It has been two decades since Guitar Hero debuted across the Atlantic, offering everyday gamers the opportunity to become a rock star. Not literally, though you'd be hard-pressed telling that anyone who has mastered Free Bird’s lengthy guitar solo before a packed crowd of friends.
Developed by Harmonix, Guitar Hero gave players a plastic guitar peripheral to match coloured notes moving along the display in time with a song. Each riff mimicked particular chords, creating the sensation of an authentic performance.
The studio previously experimented in the music genre prior to teaming up with RedOctane, which was acquired by the gaming giant during the mid-2000s. Together, they established the foundations for an unlikely massively profitable franchise which made a significant impact on numerous of the artists featured, showcasing classic groups to a new generation of gaming enthusiasts.
Michael Dornbrook, former COO from the developer, remembers the early budgetary hurdles of licensing the recordings – even though the first two games mostly used cover versions.
“We rerecorded every song because the cost was so high,” he says. “Even with the publishing rights by themselves, it was nearly impossible. We couldn’t get acts such as legendary groups – RedOctane was operating on a shoestring budget, and our team was pretty convinced it would fail. However, when Guitar Hero took off, album purchases airtime were going up, everyone wanted to participate.”
He adds: “Among the remarkable aspects was how many mothers and fathers got in touch expressing gratitude for introducing their children to the songs they adored. It became an intergenerational thing.”
Classic Rock Gains Younger Fans
Irish group one featured act included their track on the 2008 game Guitar Hero World Tour. Lead musician Paul Mahon remembers the way the game revived older hits back into vogue: “The game offered a larger, new demographic. Typically this had been seen as outdated material, but then when it was featured on the title young people discovered it, suddenly it was cool. That legitimised it, eliminating the outdated tag. It gave all our music a new life.”
In 2008, the band's debut album was still not available in the US, so Guitar Hero served as a primary platform of discovery for the band during their US tour supporting AC/DC. “The roadies had on Never Too Late on the tour bus, and several knew us from Guitar Hero,” Mahon says.
Rock’s Heavyweight Titles and Lasting Influence
Music's biggest acts soon took advantage of the series’ popularity, with Aerosmith, Metallica and Van Halen starring in specialized spin-off titles centered around each band’s catalogue and related lore, imagery and legendary status. For example, the Aerosmith edition, reportedly to have made the band greater revenue compared to their records. It sold well over 500,000 units in its first week, while sales of Aerosmith’s music saw an increase significantly during an era when the music business faced decline.
The series still motivates nimble-fingered fanaticism within the community. Earlier this year, a streamer completed an impressive attempt of DragonForce’s Through the Fire and Flames – an infamously tough power-metal song popularized through Guitar Hero – on Clone Hero, a freeware game with almost identical gameplay and extensive personalization features. The song is challenging enough on expert mode, not to mention performed at increased tempo and without missing a single one of its near 4,000 notes. The streamer claimed requiring months of practice of practice.
“The game is a fun, fantasy thing. If you play other games, it doesn't imply you ought to pick up actual weapons and enlist,” notes DragonForce guitarist Herman Li.
DragonForce had already wrapped up a successful tour when Through the Fire and Flames appeared in the third game, yet he explains it made them a household name. “I remember the record label calling to tell me that our selling albums like crazy,” he says. “It exploded when we next toured, and we were playing right ahead of the headliners at the event.”
Indeed, DragonForce’s exposure via the game proved so vast that it threatened to overshadow all other the band has done. Recently, the song featured in promotional material for a major film. “In the past I felt otherwise, but now I accept it,” Li says. “Should you just listen to one DragonForce song, that's fine – everyone’s got a unique path in music and I’m glad we’ve been part in fans' experiences”.
Enduring Legacy of a Iconic Controller
The best marketing, whether it’s for automobiles, apparel or video games, extends beyond than selling something – it inspires a longing. Was the game able to harness this? “That’s exactly what our team aiming to achieve,” Dornbrook says. “That thrill of performing as a rock star in the spotlight. From day one, the co-founders felt that there’s an instinctive human desire to make music, and they wanted to use technology to allow people to do it”.
Most of Guitar Hero games came out in just a half-decade from 2005 to 2010, including spin-offs such as DJ Hero, including a turntable controller, and Band Hero. After that, the publisher’s interest on peripherals waned, except for a short-lived revival in 2015.
Games such as Clone Hero and Fortnite Festival have kept the community active, with set to be a new product from the original publisher in development. Recently formed developers has begun production on their first music game. The initial creators are both involved in advisory roles. Is the world ready to embrace another game in the spirit of Guitar Hero?
“We thought those games could be similar to sports games where you can releases,” Dornbrook says. “There’s so much fresh tracks it could remain perennially popular, so I’ve always been hopeful. There’s no reason why it can’t continue for future fans.”
