Marking two decades since Guitar Hero debuted across the Atlantic, offering everyday gamers the means to become a rock star. Not in reality, though you'd be hard-pressed convincing someone who has nailed the epic lengthy instrumental break before a packed living-room audience.
Created by Harmonix, Guitar Hero gave players a plastic guitar peripheral to follow on-screen cues scrolling down the screen in time with a song. Every sequence corresponded to specific notes, creating the feel of a genuine performance.
The studio previously experimented with rhythm games before partnering with the publisher, which was purchased by Activision in 2006. Collaboratively, they established the groundwork for an unlikely billion-dollar series which made a significant impact on numerous of the artists featured, showcasing classic groups to millions of younger players.
Michael Dornbrook, former COO from the developer, recalls the initial budgetary hurdles in securing the songs – despite the fact initial releases primarily featured rerecorded tracks.
“We rerecorded every song since the cost prohibitive,” he says. “Despite having the publishing rights alone, it proved nearly impossible. We couldn’t get acts such as the Who – RedOctane had virtually no money, and our team was pretty convinced it would fail. But once Guitar Hero became a hit, and record sales airtime increased, everyone wanted to be in.”
He continues: “One of the remarkable aspects was the number of parents got in touch expressing gratitude for introducing their children to the music they adored. It became an intergenerational thing.”
Classic Rock Finds a New Audience
Northern Irish group the Answer had Never Too Late in the 2008 release the popular installment. Guitarist the artist remembers the way the game brought older hits to the forefront: “Guitar Hero provided a bigger, younger audience. Generally such music was considered music that was past it, but then once it got included in the title and teenagers discovered it, suddenly it became trendy. This validated the genre, eliminating the outdated label. It gave our catalog renewed popularity.”
In 2008, the band's first record was still unreleased stateside, so the game served as a primary platform for exposure for the group as they went on a North American tour opening for the rock giants. “Their crew had on Never Too Late during travel, and several recognized us from Guitar Hero,” he notes.
Rock’s Heavyweight Spin-offs and Lasting Influence
Music's biggest acts soon took advantage of the series’ popularity, including bands like Aerosmith, Metallica and others featuring in specialized game editions that focused on each band’s catalogue and associated stories, imagery and rock’n’roll mythology. For example, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, it was said to have made the group greater revenue than any of their records. It moved more than half a million copies in its first week, and sales of their songs rose of up to 40% during an era as the industry faced decline.
Guitar Hero still motivates nimble-fingered fanaticism within the community. Earlier this year, an online personality 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 mechanics but an array of personalization features. The song is difficult even in expert mode, let alone played at double speed while hitting a single one of the thousands of cues. The streamer claimed it took nine months to accomplish.
“Guitar Hero offers a, imaginary experience. If you play other games, that doesn’t mean you should pick up a real gun and go to war,” says DragonForce guitarist the artist.
DragonForce had already wrapped up a profitable run before their hit appeared in the third game, yet he explains it made them a household name. “I recall our distributors informing us that our selling albums rapidly,” he says. “Popularity surged when we next toured, and we were playing right ahead of top acts on the Mayhem festival.”
In fact, DragonForce’s exposure via the game proved so vast that it has risked eclipsing all other the band has done. Recently, the song was used in promotional material for Despicable Me 4. “Previously I thought differently, but I’ve made peace with it,” Li says. “If you only listen to a single track, that's fine – everyone’s got their own musical journey and I’m glad we played a role of people’s lives”.
Enduring Impact of a Plastic Guitar
Top-tier promotion, whether it’s for automobiles, apparel or video games, extends beyond mere transactions – it inspires a longing. Did Guitar Hero harness this? “Precisely what we were aiming to achieve,” he confirms. “That thrill of being a rock star on the stage. Since the beginning, the creators felt that humans have a natural human desire to make music, and they wanted to use technology to enable everyone to do it”.
The majority installments came out in just a half-decade from 2005 to 2010, including derivative titles such as DJ Hero, including a turntable controller, and the band-focused game. Subsequently, corporate focus on peripherals waned, aside from a short-lived revival in 2015.
Games such as Clone Hero and newer releases have kept the scene alive, and there’s set to be a new product from the founders on the way. Recently formed developers has entered work on their first rhythm-based title. Original co-founders are both involved in advisory roles. Are gamers ready to embrace a new entry following the classic?
“We thought those games could be similar to sports games where you can update every year,” Dornbrook says. “There’s so much fresh tracks that it could be evergreen, thus I remain optimistic. It's entirely possible why it can’t persist with new generations.”
