Marking two decades since the legendary game debuted in North America, offering players everywhere the tools to become rock legends. Figuratively speaking, but try convincing someone who's nailed Free Bird’s four-minute instrumental break in front of an enthusiastic living-room audience.
Developed by Harmonix, the game provided users with a plastic guitar peripheral to follow coloured notes moving along the screen in time with the music. Each riff mimicked specific notes, producing the sensation of a genuine performance.
Harmonix had already tried its hand in the music genre prior to teaming up with RedOctane, which was acquired by the gaming giant in 2006. Collaboratively, they laid the groundwork for an unlikely massively profitable franchise that had a significant impact on numerous musicians included, showcasing decades-old groups to a new generation of younger players.
A former executive, ex-chief operating officer of Harmonix, recalls the early budgetary hurdles of licensing the recordings – even though initial releases mostly used rerecorded tracks.
“We reproduced all the music since the cost prohibitive,” he explains. “Even with the necessary permissions alone, it proved extremely difficult. We couldn’t get acts such as the Who – RedOctane was operating on a shoestring budget, and we were fairly certain it would fail. But once the game took off, and record sales and radio play were going up, all artists desired to be in.”
He adds: “One of the amazing things was the number of mothers and fathers reached out and thanked us for introducing their children to the music they adored. It became an intergenerational thing.”
Classic Rock Gains a New Audience
Northern Irish group the Answer included Never Too Late in the 2008 release the popular installment. Guitarist Paul Mahon recalls how the series revived classic rock back into vogue: “Guitar Hero offered a bigger, younger audience. Generally this had been considered music that was past it, but then once it got featured on the game and teenagers were finding it, suddenly it became trendy. This validated the genre, and got rid of the outdated tag. It provided all our music renewed popularity.”
At that time, the band's debut album remained not available stateside, meaning Guitar Hero was a key medium for exposure for the band during their US tour supporting the rock giants. “Their crew were playing the song on the tour bus, and some of them recognized us thanks to the game,” Mahon says.
Rock’s Heavyweight Titles and Lasting Influence
Music's heavyweight names soon capitalised on the game's success, including bands like Aerosmith, Metallica and others featuring in dedicated spin-off titles centered around each band’s catalogue and associated stories, visuals and legendary status. In the case of, the Aerosmith edition, reportedly to have made the group more money than any of their records. It moved more than 500,000 units in its first week, while demand for Aerosmith’s music rose significantly during an era when the music business was already collapsing.
Guitar Hero still motivates nimble-fingered dedication within the community. Earlier this year, a streamer completed a remarkable feat featuring the challenging track – an infamously tough power-metal song popularized through Guitar Hero – on Clone Hero, a freeware game with similar mechanics and extensive personalization features. This track is challenging enough on expert mode, let alone played at increased tempo while hitting every one of its near 4,000 notes. They stated requiring months of practice of practice.
“The game offers a, fantasy thing. If you play Call of Duty, it doesn't imply you should use actual weapons and go to war,” notes DragonForce guitarist Herman Li.
The band previously wrapped up a successful tour before their hit was featured on Guitar Hero III, but Li says it turned them into a household name. “I remember the record label informing us that we were selling albums rapidly,” he shares. “It exploded when we next toured, and we performed right ahead of the headliners on the Mayhem festival.”
Indeed, the band's visibility via the game was so immense that it has risked overshadow everything else the band has done. Last year, the track was used in a trailer for Despicable Me 4. “In the past I thought differently, but now I accept it,” Li says. “Should you just hear one DragonForce song, it’s totally cool – each person has their own musical journey and I'm pleased we played a role in fans' experiences”.
Enduring Impact of a Plastic Guitar
The best marketing, whether it’s for cars, apparel or games, goes further than selling something – it inspires a longing. Did Guitar Hero tap into that? “Precisely what we were trying to create,” he confirms. “The excitement of being a rock star in the spotlight. From day one, the co-founders felt that humans have a natural human desire to make music, and their goal was to leverage innovation to enable everyone to do it”.
Most installments came out over a mere five-year period between 2005 and 2010, including spin-offs such as the DJ version, including a spinning deck, and Band Hero. Subsequently, corporate focus on peripherals waned, except for a brief comeback several years later.
Titles such as Clone Hero and Fortnite Festival have kept the scene alive, with expectations of a new product from the original publisher on the way. A new studio has begun work on their first music game. Original co-founders are participating in advisory roles. Are gamers prepared to welcome another game following Guitar Hero?
“We thought such titles could be similar to sports games where you can releases,” Dornbrook says. “With abundant fresh tracks that it could be evergreen, so I’ve always been hopeful. It's entirely possible for it to persist with new generations.”
