It has been 20 years after the legendary game debuted in North America, giving players everywhere the means to become a rock star. Not literally, though you'd be hard-pressed telling that anyone who has nailed Free Bird’s four-minute instrumental break before an enthusiastic living-room audience.
Developed by the developers, Guitar Hero provided users with a guitar-shaped controller to match coloured notes moving along the display synchronized to a song. Each riff mimicked specific notes, creating the feel of an authentic live show.
Harmonix had already tried its hand with rhythm games before partnering with the publisher, which was purchased by Activision during the mid-2000s. Collaboratively, they laid the groundwork for a surprising massively profitable franchise that had a remarkable impact for many of the artists featured, showcasing decades-old groups to millions of younger players.
Michael Dornbrook, ex-chief operating officer of Harmonix, recalls the early financial challenges of licensing the recordings – even though the first two games primarily featured rerecorded tracks.
“We reproduced every song because the dollar figure was so high,” he explains. “Despite having the necessary permissions by themselves, it proved 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 the game became a hit, album purchases airtime were going up, everyone wanted to participate.”
He continues: “Among the amazing things was the number of parents got in touch expressing gratitude for exposing their kids to the music they loved. It evolved into an intergenerational phenomenon.”
Classic Rock Finds Younger Fans
Northern Irish blues-rock band one featured act had their track on the 2008 game Guitar Hero World Tour. Lead musician Paul Mahon recalls the way the game brought classic rock to the forefront: “The game provided a larger, new demographic. Typically such music was seen as music that was past it, however once it got included in the game and teenagers were finding it, abruptly it became trendy. That legitimised it, eliminating the ‘dad rock’ tag. It provided all our music a new life.”
At that time, the band's debut album was still unreleased stateside, so the game served as a primary platform of discovery for the group as they went on US tour supporting AC/DC. “The roadies had on Never Too Late during travel, and several knew us from Guitar Hero,” he notes.
Major Band Titles Enduring Influence
Music's heavyweight names quickly took advantage of the series’ popularity, including bands like Aerosmith, Metallica and Van Halen featuring in dedicated spin-off titles that focused on their music collections and related stories, imagery and legendary status. For example, the Aerosmith edition, it was said earned the band more money than any of their records. It moved well over half a million units upon release, while sales of Aerosmith’s music rose significantly during an era as the industry faced decline.
Guitar Hero still motivates quick-handed dedication within the community. Earlier this year, a streamer achieved a remarkable feat featuring the challenging track – a notoriously difficult anthem popularized through Guitar Hero – using a fan-made version, a freeware game with similar gameplay but an array of personalization features. The song is challenging enough on expert mode, not to mention played at increased tempo while hitting a single one of the thousands of cues. They claimed it took months of practice to accomplish.
“Guitar Hero offers a, imaginary experience. Just as with Call of Duty, it doesn't imply you ought to pick up actual weapons and go to war,” says DragonForce guitarist Herman Li.
DragonForce previously completed a profitable run before their hit appeared on Guitar Hero III, but Li says it made them a household name. “I recall our distributors informing us that we were selling albums rapidly,” he says. “It exploded when we next toured, and we were playing right ahead of top acts at the event.”
Indeed, DragonForce’s exposure from Guitar Hero was so immense that it has risked overshadow everything else accomplishments. Recently, the track featured in promotional material for Despicable Me 4. “In the past I felt otherwise, but now I accept it,” Li says. “If you only hear one DragonForce song, it’s totally cool – each person has a unique path in music and I'm pleased we played a role of people’s lives”.
Enduring Impact of a Plastic Guitar
Top-tier promotion, whether it’s for cars, clothes or games, extends beyond than selling something – it evokes a desire. Did Guitar Hero harness this? “That’s exactly what our team aiming to achieve,” he confirms. “That thrill of being a rock star on the stage. From day one, the co-founders felt that there’s an instinctive human desire to make music, and they wanted to leverage innovation to enable everyone to participate”.
Most of Guitar Hero games were released in just a half-decade between 2005 and 2010, including derivative titles like DJ Hero, including a turntable controller, and Band Hero. Subsequently, corporate focus on peripherals died down, aside from a short-lived revival several years later.
Titles like the fan project and Fortnite Festival have kept the community alive, and there’s set to be a new product from the founders on the way. Recently formed developers has begun production on their first rhythm-based title. The initial creators are participating in advisory roles. Are gamers ready to embrace another game in the spirit of Guitar Hero?
“We thought those games might become similar to sports games allowing annual releases,” Dornbrook says. “There’s so much fresh tracks that it could be perennially popular, thus I remain optimistic. There’s no reason for it to continue with new generations.”
