It has been two decades after Guitar Hero hit the market in North America, providing players everywhere the means to feel like a rock star. Figuratively speaking, though you'd be hard-pressed telling that anyone who's mastered Free Bird’s lengthy guitar solo in front of a packed crowd of friends.
Created by the developers, the game provided users with a plastic guitar peripheral to match coloured notes scrolling down the display in time with a song. Each riff mimicked specific notes, creating the sensation of an authentic live show.
Harmonix previously tried its hand with rhythm games before partnering with RedOctane, later acquired by Activision in 2006. Collaboratively, they laid the groundwork for a surprising massively profitable series that had a remarkable impact on numerous musicians included, introducing classic bands to a new generation of younger players.
A former executive, ex-chief operating officer from the developer, recalls the early budgetary hurdles of licensing the recordings – even though initial releases mostly used rerecorded tracks.
“We rerecorded every song because the cost prohibitive,” he explains. “Despite having the publishing rights alone, it proved nearly impossible. We couldn’t get bands like legendary groups – RedOctane was operating on a shoestring budget, and our team was pretty convinced it would fail. But once the game became a hit, and record sales and radio play increased, all artists desired to participate.”
He continues: “One of the amazing things was the number of mothers and fathers reached out and thanked us for exposing their kids to the music they adored. It became a multigenerational thing.”
Timeless Music Gains a New Audience
Northern Irish group the Answer had Never Too Late on the 2008 game Guitar Hero World Tour. Guitarist the artist remembers the way the game revived older hits back into vogue: “The game provided a larger, younger audience. Typically such music was considered outdated material, however once it got featured on the game young people were finding it, suddenly it was cool. That legitimised it, and got rid of the ‘dad rock’ tag. It provided all our music a new life.”
In 2008, the band's debut album remained unreleased stateside, so the game served as a primary platform for exposure for the group during their a North American tour supporting AC/DC. “The roadies were playing Never Too Late during travel, and some of them recognized us thanks to the game,” Mahon says.
Major Band Spin-offs and Lasting Influence
Music's heavyweight names soon took advantage of the game's success, including bands like Aerosmith, Metallica and others starring in specialized spin-off titles that focused on each band’s catalogue and associated lore, visuals and rock’n’roll mythology. For example, the Aerosmith edition, it was said to have made the band greater revenue than any of their studio albums. It sold well over half a million copies in its first week, while sales of their songs rose significantly during an era when the music business faced decline.
Guitar Hero still motivates nimble-fingered dedication among its fans. Recently, a streamer achieved an impressive attempt of DragonForce’s the challenging track – a notoriously difficult anthem made popular by Guitar Hero – using a fan-made version, a freeware game with almost identical gameplay but an array of personalization features. This track is challenging even in expert mode, not to mention performed at increased tempo while hitting every one of its near 4,000 notes. They claimed requiring months of practice to accomplish.
“Guitar Hero offers a, imaginary experience. Just as with Call of Duty, it doesn't imply you should pick up actual weapons and go to war,” says DragonForce guitarist Herman Li.
The band previously completed a profitable run before Through the Fire and Flames was featured on Guitar Hero III, yet he explains it turned them into widely recognized. “I recall our distributors informing us that we were records were moving rapidly,” he says. “Popularity surged on the subsequent tour, 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 has threatened to overshadow everything else the band has done. Last year, the song was used in a trailer for Despicable Me 4. “Previously I thought otherwise, but I’ve made peace with it,” Li says. “If you only listen to one DragonForce song, that's fine – everyone’s got a unique path in music and I'm pleased we played a role in fans' experiences”.
The Lasting Legacy of a Plastic Guitar
The best promotion, whether it’s for cars, apparel or video games, goes further mere transactions – it inspires a longing. Was the game able to tap into that? “That’s exactly what we were trying to create,” he confirms. “The excitement of performing as a rock star in the spotlight. Since the beginning, the creators felt that there’s an instinctive urge to create songs, and their goal was to leverage innovation to enable everyone to do it”.
The majority of Guitar Hero games came out over a mere five-year period from 2005 to 2010, including derivative titles such as DJ Hero, complete with a turntable controller, and Band Hero. Subsequently, the publisher’s interest on peripherals died down, aside from a brief comeback in 2015.
Games like Clone Hero and newer releases have kept the community alive, with set to be a new product from the original publisher in development. Recently formed developers has entered work on its debut music game. The initial creators are both involved as special advisers. Is the world ready to embrace a new entry following Guitar Hero?
“Our team believed such titles could be like Madden allowing annual releases,” he remarks. “There’s so much fresh tracks it could remain evergreen, so I’ve always been hopeful. There’s no reason for it to persist with new generations.”
