It has been 20 years after the legendary game hit the market in North America, providing everyday gamers the opportunity to become rock legends. Not literally, though you'd be hard-pressed telling that anyone who has mastered the epic lengthy instrumental break in front of an enthusiastic living-room audience.
Developed by Harmonix, Guitar Hero provided users with a plastic guitar peripheral to match coloured notes scrolling down the screen in time with a song. Each riff mimicked specific notes, creating the sensation of a genuine performance.
Harmonix previously experimented with rhythm games prior to teaming up with the publisher, later purchased by Activision in 2006. Collaboratively, they established the groundwork for a surprising massively profitable series which made a remarkable impact on numerous of the artists featured, showcasing decades-old groups to a new generation of gaming enthusiasts.
Michael Dornbrook, former COO of Harmonix, remembers the initial financial challenges of licensing the songs – despite the fact initial releases mostly used rerecorded tracks.
“We rerecorded all the music since the dollar figure prohibitive,” he says. “Despite having the necessary permissions alone, it proved extremely difficult. We couldn’t get bands like legendary groups – RedOctane had virtually no money, and we were pretty convinced the project would flop. However, when the game became a hit, album purchases airtime were going up, all artists desired to participate.”
He adds: “One of the amazing things was how many mothers and fathers got in touch and thanked us for introducing their children to the music they adored. It evolved into a multigenerational phenomenon.”
Classic Rock Finds a New Audience
Irish group the Answer included Never Too Late on the 2008 game the popular installment. Guitarist the artist remembers the way the game revived older hits back into vogue: “Guitar Hero provided a larger, younger audience. Typically such music was considered outdated material, but then once it got featured on the game and teenagers were finding it, abruptly it became trendy. This validated it, and got rid of the outdated label. It gave our catalog renewed popularity.”
In 2008, the Answer’s debut album remained not available stateside, meaning Guitar Hero was a key medium of discovery for the band during their US tour opening for AC/DC. “Their crew had on Never Too Late on the tour bus, and several knew us from Guitar Hero,” he notes.
Major Band Spin-offs and Lasting Impact
Rock’s biggest acts quickly took advantage of the game's success, with Aerosmith, Metallica and others featuring in dedicated game editions that focused on each band’s catalogue and associated stories, imagery and rock’n’roll mythology. For example, the Aerosmith edition, it was said to have made the group greater revenue than any of their studio albums. It sold well over half a million copies upon release, and sales of Aerosmith’s music saw an increase of up to 40% at a time as the industry was already collapsing.
Guitar Hero still motivates quick-handed fanaticism within the community. Earlier this year, an online personality achieved an impressive attempt featuring the challenging track – an infamously tough anthem made popular by the game – using a fan-made version, a freeware game with almost identical mechanics but an array of customisation options. The song is challenging even in expert mode, not to mention played at increased tempo and without missing every one of the thousands of cues. The streamer stated requiring months of practice to accomplish.
“Guitar Hero offers a, fantasy thing. If you play other games, that doesn’t mean you should pick up actual weapons and go to war,” says musician Herman Li.
DragonForce previously wrapped up a successful tour before Through the Fire and Flames was featured on Guitar Hero III, yet he explains it turned them into a household name. “I recall our distributors informing us that our selling albums rapidly,” he shares. “It exploded on the subsequent tour, and we were playing right ahead of top acts at the event.”
Indeed, DragonForce’s exposure via the game proved so vast that it has risked overshadow all other the band has done. Last year, the track featured in promotional material for a major film. “In the past I thought otherwise, but now I accept it,” he admits. “Should you just hear one DragonForce song, that's fine – everyone’s got their own path in music and I’m glad we played a role of people’s lives”.
The Lasting Legacy from the Iconic Controller
The best marketing, whether it’s for automobiles, apparel or video games, goes further than selling something – it inspires a desire. Did Guitar Hero harness this? “Precisely what we were aiming to achieve,” he confirms. “The excitement of performing as a music icon on the stage. Since the beginning, the co-founders believed there’s an instinctive human desire to make music, and they wanted to use technology to allow people to do it”.
The majority installments were released over a mere half-decade between 2005 and 2010, including derivative titles such as the DJ version, including a turntable controller, and the band-focused game. After that, the publisher’s interest on peripherals died down, except for a short-lived revival in 2015.
Titles such as the fan project and Fortnite Festival have kept the community active, and there’s expectations of something from the founders in development. A new studio has begun production on their first rhythm-based title. The initial creators are both involved as special advisers. Are gamers ready to embrace a new entry in the spirit of Guitar Hero?
“We thought those games might become like Madden allowing annual releases,” Dornbrook says. “There’s so much fresh tracks it could remain evergreen, thus I remain hopeful. There’s no reason why it can’t continue with new generations.”
