It has been 20 years after Guitar Hero debuted in North America, offering everyday gamers the opportunity to become a rock star. Figuratively speaking, though you'd be hard-pressed convincing anyone who's mastered Free Bird’s four-minute instrumental break before a packed living-room audience.
Created by Harmonix, the game provided users with a plastic guitar peripheral to match on-screen cues moving along the screen synchronized to the music. Every sequence corresponded to specific notes, producing the feel of an authentic performance.
Harmonix previously experimented in the music genre prior to teaming up with the publisher, later purchased by the gaming giant in 2006. Collaboratively, they established the groundwork for an unlikely billion-dollar series which made a remarkable influence on numerous of the artists included, showcasing decades-old groups to a new generation of younger players.
Michael Dornbrook, former COO from the developer, remembers the early budgetary hurdles of licensing the songs – even though the first two games primarily featured rerecorded tracks.
“We reproduced every song since the cost was so high,” he explains. “Despite having the necessary permissions by themselves, it was nearly impossible. We couldn’t get acts such as legendary groups – the publisher was operating on a shoestring budget, and we were fairly certain the project would flop. However, when the game took off, and record sales airtime increased, all artists desired to participate.”
He continues: “Among the remarkable aspects was how many parents reached out and thanked us for introducing their children to the songs they loved. It became a multigenerational phenomenon.”
Timeless Music Finds a New Audience
Irish group the Answer had their track in the 2008 release Guitar Hero World Tour. Guitarist Paul Mahon recalls the way the game brought older hits back into vogue: “The game offered a larger, new demographic. Typically this had been seen as music that was past it, but then when it was featured on the game and teenagers were finding it, suddenly it became trendy. That legitimised the genre, and got rid of the ‘dad rock’ tag. It provided all our music a new life.”
In 2008, the Answer’s first record remained unreleased stateside, meaning the game was a key medium of discovery for the band as they went on a North American tour supporting AC/DC. “Their crew had on the song during travel, and some of them recognized us from Guitar Hero,” he notes.
Major Band Spin-offs and Lasting Influence
Rock’s biggest acts quickly capitalised on the series’ popularity, including bands like Aerosmith, Metallica and others starring in dedicated 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, it was said earned the group greater revenue than any of their studio albums. It moved more than 500,000 copies upon release, and demand for Aerosmith’s music rose of up to 40% during an era when the music business was already collapsing.
The series continues to inspire quick-handed dedication within the community. Recently, an online personality achieved an impressive attempt of DragonForce’s the challenging track – a notoriously difficult anthem popularized through Guitar Hero – on Clone Hero, a no-cost alternative with almost identical gameplay but an array of personalization features. The song is challenging even in the hardest setting, not to mention performed at double speed while hitting a single one of its near 4,000 notes. The streamer claimed requiring months of practice to accomplish.
“Guitar Hero is a fun, imaginary experience. Just as with other games, that doesn’t mean you should pick up a real gun and go to war,” notes DragonForce guitarist the artist.
The band had already completed a profitable run when their hit appeared on Guitar Hero III, but Li says it made them widely recognized. “I recall our distributors calling to tell me that our selling albums rapidly,” he says. “It exploded on the subsequent tour, and we performed right ahead of the headliners on the Mayhem festival.”
In fact, DragonForce’s exposure from Guitar Hero proved so vast that it has threatened to overshadow all other accomplishments. Recently, the song featured in a trailer for a major film. “Previously I thought otherwise, but now I accept it,” Li says. “Should you just hear a single track, that's fine – everyone’s got a unique path in music and I'm pleased we played a role of people’s lives”.
The Lasting Legacy of a Plastic Guitar
Top-tier marketing, be it for automobiles, apparel or games, extends beyond mere transactions – it inspires a desire. Did Guitar Hero harness this? “That’s exactly what we were aiming to achieve,” Dornbrook says. “The excitement of performing as a music icon on the stage. From day one, the creators believed humans have a natural human desire to make music, and they wanted to use technology to enable everyone to do it”.
Most of Guitar Hero games were released in just a five-year period between 2005 and 2010, including spin-offs like the DJ version, complete with a turntable controller, and Band Hero. Subsequently, corporate focus on peripherals died down, aside from a brief comeback several years later.
Titles such as Clone Hero and Fortnite Festival have kept the scene active, with set to be something from the founders on the way. A new studio has entered production on its debut music game. Original co-founders are participating in advisory roles. Are gamers ready to embrace a new entry following the classic?
“We thought such titles could be similar to sports games allowing annual releases,” he remarks. “With abundant new music that it could be perennially popular, thus I remain hopeful. There’s no reason for it to persist with new generations.”
