Marking two decades after the legendary game hit the market across the Atlantic, giving everyday gamers the opportunity to become rock legends. Not in reality, though you'd be hard-pressed convincing anyone who has mastered Free Bird’s four-minute guitar solo before a packed living-room audience.
Created by Harmonix, Guitar Hero gave players a plastic guitar peripheral to follow coloured notes scrolling down the display in time with a song. Every sequence corresponded to particular chords, creating the feel of an authentic live show.
Harmonix previously experimented with rhythm games prior to teaming up with RedOctane, which was acquired by Activision during the mid-2000s. Collaboratively, they laid the groundwork for an unlikely billion-dollar series which made a remarkable impact for many musicians included, introducing decades-old groups to millions of younger players.
Michael Dornbrook, former COO from the developer, remembers the initial budgetary hurdles in securing the recordings – despite the fact initial releases primarily featured rerecorded tracks.
“We rerecorded all the music since the dollar figure was so high,” he explains. “Despite having the publishing rights alone, it proved extremely difficult. We failed to secure acts such as legendary groups – the publisher was operating on a shoestring budget, and we were fairly certain the project would flop. But once Guitar Hero became a hit, and record sales airtime were going up, everyone wanted to be in.”
He adds: “One of the amazing things was the number of mothers and fathers reached out and thanked us for exposing their kids to the music they adored. It became a multigenerational thing.”
Timeless Music Gains Younger Fans
Irish blues-rock band the Answer included their track in the 2008 release the popular installment. Guitarist Paul Mahon remembers the way the game brought classic rock to the forefront: “Guitar Hero offered a larger, younger audience. Typically this had been seen as outdated material, however once it got featured on the game and teenagers discovered it, suddenly it became trendy. This validated the genre, and got rid of the outdated tag. It provided all our music a new life.”
At that time, the band's first record was still unreleased in the US, so the game served as a primary platform of discovery for the group during their US tour supporting AC/DC. “The roadies were playing the song during travel, and several knew us thanks to the game,” Mahon says.
Major Band Spin-offs Enduring Influence
Music's heavyweight names soon took advantage of the series’ popularity, with Aerosmith, Metallica and others starring in dedicated game editions centered around their music collections and related lore, visuals and rock’n’roll mythology. In the case of, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, it was said to have made the band more money than any of their records. It sold more than half a million units upon release, while sales of Aerosmith’s music rose significantly during an era as the industry was already collapsing.
Guitar Hero still motivates quick-handed dedication within the community. Earlier this year, a streamer achieved an impressive attempt featuring Through the Fire and Flames – an infamously tough power-metal song made popular by the game – using a fan-made version, a no-cost alternative with similar gameplay and extensive personalization features. The song is challenging even in the hardest setting, let alone performed at double speed and without missing every one of the thousands of cues. They stated requiring months of practice of practice.
“The game offers a, imaginary experience. If you play Call of Duty, it doesn't imply you ought to pick up actual weapons and go to war,” says DragonForce guitarist Herman Li.
The band had already completed a profitable run when Through the Fire and Flames appeared in the third game, yet he explains it made them widely recognized. “I recall the record label calling to tell me that we were records were moving like crazy,” he says. “It exploded when we next toured, and we performed just before the headliners on the Mayhem festival.”
In fact, DragonForce’s exposure via the game was so immense that it has threatened to eclipsing all other the band has done. Last year, the track featured in promotional material for Despicable Me 4. “In the past I thought differently, but I’ve made peace with it,” Li says. “Should you just listen to a single track, that's fine – everyone’s got their own musical journey and I'm pleased we played a role of people’s lives”.
Enduring Impact from the Iconic Controller
The best marketing, whether it’s for cars, clothes or video games, goes further mere transactions – it inspires a desire. Was the game able to harness this? “That’s exactly 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 they wanted to leverage innovation to allow people to participate”.
Most installments came out in just a five-year period from 2005 to 2010, featuring spin-offs like DJ Hero, complete with a turntable controller, and the band-focused game. Subsequently, the publisher’s interest on peripherals died down, except for a short-lived revival several years later.
Games like Clone Hero and Fortnite Festival have kept the scene active, and there’s set to be something from the original publisher on the way. Recently formed developers has entered work on their first rhythm-based title. The initial creators are participating as special advisers. Are gamers prepared to welcome another game in the spirit of the classic?
“We thought such titles could be similar to sports games where you can update every year,” Dornbrook says. “There’s so much new music that it could be evergreen, thus I remain optimistic. It's entirely possible for it to continue for future fans.”
