It has been two decades after the legendary game hit the market in North America, giving players everywhere the opportunity to feel like rock legends. Not literally, but try telling that anyone who has nailed the epic four-minute instrumental break in front of a packed living-room audience.
Created by Harmonix, Guitar Hero gave players a plastic guitar peripheral to match coloured notes moving along the screen synchronized to a song. Every sequence mimicked particular chords, creating the feel of an authentic performance.
The studio had already tried its hand with rhythm games prior to teaming up with RedOctane, which was acquired by Activision in 2006. Together, they established the foundations for an unlikely billion-dollar series which made a remarkable influence on numerous musicians featured, showcasing classic bands to millions of gaming enthusiasts.
Michael Dornbrook, ex-chief operating officer from the developer, remembers the initial budgetary hurdles in securing the songs – despite the fact initial releases primarily featured rerecorded tracks.
“We rerecorded all the music since the cost prohibitive,” he says. “Even with the publishing rights alone, it was extremely difficult. We couldn’t get acts such as legendary groups – RedOctane was operating on a shoestring budget, and our team was pretty convinced it would fail. But once Guitar Hero became a hit, and record sales and radio play were going up, all artists desired to participate.”
He adds: “Among the amazing things was the number of mothers and fathers reached out expressing gratitude for introducing their children to the songs they adored. It became a multigenerational phenomenon.”
Timeless Music Finds a New Audience
Irish blues-rock band the Answer included Never Too Late on the 2008 game Guitar Hero World Tour. Guitarist the artist recalls how the series brought older hits back into vogue: “The game provided a larger, new demographic. Generally this had been considered music that was past it, but then when it was featured on the game young people discovered it, suddenly it became trendy. This validated the genre, eliminating the ‘dad rock’ tag. It gave our catalog renewed popularity.”
In 2008, the band's first record remained not available in the US, meaning the game was a key medium for exposure for the group during their US tour opening for the rock giants. “Their crew had on the song on the tour bus, and some of them recognized us from Guitar Hero,” Mahon says.
Major Band Titles Enduring Influence
Music's heavyweight names soon capitalised on the game's success, with Aerosmith, Metallica and Van Halen featuring in dedicated spin-off titles that focused on each band’s catalogue and associated lore, imagery and rock’n’roll mythology. For example, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, it was said to have made the group more money than any of their records. It moved well over 500,000 units upon release, while demand for Aerosmith’s music saw an increase significantly at a time when the music business faced decline.
The series still motivates nimble-fingered dedication among its fans. Recently, a streamer completed an impressive attempt featuring the challenging track – a notoriously difficult anthem popularized through Guitar Hero – on Clone Hero, a freeware game with similar gameplay but an array of customisation options. The song is difficult enough on the hardest setting, not to mention performed at increased tempo and without missing every one of its near 4,000 notes. They claimed requiring nine months to accomplish.
“Guitar Hero offers a, imaginary experience. If you play Call of Duty, that doesn’t mean you ought to pick up a real gun and go to war,” notes musician Herman Li.
The band had already completed a profitable run before Through the Fire and Flames was featured on Guitar Hero III, yet he explains it made them widely recognized. “I recall our distributors informing us that our selling albums rapidly,” he shares. “Popularity surged when we next toured, and we were playing just before top acts at the event.”
Indeed, DragonForce’s exposure via the game proved so vast that it has threatened to overshadow all other the band has done. Recently, the song was used in a trailer for a major film. “Previously I felt otherwise, but I’ve made peace with it,” Li says. “If you only listen to one DragonForce song, it’s totally cool – each person has their own musical journey and I’m glad we’ve been part of people’s lives”.
Enduring Impact of a Iconic Controller
Top-tier promotion, be it for cars, apparel or video games, goes further mere transactions – it inspires a desire. Was the game able to tap into that? “That’s exactly what our team aiming to achieve,” he confirms. “That thrill of being a rock star on the stage. Since the beginning, the co-founders believed there’s an instinctive human desire to make music, and their goal was to leverage innovation to enable everyone to do it”.
The majority of Guitar Hero games were released over a mere five-year period between 2005 and 2010, including derivative titles such as the DJ version, complete with a spinning deck, and the band-focused game. After that, corporate focus on peripherals waned, except for a short-lived revival in 2015.
Titles like Clone Hero and newer releases have kept the community alive, with set to be a new product from the original publisher in development. Recently formed developers has entered work on its debut music game. The initial creators are both involved in advisory roles. Are gamers prepared to welcome a new entry following the classic?
“Our team believed those games might become similar to sports games allowing annual update every year,” he remarks. “With abundant fresh tracks it could remain perennially popular, thus I remain hopeful. There’s no reason for it to persist for future fans.”
