It has been two decades after Guitar Hero hit the market across the Atlantic, giving everyday gamers the opportunity to feel like a rock star. Figuratively speaking, though you'd be hard-pressed telling that someone who has mastered Free Bird’s four-minute instrumental break before a packed living-room audience.
Created by Harmonix, the game provided users with a guitar-shaped controller to match on-screen cues moving along the screen synchronized to a song. Each riff corresponded to specific notes, producing the sensation of an authentic performance.
The studio had already tried its hand with rhythm games prior to teaming up with RedOctane, which was acquired by Activision in 2006. Collaboratively, they laid the foundations for a surprising massively profitable franchise that had a remarkable influence for many of the artists included, showcasing decades-old bands to a new generation of younger players.
A former executive, ex-chief operating officer of Harmonix, remembers the early financial challenges of licensing the songs – despite the fact the first two games mostly used cover versions.
“We rerecorded all the music since the cost prohibitive,” he says. “Despite having the necessary permissions by themselves, it proved nearly impossible. We failed to secure bands like legendary groups – the publisher was operating on a shoestring budget, and our team was fairly certain the project would flop. But once Guitar Hero became a hit, and record sales and radio play were going up, all artists desired to be in.”
He continues: “Among the remarkable aspects was how many parents got in touch expressing gratitude for introducing their kids to the songs they adored. It became an intergenerational thing.”
Classic Rock Gains Younger Fans
Irish group one featured act included Never Too Late in the 2008 release the popular installment. Lead musician Paul Mahon remembers how the series revived classic rock to the forefront: “Guitar Hero offered a bigger, new demographic. Generally such music was seen as music that was past it, but then when it was included in the game young people were finding it, abruptly it was cool. This validated it, eliminating the outdated tag. It gave all our music a new life.”
In 2008, the Answer’s first record remained unreleased stateside, so the game served as a primary platform of discovery for the group during their a North American tour supporting the rock giants. “Their crew had on Never Too Late on the tour bus, and several recognized us from Guitar Hero,” he notes.
Rock’s Heavyweight Titles and Lasting Impact
Rock’s biggest acts quickly took advantage of the game's success, with Aerosmith, Metallica and Van Halen starring in specialized game editions centered around their music collections and related stories, imagery and rock’n’roll mythology. In the case of, the Aerosmith edition, reportedly earned the group greater revenue than any of their studio albums. It sold more than half a million copies in its first week, while sales of Aerosmith’s music saw an increase of up to 40% at a time as the industry faced decline.
The series continues to inspire quick-handed fanaticism among its fans. Earlier this year, a streamer completed an impressive attempt of DragonForce’s the challenging track – a notoriously difficult power-metal song popularized through Guitar Hero – on Clone Hero, a no-cost alternative with similar mechanics and extensive customisation options. This track is difficult enough on the hardest setting, not to mention played at increased tempo and without missing a single one of the thousands of cues. They claimed requiring nine months of practice.
“The game offers a, fantasy thing. Just as with Call of Duty, that doesn’t mean you should use actual weapons and go to war,” says musician the artist.
DragonForce had already completed a successful tour when their hit was featured on Guitar Hero III, yet he explains it made them widely recognized. “I remember our distributors informing us that we were selling albums like crazy,” he shares. “It exploded when we next toured, and we performed just before top acts on the Mayhem festival.”
Indeed, DragonForce’s exposure from Guitar Hero was so immense that it threatened to eclipsing everything else the band has done. Last year, the song was used in a trailer for a major film. “Previously I thought differently, but now I accept it,” Li says. “Should you just hear 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”.
The Lasting Legacy from the Plastic Guitar
The best marketing, be it for cars, apparel or video games, goes further mere transactions – it evokes a longing. Did Guitar Hero tap into that? “That’s exactly what our team aiming to achieve,” he confirms. “That thrill of performing as a music icon on the stage. Since the beginning, the creators felt that humans have a natural urge to create songs, and they wanted to leverage innovation to enable everyone to participate”.
Most installments came out over a mere five-year period between 2005 and 2010, featuring spin-offs such as the DJ version, including a spinning deck, and the band-focused game. Subsequently, the publisher’s interest on peripherals died down, except for a brief comeback in 2015.
Titles like Clone Hero and Fortnite Festival have maintained the community active, and there’s expectations of a new product from the original publisher in development. A new studio has entered production on their first music game. The initial creators are participating as special advisers. Are gamers ready to embrace a new entry following Guitar Hero?
“We thought such titles might become like Madden allowing annual releases,” Dornbrook says. “With abundant new music it could remain evergreen, thus I remain hopeful. There’s no reason for it to persist for future fans.”