It has been two decades after Guitar Hero hit the market across the Atlantic, providing everyday gamers the opportunity to feel like a rock star. Not in reality, though you'd be hard-pressed telling that anyone who has nailed the epic four-minute guitar solo before an enthusiastic crowd of friends.
Created by Harmonix, the game provided users with a guitar-shaped controller to match coloured notes moving along the display synchronized to the music. Each riff corresponded to specific notes, producing the sensation of a genuine live show.
The studio had already 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 a surprising billion-dollar franchise which made a significant influence on numerous of the artists featured, showcasing classic bands to a new generation of gaming enthusiasts.
A former executive, ex-chief operating officer of Harmonix, remembers the initial financial challenges of licensing the recordings – even though the first two games primarily featured cover versions.
“We rerecorded all the music since the cost was so high,” he explains. “Even with the publishing rights alone, it proved extremely difficult. We couldn’t get acts such as the Who – RedOctane was operating on a shoestring budget, and we were pretty convinced it would fail. But once the game became a hit, and record sales and radio play increased, everyone wanted to participate.”
He continues: “Among the remarkable aspects was how many parents reached out and thanked us for exposing their children to the music they loved. It became a multigenerational thing.”
Classic Rock Finds Younger Fans
Irish group the Answer included Never Too Late on the 2008 game Guitar Hero World Tour. Guitarist the artist remembers the way the game brought older hits to the forefront: “Guitar Hero offered a bigger, younger audience. Typically such music was considered music that was past it, however once it got featured on the title young people were finding it, suddenly it was cool. That legitimised the genre, and got rid of the ‘dad rock’ label. It gave our catalog renewed popularity.”
In 2008, the Answer’s first record was still not available stateside, meaning Guitar Hero was a key medium for exposure for the band as they went on a North American tour opening for the rock giants. “The roadies had on Never Too Late on the tour bus, and several knew us from Guitar Hero,” he notes.
Major Band Titles and Lasting Influence
Rock’s biggest acts soon capitalised on the game's success, including bands like Aerosmith, Metallica and Van Halen featuring in dedicated spin-off titles centered around their music collections and related stories, visuals and rock’n’roll mythology. In the case of, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, it was said earned the band more money than any of their studio albums. It sold well over half a million copies upon release, 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 continues to inspire nimble-fingered dedication among its fans. Recently, an online personality achieved a remarkable feat of DragonForce’s Through the Fire and Flames – a notoriously difficult anthem made popular by the game – on Clone Hero, a no-cost alternative with similar mechanics and extensive customisation options. This track is difficult even in the hardest setting, let alone played at increased tempo while hitting a single one of its near 4,000 notes. They claimed it took months of practice to accomplish.
“The game is a fun, imaginary experience. Just as with other games, that doesn’t mean you should pick up actual weapons and go to war,” notes DragonForce guitarist Herman Li.
DragonForce had already wrapped up a successful tour before Through the Fire and Flames appeared in the third game, but Li says it turned them into a household name. “I recall the record label calling to tell me that our records were moving rapidly,” he says. “Popularity surged on the subsequent tour, and we performed just before the headliners at the event.”
Indeed, the band's visibility via the game proved so vast that it risked overshadow everything else the band has done. Recently, the track featured in a trailer for Despicable Me 4. “In the past I thought differently, but I’ve made peace with it,” Li says. “If you only listen to one DragonForce song, it’s totally cool – everyone’s got their own path in music and I’m glad we played a role in fans' experiences”.
Enduring Impact from the Plastic Guitar
Top-tier promotion, be it for automobiles, clothes or games, goes further mere transactions – it inspires a longing. Was the game able to tap into that? “That’s exactly what we were trying to create,” Dornbrook says. “That thrill of being a rock star on the stage. From day one, the creators felt that there’s an instinctive urge to create songs, and their goal was to leverage innovation to enable everyone to do it”.
The majority of Guitar Hero games came out in just a five-year period between 2005 and 2010, including spin-offs such as DJ Hero, including a spinning deck, and the band-focused game. Subsequently, corporate focus on peripherals waned, except for a short-lived revival several years later.
Titles like the fan project and Fortnite Festival have kept the scene alive, with set to be a new product from the founders in development. A new studio has begun production on its debut rhythm-based title. Original co-founders are both involved in advisory roles. Are gamers prepared to welcome a new entry in the spirit of the classic?
“Our team believed such titles might become similar to sports games allowing annual releases,” Dornbrook says. “With abundant fresh tracks that it could be perennially popular, so I’ve always been optimistic. There’s no reason why it can’t persist with new generations.”
