🔗 Share this article

Marking 20 years after the legendary game first launched across the Atlantic, giving everyday gamers the means to feel like a rock star. Not in reality, though you'd be hard-pressed convincing someone who has mastered the epic four-minute guitar solo in front of a packed crowd of friends.

Created by Harmonix, the game provided users with a guitar-shaped controller to match coloured notes scrolling down the screen in time with a song. Each riff mimicked specific notes, creating the feel of an authentic live show.

Harmonix previously tried its hand in the music genre prior to teaming up with the publisher, later acquired by the gaming giant during the mid-2000s. Collaboratively, they established the foundations for a surprising massively profitable series that had a significant influence on numerous musicians included, showcasing classic bands to millions of younger players.

A former executive, ex-chief operating officer from the developer, remembers the early financial challenges of licensing the songs – even though the first two games mostly used rerecorded tracks.

“We rerecorded all the music because the dollar figure was so high,” he says. “Even with the publishing rights alone, it was extremely difficult. We couldn’t get bands like legendary groups – RedOctane had virtually no money, and our team was pretty convinced it would fail. But once Guitar Hero took off, album purchases and radio play were going up, everyone wanted to participate.”

He adds: “Among the amazing things was the number of parents got in touch expressing gratitude for exposing their kids to the songs they adored. It evolved into an intergenerational thing.”

Classic Rock Gains a New Audience

Northern Irish group one featured act had their track on the 2008 game Guitar Hero World Tour. Lead musician Paul Mahon remembers the way the game revived classic rock back into vogue: “The game provided a larger, younger audience. Generally such music was considered outdated material, however once it got included in the title and teenagers discovered it, abruptly it became trendy. That legitimised it, eliminating the outdated tag. It gave all our music a new life.”

At that time, the Answer’s first record remained unreleased in the US, so Guitar Hero served as a primary platform of discovery for the band as they went on a North American tour opening for AC/DC. “Their crew were playing Never Too Late on the tour bus, and some of them recognized us thanks to the game,” he notes.

Rock’s Heavyweight Spin-offs Enduring Impact

Rock’s biggest acts soon took advantage of the series’ popularity, including bands like Aerosmith, Metallica and others featuring in dedicated spin-off titles centered around their music collections and related stories, visuals and legendary status. For example, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, it was said to have made the band more money compared to their records. It sold more than half a million copies upon release, while sales of Aerosmith’s music rose significantly at a time as the industry was already collapsing.

Guitar Hero continues to inspire nimble-fingered dedication within the community. Recently, an online personality achieved an impressive attempt of DragonForce’s the challenging track – a notoriously difficult anthem made popular by Guitar Hero – on Clone Hero, a freeware game with similar gameplay and extensive personalization features. This track is difficult even in the hardest setting, not to mention played at double speed and without missing every one of the thousands of cues. They claimed it took nine months of practice.

“The game is a fun, fantasy thing. If you play Call of Duty, it doesn't imply you should use a real gun and enlist,” notes DragonForce guitarist Herman Li.

DragonForce previously wrapped up a profitable run when Through the Fire and Flames was featured in the third game, yet he explains it made them widely recognized. “I remember our distributors informing us that we were selling albums rapidly,” he shares. “It exploded when we next toured, and we performed right ahead of top acts on the Mayhem festival.”

Indeed, the band's visibility from Guitar Hero was so immense that it has risked eclipsing everything else the band has done. Last year, the song featured in a trailer for Despicable Me 4. “Previously I felt differently, but now I accept it,” he admits. “Should you just hear a single track, it’s totally cool – everyone’s got a unique musical journey and I’m glad we’ve been part in fans' experiences”.

Enduring Legacy of a Iconic Controller

The best promotion, be it for automobiles, clothes or games, goes further than selling something – it evokes a longing. Did Guitar Hero tap into that? “That’s exactly what we were aiming to achieve,” Dornbrook says. “That thrill of being a music icon in the spotlight. From day one, the co-founders felt that humans have a natural human desire to make music, and they wanted to use technology to enable everyone to do it”.

The majority installments came out in just a half-decade between 2005 and 2010, featuring spin-offs such as the DJ version, including a turntable controller, and the band-focused game. Subsequently, the publisher’s interest on peripherals waned, aside from a short-lived revival several years later.

Games such as Clone Hero and newer releases have maintained the community active, and there’s expectations of something from the founders on the way. A new studio has entered production on their first rhythm-based title. Original co-founders are both involved in advisory roles. Are gamers ready to embrace another game in the spirit of Guitar Hero?

“Our team believed such titles might become like Madden where you can update every year,” he remarks. “There’s so much fresh tracks that it could be evergreen, thus I remain hopeful. It's entirely possible for it to continue with new generations.”