It has been 20 years since the legendary game first launched in North America, providing players everywhere the tools to feel like rock legends. Not in reality, but try telling that someone who's mastered Free Bird’s four-minute guitar solo in front of a packed living-room audience.
Developed by Harmonix, the game provided users with a plastic guitar peripheral to follow coloured notes moving along the screen in time with a song. Every sequence corresponded to specific notes, producing the sensation of a genuine performance.
Harmonix had already experimented in the music genre prior to teaming up with the publisher, later purchased by Activision during the mid-2000s. Collaboratively, they laid the groundwork for an unlikely billion-dollar series that had a significant impact on numerous of the artists featured, showcasing classic groups to a new generation of younger players.
A former executive, ex-chief operating officer of Harmonix, remembers the initial budgetary hurdles in securing the songs – despite the fact the first two games mostly used cover versions.
“We reproduced all the music because the dollar figure prohibitive,” he says. “Even with the publishing rights alone, it was extremely difficult. We couldn’t get acts such as legendary groups – the publisher was operating on a shoestring budget, and our team was pretty convinced the project would flop. But once Guitar Hero became a hit, and record sales and radio play increased, everyone wanted to be in.”
He continues: “Among the amazing things was the number of parents reached out and thanked us for exposing their children to the music they adored. It evolved into a multigenerational thing.”
Timeless Music Gains a New Audience
Irish blues-rock band one featured act included Never Too Late in the 2008 release the popular installment. Lead musician the artist remembers the way the game brought classic rock back into vogue: “The game provided a bigger, new demographic. Generally such music was considered outdated material, however once it got featured on the title and teenagers were finding it, suddenly it was cool. That legitimised the genre, eliminating the outdated label. It provided our catalog renewed popularity.”
At that time, the band's first record was still unreleased stateside, so Guitar Hero was a key medium 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 several knew us thanks to the game,” he notes.
Rock’s Heavyweight Titles and Lasting Influence
Music's heavyweight names quickly took advantage of the series’ popularity, with Aerosmith, Metallica and others featuring in specialized spin-off titles centered around each band’s catalogue and related stories, visuals and rock’n’roll mythology. For example, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, it was said to have made the group more money than any of their studio albums. It moved well over 500,000 copies upon release, while sales of their songs rose significantly at a time when the music business faced decline.
Guitar Hero continues to inspire quick-handed dedication among its fans. Earlier this year, an online personality completed a remarkable feat of DragonForce’s Through the Fire and Flames – a notoriously difficult power-metal song popularized through the game – on Clone Hero, a freeware game with similar gameplay and extensive customisation options. This track is challenging even in expert mode, not to mention played at double speed and without missing a single one of its near 4,000 notes. The streamer stated requiring months of practice to accomplish.
“The game offers a, imaginary experience. Just as with Call of Duty, that doesn’t mean you ought to pick up a real gun and go to war,” notes DragonForce guitarist Herman Li.
The band previously wrapped up a successful tour when Through the Fire and Flames was featured in the third game, but Li says it turned them into a household name. “I recall our distributors calling to tell me that our records were moving rapidly,” he says. “Popularity surged when we next toured, and we performed just before top acts on the Mayhem festival.”
In fact, the band's visibility from Guitar Hero proved so vast that it risked eclipsing all other accomplishments. Recently, the track 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 one DragonForce song, that's fine – each person has their own path in music and I'm pleased we played a role of people’s lives”.
The Lasting Impact of a Plastic Guitar
Top-tier promotion, be it for automobiles, apparel or games, extends beyond than selling something – it inspires a longing. Was the game able to harness this? “That’s exactly what we were aiming to achieve,” he confirms. “The excitement of being a rock star in the spotlight. Since the beginning, the co-founders believed humans have a natural human desire to make music, and their goal was to leverage innovation to allow people to participate”.
Most installments were released over a mere five-year period from 2005 to 2010, including spin-offs such as the DJ version, including a spinning deck, and the band-focused game. After that, corporate focus on peripherals waned, aside from a short-lived revival several years later.
Games like the fan project and Fortnite Festival have kept the scene active, and there’s set to be a new product from the original publisher on the way. A new studio has begun work on their first rhythm-based title. The initial creators are participating in advisory roles. Are gamers ready to embrace a new entry in the spirit of Guitar Hero?
“We thought those games could be like Madden allowing annual releases,” Dornbrook says. “With abundant fresh tracks that it could be evergreen, so I’ve always been optimistic. It's entirely possible for it to continue with new generations.”
