It has been 20 years after Guitar Hero first launched in North America, providing players everywhere the opportunity to become a rock star. Not literally, though you'd be hard-pressed telling that anyone who's mastered the epic four-minute guitar solo in front of an enthusiastic living-room audience.
Developed by Harmonix, Guitar Hero gave players a plastic guitar peripheral to match coloured notes moving along the display in time with a song. Every sequence mimicked specific notes, producing the sensation of a genuine live show.
The studio previously tried its hand in the music genre before partnering with the publisher, later purchased by Activision in 2006. Collaboratively, they established the foundations for an unlikely massively profitable franchise that had a remarkable influence for many musicians included, introducing classic bands to millions of younger players.
A former executive, ex-chief operating officer of Harmonix, recalls the initial financial challenges in securing the songs – despite the fact initial releases primarily featured rerecorded tracks.
“We reproduced all the music because the dollar figure prohibitive,” he says. “Even with the publishing rights by themselves, it was nearly impossible. We failed to secure acts such as legendary groups – the publisher was operating on a shoestring budget, and we were pretty convinced the project would flop. But once Guitar Hero became a hit, and record sales and radio play increased, all artists desired to participate.”
He continues: “One of the amazing things was how many mothers and fathers got in touch expressing gratitude for exposing their children to the songs they adored. It evolved into an intergenerational phenomenon.”
Classic Rock Finds Younger Fans
Irish group the Answer had Never Too Late on the 2008 game the popular installment. Guitarist the artist recalls the way the game brought classic rock to the forefront: “Guitar Hero offered a larger, new demographic. Generally this had been seen as outdated material, however when it was included in the game young people discovered it, suddenly it was cool. That legitimised the genre, and got rid of the ‘dad rock’ tag. It gave all our music renewed popularity.”
In 2008, the Answer’s first record remained not available stateside, meaning the game served as a primary platform of discovery for the band as they went on a North American tour opening for the rock giants. “The roadies had on the song on the tour bus, and some of them knew us from Guitar Hero,” he notes.
Major Band Spin-offs and Lasting Impact
Rock’s heavyweight names quickly took advantage of the game's success, with Aerosmith, Metallica and Van Halen starring in specialized game editions that focused on each band’s catalogue and associated stories, visuals and legendary status. For example, the Aerosmith edition, reportedly to have made the band greater revenue compared to their studio albums. It moved well over 500,000 units upon release, and sales of their songs rose of up to 40% during an era as the industry faced decline.
Guitar Hero still motivates nimble-fingered dedication within the community. Recently, a streamer completed an impressive attempt of DragonForce’s the challenging track – a notoriously difficult power-metal song made popular by Guitar Hero – using a fan-made version, a freeware game with almost identical mechanics but an array of personalization features. The song is difficult even in the hardest setting, let alone performed at double speed while hitting a single one of its near 4,000 notes. The streamer claimed it took months of practice to accomplish.
“Guitar Hero 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,” notes DragonForce guitarist Herman Li.
The band previously wrapped up a successful tour before Through the Fire and Flames was featured on Guitar Hero III, but Li says it made them a household name. “I remember the record label informing us that our selling albums like crazy,” he says. “It exploded when we next toured, and we were playing right ahead of the headliners on the Mayhem festival.”
In fact, the band's visibility from Guitar Hero was so immense that it threatened to overshadow everything else accomplishments. Recently, the track was used in promotional material for Despicable Me 4. “In the past I thought differently, but I’ve made peace with it,” he admits. “Should you just listen to a single track, it’s totally cool – each person has a unique musical journey and I’m glad we’ve been part of people’s lives”.
Enduring Legacy of a Plastic Guitar
Top-tier marketing, whether it’s for automobiles, apparel or video games, extends beyond than selling something – it inspires a desire. Did Guitar Hero harness this? “That’s exactly what we were trying to create,” he confirms. “The excitement of being a rock star on the stage. From day one, the co-founders felt that humans have a natural human desire to make music, and their goal was to use technology to enable everyone to do it”.
The majority installments were released in just a half-decade from 2005 to 2010, including derivative titles like the DJ version, including a spinning deck, and Band Hero. After that, corporate focus on peripherals died down, aside from a brief comeback in 2015.
Titles such as Clone Hero and newer releases have maintained the community alive, and there’s set to be a new product from the founders in development. Recently formed developers has begun work on its debut music game. The initial creators are both involved as special advisers. Are gamers ready to embrace another game in the spirit of the classic?
“We thought such titles could be similar to sports games where you can update every year,” Dornbrook says. “There’s so much new music that it could be evergreen, thus I remain hopeful. There’s no reason why it can’t persist with new generations.”
