It has been two decades after the legendary game hit the market in North America, giving players everywhere the means to feel like a rock star. Not literally, though you'd be hard-pressed convincing someone who's mastered Free Bird’s four-minute guitar solo in front of an enthusiastic crowd of friends.
Created by Harmonix, the game provided users with a guitar-shaped controller to match coloured notes scrolling down the screen in time with a song. Each riff mimicked particular chords, creating the feel of an authentic performance.
Harmonix previously experimented with rhythm games prior to teaming up with the publisher, later acquired by the gaming giant in 2006. Collaboratively, they established the groundwork for a surprising massively profitable series that had a significant impact for many musicians included, introducing decades-old bands to millions of gaming enthusiasts.
Michael Dornbrook, former COO of Harmonix, recalls the initial budgetary hurdles of licensing the recordings – even though initial releases primarily featured cover versions.
“We rerecorded all the music because the cost was so high,” he says. “Despite having the necessary permissions by themselves, it was extremely difficult. We couldn’t get bands like legendary groups – the publisher had virtually no money, and we were fairly certain it would fail. But once the game became a hit, album purchases and radio play were going up, everyone wanted to be in.”
He continues: “Among the amazing things was the number of mothers and fathers reached out and thanked us for exposing their kids to the music they loved. It became a multigenerational phenomenon.”
Classic Rock Finds a New Audience
Northern Irish blues-rock band one featured act had their track on the 2008 game Guitar Hero World Tour. Lead musician Paul Mahon remembers the way the game brought older hits to the forefront: “Guitar Hero provided a larger, new demographic. Generally such music was seen as outdated material, however when it was featured on the title and teenagers discovered it, suddenly it became trendy. That legitimised the genre, and got rid of the ‘dad rock’ label. It gave our catalog a new life.”
In 2008, the Answer’s debut album remained unreleased stateside, meaning the game served as a primary platform of discovery for the band as they went on US tour opening for the rock giants. “Their crew were playing Never Too Late during travel, and some of them knew us thanks to the game,” Mahon says.
Major Band Titles Enduring Impact
Rock’s biggest acts quickly capitalised on the series’ popularity, including bands like Aerosmith, Metallica and Van Halen starring in specialized game editions centered around each band’s catalogue and related lore, visuals and rock’n’roll mythology. For example, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, it was said earned the band greater revenue compared to their records. It moved more than half a million copies upon release, and sales of Aerosmith’s music rose of up to 40% at a time when the music business faced decline.
The series continues to inspire nimble-fingered dedication among its fans. Recently, an online personality completed a remarkable feat featuring the challenging track – an infamously tough power-metal song made popular by Guitar Hero – on Clone Hero, a freeware game with similar mechanics and extensive customisation options. This track is difficult even in expert mode, let alone performed at increased tempo and without missing a single one of the thousands of cues. The streamer claimed it took nine months of practice.
“Guitar Hero offers a, 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 Herman Li.
The band previously completed a successful tour before their hit appeared on Guitar Hero III, but Li says it turned them into widely recognized. “I remember the record label calling to tell me that we were selling albums like crazy,” he shares. “It exploded when we next toured, and we were playing right ahead of top acts on the Mayhem festival.”
In fact, DragonForce’s exposure from Guitar Hero proved so vast that it has threatened to eclipsing everything else accomplishments. Recently, the song was used in a trailer for Despicable Me 4. “In the past I thought otherwise, but I’ve made peace with it,” Li says. “If you only hear a single track, it’s totally cool – everyone’s got a unique musical journey and I'm pleased we played a role of people’s lives”.
Enduring Impact from the Iconic Controller
Top-tier marketing, whether it’s for automobiles, apparel or video games, extends beyond than selling something – it inspires a desire. Did Guitar Hero harness this? “That’s exactly what our team aiming to achieve,” he confirms. “That thrill of being a rock star on the stage. Since the beginning, the creators felt that there’s an instinctive urge to make music, and they wanted to leverage innovation to enable everyone to participate”.
The majority of Guitar Hero games were released in just a five-year period from 2005 to 2010, featuring spin-offs such as DJ Hero, including a turntable controller, and Band Hero. Subsequently, the publisher’s interest in plastic instruments died down, except for a brief comeback in 2015.
Titles like the fan project and Fortnite Festival have kept the community alive, with expectations of a new product from the founders on the way. Recently formed developers has entered production on their first music game. Original co-founders are participating in advisory roles. Are gamers prepared to welcome another game in the spirit of the classic?
“We thought those games might become similar to sports games allowing annual update every year,” he remarks. “With abundant new music that it could be evergreen, thus I remain hopeful. It's entirely possible why it can’t persist with new generations.”
