It has been 20 years after the legendary game debuted across the Atlantic, providing everyday gamers the means to become rock legends. Figuratively speaking, but try convincing anyone who has mastered Free Bird’s lengthy instrumental break in front of a packed living-room audience.
Created by Harmonix, the game provided users with a plastic guitar peripheral to match on-screen cues scrolling down the display synchronized to a song. Each riff mimicked specific notes, producing the sensation of a genuine performance.
The studio had already experimented in the music genre before partnering with the publisher, later purchased by Activision in 2006. Together, they established the groundwork for an unlikely massively profitable series which made a remarkable impact for many of the artists featured, introducing classic groups to a new generation of younger players.
Michael Dornbrook, former COO of Harmonix, recalls the early budgetary hurdles in securing the recordings – even though the first two games mostly used rerecorded tracks.
“We rerecorded every song because the dollar figure prohibitive,” he says. “Even with the necessary permissions alone, it proved extremely difficult. We couldn’t get bands like the Who – RedOctane had virtually no money, and we were fairly certain the project would flop. However, when the game became a hit, album purchases airtime were going up, everyone wanted to be in.”
He adds: “Among the remarkable aspects was how many mothers and fathers got in touch expressing gratitude for exposing their children to the music they adored. It became a multigenerational phenomenon.”
Classic Rock Finds Younger Fans
Northern Irish blues-rock band one featured act had their track on the 2008 game the popular installment. Guitarist the artist remembers how the series brought classic rock to the forefront: “Guitar Hero offered a larger, new demographic. Generally this had been considered outdated material, however when it was included in the game and teenagers discovered it, suddenly it became trendy. This validated the genre, and got rid of the ‘dad rock’ tag. It gave all our music a new life.”
In 2008, the Answer’s first record remained not available stateside, so Guitar Hero served as a primary platform for exposure for the group during their a North American tour supporting AC/DC. “Their crew were playing the song on the tour bus, and several recognized us from Guitar Hero,” he notes.
Rock’s Heavyweight Titles Enduring Influence
Music's heavyweight names soon took advantage of the game's success, with Aerosmith, Metallica and Van Halen featuring in dedicated game editions that focused on their music collections and associated stories, visuals and legendary status. For example, the Aerosmith edition, reportedly to have made the band more money than any of their studio albums. It sold well over half a million units upon release, and sales of Aerosmith’s music rose significantly during an era when the music business faced decline.
Guitar Hero continues to inspire quick-handed fanaticism among its fans. Earlier this year, an online personality completed a remarkable feat featuring the challenging track – an infamously tough anthem popularized through the game – on Clone Hero, a freeware game with almost identical mechanics and extensive personalization features. The song is challenging enough on the hardest setting, not to mention performed at double speed while hitting every one of its near 4,000 notes. They claimed it took months of practice to accomplish.
“Guitar Hero offers a, fantasy thing. Just as with other games, it doesn't imply you ought to use a real gun and enlist,” notes DragonForce guitarist the artist.
The band had already completed a profitable run before their hit appeared in the third game, but Li says it made them widely recognized. “I recall the record label calling to tell me that our selling albums rapidly,” he says. “It exploded on the subsequent tour, and we performed just before top acts on the Mayhem festival.”
In fact, the band's visibility via the game proved so vast that it has threatened to overshadow everything else accomplishments. Recently, the track was used in promotional material for Despicable Me 4. “In the past I felt otherwise, but I’ve made peace with it,” Li says. “If you only listen to one DragonForce song, that's fine – each person has their own path in music and I’m glad we played a role in fans' experiences”.
Enduring Impact from the Iconic Controller
The best marketing, be it for cars, clothes or video games, goes further than selling something – it evokes a longing. Was the game able to tap into that? “That’s exactly what our team trying to create,” Dornbrook says. “The excitement of being a music icon in the spotlight. From day one, the co-founders felt that there’s an instinctive urge to create songs, and they wanted to use technology to allow people to do it”.
Most of Guitar Hero games came out in just a five-year period between 2005 and 2010, featuring derivative titles like the DJ version, complete with a turntable controller, and Band Hero. Subsequently, the publisher’s interest on peripherals died down, aside from a short-lived revival several years later.
Games such as the fan project and newer releases have kept the community alive, and there’s set to be a new product from the founders on the way. A new studio has begun work on their first music game. Original co-founders are both involved in advisory roles. Is the world prepared to welcome a new entry in the spirit of Guitar Hero?
“We thought such titles could be similar to sports games 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 hopeful. There’s no reason why it can’t persist for future fans.”
