It has been two decades since the legendary game first launched in North America, offering everyday gamers the opportunity to become a rock star. Not in reality, but try convincing anyone who's mastered the epic lengthy guitar solo before a packed living-room audience.
Created by the developers, the game provided users with a plastic guitar peripheral to follow coloured notes scrolling down the screen in time with a song. Each riff mimicked particular chords, creating the feel of an authentic performance.
Harmonix had already experimented with rhythm games prior to teaming up with the publisher, later purchased by the gaming giant in 2006. Together, they laid the foundations for a surprising massively profitable series that had a remarkable influence on numerous musicians included, introducing classic bands to millions of younger players.
A former executive, former COO from the developer, remembers the early budgetary hurdles in securing the recordings – even though the first two games primarily featured rerecorded tracks.
“We rerecorded all the music because the dollar figure was so high,” he explains. “Even with the necessary permissions alone, it was extremely difficult. We failed to secure bands like legendary groups – RedOctane had virtually no money, and our team was pretty convinced the project would flop. But once the game took off, album purchases airtime were going up, all artists desired to participate.”
He continues: “Among the amazing things was the number of mothers and fathers reached out expressing gratitude for introducing their children to the songs they adored. It evolved into a multigenerational thing.”
Classic Rock Gains a New Audience
Northern Irish blues-rock band one featured act had their track on the 2008 game the popular installment. Guitarist Paul Mahon remembers how the series brought older hits back into vogue: “The game provided a bigger, younger audience. Generally this had been considered music that was past it, but then once it got included in the game young people discovered it, suddenly it was cool. This validated the genre, eliminating the ‘dad rock’ tag. It gave all our music a new life.”
At that time, the Answer’s debut album remained not available in the US, meaning the game served as a primary platform for exposure for the group during their US tour supporting AC/DC. “Their crew were playing the song on the tour bus, and several recognized us thanks to the game,” he notes.
Major Band Titles Enduring Influence
Music's biggest acts soon 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 stories, imagery and legendary status. For example, the Aerosmith edition, it was said earned the band greater revenue than any of their records. It sold well over 500,000 copies in its first week, and sales of Aerosmith’s music rose significantly during an era when the music business was already collapsing.
Guitar Hero still motivates quick-handed dedication within the community. Recently, a streamer achieved a remarkable feat featuring the challenging track – an infamously tough anthem made popular by the game – using a fan-made version, a no-cost alternative with similar mechanics and extensive personalization features. This track is challenging enough on the hardest setting, not to mention performed at increased tempo while hitting a single one of the thousands of cues. They claimed it took months of practice of practice.
“Guitar Hero is a fun, fantasy thing. If you play Call of Duty, it doesn't imply you should pick up a real gun and go to war,” notes musician the artist.
DragonForce had already completed a profitable run before their hit appeared in the third game, but Li says it made them widely recognized. “I recall the record label calling to tell me that our selling albums like crazy,” he says. “It exploded on the subsequent tour, and we were playing just before top acts at the event.”
Indeed, the band's visibility via the game was so immense that it risked eclipsing everything else accomplishments. Recently, the song featured in a trailer for a major film. “In the past I felt otherwise, but I’ve made peace with it,” he admits. “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”.
Enduring Impact from the Plastic Guitar
The best marketing, be it for automobiles, clothes or video games, goes further mere transactions – it evokes a desire. Did Guitar Hero tap into that? “That’s exactly what we were aiming to achieve,” Dornbrook says. “The excitement of being a music icon in the spotlight. Since the beginning, the creators felt that humans have a natural human desire to create songs, and their goal was to use technology to enable everyone to do it”.
The majority of Guitar Hero games were released over a mere half-decade between 2005 and 2010, including spin-offs like the DJ version, complete with a turntable controller, and Band Hero. Subsequently, the publisher’s interest on peripherals died down, aside from a short-lived revival in 2015.
Games like the fan project and newer releases have maintained the scene alive, with expectations of something from the original publisher in development. Recently formed developers has begun production on its debut rhythm-based title. Original co-founders are both involved in advisory roles. Are gamers prepared to welcome another game following Guitar Hero?
“Our team believed such titles might become like Madden allowing annual releases,” Dornbrook says. “There’s so much new music that it could be evergreen, thus I remain optimistic. It's entirely possible for it to continue for future fans.”
