Marking two decades after the legendary game debuted in North America, offering everyday gamers the opportunity to become rock legends. Not literally, though you'd be hard-pressed convincing anyone who has mastered Free Bird’s lengthy guitar solo in front of an enthusiastic living-room audience.
Created by the developers, Guitar Hero provided users with a guitar-shaped controller to follow coloured notes scrolling down the screen synchronized to a song. Every sequence corresponded to particular chords, producing the sensation of a genuine performance.
Harmonix previously tried its hand with rhythm games prior to teaming up with the publisher, which was acquired by the gaming giant in 2006. Collaboratively, they established the foundations for a surprising billion-dollar series that had a remarkable impact for many of the artists featured, showcasing decades-old groups to a new generation of gaming enthusiasts.
Michael Dornbrook, former COO from the developer, recalls the early financial challenges in securing the recordings – even though initial releases primarily featured rerecorded tracks.
“We rerecorded all the music since the cost prohibitive,” he explains. “Even with the publishing rights by themselves, it proved extremely difficult. We failed to secure bands like legendary groups – the publisher was operating on a shoestring budget, and we were pretty convinced it would fail. However, when Guitar Hero became a hit, and record sales and radio play were going up, everyone wanted to be in.”
He continues: “One of the amazing things was how many parents reached out expressing gratitude for exposing their children to the songs they adored. It became a multigenerational thing.”
Classic Rock Finds a New Audience
Irish group the Answer had Never Too Late in the 2008 release Guitar Hero World Tour. Guitarist the artist recalls the way the game brought older hits back into vogue: “Guitar Hero offered a bigger, new demographic. Generally such music was seen as outdated material, however once it got included in the title and teenagers discovered it, suddenly it was cool. That legitimised it, and got rid of the outdated label. It gave all our music a new life.”
In 2008, the Answer’s debut album remained unreleased in the US, so Guitar Hero was a key medium for exposure for the group during their US tour opening for AC/DC. “Their crew were playing the song on the tour bus, and several knew us from Guitar Hero,” he notes.
Rock’s Heavyweight Spin-offs and Lasting Influence
Music's biggest acts quickly capitalised on the series’ popularity, with Aerosmith, Metallica and others starring in dedicated spin-off titles that focused on their music collections and associated lore, visuals and legendary status. In the case of, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, it was said to have made the band more money than any of their studio albums. It moved more than half a million copies in its first week, and demand for their songs rose of up to 40% during an era when the music business was already collapsing.
Guitar Hero still motivates quick-handed fanaticism within the community. Recently, a streamer achieved a remarkable feat of DragonForce’s the challenging track – a notoriously difficult anthem popularized through the game – on Clone Hero, a freeware game with almost identical gameplay and extensive customisation options. The song is difficult enough on expert mode, let alone performed at double speed while hitting every one of the thousands of cues. They stated requiring months of practice to accomplish.
“Guitar Hero is a fun, fantasy thing. If you play Call of Duty, it doesn't imply you ought to use actual weapons and go to war,” notes musician the artist.
The band had already completed a profitable run 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 calling to tell me that our records were moving like crazy,” he shares. “Popularity surged when we next toured, and we were playing just before the headliners at the event.”
Indeed, the band's visibility via the game was so immense that it threatened to eclipsing everything else the band has done. Last year, the track was used in a trailer for a major film. “Previously I thought otherwise, but I’ve made peace with it,” he admits. “If you only hear one DragonForce song, it’s totally cool – each person has a unique musical journey and I’m glad we’ve been part of people’s lives”.
The Lasting Legacy from the Iconic Controller
The best promotion, whether it’s for cars, clothes or video games, extends beyond mere transactions – it inspires a desire. Was the game able to tap into that? “That’s exactly what we were aiming to achieve,” Dornbrook says. “That thrill of being a music icon in the spotlight. Since the beginning, the creators believed there’s an instinctive human desire to make music, and their goal was to use technology to enable everyone to do it”.
Most of Guitar Hero games came out in just a five-year period between 2005 and 2010, including derivative titles such as the DJ version, including a spinning deck, and the band-focused game. Subsequently, the publisher’s interest on peripherals waned, aside from a brief comeback several years later.
Titles like Clone Hero and Fortnite Festival have maintained the scene active, and there’s expectations of a new product from the founders in development. A new studio has begun work on its debut rhythm-based title. The initial creators are participating as special advisers. Is the world ready to embrace a new entry following the classic?
“Our team believed those games might become like Madden allowing annual releases,” Dornbrook says. “There’s so much fresh tracks it could remain evergreen, so I’ve always been hopeful. There’s no reason why it can’t continue with new generations.”
