🔗 Share this article

Marking two decades since Guitar Hero debuted in North America, giving everyday gamers the tools to feel like a rock star. Figuratively speaking, though you'd be hard-pressed telling that someone who has mastered Free Bird’s four-minute guitar solo in front of a packed living-room audience.

Created by Harmonix, Guitar Hero gave players a plastic guitar peripheral to follow on-screen cues scrolling down the screen synchronized to a song. Every sequence mimicked particular chords, producing the feel of an authentic live show.

The studio previously experimented in the music genre prior to teaming up with RedOctane, later acquired by the gaming giant during the mid-2000s. Together, they established the foundations for an unlikely billion-dollar series that had a significant impact for many musicians included, showcasing decades-old bands to a new generation of gaming enthusiasts.

A former executive, former COO of Harmonix, recalls the initial financial challenges of licensing the songs – even though the first two games primarily featured cover versions.

“We rerecorded all the music since the cost was so high,” he says. “Despite having the publishing rights alone, it proved nearly impossible. We couldn’t get acts such as legendary groups – RedOctane had virtually no money, and our team was pretty convinced it would fail. But once the game became a hit, album purchases and radio play were going up, all artists desired to participate.”

He continues: “One of the amazing things was how many parents reached out expressing gratitude for exposing their kids to the songs they loved. It became an intergenerational thing.”

Classic Rock Gains a New Audience

Irish blues-rock band one featured act had Never Too Late on the 2008 game the popular installment. Lead musician the artist recalls the way the game brought classic rock back into vogue: “The game provided a bigger, younger audience. Typically this had been seen as outdated material, but then when it was included in the game and teenagers were finding it, abruptly it was cool. This validated it, eliminating the outdated tag. It provided all our music a new life.”

In 2008, the Answer’s debut album remained not available stateside, meaning the game served as a primary platform of discovery for the group during their a North American tour opening for AC/DC. “Their crew had on the song on the tour bus, and several recognized us from Guitar Hero,” he notes.

Major Band Titles Enduring Impact

Music's biggest acts quickly took advantage of the series’ popularity, including bands like Aerosmith, Metallica and Van Halen starring in dedicated spin-off titles that focused on their music collections and related stories, imagery and legendary status. For example, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, reportedly to have made the group greater revenue than any of their studio albums. It sold well over 500,000 copies in its first week, while sales of Aerosmith’s music saw an increase of up to 40% during an era as the industry faced decline.

The series still motivates nimble-fingered fanaticism among its fans. Recently, an online personality achieved an impressive attempt of DragonForce’s the challenging track – a notoriously difficult power-metal song popularized through Guitar Hero – using a fan-made version, a freeware game with similar gameplay and extensive personalization features. The song is difficult enough on the hardest setting, let alone played at double speed and without missing every one of its near 4,000 notes. They claimed requiring nine months of practice.

“The game is a fun, imaginary experience. If you play Call of Duty, it doesn't imply you ought to use a real gun and go to war,” notes musician the artist.

DragonForce had already wrapped up a successful tour before Through the Fire and Flames was featured on Guitar Hero III, yet he explains it turned them into widely recognized. “I remember 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 the headliners on the Mayhem festival.”

In fact, DragonForce’s exposure from Guitar Hero was so immense that it risked eclipsing all other the band has done. Recently, the song was used in promotional material for Despicable Me 4. “In the past I thought differently, but now I accept it,” Li says. “Should you just listen to one DragonForce song, that's fine – everyone’s got their own musical journey and I'm pleased we’ve been part of people’s lives”.

The Lasting Legacy from the Iconic Controller

The best marketing, be it for cars, apparel or games, goes further mere transactions – it inspires a longing. Was the game able to harness this? “That’s exactly what our team trying to create,” Dornbrook says. “That thrill of being a rock star in the spotlight. From day one, the co-founders felt that there’s an instinctive urge to make music, and their goal was to use technology to allow people to participate”.

The majority of Guitar Hero games were released in just a half-decade from 2005 to 2010, featuring spin-offs like DJ Hero, including a turntable controller, and Band Hero. After that, the publisher’s interest in plastic instruments waned, aside from a short-lived revival in 2015.

Games such as the fan project and Fortnite Festival have maintained the scene active, and there’s expectations of a new product from the founders on the way. Recently formed developers has entered production on its debut music game. The initial creators are participating as special advisers. Is the world ready to embrace another game in the spirit of the classic?

“Our team believed such titles might become similar to sports games where you can releases,” he remarks. “With abundant fresh tracks that it could be evergreen, thus I remain hopeful. There’s no reason for it to continue for future fans.”