It has been two decades after Guitar Hero debuted in North America, giving players everywhere the opportunity to become rock legends. Not in reality, but try telling that anyone who has nailed the epic lengthy instrumental break in front of an enthusiastic living-room audience.
Developed by the developers, the game provided users with a plastic guitar peripheral to match on-screen cues moving along the screen in time with the music. Every sequence mimicked particular chords, creating the sensation of an authentic live show.
Harmonix previously tried its hand in the music genre prior to teaming up with RedOctane, which was purchased by Activision during the mid-2000s. Together, they established the groundwork for a surprising massively profitable franchise which made a remarkable impact for many musicians featured, introducing classic bands to millions of younger players.
Michael Dornbrook, ex-chief operating officer of Harmonix, remembers the early financial challenges of licensing the songs – even though initial releases primarily featured rerecorded tracks.
“We reproduced every song since the cost prohibitive,” he says. “Even with the publishing rights by themselves, it proved extremely difficult. We couldn’t get bands like legendary groups – the publisher had virtually no money, and our team was pretty convinced the project would flop. However, when the game became a hit, album purchases and radio play were going up, everyone wanted to participate.”
He adds: “One of the remarkable aspects was the number of parents reached out expressing gratitude for exposing their children to the music they adored. It became an intergenerational thing.”
Classic Rock Gains Younger Fans
Irish group the Answer had Never Too Late on the 2008 game Guitar Hero World Tour. Guitarist Paul Mahon recalls how the series brought older hits to the forefront: “The game provided a larger, younger audience. Generally such music was seen as outdated material, but then when it was included in the title young people discovered it, abruptly it became trendy. That legitimised the genre, eliminating the ‘dad rock’ label. It gave our catalog a new life.”
At that time, the Answer’s first record remained unreleased in the US, meaning Guitar Hero served as a primary platform of discovery for the group during their a North American tour opening for AC/DC. “Their crew were playing the song during travel, and some of them knew us from Guitar Hero,” he notes.
Major Band Titles Enduring Influence
Rock’s biggest acts soon took advantage of the game's success, with Aerosmith, Metallica and others featuring in specialized game editions centered around each band’s catalogue and associated lore, imagery and rock’n’roll mythology. For example, the Aerosmith edition, reportedly earned the group greater revenue compared to their studio albums. It moved well over 500,000 copies in its first week, and demand for their songs rose significantly during an era when the music business faced decline.
Guitar Hero still motivates nimble-fingered fanaticism within the community. Earlier this year, a streamer completed a remarkable feat featuring Through the Fire and Flames – an infamously tough anthem popularized through Guitar Hero – on Clone Hero, a freeware game with similar mechanics and extensive personalization features. The song is difficult enough on expert mode, not to mention performed at double speed while hitting every one of the thousands of cues. The streamer stated requiring months of practice to accomplish.
“The game offers a, fantasy thing. If you play Call of Duty, that doesn’t mean you ought to pick up actual weapons and enlist,” says musician Herman Li.
The band previously wrapped up a profitable run when their hit was featured on Guitar Hero III, but Li says it turned them into a household name. “I remember our distributors informing us that our selling albums like crazy,” he says. “Popularity surged when we next toured, and we were playing just before the headliners on the Mayhem festival.”
Indeed, DragonForce’s exposure via the game proved so vast that it has risked overshadow everything else the band has done. Recently, the song featured in a trailer for a major film. “In the past I felt otherwise, but now I accept it,” Li says. “Should you just hear one DragonForce song, that's fine – everyone’s got a unique path in music and I'm pleased we played a role in fans' experiences”.
The Lasting Impact from the Iconic Controller
The best marketing, whether it’s for automobiles, clothes or video games, extends beyond than selling something – it evokes a longing. Did Guitar Hero harness this? “That’s exactly what we were trying to create,” Dornbrook says. “That thrill of performing as a rock star on the stage. From day one, the creators felt that humans have a natural urge to make music, and they wanted to leverage innovation to enable everyone to do it”.
The majority of Guitar Hero games were released over a mere half-decade between 2005 and 2010, including spin-offs like DJ Hero, complete with a turntable controller, and Band Hero. After that, corporate focus in plastic instruments waned, except for a short-lived revival several years later.
Games like Clone Hero and Fortnite Festival have maintained the community alive, and there’s expectations of a new product from the original publisher on the way. A new studio has entered work on their first music game. The initial creators are both involved in advisory roles. Are gamers ready to embrace a new entry in the spirit of Guitar Hero?
“Our team believed those games might become like Madden allowing annual update every year,” Dornbrook says. “With abundant new music it could remain evergreen, so I’ve always been optimistic. There’s no reason for it to persist with new generations.”
