It has been two decades since the legendary game hit the market in North America, giving players everywhere the tools to become rock legends. Not literally, but try telling that anyone who has nailed Free Bird’s four-minute guitar solo before an enthusiastic living-room audience.
Created by Harmonix, Guitar Hero gave players a plastic guitar peripheral to match coloured notes scrolling down the screen in time with a song. Each riff mimicked specific notes, creating the sensation of an authentic live show.
The studio previously tried its hand with rhythm games before partnering with the publisher, which was purchased by Activision in 2006. Collaboratively, they established the foundations for an unlikely massively profitable franchise which made a significant influence for many musicians featured, showcasing classic groups to a new generation of younger players.
Michael Dornbrook, ex-chief operating officer from the developer, recalls the early financial challenges in securing the songs – even though initial releases mostly used rerecorded tracks.
“We reproduced every song because the cost prohibitive,” he says. “Despite having the publishing rights alone, it proved extremely difficult. We couldn’t get acts such as the Who – RedOctane had virtually no money, and our team was pretty convinced the project would flop. But once Guitar Hero became a hit, album purchases airtime were going up, all artists desired to be in.”
He adds: “Among the amazing things was the number of parents got in touch expressing gratitude for introducing their kids to the music they adored. It evolved into an intergenerational thing.”
Classic Rock Finds a New Audience
Northern Irish group one featured act had their track on the 2008 game Guitar Hero World Tour. Guitarist the artist remembers the way the game brought older hits back into vogue: “Guitar Hero offered a bigger, new demographic. Typically such music was seen as music that was past it, however when it was included in the game young people were finding it, suddenly it became trendy. That legitimised the genre, and got rid of the ‘dad rock’ tag. It provided our catalog renewed popularity.”
At that time, the band's first record remained unreleased in the US, meaning the game was a key medium of discovery for the group as they went on a North American tour opening for AC/DC. “The roadies had on Never Too Late during travel, and some of them knew us thanks to the game,” he notes.
Rock’s Heavyweight Titles Enduring Influence
Rock’s heavyweight names soon capitalised on the game's success, including bands like Aerosmith, Metallica and Van Halen starring in dedicated spin-off titles that focused on their music collections and related lore, visuals and rock’n’roll mythology. For example, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, reportedly earned the group greater revenue compared to their studio albums. It sold well over half a million units upon release, and demand for their songs saw an increase of up to 40% during an era as the industry was already collapsing.
Guitar Hero still motivates nimble-fingered fanaticism among its fans. Earlier this year, an online personality achieved a remarkable feat featuring the challenging track – an infamously tough anthem popularized through the game – on Clone Hero, a freeware game with almost identical gameplay but an array of customisation options. The song is challenging enough on expert mode, let alone performed at double speed and without missing every one of its near 4,000 notes. They claimed requiring months of practice of practice.
“Guitar Hero is a fun, imaginary experience. If you play other games, that doesn’t mean you should use a real gun and go to war,” notes DragonForce guitarist the artist.
DragonForce had already completed a profitable run when their hit was featured in the third game, yet he explains it made them widely recognized. “I remember our distributors informing us that our records were moving like crazy,” he says. “Popularity surged on the subsequent tour, and we performed right ahead of top acts on the Mayhem festival.”
In fact, DragonForce’s exposure from Guitar Hero was so immense that it threatened to overshadow all other the band has done. Last year, the song featured in a trailer for Despicable Me 4. “Previously I thought otherwise, but I’ve made peace with it,” Li says. “If you only hear a single track, it’s totally cool – everyone’s got a unique path in music and I'm pleased we played a role of people’s lives”.
The Lasting Impact of a Iconic Controller
Top-tier marketing, be it for automobiles, apparel or video games, extends beyond mere transactions – it inspires a desire. Did Guitar Hero tap into that? “Precisely what we were aiming to achieve,” Dornbrook says. “The excitement of performing as a music icon in the spotlight. Since the beginning, the creators felt that there’s an instinctive urge to create songs, and they wanted to use technology to allow people to do it”.
The majority installments came out in just a half-decade between 2005 and 2010, featuring spin-offs such as the DJ version, complete with a spinning deck, and the band-focused game. After that, corporate focus in plastic instruments waned, aside from a short-lived revival several years later.
Titles like the fan project and newer releases have maintained the community alive, with expectations of something from the original publisher in development. Recently formed developers has begun production on their first music game. Original co-founders are participating in advisory roles. Are gamers prepared to welcome another game in the spirit of Guitar Hero?
“We thought such titles could be similar to sports games allowing annual releases,” Dornbrook says. “There’s so much fresh tracks that it could be evergreen, so I’ve always been hopeful. It's entirely possible why it can’t persist for future fans.”
