🔗 Share this article

Marking two decades after Guitar Hero hit the market across the Atlantic, giving players everywhere the opportunity to become rock legends. Not in reality, though you'd be hard-pressed telling that anyone who's mastered Free Bird’s four-minute instrumental break in front of a packed crowd of friends.

Created by the developers, Guitar Hero gave players a guitar-shaped controller to match on-screen cues moving along the screen in time with the music. Every sequence corresponded to particular chords, creating the feel of a genuine performance.

The studio previously tried its hand with rhythm games prior to teaming up with RedOctane, which was acquired by the gaming giant during the mid-2000s. Together, they laid the foundations for a surprising billion-dollar series which made a significant impact on numerous of the artists featured, showcasing classic bands to millions of younger players.

Michael Dornbrook, ex-chief operating officer of Harmonix, recalls the initial budgetary hurdles in securing the songs – even though initial releases mostly used rerecorded tracks.

“We rerecorded all the music since the cost prohibitive,” he explains. “Even with the publishing rights alone, it proved nearly impossible. We failed to secure bands like legendary groups – the publisher was operating on a shoestring budget, and our team was pretty convinced it would fail. But once Guitar Hero became a hit, and record sales and radio play were going up, everyone wanted to be in.”

He continues: “Among the amazing things was the number of parents got in touch expressing gratitude for exposing their children to the songs they adored. It evolved into a multigenerational thing.”

Classic Rock Finds Younger Fans

Northern Irish blues-rock band one featured act had their track in the 2008 release the popular installment. Guitarist Paul Mahon remembers the way the game brought classic rock back into vogue: “The game offered a larger, new demographic. Typically this had been considered outdated material, but then when it was featured on the title young people discovered it, suddenly it was cool. That legitimised it, eliminating the outdated tag. It gave our catalog renewed popularity.”

At that time, the Answer’s debut album remained not available in the US, so Guitar Hero served as a primary platform for exposure for the group during their a North American tour supporting the rock giants. “The roadies had on the song on the tour bus, and some of them recognized us from Guitar Hero,” Mahon says.

Major Band Titles Enduring Influence

Music's biggest acts quickly took advantage of the game's success, with Aerosmith, Metallica and others starring in dedicated game editions centered around each band’s catalogue and associated lore, imagery and rock’n’roll mythology. For example, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, reportedly earned the group greater revenue than any of their records. It sold well over 500,000 copies in its first week, while demand for Aerosmith’s music saw an increase of up to 40% at a time when the music business was already collapsing.

Guitar Hero still motivates nimble-fingered fanaticism within the community. Earlier this year, an online personality completed an impressive attempt of DragonForce’s the challenging track – a notoriously difficult power-metal song made popular by the game – on Clone Hero, a freeware game with almost identical mechanics but an array of personalization features. The song is challenging even in the hardest setting, not to mention played at increased tempo and without missing every one of its near 4,000 notes. They stated requiring months of practice of practice.

“Guitar Hero is a fun, fantasy thing. Just as with other games, that doesn’t mean you should 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, but Li says it made them a household name. “I recall our distributors calling to tell me that our selling albums rapidly,” he shares. “Popularity surged on the subsequent tour, and we performed just before the headliners on the Mayhem festival.”

Indeed, DragonForce’s exposure via the game proved so vast that it has risked overshadow everything else accomplishments. Last year, the track was used in a trailer for Despicable Me 4. “In the past I felt otherwise, but now I accept it,” he admits. “If you only hear one DragonForce song, it’s totally cool – each person has their own musical journey and I'm pleased we played a role of people’s lives”.

Enduring Impact from the Plastic Guitar

The best marketing, whether it’s for cars, apparel or video games, goes further mere transactions – it inspires a longing. Was the game able to harness this? “That’s exactly what our team trying to create,” he confirms. “The excitement of being a music icon in the spotlight. Since the beginning, the co-founders felt that there’s an instinctive urge to make music, and their goal was to use technology to enable everyone to participate”.

The majority of Guitar Hero games came out in just a half-decade between 2005 and 2010, featuring spin-offs such as the DJ version, complete with a turntable controller, and Band Hero. After that, corporate focus on peripherals died down, except for a short-lived revival several years later.

Titles like the fan project and Fortnite Festival have maintained the scene alive, with expectations of something from the founders in development. A new studio has entered work on its debut music game. The initial creators are both involved as special advisers. Is the world prepared to welcome another game following Guitar Hero?

“We thought those games could be like Madden where you can releases,” he remarks. “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 persist with new generations.”