Marking 20 years since Guitar Hero debuted across the Atlantic, offering everyday gamers the opportunity to become a rock star. Not in reality, though you'd be hard-pressed telling that anyone who has mastered Free Bird’s lengthy guitar solo in front of a packed living-room audience.
Created by Harmonix, Guitar Hero provided users with a guitar-shaped controller to follow coloured notes moving along the display in time with a song. Each riff corresponded to particular chords, creating the sensation of a genuine live show.
Harmonix had already tried its hand in the music genre before partnering with the publisher, later acquired by Activision during the mid-2000s. Collaboratively, they established the groundwork for an unlikely billion-dollar franchise that had a significant impact on numerous musicians included, showcasing classic groups to a new generation of younger players.
Michael Dornbrook, ex-chief operating officer of Harmonix, recalls the early budgetary hurdles in securing the recordings – despite the fact initial releases primarily featured rerecorded tracks.
“We rerecorded all the music because the dollar figure was so high,” he says. “Even with the necessary permissions by themselves, it was extremely difficult. We couldn’t get bands like the Who – the publisher was operating on a shoestring budget, and we were fairly certain the project would flop. But once the game took off, album purchases and radio play were going up, all artists desired to participate.”
He adds: “One of the remarkable aspects was the number of parents reached out expressing gratitude for exposing their children to the music they adored. It became an intergenerational phenomenon.”
Timeless Music Gains Younger Fans
Irish group the Answer included Never Too Late on the 2008 game Guitar Hero World Tour. Lead musician the artist remembers the way the game revived classic rock back into vogue: “The game offered a bigger, new demographic. Typically this had been considered music that was past it, however when it was featured on the title young people were finding it, abruptly it became trendy. This validated it, eliminating the ‘dad rock’ tag. It gave our catalog a new life.”
In 2008, the band's debut album was still not available stateside, so the game served as a primary platform of discovery for the group as they went on US tour opening for AC/DC. “Their crew were playing the song on the tour bus, and several recognized us thanks to the game,” he notes.
Major Band Titles and Lasting Impact
Rock’s biggest acts soon took advantage of the game's success, with Aerosmith, Metallica and Van Halen featuring in dedicated spin-off titles that focused on each band’s catalogue and associated lore, visuals and rock’n’roll mythology. For example, the Aerosmith edition, reportedly to have made the band greater revenue than any of their records. It moved well over 500,000 copies in its first week, while demand for Aerosmith’s music saw an increase of up to 40% at a time when the music business was already collapsing.
Guitar Hero still motivates quick-handed dedication among its fans. Earlier this year, an online personality achieved an impressive attempt featuring the challenging track – a notoriously difficult power-metal song made popular by Guitar Hero – using a fan-made version, a freeware game with almost identical gameplay but an array of customisation options. This track is challenging enough on the hardest setting, let alone played at increased tempo and without missing a single one of the thousands of cues. They claimed requiring nine months of practice.
“The game offers a, fantasy thing. If you play other games, that doesn’t mean you should pick up actual weapons and enlist,” notes DragonForce guitarist Herman Li.
The band previously wrapped up a successful tour before their hit was featured in the third game, but Li says it turned them into widely recognized. “I recall our distributors informing us that we were selling albums like crazy,” he shares. “Popularity surged when we next toured, and we performed right ahead of the headliners at the event.”
Indeed, the band's visibility from Guitar Hero was so immense that it has threatened to eclipsing all other the band has done. Recently, the song featured in promotional material for Despicable Me 4. “Previously I felt differently, but I’ve made peace with it,” he admits. “Should you just hear one DragonForce song, it’s totally cool – each person has their own musical journey and I'm pleased we’ve been part of people’s lives”.
The Lasting Legacy of a Iconic Controller
Top-tier promotion, be it for cars, apparel or games, extends beyond than selling something – it evokes a longing. Was the game able to tap into that? “That’s exactly what we were trying to create,” Dornbrook says. “The excitement of performing as a music icon in the spotlight. Since the beginning, the co-founders felt that humans have a natural urge to make music, and their goal was to leverage innovation to enable everyone to do it”.
The majority installments were released over a mere five-year period from 2005 to 2010, including spin-offs such as the DJ version, including a spinning deck, and the band-focused game. Subsequently, the publisher’s interest on peripherals waned, except for a short-lived revival several years later.
Titles like the fan project and Fortnite Festival have kept the scene alive, with set to be something from the founders on the way. A new studio has entered production on their first music game. The initial creators are participating as special advisers. Is the world ready to embrace another game following Guitar Hero?
“We thought those games might become like Madden where you can update every year,” Dornbrook says. “With abundant fresh tracks that it could be perennially popular, thus I remain hopeful. It's entirely possible for it to persist for future fans.”
