Marking two decades after the legendary game hit the market in North America, giving players everywhere the means to become a rock star. Not literally, but try convincing someone who has nailed the epic four-minute instrumental break in front of a packed crowd of friends.
Created by the developers, the game provided users with a guitar-shaped controller to follow coloured notes moving along the display synchronized to a song. Each riff mimicked specific notes, producing the sensation of a genuine live show.
The studio had already experimented with rhythm games prior to teaming up with the publisher, later purchased by the gaming giant in 2006. Together, they laid the groundwork for a surprising massively profitable series that had a significant influence for many of the artists featured, showcasing decades-old groups to a new generation of gaming enthusiasts.
Michael Dornbrook, former COO of Harmonix, remembers the initial financial challenges in securing the songs – despite the fact initial releases mostly used rerecorded tracks.
“We reproduced all the music because the cost prohibitive,” he explains. “Even with the necessary permissions by themselves, it proved nearly impossible. We failed to secure acts such as legendary groups – RedOctane was operating on a shoestring budget, and our team was pretty convinced the project would flop. However, when the game took off, album purchases and radio play were going up, all artists desired to participate.”
He adds: “Among the amazing things was how many mothers and fathers got in touch and thanked us for introducing their children to the music they loved. It evolved into an intergenerational phenomenon.”
Classic Rock Finds a New Audience
Northern Irish group the Answer had their track on the 2008 game Guitar Hero World Tour. Guitarist the artist recalls the way the game revived classic rock to the forefront: “The game provided a bigger, new demographic. Typically this had been seen as outdated material, but then once it got included in the title and teenagers were finding it, abruptly it became trendy. That legitimised the genre, and got rid of the outdated label. It gave our catalog a new life.”
At that time, the Answer’s debut album was still unreleased stateside, meaning the game served as a primary platform of discovery for the group during their a North American tour opening for the rock giants. “The roadies had on the song during travel, and several knew us thanks to the game,” Mahon says.
Major Band Titles and Lasting Influence
Music's biggest acts quickly capitalised on the game's success, including bands like Aerosmith, Metallica and Van Halen featuring in specialized spin-off titles that focused on each band’s catalogue and associated stories, visuals and rock’n’roll mythology. In the case of, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, reportedly to have made the band more money compared to their records. It sold more than half a million units upon release, and sales of Aerosmith’s music rose significantly during an era when the music business faced decline.
Guitar Hero continues to inspire quick-handed fanaticism within the community. Recently, an online personality completed an impressive attempt of DragonForce’s Through the Fire and Flames – a notoriously difficult anthem popularized through Guitar Hero – using a fan-made version, a no-cost alternative with similar gameplay but an array of personalization features. The song is difficult enough on expert mode, not to mention performed at double speed and without missing every one of the thousands of cues. The streamer stated requiring months of practice of practice.
“Guitar Hero is a fun, fantasy thing. If you play other games, that doesn’t mean you should pick up a real gun and go to war,” notes musician Herman Li.
DragonForce had already completed a profitable run when their hit appeared in the third game, but Li says it made them widely recognized. “I remember our distributors informing us that we were selling albums like crazy,” he shares. “Popularity surged when we next toured, and we were playing right ahead of the headliners at the event.”
Indeed, the band's visibility from Guitar Hero proved so vast that it threatened to overshadow all other the band has done. Last year, the song was used in promotional material for a major film. “Previously I thought otherwise, but now I accept it,” Li says. “Should you just listen to a single track, that's fine – each person has their own musical journey and I’m glad we played a role of people’s lives”.
The Lasting Legacy from the Plastic Guitar
Top-tier promotion, be it for cars, apparel or video games, goes further mere transactions – it evokes a longing. Did Guitar Hero tap into that? “That’s exactly what we were trying to create,” he confirms. “The excitement of being a music icon in the spotlight. Since the beginning, the co-founders believed there’s an instinctive urge to create songs, and their goal was to use technology to enable everyone to do it”.
Most of Guitar Hero games came out over a mere half-decade from 2005 to 2010, including derivative titles such as the DJ version, including a spinning deck, and the band-focused game. Subsequently, the publisher’s interest in plastic instruments waned, aside from a short-lived revival in 2015.
Titles such as the fan project and newer releases have kept the community active, and there’s set to be something from the founders in development. Recently formed developers has entered work on their first music game. Original co-founders are both involved in advisory roles. Is the world prepared to welcome another game following Guitar Hero?
“Our team believed such titles might become like Madden where you can update every year,” Dornbrook says. “There’s so much fresh tracks that it could be perennially popular, so I’ve always been hopeful. There’s no reason why it can’t continue for future fans.”
