It has been two decades after Guitar Hero hit the market across the Atlantic, giving everyday gamers the opportunity to feel like rock legends. Figuratively speaking, but try telling that someone who has mastered Free Bird’s lengthy guitar solo before a packed crowd of friends.
Created by Harmonix, Guitar Hero provided users with a guitar-shaped controller to follow coloured notes moving along the display synchronized to the music. Each riff mimicked particular chords, creating the sensation of an authentic live show.
Harmonix had already experimented in the music genre prior to teaming up with the publisher, later purchased by the gaming giant in 2006. Together, they established the foundations for an unlikely massively profitable series which made a remarkable impact on numerous of the artists included, showcasing decades-old groups to a new generation of gaming enthusiasts.
A former executive, ex-chief operating officer of Harmonix, remembers the early budgetary hurdles of licensing the recordings – even though initial releases mostly used rerecorded tracks.
“We rerecorded all the music because the cost prohibitive,” he says. “Despite having the necessary permissions alone, it was nearly impossible. We couldn’t get acts such as the Who – the publisher was operating on a shoestring budget, and we were fairly certain it would fail. However, when Guitar Hero took off, album purchases and radio play increased, everyone wanted to participate.”
He continues: “Among the remarkable aspects was how many parents got in touch expressing gratitude for introducing their kids to the music they loved. It became an intergenerational phenomenon.”
Classic Rock Finds a New Audience
Irish group the Answer included their track on the 2008 game Guitar Hero World Tour. Guitarist Paul Mahon remembers the way the game revived classic rock back into vogue: “Guitar Hero provided a larger, new demographic. Typically this had been seen as music that was past it, but then when it was included in the game young people discovered it, suddenly it was cool. That legitimised it, eliminating the ‘dad rock’ tag. It gave our catalog a new life.”
At that time, the band's debut album remained unreleased stateside, so Guitar Hero served as a primary platform for exposure for the group during their US tour supporting AC/DC. “The roadies had on the song on the tour bus, and some of them recognized us from Guitar Hero,” Mahon says.
Rock’s Heavyweight Spin-offs Enduring Impact
Rock’s heavyweight names soon capitalised on the series’ popularity, with Aerosmith, Metallica and Van Halen featuring in dedicated spin-off titles that focused on their music collections and associated stories, visuals and rock’n’roll mythology. For example, the Aerosmith edition, it was said to have made the band more money than any of their records. It moved more than 500,000 copies in its first week, while sales of Aerosmith’s music rose significantly during an era when the music business was already collapsing.
Guitar Hero continues to inspire nimble-fingered dedication among its fans. Recently, a streamer completed an impressive attempt of DragonForce’s Through the Fire and Flames – a notoriously difficult power-metal song made popular by Guitar Hero – using a fan-made version, a freeware game with similar mechanics but an array of customisation options. The song is challenging even in expert mode, let alone played at increased tempo and without missing every one of its near 4,000 notes. They stated requiring months of practice to accomplish.
“The game is a fun, fantasy thing. Just as with other games, that doesn’t mean you ought to pick up actual weapons and go to war,” says DragonForce guitarist the artist.
The band had already wrapped up a successful tour before Through the Fire and Flames was featured on Guitar Hero III, yet he explains it made them widely recognized. “I remember the record label calling to tell me that our records were moving rapidly,” he shares. “Popularity surged when we next toured, and we were playing right ahead of the headliners at the event.”
In fact, the band's visibility from Guitar Hero proved so vast that it risked eclipsing all other accomplishments. Recently, the track was used in promotional material for a major film. “In the past I felt differently, but I’ve made peace with it,” he admits. “If you only hear one DragonForce song, it’s totally cool – everyone’s got a unique path in music and I’m glad we played a role in fans' experiences”.
Enduring Impact from the Iconic Controller
The best marketing, be it for automobiles, apparel or games, goes further than selling something – it inspires a desire. Did Guitar Hero harness this? “That’s exactly what we were trying to create,” Dornbrook says. “The excitement of being a music icon on the stage. Since the beginning, the creators believed there’s an instinctive human desire to make music, and their goal was to leverage innovation to enable everyone to do it”.
Most of Guitar Hero games were released over a mere half-decade between 2005 and 2010, featuring spin-offs such as the DJ version, complete with a spinning deck, and Band Hero. After that, the publisher’s interest in plastic instruments waned, except for a brief comeback several years later.
Titles like Clone Hero and Fortnite Festival have kept the community alive, and there’s set to be a new product from the original publisher on the way. Recently formed developers has begun work on its debut rhythm-based title. Original co-founders are participating in advisory roles. Are gamers prepared to welcome another game in the spirit of Guitar Hero?
“Our team believed such titles could be like Madden allowing annual releases,” he remarks. “With abundant fresh tracks it could remain perennially popular, so I’ve always been hopeful. There’s no reason why it can’t continue with new generations.”
