Marking 20 years after the legendary game hit the market in North America, giving players everywhere the opportunity to become rock legends. Not in reality, though you'd be hard-pressed telling that anyone who's nailed the epic four-minute guitar solo before a packed living-room audience.
Created by the developers, the game gave players a guitar-shaped controller to follow coloured notes moving along the screen synchronized to the music. Each riff corresponded to specific notes, producing the sensation of an authentic performance.
Harmonix had already experimented with rhythm games prior to teaming up with the publisher, later acquired by the gaming giant in 2006. Collaboratively, they laid the foundations for an unlikely massively profitable franchise which made a significant impact on numerous of the artists featured, showcasing classic groups to millions of gaming enthusiasts.
A former executive, ex-chief operating officer of Harmonix, recalls the early budgetary hurdles in securing the recordings – even though the first two games mostly used rerecorded tracks.
“We rerecorded every song since the cost prohibitive,” he explains. “Despite having the publishing rights by themselves, it was nearly impossible. We couldn’t get bands like the Who – RedOctane was operating on a shoestring budget, and we were fairly certain it would fail. However, when Guitar Hero became a hit, and record sales airtime were going up, all artists desired to participate.”
He adds: “One of the remarkable aspects was how many parents got in touch expressing gratitude for exposing their kids to the music they adored. It became a multigenerational thing.”
Timeless Music Finds a New Audience
Irish group one featured act included Never Too Late on the 2008 game the popular installment. Lead musician the artist remembers how the series revived classic rock back into vogue: “The game offered a bigger, younger audience. Generally such music was seen as music that was past it, but then when it was featured on the title young people were finding it, abruptly it became trendy. That legitimised the genre, and got rid of the outdated label. It gave our catalog renewed popularity.”
At that time, the band's first record was still unreleased stateside, so the game served as a primary platform for exposure for the band during their US tour supporting the rock giants. “The roadies had on Never Too Late during travel, and some of them recognized us from Guitar Hero,” he notes.
Major Band Titles and Lasting Impact
Music's heavyweight names soon took advantage of the game's success, with Aerosmith, Metallica and Van Halen starring in dedicated game editions that focused on their music collections and related lore, visuals and rock’n’roll mythology. In the case of, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, it was said earned the band more money than any of their studio albums. It sold well over half a million units upon release, while demand for Aerosmith’s music rose of up to 40% at a time as the industry was already collapsing.
The series still motivates quick-handed dedication within the community. Earlier this year, a streamer achieved an impressive attempt featuring the challenging track – an infamously tough anthem popularized through Guitar Hero – on Clone Hero, a freeware game with almost identical gameplay but an array of personalization features. This track is difficult enough on the hardest setting, not to mention performed at double speed and without missing a single one of its near 4,000 notes. The streamer claimed it took nine months to accomplish.
“The game offers a, fantasy thing. If you play other games, it doesn't imply you should pick up actual weapons and enlist,” notes musician Herman Li.
The band had already wrapped up a successful tour when Through the Fire and Flames was featured in the third game, yet he explains it turned them into a household name. “I remember our distributors calling to tell me that our selling albums like crazy,” he says. “Popularity surged when we next toured, and we were playing just before top acts at the event.”
Indeed, the band's visibility via the game proved so vast that it risked overshadow all other accomplishments. Recently, the song was used in promotional material for Despicable Me 4. “Previously I thought differently, but now I accept it,” Li says. “Should you just listen to one DragonForce song, it’s totally cool – everyone’s got their own musical journey and I’m glad we’ve been part of people’s lives”.
The Lasting Legacy of a Plastic Guitar
Top-tier promotion, be it for automobiles, apparel or games, extends beyond than selling something – it evokes a longing. Was the game able to harness this? “That’s exactly what we were trying to create,” he confirms. “That thrill of being a music icon on the stage. From day one, the creators felt that humans have a natural urge to create songs, and their goal was to leverage innovation to allow people to participate”.
The majority of Guitar Hero games were released over a mere five-year period between 2005 and 2010, featuring spin-offs like DJ Hero, including a spinning deck, and Band Hero. After that, corporate focus in plastic instruments died down, except for a brief comeback in 2015.
Games like Clone Hero and Fortnite Festival have maintained the community active, and there’s set to be something from the original publisher on the way. A new studio has entered work on their first rhythm-based title. The initial creators are both involved as special advisers. Is the world ready to embrace another game in the spirit of Guitar Hero?
“Our team believed those games might become like Madden where you can releases,” Dornbrook says. “There’s so much fresh tracks it could remain evergreen, so I’ve always been optimistic. It's entirely possible why it can’t persist with new generations.”
