratively speaking, but try convincing someone who has mastered Free Bird’s four-minute guitar solo in front of a packed living-room audience.
Created by Harmonix, the game gave players a guitar-shaped controller to follow coloured notes scrolling down the screen synchronized to a song. Each riff mimicked particular chords, creating the feel of an authentic performance.
Harmonix previously tried its hand with rhythm games prior to teaming up with RedOctane, which was purchased by the gaming giant in 2006. Together, they laid the foundations for a surprising massively profitable series that had a significant impact on numerous of the artists featured, showcasing classic bands to millions of younger players.
A former executive, former COO from the developer, recalls the initial financial challenges in securing the songs – even though initial releases mostly used rerecorded tracks.
“We rerecorded every song since the dollar figure was so high,” he explains. “Even with the publishing rights alone, it was extremely difficult. We failed to secure acts such as the Who – the publisher was operating on a shoestring budget, and our team was fairly certain it would fail. However, when Guitar Hero became a hit, album purchases and radio play were going up, everyone wanted to participate.”
He adds: “Among the amazing things was the number of parents reached out expressing gratitude for exposing their children to the songs they loved. It evolved into an intergenerational thing.”
Timeless Music Gains a New Audience
Northern Irish group the Answer had Never Too Late on the 2008 game the popular installment. Lead musician the artist remembers how the series brought classic rock to the forefront: “Guitar Hero provided a bigger, new demographic. Typically this had been considered outdated material, but then once it got featured on the game young people were finding it, suddenly it was cool. This validated it, and got rid of the ‘dad rock’ label. It gave all our music a new life.”
In 2008, the Answer’s first record was still not available stateside, meaning Guitar Hero was a key medium of discovery for the band during their US tour supporting the rock giants. “Their crew were playing the song on the tour bus, and several recognized us thanks to the game,” he notes.
Rock’s Heavyweight Spin-offs and Lasting Impact
Rock’s heavyweight names soon capitalised on the series’ popularity, including bands like Aerosmith, Metallica and Van Halen starring in specialized spin-off titles that focused on each band’s catalogue and related stories, visuals and rock’n’roll mythology. In the case of, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, reportedly earned the group 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 at a time as the industry faced decline.
Guitar Hero still motivates quick-handed dedication within the community. Recently, a streamer achieved a remarkable feat of DragonForce’s the challenging track – a notoriously difficult power-metal song made popular by the game – using a fan-made version, a freeware game with almost identical gameplay and extensive personalization features. The song is difficult enough on the hardest setting, let alone played at double speed and without missing a single one of its near 4,000 notes. The streamer claimed requiring months of practice of practice.
“Guitar Hero is a fun, imaginary experience. Just as with other games, that doesn’t mean you ought to use actual weapons and enlist,” notes musician the artist.
DragonForce had already completed a successful tour before Through the Fire and Flames was featured on Guitar Hero III, yet he explains it turned them into a household name. “I recall our distributors calling to tell me that our records were moving like crazy,” he says. “Popularity surged on the subsequent tour, and we performed right ahead of top acts on the Mayhem festival.”
Indeed, the band's visibility from Guitar Hero was so immense that it has threatened to overshadow everything else the band has done. Last year, the song was used in promotional material for a major film. “Previously I thought differently, but now I accept it,” he admits. “If you only listen to one DragonForce song, it’s totally cool – everyone’s got a unique path in music and I’m glad we’ve been part in fans' experiences”.
Enduring Impact from the Iconic Controller
Top-tier promotion, whether it’s for cars, apparel or games, goes further than selling something – it evokes a desire. Did Guitar Hero tap into that? “Precisely what our team trying to create,” Dornbrook says. “The excitement of performing as a music icon in the spotlight. Since the beginning, the co-founders believed humans have a natural urge to create songs, and their goal was to use technology to enable everyone to do it”.
Most of Guitar Hero games were released in just a half-decade from 2005 to 2010, including derivative titles such as DJ Hero, including a turntable controller, and Band Hero. Subsequently, corporate focus on peripherals died down, aside from a brief comeback in 2015.
Titles like the fan project and Fortnite Festival have kept the community active, with expectations of something from the founders on the way. Recently formed developers has entered production on their first rhythm-based title. The initial creators are participating in advisory roles. Is the world prepared to welcome a new entry in the spirit of Guitar Hero?
“Our team believed those games could be similar to sports games where you can update every year,” Dornbrook says. “There’s so much fresh tracks that it could be perennially popular, thus I remain optimistic. It's entirely possible for it to continue with new generations.”
