It has been 20 years since Guitar Hero hit the market in North America, providing players everywhere the opportunity to feel like rock legends. Not literally, though you'd be hard-pressed convincing anyone who's mastered the epic lengthy instrumental break before an enthusiastic living-room audience.
Created by Harmonix, Guitar Hero provided users with a guitar-shaped controller to match coloured notes moving along the display in time with a song. Every sequence mimicked particular chords, creating the sensation of a genuine performance.
Harmonix had already experimented in the music genre before partnering with RedOctane, later purchased by Activision in 2006. Together, they established the foundations for an unlikely massively profitable series that had a remarkable influence for many of the artists featured, showcasing classic bands to a new generation of gaming enthusiasts.
A former executive, former COO from the developer, remembers the initial financial challenges in securing the recordings – despite the fact initial releases mostly used cover versions.
“We reproduced all the music since the dollar figure was so high,” he explains. “Even with the publishing rights by themselves, it was extremely difficult. We couldn’t get bands like legendary groups – the publisher had virtually no money, and we were pretty convinced the project would flop. But once the game became a hit, and record sales airtime increased, everyone wanted to participate.”
He adds: “One of the remarkable aspects was the number of mothers and fathers got in touch and thanked us for exposing their kids to the songs they adored. It evolved into an intergenerational phenomenon.”
Timeless Music Finds a New Audience
Northern Irish blues-rock band the Answer included their track in the 2008 release the popular installment. Guitarist Paul Mahon recalls the way the game brought classic rock to the forefront: “Guitar Hero offered a larger, younger audience. Typically such music was considered outdated material, but then when it was featured on the game and teenagers discovered it, abruptly it became trendy. That legitimised it, and got rid of the ‘dad rock’ tag. It provided all our music renewed popularity.”
In 2008, the band's first record remained unreleased in the US, so Guitar Hero was a key medium of discovery for the band as they went on US tour opening for AC/DC. “The roadies were playing Never Too Late on the tour bus, and some of them knew us from Guitar Hero,” Mahon says.
Major Band Spin-offs Enduring Impact
Rock’s heavyweight names soon took advantage of the game's success, with Aerosmith, Metallica and others featuring in dedicated spin-off titles that focused on their music collections and associated stories, visuals and legendary status. In the case of, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, it was said to have made the band more money compared to their studio albums. It moved more than 500,000 copies upon release, and sales of Aerosmith’s music rose significantly during an era as the industry was already collapsing.
Guitar Hero continues to inspire nimble-fingered fanaticism among its fans. Earlier this year, a streamer completed an impressive attempt featuring the challenging track – a notoriously difficult anthem popularized through the game – on Clone Hero, a freeware game with similar gameplay and extensive customisation options. This track is difficult even in the hardest setting, not to mention performed at increased tempo and without missing a single one of its near 4,000 notes. They claimed it took months of practice of practice.
“Guitar Hero offers a, fantasy thing. Just as with Call of Duty, it doesn't imply you ought to pick up a real gun and enlist,” notes DragonForce guitarist Herman Li.
The band had already wrapped up a profitable run before Through the Fire and Flames was featured on Guitar Hero III, yet he explains it made them a household name. “I recall the record label informing us that we were records were moving rapidly,” he says. “It exploded when we next toured, and we performed just before the headliners on the Mayhem festival.”
Indeed, the band's visibility from Guitar Hero was so immense that it has threatened to eclipsing everything else the band has done. Recently, the song featured in promotional material for Despicable Me 4. “Previously I thought otherwise, but now I accept it,” Li says. “If you only listen to a single track, that's fine – each person has a unique path in music and I’m glad we played a role in fans' experiences”.
Enduring Impact from the Plastic Guitar
The best promotion, whether it’s for cars, clothes or video games, extends beyond mere transactions – it evokes a longing. Did Guitar Hero harness this? “Precisely what we were aiming to achieve,” he confirms. “The excitement of performing as a music icon on the stage. From day one, the co-founders believed there’s an instinctive urge to make music, and their goal was to leverage innovation to enable everyone to do it”.
Most of Guitar Hero games were released over a mere five-year period from 2005 to 2010, featuring spin-offs such as DJ Hero, complete with a turntable controller, and Band Hero. After that, corporate focus on peripherals waned, except for a short-lived revival in 2015.
Titles such as Clone Hero and newer releases have maintained the community alive, with set to be a new product from the founders in development. Recently formed developers has entered work on its debut music game. The initial creators are participating as special advisers. Are gamers prepared to welcome a new entry following the classic?
“Our team believed those games could be like Madden where you can update every year,” he remarks. “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.”
