Marking two decades after the legendary game hit the market across the Atlantic, providing everyday gamers the means to feel like a rock star. Figuratively speaking, though you'd be hard-pressed convincing someone who has mastered Free Bird’s lengthy instrumental break before a packed living-room audience.
Created by the developers, Guitar Hero provided users with a plastic guitar peripheral to match on-screen cues scrolling down the display in time with a song. Each riff mimicked specific notes, producing the feel of a genuine performance.
The studio had already tried its hand with rhythm games before partnering with RedOctane, which was acquired by the gaming giant in 2006. Together, they established the foundations for a surprising massively profitable franchise that had a significant influence on numerous musicians featured, showcasing decades-old groups to a new generation of younger players.
Michael Dornbrook, former COO from the developer, recalls the early financial challenges in securing the songs – even though initial releases mostly used cover versions.
“We rerecorded all the music because the dollar figure was so high,” he explains. “Despite having the necessary permissions alone, it was extremely difficult. We couldn’t get bands like legendary groups – the publisher was operating on a shoestring budget, and our team was fairly certain it would fail. But once Guitar Hero took off, album purchases airtime increased, all artists desired to be in.”
He continues: “Among the remarkable aspects was the number of mothers and fathers got in touch expressing gratitude for exposing their kids to the songs they adored. It evolved into an intergenerational phenomenon.”
Classic Rock Finds Younger Fans
Irish group the Answer included Never Too Late on the 2008 game the popular installment. Lead musician the artist recalls how the series revived older hits to the forefront: “Guitar Hero provided a bigger, new demographic. Generally such music was considered music that was past it, but then once it got included in the title young people were finding it, suddenly it was cool. This validated the genre, and got rid of the outdated tag. It provided all our music renewed popularity.”
In 2008, the band's debut album remained not available stateside, meaning Guitar Hero served as a primary platform of discovery for the band during their a North American tour supporting the rock giants. “The roadies were playing Never Too Late on the tour bus, and several knew us thanks to the game,” he notes.
Rock’s Heavyweight Titles Enduring Influence
Rock’s heavyweight names soon capitalised on 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. In the case of, the Aerosmith edition, reportedly earned the group more money than any of their records. It moved more than half a million copies upon release, and sales of their songs saw an increase significantly at a time as the industry was already collapsing.
The series continues to inspire nimble-fingered fanaticism within the community. Earlier this year, a streamer achieved a remarkable feat featuring the challenging track – an infamously tough anthem made popular by the game – on Clone Hero, a freeware game with similar mechanics but an array of customisation options. This track is difficult even in expert mode, let alone played at double speed and without missing a single one of its near 4,000 notes. They stated it took months of practice of practice.
“Guitar Hero is a fun, imaginary experience. Just as with Call of Duty, that doesn’t mean you ought to use actual weapons and go to war,” says DragonForce guitarist the artist.
The band had already wrapped up a profitable run before their hit was featured on Guitar Hero III, but Li says it turned them into a household name. “I remember the record label calling to tell me that our records were moving like crazy,” he shares. “Popularity surged when we next toured, and we were playing right ahead of the headliners on the Mayhem festival.”
In fact, DragonForce’s exposure from Guitar Hero proved so vast that it risked overshadow everything else accomplishments. Recently, the song was used in a trailer for Despicable Me 4. “In the past I thought differently, but now I accept it,” he admits. “If you only listen to a single track, it’s totally cool – everyone’s got a unique musical journey and I'm pleased we played a role of people’s lives”.
The Lasting Impact of a Plastic Guitar
Top-tier promotion, whether it’s for automobiles, apparel or video games, goes further mere transactions – it inspires a desire. Was the game able to tap into that? “Precisely what we were aiming to achieve,” he confirms. “The excitement of performing as a music icon in the spotlight. From day one, the creators felt that there’s an instinctive human desire to make music, and their goal was to leverage innovation to allow people to do it”.
The majority installments were released over a mere five-year period from 2005 to 2010, including spin-offs like DJ Hero, complete with a spinning deck, and Band Hero. After that, corporate focus in plastic instruments died down, aside from a brief comeback in 2015.
Games like Clone Hero and newer releases have maintained the community active, and there’s set to be something from the original publisher on the way. A new studio has entered work on its debut rhythm-based title. Original co-founders are both involved as special advisers. Is the world ready to embrace a new entry following the classic?
“We thought such titles might become similar to sports games allowing annual update every year,” he remarks. “With abundant new music that it could be evergreen, thus I remain optimistic. It's entirely possible for it to persist for future fans.”
