Marking two decades since the legendary game debuted across the Atlantic, giving everyday gamers the opportunity to become a rock star. Not in reality, though you'd be hard-pressed convincing anyone who has nailed Free Bird’s lengthy instrumental break before an enthusiastic living-room audience.
Created by Harmonix, the game gave players a plastic guitar peripheral to follow coloured notes moving along the screen synchronized to a song. Every sequence mimicked particular chords, producing the feel of a genuine performance.
The studio previously experimented with rhythm games prior to teaming up with RedOctane, which was purchased by Activision during the mid-2000s. Collaboratively, they established the foundations for an unlikely massively profitable series which made a significant influence for many of the artists featured, showcasing classic bands to millions of gaming enthusiasts.
Michael Dornbrook, ex-chief operating officer of Harmonix, recalls the early budgetary hurdles of licensing the recordings – despite the fact the first two games mostly used cover versions.
“We reproduced all the music since the cost prohibitive,” he explains. “Despite having the publishing rights by themselves, it proved nearly impossible. We couldn’t get acts such as the Who – RedOctane was operating on a shoestring budget, and we were pretty convinced it would fail. But once Guitar Hero took off, album purchases airtime increased, all artists desired to be in.”
He adds: “One of the remarkable aspects was the number of parents reached out expressing gratitude for introducing their children to the songs they adored. It became a multigenerational phenomenon.”
Timeless Music Finds a New Audience
Irish blues-rock band the Answer included Never Too Late on the 2008 game Guitar Hero World Tour. Lead musician the artist remembers the way the game revived classic rock to the forefront: “Guitar Hero provided a bigger, younger audience. Generally this had been considered outdated material, but then once it got featured on the game young people discovered it, suddenly it was cool. This validated it, and got rid of the ‘dad rock’ label. It provided all our music a new life.”
At that time, the Answer’s first record was still unreleased stateside, meaning Guitar Hero was a key medium of discovery for the group as they went on a North American tour supporting the rock giants. “Their crew were playing the song on the tour bus, and several knew us from Guitar Hero,” Mahon says.
Major Band Titles Enduring Impact
Music's heavyweight names quickly took advantage of the series’ popularity, with Aerosmith, Metallica and others starring in specialized game editions that focused on each band’s catalogue and related stories, visuals and rock’n’roll mythology. In the case of, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, reportedly earned the band greater revenue than any of their records. It moved more than half a million units in its first week, while sales of Aerosmith’s music saw an increase significantly during an era as the industry faced decline.
Guitar Hero continues to inspire nimble-fingered fanaticism among its fans. Earlier this year, an online personality achieved an impressive attempt featuring the challenging track – a notoriously difficult anthem popularized through the game – on Clone Hero, a no-cost alternative with almost identical mechanics and extensive personalization features. The song is difficult enough on the hardest setting, not to mention performed at double speed while hitting a single one of the thousands of cues. They stated it took months of practice to accomplish.
“The game is a fun, fantasy thing. If you play Call of Duty, it doesn't imply you should use a real gun and go to war,” notes musician Herman Li.
DragonForce had already wrapped up a successful tour before their hit was featured in the third game, but Li says it made them widely recognized. “I remember the record label calling to tell me that our selling albums like crazy,” he says. “It exploded when we next toured, and we performed just before the headliners on the Mayhem festival.”
In fact, the band's visibility from Guitar Hero proved so vast that it has threatened to eclipsing everything else the band has done. Last year, the track featured in a trailer for Despicable Me 4. “Previously I felt differently, but now I accept it,” Li says. “Should you just hear a single track, that's fine – each person has a unique musical journey and I’m glad we’ve been part in fans' experiences”.
The Lasting Impact from the Iconic Controller
Top-tier marketing, be it for cars, clothes or video games, extends beyond mere transactions – it evokes a desire. Did Guitar Hero harness this? “Precisely what our team aiming to achieve,” Dornbrook says. “The excitement of being a rock star on the stage. Since the beginning, the creators felt that there’s an instinctive human desire to make music, and they wanted to use technology to allow people to do it”.
Most of Guitar Hero games were released over a mere five-year period from 2005 to 2010, featuring spin-offs like the DJ version, complete with a spinning deck, and Band Hero. After that, the publisher’s interest in plastic instruments died down, except for a short-lived revival in 2015.
Games such as Clone Hero and Fortnite Festival have maintained the scene alive, with set to be a new product from the founders on the way. A new studio has entered production on its debut music game. The initial creators are participating as special advisers. Is the world ready to embrace another game following Guitar Hero?
“We thought such titles could be similar to sports games where you can update every year,” he remarks. “With abundant fresh tracks that it could be perennially popular, thus I remain hopeful. It's entirely possible for it to continue for future fans.”
