Marking 20 years since the legendary game hit the market in North America, offering players everywhere the opportunity to become rock legends. Figuratively speaking, but try telling that anyone who's mastered the epic lengthy guitar solo in front of a packed crowd of friends.
Created by Harmonix, Guitar Hero provided users with a plastic guitar peripheral to match on-screen cues scrolling down the screen synchronized to the music. Each riff mimicked particular chords, creating the sensation of an authentic live show.
The studio previously experimented in the music genre before partnering with the publisher, later acquired by the gaming giant in 2006. Together, they laid the foundations for an unlikely billion-dollar series which made a significant impact for many of the artists featured, showcasing decades-old groups to millions of younger players.
A former executive, ex-chief operating officer from the developer, recalls the early financial challenges of licensing the songs – even though the first two games primarily featured rerecorded tracks.
“We reproduced all the music since the cost prohibitive,” he explains. “Despite having the publishing rights alone, it proved nearly impossible. We couldn’t get acts such as legendary groups – RedOctane had virtually no money, and our team was fairly certain it would fail. But once Guitar Hero became a hit, album purchases and radio play were going up, everyone wanted to be in.”
He adds: “One of the remarkable aspects was the number of parents got in touch and thanked us for exposing their children to the music they adored. It became a multigenerational phenomenon.”
Classic Rock Finds Younger Fans
Irish group one featured act had their track in the 2008 release the popular installment. Lead musician Paul Mahon recalls the way the game brought classic rock to the forefront: “The game offered a bigger, new demographic. Typically such music was seen as music that was past it, however when it was included in the game and teenagers were finding it, abruptly it was cool. This validated the genre, and got rid of the ‘dad rock’ tag. It provided all our music renewed popularity.”
At that time, the Answer’s debut album was still not available stateside, meaning the game was a key medium of discovery for the group during their a North American 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 Spin-offs Enduring Influence
Rock’s heavyweight names quickly capitalised on the game's success, with Aerosmith, Metallica and Van Halen featuring in specialized spin-off titles centered around their music collections and related lore, imagery and rock’n’roll mythology. For example, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, reportedly earned the group more money compared to their studio albums. It sold well over 500,000 copies upon release, and sales of their songs rose of up to 40% at a time as the industry faced decline.
Guitar Hero still motivates quick-handed dedication within the community. Earlier this year, an online personality achieved a remarkable feat of DragonForce’s Through the Fire and Flames – a notoriously difficult anthem popularized through the game – on Clone Hero, a no-cost alternative with almost identical gameplay but an array of personalization features. The song is challenging enough on the hardest setting, let alone performed at increased tempo and without missing a single one of the thousands of cues. The streamer stated requiring nine months to accomplish.
“Guitar Hero is a fun, fantasy thing. Just as with other games, that doesn’t mean you should pick up actual weapons and go to war,” notes musician Herman Li.
The band had already completed a profitable run when Through the Fire and Flames appeared on Guitar Hero III, but Li says it made them widely recognized. “I remember the record label informing us that we were records were moving like crazy,” he says. “Popularity surged when we next toured, and we were playing right ahead of top acts on the Mayhem festival.”
Indeed, the band's visibility via the game was so immense that it risked eclipsing everything else accomplishments. Last year, the track was used in promotional material for a major film. “Previously I thought differently, but I’ve made peace with it,” Li says. “Should you just hear a single track, it’s totally cool – everyone’s got a unique path in music and I’m glad we played a role in fans' experiences”.
The Lasting Legacy of a Plastic Guitar
Top-tier marketing, be it for automobiles, apparel or video games, goes further than selling something – it inspires a longing. Did Guitar Hero harness this? “Precisely what we were trying to create,” he confirms. “The excitement of performing as a rock star on the stage. From day one, the co-founders believed there’s an instinctive urge to create songs, and they wanted to use technology to enable everyone to participate”.
The majority installments were released over a mere half-decade from 2005 to 2010, featuring spin-offs such as the DJ version, including a spinning deck, and Band Hero. After that, corporate focus on peripherals died down, except for a short-lived revival in 2015.
Titles such as Clone Hero and newer releases have kept the scene alive, and there’s set to be a new product from the original publisher in development. A new studio has begun production on its debut rhythm-based title. Original co-founders are both involved as special advisers. Is the world ready to embrace another game in the spirit of the classic?
“We thought those games could be similar to sports games allowing annual update every year,” Dornbrook says. “With abundant new music it could remain perennially popular, thus I remain optimistic. It's entirely possible why it can’t continue with new generations.”
