Marking 20 years since the legendary game debuted in North America, giving everyday gamers the opportunity to feel like a rock star. Not in reality, but try telling that someone who has nailed the epic four-minute guitar solo in front of an enthusiastic living-room audience.
Created by Harmonix, the game gave players a plastic guitar peripheral to follow on-screen cues moving along the screen in time with the music. Every sequence mimicked specific notes, producing the feel of an authentic live show.
The studio had already experimented with rhythm games prior to teaming up with RedOctane, which was acquired by Activision during the mid-2000s. Collaboratively, they laid the foundations for a surprising massively profitable series that had a remarkable influence on numerous of the artists featured, introducing decades-old bands to a new generation of gaming enthusiasts.
Michael Dornbrook, ex-chief operating officer of Harmonix, remembers the early budgetary hurdles in securing the recordings – even though the first two games mostly used rerecorded tracks.
“We rerecorded every song since the cost prohibitive,” he says. “Even with the publishing rights by themselves, it was nearly impossible. We couldn’t get bands like legendary groups – RedOctane had virtually no money, and our team was pretty convinced it would fail. But once the game took off, and record sales and radio play were going up, everyone wanted to participate.”
He continues: “Among the amazing things was the number of mothers and fathers got in touch expressing gratitude for exposing their children to the songs they loved. It became a multigenerational thing.”
Classic Rock Gains a New Audience
Irish blues-rock band one featured act included Never Too Late on the 2008 game Guitar Hero World Tour. Guitarist Paul Mahon remembers the way the game brought classic rock to the forefront: “The game offered a bigger, new demographic. Generally such music was considered music that was past it, but then once it got included in the game young people discovered it, suddenly it was cool. That legitimised it, eliminating the outdated tag. It provided all our music renewed popularity.”
At that time, the Answer’s first record was still not available in the US, meaning the game was a key medium of discovery for the group during their US tour opening for the rock giants. “Their crew were playing Never Too Late on the tour bus, and several recognized us from Guitar Hero,” he notes.
Major Band Titles Enduring Impact
Rock’s biggest acts quickly capitalised on the series’ popularity, with Aerosmith, Metallica and others featuring in specialized spin-off titles that focused on their music collections and associated lore, imagery and rock’n’roll mythology. For example, the Aerosmith edition, reportedly earned the group greater revenue than any of their studio albums. It moved more than half a million copies upon release, and demand for Aerosmith’s music rose of up to 40% during an era as the industry was already collapsing.
Guitar Hero continues to inspire nimble-fingered fanaticism among its fans. Recently, an online personality completed a remarkable feat featuring Through the Fire and Flames – a notoriously difficult power-metal song popularized through the game – using a fan-made version, a freeware game with similar mechanics but an array of customisation options. This track is difficult enough on expert mode, not to mention played at double speed and without missing every one of the thousands of cues. They claimed requiring nine months to accomplish.
“The game is a fun, imaginary experience. If you play Call of Duty, that doesn’t mean you should use a real gun and go to war,” says DragonForce guitarist 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 made them widely recognized. “I recall our distributors calling to tell me that we were records were moving rapidly,” he says. “Popularity surged when we next toured, and we performed right ahead of the headliners on the Mayhem festival.”
In fact, the band's visibility from Guitar Hero was so immense that it risked eclipsing all other the band has done. Recently, the song was used in a trailer for Despicable Me 4. “Previously I felt differently, but I’ve made peace with it,” he admits. “Should you just hear a single track, it’s totally cool – everyone’s got a unique path in music and I’m glad we’ve been part in fans' experiences”.
The Lasting Legacy of a Plastic Guitar
The best marketing, be it for automobiles, clothes or video games, goes further mere transactions – it inspires a longing. Was the game able to harness this? “Precisely what we were trying to create,” Dornbrook says. “The excitement of being a rock star on the stage. Since the beginning, the creators felt that humans have a natural urge to create songs, and they wanted to use technology to allow people to do it”.
The majority of Guitar Hero games were released in just a half-decade between 2005 and 2010, including spin-offs such as the DJ version, including a spinning deck, and the band-focused game. After that, corporate focus in plastic instruments died down, aside from a short-lived revival in 2015.
Games like Clone Hero and Fortnite Festival have kept the scene alive, with set to be a new product from the founders on the way. A new studio has entered work on its debut rhythm-based title. The initial creators are participating in advisory roles. Is the world ready to embrace another game following the classic?
“Our team believed those games might become similar to sports games allowing annual update every year,” Dornbrook says. “With abundant fresh tracks it could remain perennially popular, so I’ve always been hopeful. It's entirely possible for it to persist for future fans.”
