Marking 20 years after the legendary game hit the market across the Atlantic, providing players everywhere the tools to feel like rock legends. Figuratively speaking, though you'd be hard-pressed telling that anyone who's mastered the epic lengthy instrumental break before a packed living-room audience.
Developed by Harmonix, the game provided users with a plastic guitar peripheral to match coloured notes scrolling down the display synchronized to a song. Each riff mimicked particular chords, producing the sensation of a genuine performance.
The studio had already experimented in the music genre before partnering with the publisher, later purchased by the gaming giant during the mid-2000s. Together, they established the groundwork for a surprising billion-dollar series which made a remarkable impact on numerous of the artists included, showcasing decades-old bands to a new generation of younger players.
A former executive, ex-chief operating officer from the developer, recalls the early financial challenges in securing the recordings – even though initial releases primarily featured rerecorded tracks.
“We rerecorded every song because the dollar figure was so high,” he explains. “Despite having the publishing rights alone, it proved extremely difficult. We couldn’t get acts such as the Who – the publisher was operating on a shoestring budget, and we were fairly certain the project would flop. But once Guitar Hero became a hit, album purchases airtime increased, all artists desired to be in.”
He continues: “Among the amazing things was how many parents reached out and thanked us for introducing their kids to the songs they adored. It evolved into an intergenerational phenomenon.”
Timeless Music Gains Younger Fans
Irish blues-rock band the Answer had their track on the 2008 game Guitar Hero World Tour. Guitarist Paul Mahon recalls how the series brought classic rock to the forefront: “The game provided a larger, younger audience. Typically this had been seen as music that was past it, however when it was included in the game young people were finding it, suddenly it became trendy. This validated it, eliminating the ‘dad rock’ label. It gave all our music a new life.”
In 2008, the Answer’s first record remained not available stateside, meaning Guitar Hero was a key medium of discovery for the group as they went on US tour opening for AC/DC. “Their crew were playing the song on the tour bus, and several knew us from Guitar Hero,” Mahon says.
Major Band Spin-offs Enduring Impact
Music's heavyweight names soon capitalised on the series’ popularity, with Aerosmith, Metallica and others featuring in dedicated game editions centered around their music collections and associated stories, visuals and rock’n’roll mythology. For example, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, it was said earned the band greater revenue than any of their records. It moved more than half a million copies upon release, and sales of their songs saw an increase of up to 40% at a time as the industry was already collapsing.
Guitar Hero continues to inspire quick-handed dedication among its fans. Earlier this year, an online personality achieved a remarkable feat featuring the challenging track – a notoriously difficult power-metal song made popular by Guitar Hero – on Clone Hero, a no-cost alternative with almost identical gameplay but an array of customisation options. This track is challenging enough on the hardest setting, not to mention performed at double speed while hitting a single one of the thousands of cues. They stated it took nine months of practice.
“Guitar Hero is a fun, fantasy thing. If you play other games, it doesn't imply you should use a real gun and go to war,” says DragonForce guitarist Herman Li.
DragonForce had already wrapped up a profitable run when Through the Fire and Flames was featured in the third game, but Li says it made them widely recognized. “I remember our distributors informing us that our records were moving like crazy,” he shares. “Popularity surged when we next toured, and we were playing right ahead of top acts at the event.”
In fact, DragonForce’s exposure from Guitar Hero was so immense that it threatened to eclipsing everything else the band has done. Recently, the track was used in a trailer for Despicable Me 4. “In the past I felt differently, but I’ve made peace with it,” he admits. “Should you just hear one DragonForce song, that's fine – each person has a unique musical journey and I'm pleased we played a role of people’s lives”.
Enduring Impact of a Plastic Guitar
Top-tier promotion, whether it’s for automobiles, clothes or video games, extends beyond than selling something – it evokes a desire. Was the game able to tap into that? “Precisely what we were aiming to achieve,” Dornbrook says. “The excitement of being a music icon in the spotlight. From day one, the co-founders 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 in just a half-decade between 2005 and 2010, featuring derivative titles like the DJ version, including a spinning deck, and the band-focused game. After that, corporate focus on peripherals died down, except for a brief comeback several years later.
Titles like Clone Hero and newer releases have kept the scene active, and there’s set to be something from the original publisher in development. Recently formed developers has entered production on its debut music game. The initial creators are participating as special advisers. Is the world ready to embrace another game in the spirit of the classic?
“Our team believed those games might become similar to sports games allowing annual releases,” Dornbrook says. “With abundant new music that it could be perennially popular, so I’ve always been hopeful. There’s no reason for it to persist for future fans.”
