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Marking 20 years after Guitar Hero debuted across the Atlantic, giving everyday gamers the opportunity to become rock legends. Not in reality, but try telling that anyone who's nailed the epic four-minute guitar solo before a packed living-room audience.

Developed by Harmonix, Guitar Hero gave players a guitar-shaped controller to follow coloured notes moving along the screen in time with a song. Every sequence mimicked specific notes, producing the feel of an authentic live show.

Harmonix previously tried its hand in the music genre prior to teaming up with the publisher, later purchased by Activision during the mid-2000s. Collaboratively, they laid the foundations for an unlikely massively profitable series that had a significant influence on numerous of the artists featured, introducing classic bands to a new generation of gaming enthusiasts.

A former executive, former COO of Harmonix, remembers the initial budgetary hurdles in securing the recordings – despite the fact initial releases mostly used cover versions.

“We rerecorded every song because the cost prohibitive,” he says. “Even with the necessary permissions alone, it proved nearly impossible. We couldn’t get bands like the Who – RedOctane was operating on a shoestring budget, and we were pretty convinced the project would flop. But once the game took off, album purchases airtime were going up, everyone wanted to be in.”

He adds: “Among the remarkable aspects was the number of mothers and fathers got in touch expressing gratitude for exposing their kids to the songs they loved. It evolved into an intergenerational thing.”

Timeless Music Gains a New Audience

Northern Irish blues-rock band the Answer included their track on the 2008 game the popular installment. Lead musician the artist remembers the way the game revived older hits to the forefront: “The game offered a larger, younger audience. Typically this had been seen as outdated material, but then when it was featured on the game young people were finding it, abruptly it was cool. This validated it, eliminating the ‘dad rock’ tag. It provided our catalog a new life.”

At that time, the Answer’s debut album remained not available in the US, meaning the game was a key medium for exposure for the band during their US tour opening for the rock giants. “The roadies were playing Never Too Late during travel, and several knew us thanks to the game,” Mahon says.

Major Band Spin-offs Enduring Impact

Rock’s heavyweight names soon capitalised on the series’ popularity, including bands like Aerosmith, Metallica and Van Halen featuring in specialized spin-off titles that focused on each band’s catalogue and related lore, visuals and rock’n’roll mythology. In the case of, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, reportedly earned the band greater revenue than any of their studio albums. It sold more than 500,000 copies in its first week, while sales of their songs rose of up to 40% at a time as the industry faced decline.

Guitar Hero continues to inspire nimble-fingered fanaticism among its fans. Recently, a streamer completed an impressive attempt of DragonForce’s Through the Fire and Flames – a notoriously difficult power-metal song popularized through Guitar Hero – using a fan-made version, a no-cost alternative with almost identical mechanics and extensive personalization features. This track is difficult enough on expert mode, let alone performed at increased tempo and without missing every one of the thousands of cues. They claimed requiring months of practice to accomplish.

“Guitar Hero is a fun, fantasy thing. If you play Call of Duty, that doesn’t mean you ought to use a real gun and enlist,” says musician Herman Li.

DragonForce previously wrapped up a profitable run when their hit was featured in the third game, but Li says it turned them into widely recognized. “I recall the record label informing us that our records were moving rapidly,” he says. “Popularity surged when we next toured, and we were playing just before top acts at the event.”

Indeed, DragonForce’s exposure via the game proved so vast that it has threatened to overshadow everything else accomplishments. Recently, the song featured in a trailer for a major film. “In the past I felt otherwise, but I’ve made peace with it,” he admits. “If you only listen to one DragonForce song, that's fine – everyone’s got a unique musical journey and I’m glad we’ve been part of people’s lives”.

The Lasting Legacy of a Plastic Guitar

Top-tier marketing, be it for cars, clothes or games, goes further mere transactions – it evokes a desire. Was the game able to tap into that? “That’s exactly what we were trying to create,” he confirms. “That thrill of performing as a music icon on the stage. From day one, the co-founders believed humans have a natural human desire to create songs, and they wanted to leverage innovation to allow people to do it”.

The majority installments were released in just a five-year period from 2005 to 2010, featuring derivative titles like the DJ version, including a spinning deck, and the band-focused game. Subsequently, the publisher’s interest in plastic instruments died down, aside from a brief comeback several years later.

Games such as Clone Hero and Fortnite Festival have maintained the scene active, and there’s expectations of a new product from the original publisher on the way. Recently formed developers has begun production on its debut music game. Original co-founders are participating in advisory roles. Are gamers prepared to welcome another game in the spirit of the classic?

“Our team believed those games might become like Madden where you can update every year,” he remarks. “With abundant fresh tracks it could remain evergreen, so I’ve always been hopeful. There’s no reason why it can’t continue for future fans.”