Marking 20 years after Guitar Hero hit the market in North America, giving everyday gamers the means to feel like rock legends. Not literally, though you'd be hard-pressed convincing someone who's nailed Free Bird’s four-minute instrumental break in front of an enthusiastic crowd of friends.
Developed by Harmonix, Guitar Hero provided users with a plastic guitar peripheral to match coloured notes moving along the screen in time with a song. Each riff mimicked particular chords, producing the feel of an authentic live show.
The studio had already experimented with rhythm games prior to teaming up with RedOctane, which was acquired by Activision during the mid-2000s. Collaboratively, they laid the groundwork for a surprising billion-dollar franchise that had a remarkable impact on numerous musicians featured, introducing classic bands to a new generation of gaming enthusiasts.
Michael Dornbrook, former COO from the developer, remembers the initial budgetary hurdles of licensing the recordings – despite the fact initial releases primarily featured rerecorded tracks.
“We rerecorded every song since the cost prohibitive,” he says. “Despite having the publishing rights by themselves, it proved extremely difficult. We failed to secure acts such as the Who – the publisher had virtually no money, and our team was fairly certain the project would flop. But once the game became a hit, and record sales and radio play increased, all artists desired to participate.”
He continues: “One of the amazing things was how many parents reached out expressing gratitude for introducing their kids to the music they loved. It became an intergenerational thing.”
Classic Rock Gains Younger Fans
Irish blues-rock band one featured act had their track on the 2008 game Guitar Hero World Tour. Lead musician Paul Mahon remembers how the series revived classic rock back into vogue: “Guitar Hero offered a bigger, younger audience. Typically such music was seen as outdated material, but then once it got featured on the game and teenagers were finding it, abruptly it became trendy. That legitimised it, and got rid of the outdated tag. It gave all our music renewed popularity.”
In 2008, the Answer’s debut album was still unreleased in the US, meaning the game served as a primary platform of discovery for the group during their US tour opening for AC/DC. “The roadies were playing Never Too Late on the tour bus, and several knew us thanks to the game,” he notes.
Major Band Spin-offs Enduring Influence
Music's heavyweight names quickly took advantage of the series’ popularity, with Aerosmith, Metallica and others starring in dedicated game editions that focused on each band’s catalogue and associated lore, visuals and rock’n’roll mythology. For example, the Aerosmith edition, reportedly earned the band greater revenue compared to their studio albums. It moved more than 500,000 copies upon release, and demand for their songs saw an increase of up to 40% at a time as the industry was already collapsing.
Guitar Hero still motivates quick-handed fanaticism among its fans. Recently, an online personality completed an impressive attempt featuring Through the Fire and Flames – an infamously tough power-metal song made popular by Guitar Hero – using a fan-made version, a freeware game with almost identical gameplay and extensive personalization features. 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 claimed it took months of practice of practice.
“Guitar Hero offers a, fantasy thing. Just as with Call of Duty, it doesn't imply you should pick up a real gun and enlist,” notes musician Herman Li.
DragonForce previously completed a successful tour when their hit appeared in the third game, but Li says it made them a household name. “I recall our distributors informing us that our selling albums rapidly,” he says. “Popularity surged when we next toured, and we were playing just before top acts on the Mayhem festival.”
In fact, DragonForce’s exposure from Guitar Hero was so immense that it has threatened to eclipsing all other the band has done. Last year, the track was used in a trailer for a major film. “Previously I felt differently, but now I accept it,” Li says. “If you only listen to one DragonForce song, it’s totally cool – everyone’s got a unique path in music and I’m glad we played a role of people’s lives”.
Enduring Impact of a Plastic Guitar
Top-tier marketing, be it for automobiles, clothes or video games, extends beyond than selling something – it inspires a longing. Did Guitar Hero tap into that? “Precisely what we were trying to create,” Dornbrook says. “That thrill of performing as a rock star in the spotlight. From day one, the creators felt that humans have a natural urge to create songs, and they wanted to leverage innovation to allow people to participate”.
Most of Guitar Hero games came out over a mere half-decade from 2005 to 2010, including derivative titles like DJ Hero, complete with a spinning deck, and Band Hero. Subsequently, the publisher’s interest on peripherals died down, aside from a short-lived revival in 2015.
Titles like Clone Hero and newer releases have kept the community alive, and there’s expectations of a new product from the original publisher in development. Recently formed developers has begun production on its debut music game. Original co-founders are both involved in advisory roles. Are gamers ready to embrace a new entry in the spirit of Guitar Hero?
“We thought those games might become like Madden allowing annual update every year,” he remarks. “With abundant new music it could remain perennially popular, thus I remain optimistic. There’s no reason why it can’t persist with new generations.”
