Marking 20 years since the legendary game first launched in North America, offering players everywhere the opportunity to become a rock star. Not literally, though you'd be hard-pressed telling that anyone who's nailed the epic lengthy instrumental break in front of a packed crowd of friends.
Created by Harmonix, Guitar Hero gave players a plastic guitar peripheral to match coloured notes moving along the screen in time with a song. Each riff corresponded to particular chords, producing the sensation of an authentic performance.
Harmonix had already tried its hand in the music genre prior to teaming up with RedOctane, later acquired by Activision during the mid-2000s. Together, they laid the groundwork for a surprising massively profitable series which made a remarkable impact for many of the artists included, introducing decades-old groups to millions of gaming enthusiasts.
Michael Dornbrook, former COO of Harmonix, recalls the initial budgetary hurdles of licensing the songs – despite the fact initial releases primarily featured cover versions.
“We rerecorded all the music since the cost was so high,” he explains. “Despite having the publishing rights alone, it proved nearly impossible. We couldn’t get bands like legendary groups – the publisher was operating on a shoestring budget, and our team was pretty convinced it would fail. But once the game became a hit, album purchases airtime increased, everyone wanted to participate.”
He adds: “Among the amazing things was the number of mothers and fathers got in touch expressing gratitude for exposing their children to the music they adored. It evolved into an intergenerational thing.”
Classic Rock Finds Younger Fans
Irish group one featured act included Never Too Late on the 2008 game Guitar Hero World Tour. Guitarist Paul Mahon recalls the way the game revived classic rock back into vogue: “Guitar Hero offered a larger, new demographic. Generally this had been seen as outdated material, but then once it got featured on the title and teenagers were finding it, suddenly it became trendy. That legitimised it, eliminating the outdated label. It gave all our music renewed popularity.”
At that time, the band's debut album was still not available stateside, so Guitar Hero served as a primary platform for exposure for the band as they went on US tour supporting AC/DC. “The roadies had on Never Too Late during travel, and several recognized us thanks to the game,” Mahon says.
Rock’s Heavyweight Titles and Lasting Influence
Rock’s heavyweight names quickly took advantage of the series’ popularity, including bands like Aerosmith, Metallica and others featuring in dedicated spin-off titles centered around their music collections and related lore, visuals and legendary status. In the case of, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, it was said earned the band more money than any of their records. It moved well over half a million units in its first week, and demand for Aerosmith’s music saw an increase significantly at a time when the music business faced decline.
Guitar Hero continues to inspire nimble-fingered fanaticism among its fans. Earlier this year, a streamer completed an impressive attempt featuring Through the Fire and Flames – a notoriously difficult anthem popularized through Guitar Hero – using a fan-made version, a freeware game with almost identical mechanics and extensive personalization features. This track is difficult enough on expert mode, let alone played at double speed and without missing a single one of the thousands of cues. The streamer claimed requiring months of practice of practice.
“The game is a fun, fantasy thing. If you play other games, that doesn’t mean you ought to pick up actual weapons and enlist,” notes DragonForce guitarist Herman Li.
The band previously wrapped up a successful tour when Through the Fire and Flames was featured on Guitar Hero III, but Li says it turned them into a household name. “I remember our distributors informing us that our records were moving like crazy,” he says. “It exploded on the subsequent tour, and we were playing right ahead of the headliners at the event.”
In fact, DragonForce’s exposure via the game proved so vast that it has risked overshadow everything else accomplishments. Last year, 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. “Should you just listen to one DragonForce song, it’s totally cool – everyone’s got a unique path in music and I'm pleased we’ve been part of people’s lives”.
Enduring Impact of a Plastic Guitar
Top-tier marketing, whether it’s for automobiles, clothes or video games, goes further mere transactions – it inspires a longing. Did Guitar Hero tap into that? “Precisely what we were 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 allow people to do it”.
Most of Guitar Hero games were released in just a half-decade between 2005 and 2010, including spin-offs like DJ Hero, including a turntable controller, and Band Hero. After that, the publisher’s interest on peripherals waned, except for a brief comeback in 2015.
Titles like the fan project and Fortnite Festival have maintained the scene active, and there’s set to be a new product from the founders in development. Recently formed developers has entered work on their first rhythm-based title. The initial creators are both involved in advisory roles. Is the world ready to embrace a new entry following Guitar Hero?
“We thought those games might become similar to sports games where you can releases,” Dornbrook says. “There’s so much fresh tracks that it could be evergreen, thus I remain optimistic. There’s no reason why it can’t continue for future fans.”
