It has been 20 years since Guitar Hero debuted across the Atlantic, giving everyday gamers the opportunity to become a rock star. Not literally, though you'd be hard-pressed convincing someone who has mastered Free Bird’s lengthy instrumental break before an enthusiastic crowd of friends.
Created by Harmonix, Guitar Hero gave players a guitar-shaped controller to follow coloured notes moving along the screen in time with a song. Every sequence mimicked particular chords, creating the feel of an authentic performance.
Harmonix previously experimented in the music genre prior to teaming up with the publisher, later purchased by the gaming giant during the mid-2000s. Collaboratively, they established the foundations for an unlikely billion-dollar franchise which made a significant impact on numerous musicians featured, introducing decades-old bands to millions of gaming enthusiasts.
Michael Dornbrook, former COO of Harmonix, remembers the early budgetary hurdles of licensing the songs – even though initial releases primarily featured rerecorded tracks.
“We rerecorded every song because the dollar figure was so high,” he says. “Even with the publishing rights by themselves, it proved 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. However, when the game became a hit, album purchases and radio play increased, all artists desired to participate.”
He adds: “Among the remarkable aspects was the number of parents reached out expressing gratitude for introducing their children to the songs they adored. It evolved into a multigenerational thing.”
Classic Rock Finds a New Audience
Irish group the Answer included Never Too Late in the 2008 release the popular installment. Lead musician the artist recalls the way the game brought classic rock to the forefront: “The game offered a larger, younger audience. Typically such music was considered outdated material, but then once it got included in the game young people were finding it, suddenly it became trendy. This validated it, eliminating the ‘dad rock’ tag. It provided all our music renewed popularity.”
At that time, the Answer’s debut album was still not available stateside, so Guitar Hero was a key medium for exposure for the band during their a North American tour opening for the rock giants. “The roadies had on the song during travel, and some of them knew us from Guitar Hero,” Mahon says.
Rock’s Heavyweight Spin-offs Enduring Influence
Rock’s biggest acts quickly 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, visuals and legendary status. In the case of, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, reportedly to have made the group more money compared to their studio albums. It sold more than 500,000 units in its first week, while sales of their songs rose significantly at a time as the industry faced decline.
The series still motivates quick-handed dedication within the community. Recently, a streamer achieved an impressive attempt of DragonForce’s Through the Fire and Flames – an infamously tough anthem popularized through Guitar Hero – on Clone Hero, a no-cost alternative with similar mechanics but an array of personalization features. The song is challenging even in the hardest setting, not to mention performed at double speed and without missing a single one of its near 4,000 notes. The streamer claimed it took nine months to accomplish.
“Guitar Hero is a fun, fantasy thing. Just as with Call of Duty, that doesn’t mean you ought to use a real gun and enlist,” says musician the artist.
The band had already wrapped up a profitable run before their hit appeared in the third game, yet he explains it made them a household name. “I remember our distributors informing us that we were records were moving rapidly,” he shares. “It exploded on the subsequent tour, and we were playing just before top acts at the event.”
In fact, DragonForce’s exposure from Guitar Hero proved so vast that it has threatened to eclipsing all other the band has done. Last year, the song featured in promotional material for Despicable Me 4. “Previously I felt otherwise, but I’ve made peace with it,” he admits. “Should you just listen to 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 Legacy from the Plastic Guitar
Top-tier marketing, be it for cars, clothes or games, extends beyond mere transactions – it evokes a desire. Did Guitar Hero harness this? “That’s exactly what our team aiming to achieve,” Dornbrook says. “The excitement of performing as a music icon in the spotlight. From day one, the co-founders believed humans have a natural human desire to create songs, and their goal was to use technology to enable everyone to do it”.
Most of Guitar Hero games came out over a mere half-decade from 2005 to 2010, featuring spin-offs like the DJ version, complete with a spinning deck, and the band-focused game. After that, corporate focus in plastic instruments died down, except for a brief comeback several years later.
Titles such as Clone Hero and Fortnite Festival have kept the scene active, and there’s expectations of a new product from the original publisher on the way. A new studio has begun production on its debut music game. Original co-founders are participating in advisory roles. Are gamers ready to embrace another game following Guitar Hero?
“We thought those games might become similar to sports games allowing annual releases,” he remarks. “There’s so much new music it could remain perennially popular, thus I remain optimistic. There’s no reason for it to persist with new generations.”
