The Iconic Game at 20 – The Plastic Guitar That Connected Generations Among Music Generations

It has been 20 years after Guitar Hero hit the market across the Atlantic, offering everyday gamers the opportunity to become a rock star. Figuratively speaking, but try convincing someone who has mastered Free Bird’s four-minute guitar solo in front of an enthusiastic living-room audience.

Developed by Harmonix, the game gave players a guitar-shaped controller to match on-screen cues scrolling down the display synchronized to a song. Every sequence corresponded to particular chords, producing the feel of an authentic live show.

The studio had already tried its hand with rhythm games prior to teaming up with RedOctane, later purchased by the gaming giant in 2006. Collaboratively, they established the groundwork for a surprising massively profitable franchise that had a remarkable influence for many of the artists included, introducing decades-old bands to a new generation of gaming enthusiasts.

Michael Dornbrook, former COO of Harmonix, recalls the early budgetary hurdles in securing the recordings – despite the fact initial releases primarily featured rerecorded tracks.

“We reproduced all the music since the cost was so high,” he says. “Despite having the necessary permissions alone, it proved nearly impossible. We failed to secure bands like legendary groups – RedOctane was operating on a shoestring budget, and we were fairly certain the project would flop. However, when Guitar Hero took off, album purchases and radio play increased, everyone wanted to be in.”

He adds: “Among the remarkable aspects was the number of mothers and fathers reached out and thanked us for exposing their kids to the music they loved. It became a multigenerational phenomenon.”

Timeless Music Gains a New Audience

Irish blues-rock band the Answer included their track in the 2008 release the popular installment. Lead musician the artist recalls how the series brought classic rock to the forefront: “The game provided a bigger, younger audience. Typically this had been considered music that was past it, however once it got included in the title and teenagers discovered it, suddenly it was cool. That legitimised it, and got rid of the outdated tag. It gave all our music renewed popularity.”

At that time, the band's debut album was still unreleased stateside, meaning the game served as a primary platform of discovery for the group during their a North American tour opening for the rock giants. “The roadies had on the song during travel, and some of them knew us thanks to the game,” he notes.

Major Band Titles and Lasting Influence

Music's biggest acts quickly took advantage of the series’ popularity, with Aerosmith, Metallica and Van Halen starring in dedicated game editions that focused on their music collections and related lore, imagery and rock’n’roll mythology. In the case of, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, it was said to have made the group greater revenue than any of their studio albums. It sold more than 500,000 units in its first week, while sales of Aerosmith’s music rose of up to 40% at a time when the music business was already collapsing.

The series continues to inspire nimble-fingered fanaticism within the community. Recently, an online personality achieved an impressive attempt of DragonForce’s the challenging track – a notoriously difficult anthem popularized through Guitar Hero – on Clone Hero, a no-cost alternative with almost identical mechanics but an array of customisation options. The song is challenging enough on the hardest setting, let alone played at double speed and without missing a single one of the thousands of cues. They claimed requiring months of practice to accomplish.

“The game offers a, imaginary experience. Just as with Call of Duty, it doesn't imply you ought to pick up a real gun and go to war,” says DragonForce guitarist Herman Li.

DragonForce had already wrapped up a successful tour when Through the Fire and Flames was featured in the third game, but Li says it made them widely recognized. “I recall our distributors informing us that we were records were moving like crazy,” he says. “It exploded when we next toured, and we performed right ahead of top acts at the event.”

Indeed, the band's visibility from Guitar Hero proved so vast that it threatened to overshadow all other the band has done. Last year, the song featured in a trailer for Despicable Me 4. “In the past I felt otherwise, but I’ve made peace with it,” he admits. “Should you just 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 Legacy of a Iconic Controller

Top-tier promotion, be it for cars, apparel or games, goes further mere transactions – it inspires a longing. Did Guitar Hero tap into that? “That’s exactly what we were trying to create,” he confirms. “The excitement of performing as a rock star in the spotlight. From day one, the co-founders felt that there’s an instinctive urge to create songs, and they wanted to leverage innovation to enable everyone to do it”.

Most of Guitar Hero games came out in just a five-year period between 2005 and 2010, including spin-offs such as DJ Hero, complete with a spinning deck, and the band-focused game. After that, the publisher’s interest in plastic instruments died down, except for a short-lived revival in 2015.

Titles such as Clone Hero and newer releases have kept the scene alive, with expectations of a new product from the original publisher in development. A new studio has begun work on their first music game. The initial creators are both involved in advisory roles. Is the world ready to embrace another game in the spirit of the classic?

“Our team believed such titles might become like Madden allowing annual releases,” Dornbrook says. “There’s so much fresh tracks it could remain perennially popular, thus I remain hopeful. It's entirely possible why it can’t persist for future fans.”