Marking 20 years since the legendary game debuted across the Atlantic, offering everyday gamers the opportunity to become a rock star. Not in reality, but try convincing someone who's mastered Free Bird’s four-minute guitar solo before an enthusiastic living-room audience.
Developed by the developers, the game provided users with a plastic guitar peripheral to match coloured notes scrolling down the screen in time with the music. Every sequence corresponded to particular chords, producing the sensation of a genuine performance.
The studio previously experimented with rhythm games before partnering with RedOctane, which was purchased by Activision in 2006. Together, they established the foundations for a surprising massively profitable series that had a remarkable influence on numerous musicians included, introducing decades-old groups to a new generation of younger players.
Michael Dornbrook, former COO of Harmonix, recalls the initial budgetary hurdles of licensing the songs – despite the fact the first two games primarily featured rerecorded tracks.
“We rerecorded every song since the cost was so high,” he says. “Despite having the publishing rights alone, it proved nearly impossible. We failed to secure bands like legendary groups – RedOctane was operating on a shoestring budget, 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 participate.”
He adds: “One of the amazing things was how many parents got in touch and thanked us for introducing their children to the songs they loved. It evolved into an intergenerational phenomenon.”
Classic Rock Finds a New Audience
Irish blues-rock band the Answer had their track in the 2008 release Guitar Hero World Tour. Lead musician Paul Mahon remembers how the series revived classic rock back into vogue: “The game provided a larger, younger audience. Generally such music was considered music that was past it, however once it got included in the game and teenagers were finding it, suddenly it became trendy. This validated the genre, eliminating the outdated tag. It provided all our music a new life.”
At that time, the band's first record remained unreleased stateside, meaning Guitar Hero served as a primary platform of discovery for the group during their US tour supporting the rock giants. “The roadies had on Never Too Late on the tour bus, and several recognized us from Guitar Hero,” he notes.
Rock’s Heavyweight Spin-offs Enduring Impact
Rock’s heavyweight names quickly capitalised on the game's success, including bands like Aerosmith, Metallica and others starring in specialized game editions that focused on each band’s catalogue and associated stories, imagery and legendary status. In the case of, the Aerosmith edition, it was said to have made the group more money compared to their records. It sold more than half a million copies in its first week, and demand for Aerosmith’s music rose of up to 40% at a time when the music business was already collapsing.
Guitar Hero continues to inspire nimble-fingered fanaticism among its fans. Recently, a streamer completed a remarkable feat featuring the challenging track – a notoriously difficult anthem made popular by Guitar Hero – on Clone Hero, a freeware game with almost identical gameplay and extensive personalization features. This track is difficult even in expert mode, not to mention played at increased tempo while hitting every one of its near 4,000 notes. They claimed requiring nine months to accomplish.
“Guitar Hero is a fun, fantasy thing. Just as with Call of Duty, that doesn’t mean you should pick up actual weapons and enlist,” notes musician Herman Li.
DragonForce previously completed a successful tour when Through the Fire and Flames appeared in the third game, but Li says it turned them into a household name. “I recall our distributors calling to tell me that we were selling albums rapidly,” he says. “It exploded on the subsequent tour, and we were playing right ahead of the headliners on the Mayhem festival.”
Indeed, the band's visibility via the game proved so vast that it threatened to overshadow all other accomplishments. Last year, the track featured in a trailer for a major film. “Previously I felt differently, but I’ve made peace with it,” Li says. “If you only listen to one DragonForce song, that's fine – everyone’s got their own path in music and I'm pleased we’ve been part in fans' experiences”.
The Lasting Impact of a Plastic Guitar
The best promotion, be it for automobiles, apparel or video games, goes further mere transactions – it evokes a longing. Was the game able to harness this? “Precisely what our team aiming to achieve,” Dornbrook says. “The excitement of performing as a music icon on the stage. From day one, the creators believed there’s an instinctive urge to create songs, and they wanted to leverage innovation to allow people to do it”.
The majority of Guitar Hero games came out in just a half-decade between 2005 and 2010, featuring derivative titles like DJ Hero, complete with a turntable controller, and Band Hero. After that, the publisher’s interest in plastic instruments died down, except for a brief comeback in 2015.
Games like the fan project and newer releases have maintained the scene alive, and there’s expectations of a new product from the original publisher on the way. Recently formed developers has begun work on their first music game. The initial creators are participating in advisory roles. Is the world prepared to welcome a new entry in the spirit of the classic?
“We thought those games might become like Madden allowing annual update every year,” he remarks. “There’s so much fresh tracks it could remain evergreen, thus I remain hopeful. It's entirely possible for it to persist with new generations.”
