It has been 20 years after Guitar Hero hit the market in North America, giving everyday gamers the tools to become rock legends. Not literally, but try convincing anyone who's mastered Free Bird’s four-minute guitar solo in front of an enthusiastic living-room audience.
Created by Harmonix, Guitar Hero provided users with a guitar-shaped controller to match coloured notes moving along the screen synchronized to the music. Every sequence corresponded to particular chords, producing the sensation of an authentic performance.
The studio had already experimented in the music genre before partnering with the publisher, which was acquired by the gaming giant during the mid-2000s. Together, they laid the foundations for an unlikely massively profitable series which made a remarkable influence for many of the artists featured, introducing decades-old bands to millions of gaming enthusiasts.
A former executive, ex-chief operating officer of Harmonix, recalls the initial budgetary hurdles of licensing the recordings – even though initial releases mostly used cover versions.
“We rerecorded every song since the cost was so high,” he explains. “Despite having the necessary permissions alone, it proved extremely difficult. We couldn’t get acts such as the Who – the publisher was operating on a shoestring budget, and we were pretty convinced it would fail. But once the game became a hit, album purchases and radio play were going up, all artists desired to participate.”
He adds: “One of the amazing things was how many parents reached out expressing gratitude for exposing their children to the music they adored. It evolved into a multigenerational thing.”
Timeless Music Finds a New Audience
Northern Irish group the Answer had Never Too Late in the 2008 release the popular installment. Guitarist Paul Mahon recalls how the series revived classic rock to the forefront: “Guitar Hero provided a larger, new demographic. Typically such music was seen as outdated material, however once it got included in the game and teenagers discovered it, abruptly it became trendy. That legitimised the genre, eliminating the ‘dad rock’ tag. It gave all our music a new life.”
In 2008, the band's first record remained unreleased in the US, meaning Guitar Hero served as a primary platform of discovery for the group as they went on US tour opening for the rock giants. “Their crew had on Never Too Late on the tour bus, and some of them knew us thanks to the game,” he notes.
Major Band Titles and Lasting Impact
Music's biggest acts quickly capitalised on the series’ popularity, including bands like Aerosmith, Metallica and Van Halen starring in dedicated game editions centered around their music collections and related lore, visuals and rock’n’roll mythology. In the case of, the Aerosmith edition, reportedly earned the band more money than any of their studio albums. It moved more than 500,000 copies in its first week, and sales of Aerosmith’s music saw an increase significantly at a time when the music business was already collapsing.
Guitar Hero still motivates quick-handed dedication among its fans. Earlier this year, an online personality achieved a remarkable feat featuring Through the Fire and Flames – a notoriously difficult anthem made popular by Guitar Hero – on Clone Hero, a no-cost alternative with almost identical mechanics and extensive personalization features. This track is difficult even in the hardest setting, let alone performed at double speed and without missing a single one of the thousands of cues. The streamer claimed it took months of practice of practice.
“Guitar Hero is a fun, fantasy thing. If you play Call of Duty, it doesn't imply you ought to use a real gun and enlist,” notes DragonForce guitarist Herman Li.
DragonForce previously wrapped up a successful tour before their hit was featured on Guitar Hero III, yet he explains it turned them into widely recognized. “I recall the record label informing us that our selling albums like crazy,” he shares. “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 overshadow all other accomplishments. Recently, the song was used in a trailer for a major film. “In the past I thought differently, but I’ve made peace with it,” he admits. “Should you just hear a single track, that's fine – everyone’s got a unique musical journey and I'm pleased we played a role in fans' experiences”.
Enduring Impact from the Plastic Guitar
The best promotion, be it for cars, clothes or games, goes further mere transactions – it evokes a longing. 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 co-founders believed there’s an instinctive human desire to make music, and they wanted to leverage innovation to allow people to participate”.
The majority of Guitar Hero games were released in just a five-year period from 2005 to 2010, featuring spin-offs such as DJ Hero, complete with a spinning deck, and the band-focused game. Subsequently, the publisher’s interest on peripherals died down, aside from a short-lived revival in 2015.
Titles like Clone Hero and newer releases have kept the scene alive, and there’s set to be something from the original publisher on the way. Recently formed developers has begun production on its debut music game. Original co-founders are participating as special advisers. Are gamers ready to embrace a new entry following the classic?
“We thought those games could be like Madden allowing annual update every year,” he remarks. “There’s so much new music it could remain perennially popular, so I’ve always been hopeful. It's entirely possible why it can’t continue for future fans.”
