It has been two decades since the legendary game debuted in North America, providing players everywhere the opportunity to feel like rock legends. Not literally, though you'd be hard-pressed telling that someone who's mastered the epic lengthy guitar solo in front of an enthusiastic living-room audience.
Created by Harmonix, the game gave players a guitar-shaped controller to follow on-screen cues scrolling down the display synchronized to a song. Each riff corresponded to particular chords, producing the sensation of an authentic performance.
The studio had already tried its hand in the music genre before partnering with RedOctane, which was acquired by the gaming giant during the mid-2000s. Collaboratively, they established the foundations for a surprising massively profitable franchise that had a significant impact on numerous musicians featured, introducing classic bands to a new generation of gaming enthusiasts.
Michael Dornbrook, ex-chief operating officer of Harmonix, recalls the initial financial challenges of licensing the recordings – even though initial releases primarily featured rerecorded tracks.
“We rerecorded all the music since the dollar figure prohibitive,” he says. “Even with the publishing rights by themselves, it was extremely difficult. We couldn’t get bands like legendary groups – RedOctane had virtually no money, and we were pretty convinced the project would flop. However, when the game took off, and record sales and radio play increased, everyone wanted to be in.”
He continues: “One of the remarkable aspects was the number of mothers and fathers got in touch and thanked us for introducing their kids to the songs they loved. It became an intergenerational phenomenon.”
Classic Rock Finds a New Audience
Northern Irish group one featured act had Never Too Late on the 2008 game Guitar Hero World Tour. Guitarist the artist remembers how the series revived older hits back into vogue: “The game provided a bigger, new demographic. Typically this had been seen as outdated material, but then when it was featured on the title young people discovered it, suddenly it was cool. This validated it, eliminating the outdated tag. It provided all our music renewed popularity.”
At that time, the band's debut album was still unreleased stateside, meaning the game was a key medium for exposure for the group during their a North American tour supporting the rock giants. “Their crew had on Never Too Late on the tour bus, and several recognized us thanks to the game,” Mahon says.
Rock’s Heavyweight Spin-offs Enduring Influence
Music's biggest acts quickly took advantage of the series’ popularity, including bands like Aerosmith, Metallica and others featuring in dedicated game editions centered around their music collections and associated lore, imagery and rock’n’roll mythology. For example, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, reportedly to have made the group more money than any of their records. It moved more than 500,000 units upon release, while sales of Aerosmith’s music rose significantly during an era when the music business was already collapsing.
Guitar Hero continues to inspire quick-handed dedication among its fans. Earlier this year, a streamer achieved an impressive attempt of DragonForce’s the challenging track – a notoriously difficult anthem made popular by the game – using a fan-made version, a freeware game with similar gameplay and extensive personalization features. This track is challenging enough on the hardest setting, not to mention played at double speed while hitting every one of the thousands of cues. They stated it took nine months to accomplish.
“Guitar Hero offers a, fantasy thing. If you play Call of Duty, that doesn’t mean you ought to pick up actual weapons and go to war,” notes DragonForce guitarist Herman Li.
DragonForce previously completed a successful tour when Through the Fire and Flames appeared in the third game, yet he explains it made them a household name. “I recall our distributors calling to tell me that our selling albums rapidly,” he shares. “It exploded when we next toured, and we performed just before top acts on the Mayhem festival.”
In fact, DragonForce’s exposure via the game was so immense that it has threatened to eclipsing all other accomplishments. Last year, the song was used in promotional material for a major film. “In the past I felt otherwise, but now I accept it,” Li says. “If you only listen to one DragonForce song, it’s totally cool – each person has their own path in music and I'm pleased we’ve been part in fans' experiences”.
The Lasting Impact of a Plastic Guitar
The best promotion, whether it’s for automobiles, clothes or games, goes further mere transactions – it evokes a desire. Did Guitar Hero tap into that? “That’s exactly what we were aiming to achieve,” he confirms. “The excitement of being a rock star in the spotlight. From day one, the creators believed there’s an instinctive urge to create songs, and their goal was to use technology to enable everyone to participate”.
Most installments were released over a mere five-year period between 2005 and 2010, including derivative titles such as DJ Hero, complete with a spinning deck, and Band Hero. Subsequently, corporate focus on peripherals died down, aside from a short-lived revival in 2015.
Titles like Clone Hero and Fortnite Festival have kept the scene alive, with expectations of a new product from the founders in development. A new studio has entered work on its debut music game. The initial creators are participating as special advisers. Is the world ready to embrace a new entry in the spirit of the classic?
“Our team believed such titles could be like Madden allowing annual releases,” he remarks. “There’s so much new music that it could be perennially popular, thus I remain hopeful. It's entirely possible why it can’t persist for future fans.”
