Marking 20 years since Guitar Hero hit the market across the Atlantic, giving everyday gamers the opportunity to feel like rock legends. Figuratively speaking, though you'd be hard-pressed convincing someone who's mastered Free Bird’s lengthy guitar solo before a packed living-room audience.
Created by Harmonix, Guitar Hero gave players a guitar-shaped controller to match on-screen cues scrolling down the screen synchronized to the music. Each riff mimicked particular chords, creating the sensation of a genuine live show.
Harmonix previously experimented in the music genre prior to teaming up with the publisher, which was purchased by the gaming giant during the mid-2000s. Collaboratively, they laid the foundations for a surprising massively profitable franchise that had a significant impact on numerous of the artists included, showcasing decades-old bands to a new generation of younger players.
A former executive, former COO of Harmonix, recalls the initial financial challenges in securing the songs – even though initial releases primarily featured rerecorded tracks.
“We rerecorded all the music because the dollar figure prohibitive,” he says. “Even with the necessary permissions alone, it proved nearly impossible. We failed to secure acts such as legendary groups – RedOctane was operating on a shoestring budget, and we were fairly certain it would fail. But once Guitar Hero took off, album purchases and radio play increased, all artists desired to be in.”
He continues: “One of the amazing things was the number of mothers and fathers got in touch and thanked us for exposing their children to the music they adored. It became an intergenerational phenomenon.”
Timeless Music Finds a New Audience
Irish blues-rock band the Answer had their track on the 2008 game the popular installment. Lead musician Paul Mahon recalls the way the game revived classic rock back into vogue: “The game provided a bigger, younger audience. Generally this had been seen as outdated material, however when it was featured on the game and teenagers discovered it, suddenly it was cool. This validated the genre, eliminating the outdated label. It provided all our music renewed popularity.”
At that time, the band's debut album was still unreleased in the US, so Guitar Hero was a key medium of discovery for the group as they went on a North American tour supporting the rock giants. “The roadies were playing the song during travel, and several knew us from Guitar Hero,” Mahon says.
Major Band Titles and Lasting Impact
Rock’s heavyweight names quickly capitalised on the series’ popularity, including bands like Aerosmith, Metallica and others featuring in dedicated game editions that focused on their music collections and associated stories, imagery and legendary status. For example, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, it was said to have made the band greater revenue than any of their records. It moved well over half a million copies in its first week, and sales of Aerosmith’s music saw an increase of up to 40% at a time as the industry was already collapsing.
Guitar Hero continues to inspire nimble-fingered fanaticism within the community. Recently, a streamer achieved a remarkable feat of DragonForce’s Through the Fire and Flames – an infamously tough anthem made popular by Guitar Hero – on Clone Hero, a no-cost alternative with similar gameplay and extensive personalization features. The song is challenging enough on expert mode, let alone performed at increased tempo and without missing every one of its near 4,000 notes. The streamer claimed requiring nine months to accomplish.
“The game offers a, imaginary experience. Just as with other games, that doesn’t mean you ought to use actual weapons and go to war,” notes musician Herman Li.
The band previously completed a profitable run when Through the Fire and Flames was featured on Guitar Hero III, yet he explains it made them widely recognized. “I recall our distributors informing us that we were records were moving rapidly,” he shares. “Popularity surged when we next toured, and we performed just before top acts at the event.”
In fact, DragonForce’s exposure from Guitar Hero proved so vast that it has risked eclipsing all other accomplishments. Last year, the track featured in promotional material for a major film. “In the past I thought otherwise, but I’ve made peace with it,” he admits. “If you only hear one DragonForce song, that's fine – everyone’s got a unique path in music and I'm pleased we played a role in fans' experiences”.
Enduring Impact of a Plastic Guitar
The best promotion, be it for cars, clothes or video games, goes further than selling something – it inspires a desire. Did Guitar Hero tap into that? “Precisely what our team aiming to achieve,” Dornbrook says. “That thrill of performing as a rock star on the stage. Since the beginning, the creators felt that humans have a natural human desire to make music, and they wanted to leverage innovation to enable everyone to participate”.
The majority of Guitar Hero games were released over a mere half-decade from 2005 to 2010, including derivative titles such as the DJ version, including a turntable controller, and Band Hero. After that, the publisher’s interest on peripherals died down, except for a short-lived revival in 2015.
Games such as Clone Hero and Fortnite Festival have kept the scene active, with set to be something from the founders in development. A new studio has begun work on their first music game. Original co-founders are participating as special advisers. Is the world ready to embrace another game in the spirit of the classic?
“Our team believed those games could be like Madden where you can update every year,” Dornbrook says. “There’s so much fresh tracks it could remain perennially popular, thus I remain optimistic. It's entirely possible for it to persist for future fans.”
