Guitar Hero Turns 20 – The Plastic Guitar That Connected Generations Between Music Generations
Marking 20 years after Guitar Hero hit the market in North America, providing players everywhere the tools to feel like rock legends. Figuratively speaking, though you'd be hard-pressed convincing someone who has mastered the epic lengthy instrumental break in front of an enthusiastic living-room audience.
Created by the developers, Guitar Hero provided users with a plastic guitar peripheral to follow on-screen cues moving along the display in time with a song. Each riff mimicked particular chords, creating the sensation of an authentic performance.
The studio previously experimented with rhythm games before partnering with the publisher, which was acquired by Activision during the mid-2000s. Collaboratively, they established the foundations for a surprising massively profitable series that had a remarkable influence on numerous of the artists included, introducing decades-old groups to millions of younger players.
Michael Dornbrook, former COO from the developer, recalls the initial financial challenges in securing the songs – even though the first two games mostly used rerecorded tracks.
“We reproduced all the music because the dollar figure prohibitive,” he explains. “Despite having the publishing rights alone, it proved extremely difficult. We couldn’t get acts such as legendary groups – RedOctane had virtually no money, and we were pretty convinced it would fail. But once Guitar Hero took off, album purchases airtime increased, all artists desired to participate.”
He continues: “Among the amazing things was the number of mothers and fathers got in touch and thanked us for exposing their kids to the songs they loved. It evolved into a multigenerational phenomenon.”
Timeless Music Gains Younger Fans
Northern Irish group one featured act included their track on the 2008 game Guitar Hero World Tour. Guitarist Paul Mahon recalls the way the game brought classic rock to the forefront: “Guitar Hero provided a bigger, younger audience. Typically such music was seen as music that was past it, however once it got included in the title and teenagers discovered it, suddenly it became trendy. That legitimised the genre, and got rid of the ‘dad rock’ label. It provided our catalog renewed popularity.”
In 2008, the band's debut album remained not available stateside, so the game served as a primary platform for exposure for the band as they went on US tour opening for AC/DC. “Their crew had on the song on the tour bus, and some of them knew us from Guitar Hero,” Mahon says.
Major Band Titles Enduring Impact
Music's heavyweight names soon capitalised on the game's success, with Aerosmith, Metallica and Van Halen starring in dedicated spin-off titles that focused on each band’s catalogue and related lore, imagery and rock’n’roll mythology. In the case of, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, reportedly earned the band greater revenue compared to their records. It sold more than half a million units upon release, while demand for Aerosmith’s music rose of up to 40% at a time as the industry faced decline.
The series still motivates quick-handed fanaticism within the community. Recently, a streamer achieved an impressive attempt featuring Through the Fire and Flames – a notoriously difficult anthem popularized through Guitar Hero – using a fan-made version, a freeware game with almost identical gameplay but an array of personalization features. The song is challenging enough on the hardest setting, not to mention performed at double speed and without missing a single one of its near 4,000 notes. The streamer claimed it took months of practice of practice.
“Guitar Hero offers a, fantasy thing. Just as with other games, that doesn’t mean you ought to pick up a real gun and enlist,” notes musician the artist.
The band had already completed a profitable run when their hit was featured on Guitar Hero III, yet he explains it made them widely recognized. “I recall the record label calling to tell me that our records were moving rapidly,” he says. “Popularity surged when we next toured, and we were playing just before the headliners on the Mayhem festival.”
Indeed, DragonForce’s exposure via the game proved so vast that it has risked overshadow everything else accomplishments. Last year, the track was used in promotional material for Despicable Me 4. “Previously I felt otherwise, but now I accept it,” Li says. “If you only listen to one DragonForce song, that's fine – everyone’s got their own path in music and I'm pleased we played a role of people’s lives”.
Enduring Impact of a Iconic Controller
The best promotion, be it for automobiles, clothes or video games, goes further mere transactions – it evokes a desire. Was the game able to tap into that? “That’s exactly what we were aiming to achieve,” he confirms. “That thrill of performing as a rock star on the stage. From day one, the co-founders felt that there’s an instinctive human desire to make music, and their goal was to leverage innovation to enable everyone to participate”.
The majority installments were released in just a five-year period from 2005 to 2010, featuring spin-offs such as the DJ version, complete with a spinning deck, and Band Hero. Subsequently, the publisher’s interest in plastic instruments waned, aside from a brief comeback in 2015.
Games like Clone Hero and newer releases have maintained the community active, with set to be a new product from the original publisher in development. A new studio has entered production on their first rhythm-based title. The initial creators are participating in advisory roles. Are gamers prepared to welcome a new entry in the spirit of Guitar Hero?
“We thought such titles could be like Madden allowing annual releases,” he remarks. “There’s so much fresh tracks that it could be evergreen, thus I remain hopeful. There’s no reason why it can’t continue for future fans.”
