It has been 20 years since Guitar Hero debuted across the Atlantic, providing players everywhere the opportunity to feel like rock legends. Figuratively speaking, though you'd be hard-pressed telling that anyone who has mastered Free Bird’s lengthy guitar solo before an enthusiastic living-room audience.
Created by Harmonix, Guitar Hero provided users with a guitar-shaped controller to follow coloured notes scrolling down the screen in time with the music. Every sequence corresponded to specific notes, creating the feel of an authentic live show.
The studio had already tried its hand in the music genre prior to teaming up with the publisher, which was acquired by Activision in 2006. Together, they established the foundations for an unlikely massively profitable franchise which made a remarkable influence on numerous musicians included, introducing classic groups to millions of gaming enthusiasts.
Michael Dornbrook, former COO from the developer, remembers the initial financial challenges of licensing the recordings – even though initial releases mostly used rerecorded tracks.
“We reproduced all the music since the cost was so high,” he explains. “Despite having the publishing rights alone, it was extremely difficult. We couldn’t get acts such as legendary groups – the publisher was operating on a shoestring budget, and our team was fairly certain the project would flop. However, when Guitar Hero took off, and record sales airtime were going up, all artists desired to be in.”
He adds: “Among the remarkable aspects was how many parents got in touch expressing gratitude for exposing their kids to the songs they adored. It evolved into an intergenerational thing.”
Classic Rock Gains Younger Fans
Irish blues-rock band the Answer had Never Too Late in the 2008 release Guitar Hero World Tour. Guitarist Paul Mahon remembers how the series brought older hits back into vogue: “Guitar Hero offered a larger, new demographic. Generally this had been considered music that was past it, but then once it got featured on the title and teenagers were finding it, abruptly it was cool. That legitimised it, eliminating the ‘dad rock’ tag. It provided our catalog renewed popularity.”
At that time, the band's first record was still unreleased in the US, meaning Guitar Hero was a key medium for exposure for the group as they went on US tour opening for AC/DC. “Their crew were playing the song on the tour bus, and some of them knew us from Guitar Hero,” he notes.
Major Band Spin-offs and Lasting Impact
Music's biggest acts quickly took advantage of the game's success, with Aerosmith, Metallica and Van Halen starring in specialized game editions centered around their music collections and associated stories, imagery and legendary status. For example, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, it was said earned the group more money compared to their studio albums. It sold more than half a million units in its first week, and demand for their songs rose of up to 40% at a time when the music business was already collapsing.
Guitar Hero still motivates nimble-fingered fanaticism among its fans. Earlier this year, an online personality achieved an impressive attempt featuring the challenging track – an infamously tough anthem made popular by Guitar Hero – using a fan-made version, a freeware game with almost identical mechanics but an array of customisation options. This track is challenging even in the hardest setting, let alone played at double speed and without missing a single one of its near 4,000 notes. The streamer claimed it took nine months to accomplish.
“The game offers a, imaginary experience. Just as with Call of Duty, it doesn't imply you ought to pick up a real gun and enlist,” says musician the artist.
The band had already completed a successful tour before their hit was featured in the third game, but Li says it made them widely recognized. “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 at the event.”
In fact, the band's visibility from Guitar Hero proved so vast that it threatened to overshadow all other the band has done. Recently, the song featured in promotional material for Despicable Me 4. “In the past I felt otherwise, but now I accept it,” Li says. “Should you just hear one DragonForce song, that's fine – each person has a unique path in music and I'm pleased we’ve been part of people’s lives”.
The Lasting Impact of a Plastic Guitar
Top-tier marketing, be it for cars, apparel or games, goes further than selling something – it inspires a longing. Did Guitar Hero harness this? “That’s exactly what our team trying to create,” Dornbrook says. “That thrill of being a music icon on the stage. Since the beginning, the co-founders felt that there’s an instinctive human desire to create songs, and they wanted to use technology to enable everyone to do it”.
The majority of Guitar Hero games came out in just a five-year period from 2005 to 2010, including derivative titles like the DJ version, complete with a turntable controller, and Band Hero. Subsequently, the publisher’s interest in plastic instruments died down, aside from a short-lived revival several years later.
Titles like the fan project and Fortnite Festival have maintained the community active, and there’s set to be a new product from the founders on the way. Recently formed developers has entered production on its debut music game. The initial creators are both involved in advisory roles. Is the world ready to embrace a new entry in the spirit of Guitar Hero?
“Our team believed such titles could be like Madden allowing annual releases,” Dornbrook says. “There’s so much fresh tracks that it could be perennially popular, so I’ve always been optimistic. It's entirely possible why it can’t persist for future fans.”
