It has been two decades after Guitar Hero first launched across the Atlantic, providing players everywhere the tools to become rock legends. Not literally, though you'd be hard-pressed telling that anyone who's nailed Free Bird’s four-minute guitar solo before an enthusiastic living-room audience.
Developed by Harmonix, the game provided users with a guitar-shaped controller to match coloured notes scrolling down the display synchronized to a song. Each riff mimicked particular chords, creating the feel of a genuine live show.
The studio previously tried its hand in the music genre prior to teaming up with RedOctane, later acquired by the gaming giant during the mid-2000s. Together, they established the groundwork for a surprising massively profitable franchise which made a significant impact on numerous musicians featured, showcasing decades-old bands to millions of gaming enthusiasts.
Michael Dornbrook, ex-chief operating officer from the developer, remembers the initial financial challenges of licensing the recordings – despite the fact the first two games primarily featured rerecorded tracks.
“We rerecorded every song since the dollar figure was so high,” he says. “Even with the necessary permissions alone, it was nearly impossible. We couldn’t get acts such as legendary groups – RedOctane had virtually no money, and our team was pretty convinced the project would flop. However, when the game took off, and record sales and radio play were going up, all artists desired to be in.”
He continues: “Among the amazing things was the number of parents got in touch expressing gratitude for exposing their kids to the songs they adored. It became a multigenerational phenomenon.”
Classic Rock Gains Younger Fans
Northern Irish group the Answer had their track in the 2008 release the popular installment. Lead musician the artist recalls how the series brought classic rock to the forefront: “The game offered a bigger, new demographic. Typically such music was seen as outdated material, however once it got included in the game young people were finding it, suddenly it was cool. This validated it, eliminating the ‘dad rock’ tag. It gave all our music a new life.”
In 2008, the Answer’s first record remained not available stateside, meaning the game served as a primary platform of discovery for the band during their a North American tour opening for AC/DC. “The roadies had on Never Too Late on the tour bus, and some of them knew us from Guitar Hero,” he notes.
Major Band Titles and Lasting Impact
Rock’s heavyweight names soon took advantage of the series’ popularity, including bands like Aerosmith, Metallica and Van Halen featuring in specialized game editions that focused on their music collections and related stories, imagery and legendary status. In the case of, the Aerosmith edition, it was said to have made the group greater revenue compared to their studio albums. It moved well over 500,000 units in its first week, while demand for Aerosmith’s music saw an increase of up to 40% during an era when the music business was already collapsing.
The series still motivates nimble-fingered fanaticism within the community. Recently, an online personality completed an impressive attempt of DragonForce’s the challenging track – a notoriously difficult anthem made popular by Guitar Hero – using a fan-made version, a no-cost alternative with similar mechanics and extensive personalization features. This track is difficult enough on expert mode, not to mention played at increased tempo while hitting every one of its near 4,000 notes. They claimed requiring nine months of practice.
“Guitar Hero is a fun, imaginary experience. Just as with Call of Duty, that doesn’t mean you ought to use a real gun and go to war,” notes musician Herman Li.
The band had already completed a successful tour when Through the Fire and Flames was featured in the third game, but Li says it made them widely recognized. “I recall our distributors informing us that our selling albums rapidly,” he shares. “It exploded on the subsequent tour, and we performed just before top acts on the Mayhem festival.”
Indeed, DragonForce’s exposure from Guitar Hero was so immense that it has threatened to eclipsing everything else accomplishments. Recently, the song was used in promotional material for a major film. “In the past I thought otherwise, but I’ve made peace with it,” he admits. “If you only listen to a single track, it’s totally cool – everyone’s got a unique path in music and I'm pleased we played a role in fans' experiences”.
Enduring Impact from the Plastic Guitar
Top-tier promotion, whether it’s for cars, clothes or games, goes further mere transactions – it evokes a longing. Did Guitar Hero tap into that? “That’s exactly what our team aiming to achieve,” Dornbrook says. “The excitement of being a rock star on the stage. Since the beginning, the creators believed humans have a natural human desire to create songs, and they wanted to leverage innovation to enable everyone to participate”.
Most installments were released over a mere half-decade between 2005 and 2010, featuring spin-offs like DJ Hero, complete with a turntable controller, and the band-focused game. After that, corporate focus on peripherals waned, aside from a brief comeback several years later.
Titles such as the fan project and newer releases have maintained the scene active, and there’s set to be something from the original publisher on the way. A new studio has entered work on their first music game. Original co-founders are participating in advisory roles. Is the world ready to embrace another game in the spirit of the classic?
“Our team believed such titles could be like Madden allowing annual update every year,” he remarks. “There’s so much new music it could remain perennially popular, thus I remain optimistic. There’s no reason why it can’t continue with new generations.”
