It has been 20 years after Guitar Hero hit the market across the Atlantic, providing players everywhere the means to feel like rock legends. Not literally, though you'd be hard-pressed convincing anyone who's nailed Free Bird’s lengthy instrumental break in front of a packed living-room audience.
Developed by Harmonix, Guitar Hero provided users with a guitar-shaped controller to follow coloured notes moving along the display in time with the music. Every sequence corresponded to particular chords, creating the feel of a genuine live show.
Harmonix had already experimented with rhythm games prior to teaming up with the publisher, which was acquired by Activision during the mid-2000s. Collaboratively, they established the groundwork for a surprising massively profitable franchise which made a remarkable impact on numerous of the artists included, showcasing decades-old groups to millions of gaming enthusiasts.
Michael Dornbrook, former COO from the developer, remembers the early financial challenges in securing the recordings – despite the fact the first two games primarily featured cover versions.
“We rerecorded all the music since the dollar figure prohibitive,” he says. “Even with the necessary permissions alone, it proved extremely difficult. We failed to secure bands like legendary groups – RedOctane was operating on a shoestring budget, and our team was fairly certain it would fail. However, when the game took off, album purchases and radio play increased, all artists desired to participate.”
He continues: “One of the amazing things was how many mothers and fathers got in touch expressing gratitude for exposing their children to the songs they adored. It became a multigenerational phenomenon.”
Classic Rock Gains a New Audience
Northern Irish group one featured act included Never Too Late on the 2008 game Guitar Hero World Tour. Guitarist Paul Mahon recalls how the series revived older hits to the forefront: “Guitar Hero offered a bigger, new demographic. Generally such music was seen as outdated material, however when it was included in the game young people discovered it, abruptly it was cool. That legitimised it, and got rid of the ‘dad rock’ label. It gave our catalog a new life.”
At that time, the band's first record was still not available stateside, meaning the game was a key medium of discovery for the band during their US tour supporting the rock giants. “The roadies had on Never Too Late during travel, and several recognized us from Guitar Hero,” he notes.
Rock’s Heavyweight Titles Enduring Influence
Rock’s biggest acts quickly took advantage of the series’ popularity, with Aerosmith, Metallica and Van Halen featuring in dedicated game editions that focused on each band’s catalogue and related stories, visuals and rock’n’roll mythology. For example, the Aerosmith edition, it was said earned the band more money than any of their records. It moved more than 500,000 units in its first week, and demand for Aerosmith’s music saw an increase of up to 40% at a time when the music business faced decline.
Guitar Hero still motivates nimble-fingered dedication among its fans. Earlier this year, an online personality achieved a remarkable feat of DragonForce’s the challenging track – a notoriously difficult anthem made popular by the game – on Clone Hero, a no-cost alternative with similar gameplay but an array of personalization features. The song is challenging enough on the hardest setting, not to mention performed at double speed and without missing every one of the thousands of cues. They stated it took nine months to accomplish.
“The game offers a, fantasy thing. If you play Call of Duty, that doesn’t mean you ought to use actual weapons and go to war,” says musician Herman Li.
DragonForce previously wrapped up a successful tour before their hit was featured on Guitar Hero III, but Li says it made them a household name. “I remember the record label informing us that our records were moving rapidly,” he shares. “Popularity surged on the subsequent tour, and we performed right ahead of the headliners on the Mayhem festival.”
Indeed, the band's visibility from Guitar Hero was so immense that it threatened to eclipsing all other the band has done. Last year, the track was used in promotional material for Despicable Me 4. “Previously I felt 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’ve been part in fans' experiences”.
Enduring Impact from the Iconic Controller
Top-tier marketing, whether it’s for cars, clothes or games, goes further mere transactions – it evokes a longing. Did Guitar Hero harness this? “Precisely what we were aiming to achieve,” Dornbrook says. “The excitement of performing as a music icon on the stage. Since the beginning, the co-founders believed there’s an instinctive urge to make music, and their goal was to leverage innovation to allow people to do it”.
Most of Guitar Hero games came out in just a half-decade between 2005 and 2010, including spin-offs such as the DJ version, including a turntable controller, and Band Hero. After that, corporate focus in plastic instruments died down, aside from a brief comeback several years later.
Games such as the fan project and newer releases have maintained the scene alive, with set to be a new product from the original publisher in development. A new studio has begun work on its debut music game. The initial creators are participating in advisory roles. Is the world ready to embrace another game following Guitar Hero?
“We thought such titles might become similar to sports games allowing annual update every year,” Dornbrook says. “There’s so much new music that it could be perennially popular, thus I remain hopeful. There’s no reason why it can’t persist with new generations.”
