It has been two decades after the legendary game hit the market in North America, offering players everywhere the tools to feel like rock legends. Not literally, though you'd be hard-pressed convincing anyone who has mastered the epic four-minute guitar solo in front of a packed crowd of friends.
Created by Harmonix, Guitar Hero provided users with a guitar-shaped controller to match coloured notes moving along the screen synchronized to the music. Each riff corresponded to specific notes, producing the feel of a genuine performance.
The studio previously tried its hand in the music genre before partnering with RedOctane, which was purchased by Activision in 2006. Collaboratively, they established the groundwork for a surprising billion-dollar series that had a remarkable influence for many of the artists featured, showcasing decades-old groups to a new generation of younger players.
Michael Dornbrook, former COO of Harmonix, recalls the early financial challenges in securing the recordings – even though initial releases primarily featured rerecorded tracks.
“We rerecorded all the music because the dollar figure prohibitive,” he says. “Despite having the necessary permissions alone, it proved nearly impossible. We couldn’t get acts such as the Who – RedOctane had virtually no money, and our team was pretty convinced it would fail. However, when the game took off, and record sales airtime increased, everyone wanted to participate.”
He adds: “One of the amazing things was the number of parents got in touch and thanked us for introducing their kids to the music they loved. It evolved into a multigenerational thing.”
Timeless Music Gains Younger Fans
Irish group one featured act included Never Too Late in the 2008 release Guitar Hero World Tour. Lead musician Paul Mahon remembers the way the game revived older hits back into vogue: “Guitar Hero offered a larger, younger audience. Typically such music was considered outdated material, but then when it was included in the game young people discovered it, abruptly it became trendy. That legitimised the genre, and got rid of the ‘dad rock’ label. It gave all our music renewed popularity.”
At that time, the Answer’s first record was still unreleased stateside, so the game was a key medium of discovery for the band during their US tour supporting the rock giants. “Their crew were playing Never Too Late on the tour bus, and several knew us thanks to the game,” Mahon says.
Rock’s Heavyweight Titles Enduring Impact
Rock’s biggest acts quickly capitalised on the game's success, including bands like Aerosmith, Metallica and Van Halen featuring in dedicated game editions that focused on their music collections and related lore, imagery and rock’n’roll mythology. In the case of, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, reportedly to have made the band greater revenue compared to their records. It sold well over 500,000 copies upon release, while sales of Aerosmith’s music rose significantly at a time as the industry was already collapsing.
Guitar Hero still motivates nimble-fingered fanaticism within the community. Recently, an online personality achieved a remarkable feat featuring Through the Fire and Flames – a notoriously difficult power-metal song made popular by Guitar Hero – using a fan-made version, a freeware game with similar mechanics and extensive customisation options. The song is challenging enough on expert mode, let alone performed at double speed while hitting a single one of its near 4,000 notes. They stated requiring months of practice of practice.
“The game is a fun, imaginary experience. If you play other games, it doesn't imply you should pick up a real gun and enlist,” says musician the artist.
The band previously wrapped up a profitable run when Through the Fire and Flames appeared on Guitar Hero III, yet he explains it made them widely recognized. “I remember our distributors informing us that our selling albums like crazy,” he shares. “Popularity surged on the subsequent tour, and we were playing right ahead of the headliners on the Mayhem festival.”
Indeed, the band's visibility from Guitar Hero proved so vast that it threatened to eclipsing everything else accomplishments. Recently, the song was used in promotional material for Despicable Me 4. “Previously I thought otherwise, but I’ve made peace with it,” Li says. “If you only hear one DragonForce song, it’s totally cool – everyone’s got their own path in music and I'm pleased we played a role of people’s lives”.
Enduring Impact of a Iconic Controller
Top-tier marketing, whether it’s for cars, apparel or video games, extends beyond mere transactions – it evokes a desire. Did Guitar Hero harness this? “Precisely what our team trying to create,” he confirms. “That thrill of performing as a music icon on the stage. Since the beginning, the creators believed humans have a natural human desire to make music, and their goal was to leverage innovation to allow people to do it”.
Most installments were released over a mere half-decade between 2005 and 2010, including derivative titles like DJ Hero, complete with a turntable controller, and Band Hero. After that, the publisher’s interest in plastic instruments waned, aside from a brief comeback in 2015.
Titles like the fan project and Fortnite Festival have kept the community alive, and there’s expectations of a new product from the founders on the way. Recently formed developers has entered work on its debut rhythm-based title. The initial creators are participating in advisory roles. Is the world prepared to welcome another game in the spirit of Guitar Hero?
“We thought such titles might become similar to sports games allowing annual releases,” he remarks. “There’s so much new music that it could be evergreen, thus I remain optimistic. There’s no reason why it can’t continue with new generations.”
