It has been two decades after the legendary game debuted in North America, providing everyday gamers the means to feel like rock legends. Figuratively speaking, though you'd be hard-pressed convincing anyone who's mastered the epic four-minute instrumental break before an enthusiastic crowd of friends.
Created by the developers, the game provided users with a guitar-shaped controller to follow on-screen cues scrolling down the screen in time with the music. Each riff corresponded to specific notes, producing the feel of a genuine performance.
The studio had already experimented with rhythm games prior to teaming up with RedOctane, later purchased by Activision in 2006. Collaboratively, they established the groundwork for a surprising billion-dollar franchise that had a remarkable impact on numerous of the artists included, introducing decades-old groups to a new generation of younger players.
Michael Dornbrook, ex-chief operating officer from the developer, recalls the initial budgetary hurdles of licensing the songs – even though initial releases mostly used rerecorded tracks.
“We rerecorded all the music since the dollar figure prohibitive,” he says. “Despite having the necessary permissions by themselves, it proved extremely difficult. We failed to secure acts such as legendary groups – RedOctane was operating on a shoestring budget, and we were pretty convinced it would fail. However, when the game became a hit, album purchases and radio play increased, all artists desired to participate.”
He continues: “Among the remarkable aspects was how many parents got in touch expressing gratitude for exposing their kids to the music they adored. It became a multigenerational phenomenon.”
Classic Rock Gains Younger Fans
Northern Irish group the Answer included Never Too Late on the 2008 game Guitar Hero World Tour. Lead musician Paul Mahon remembers how the series brought older hits back into vogue: “The game offered a larger, new demographic. Typically such music was considered outdated material, however once it got included in the title young people discovered it, abruptly it became trendy. That legitimised it, eliminating the ‘dad rock’ tag. It provided our catalog renewed popularity.”
In 2008, the Answer’s first record was still not available in the US, meaning the game was a key medium of discovery for the band during their a North American tour supporting the rock giants. “The roadies were playing the song on the tour bus, and some of them knew us thanks to the game,” he notes.
Rock’s Heavyweight Titles and Lasting Impact
Music's heavyweight names soon capitalised on the game's success, including bands like Aerosmith, Metallica and others starring in dedicated game editions that focused on their music collections and related lore, imagery and rock’n’roll mythology. For example, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, it was said earned the group more money compared to their studio albums. It moved more than half a million copies upon release, and demand for Aerosmith’s music rose of up to 40% during an era as the industry faced decline.
Guitar Hero continues to inspire nimble-fingered dedication among its fans. Recently, an online personality achieved a remarkable feat of DragonForce’s the challenging track – a notoriously difficult anthem popularized through the game – using a fan-made version, a freeware game with similar gameplay but an array of personalization features. This track is challenging enough on the hardest setting, not to mention performed at increased tempo and without missing every one of its near 4,000 notes. The streamer claimed requiring nine months of practice.
“Guitar Hero is a fun, fantasy thing. If you play other games, that doesn’t mean you should use actual weapons and enlist,” notes musician the artist.
The band previously completed a profitable run before Through the Fire and Flames appeared in the third game, but Li says it turned them into widely recognized. “I recall our distributors calling to tell me that our records were moving like crazy,” he says. “Popularity surged on the subsequent tour, and we performed just before top acts on the Mayhem festival.”
In fact, DragonForce’s exposure from Guitar Hero proved so vast that it has risked overshadow all other the band has done. Last year, the track featured in a trailer for Despicable Me 4. “Previously I felt otherwise, but I’ve made peace with it,” Li says. “Should you just listen to a single track, that's fine – everyone’s got a unique path in music and I'm pleased we played a role of people’s lives”.
Enduring Legacy of a Plastic Guitar
The best promotion, be it for cars, apparel or games, goes further than selling something – it inspires a desire. Was the game able to harness this? “That’s exactly what we were trying to create,” Dornbrook says. “That thrill of performing as a rock star in the spotlight. From day one, the creators believed there’s an instinctive human desire to create songs, and they wanted to leverage innovation to allow people to participate”.
The majority installments were released in just a half-decade from 2005 to 2010, including spin-offs such as the DJ version, including a turntable controller, and the band-focused game. After that, corporate focus in plastic instruments died down, except for a short-lived revival in 2015.
Titles such as Clone Hero and newer releases have kept the community alive, with set to be a new product from the original publisher in development. Recently formed developers has begun production 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 the classic?
“Our team believed those games could be similar to sports games allowing annual update every year,” Dornbrook says. “There’s so much new music that it could be evergreen, so I’ve always been hopeful. There’s no reason why it can’t persist for future fans.”
