Marking 20 years after Guitar Hero debuted across the Atlantic, offering everyday gamers the means to become rock legends. Not literally, but try convincing anyone who has nailed Free Bird’s lengthy guitar solo before an enthusiastic living-room audience.
Created by Harmonix, Guitar Hero provided users with a plastic guitar peripheral to match on-screen cues moving along the display in time with a song. Every sequence corresponded to particular chords, producing the feel of a genuine live show.
Harmonix had already tried its hand in the music genre prior to teaming up with the publisher, later acquired by Activision in 2006. Together, they established the groundwork for an unlikely massively profitable franchise that had a significant impact on numerous of the artists featured, showcasing decades-old groups to a new generation of younger players.
Michael Dornbrook, former COO of Harmonix, remembers the initial budgetary hurdles of licensing the songs – even though initial releases mostly used cover versions.
“We reproduced all the music since the cost prohibitive,” he explains. “Even with the necessary permissions alone, it was extremely difficult. We failed to secure bands like the Who – the publisher had virtually no money, and we were pretty convinced it would fail. But once Guitar Hero became a hit, album purchases airtime were going up, all artists desired to participate.”
He adds: “Among the amazing things was the number of parents reached out expressing gratitude for exposing their children to the songs they adored. It became an intergenerational thing.”
Timeless Music Finds a New Audience
Irish group the Answer had their track in the 2008 release Guitar Hero World Tour. Lead musician the artist recalls the way the game revived classic rock to the forefront: “The game provided a larger, new demographic. Typically such music was seen as music that was past it, however when it was featured on the game young people discovered it, abruptly it was cool. This validated it, and got rid of the ‘dad rock’ tag. It provided all our music renewed popularity.”
At that time, the band's first record was still unreleased in the US, so Guitar Hero was a key medium of discovery for the group as they went on US tour supporting the rock giants. “Their crew had on Never Too Late during travel, and several knew us thanks to the game,” he notes.
Major Band Spin-offs and Lasting Impact
Music's biggest acts soon took advantage of the game's success, including bands like Aerosmith, Metallica and Van Halen featuring in dedicated game editions centered around their music collections and associated lore, visuals and legendary status. For example, the Aerosmith edition, it was said earned the band more money than any of their records. It sold well over 500,000 units upon release, while sales of Aerosmith’s music saw an increase significantly during an era as the industry faced decline.
Guitar Hero continues to inspire quick-handed dedication within the community. Recently, a streamer achieved a remarkable feat of DragonForce’s Through the Fire and Flames – a notoriously difficult power-metal song made popular by the game – on Clone Hero, a no-cost alternative with almost identical gameplay and extensive personalization features. This track is difficult even in the hardest setting, let alone performed at double speed and without missing every one of its near 4,000 notes. The streamer stated it took months of practice to accomplish.
“The game is a fun, fantasy thing. If you play other games, it doesn't imply you ought to pick up a real gun and enlist,” notes musician the artist.
DragonForce had already wrapped up a profitable run before their hit was featured in the third game, yet he explains it made them widely recognized. “I recall our distributors informing us that we were selling albums like crazy,” he shares. “Popularity surged on the subsequent tour, and we were playing right ahead of top acts at the event.”
Indeed, DragonForce’s exposure from Guitar Hero was so immense that it risked overshadow all other accomplishments. Last year, the song was used in a trailer for Despicable Me 4. “Previously I thought differently, but I’ve made peace with it,” Li says. “Should you just hear a single track, it’s totally cool – each person has their own path in music and I'm pleased we played a role in fans' experiences”.
Enduring Impact from the Plastic Guitar
The best marketing, be it for automobiles, apparel or video games, extends beyond mere transactions – it inspires a longing. Was the game able to harness this? “That’s exactly what we were aiming to achieve,” he confirms. “That thrill of being a rock star in the spotlight. Since the beginning, the co-founders felt that humans have a natural urge to create songs, and they wanted to use technology to allow people to do it”.
The majority of Guitar Hero games were released over a mere five-year period from 2005 to 2010, featuring derivative titles like the DJ version, including a spinning deck, and Band Hero. Subsequently, corporate focus in plastic instruments waned, except for a short-lived revival several years later.
Games like the fan project and newer releases have kept the scene active, and there’s set to be a new product from the founders in development. A new studio has entered production on their first rhythm-based title. The initial creators are participating as special advisers. Is the world prepared to welcome another game following Guitar Hero?
“We thought such titles might become similar to sports games allowing annual releases,” Dornbrook says. “There’s so much fresh tracks it could remain evergreen, thus I remain hopeful. There’s no reason why it can’t persist with new generations.”
