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It has been two decades after Guitar Hero first launched in North America, offering players everywhere the means to feel like a rock star. Not in reality, but try telling that someone who's nailed Free Bird’s four-minute guitar solo before an enthusiastic living-room audience.

Developed by Harmonix, Guitar Hero provided users with a guitar-shaped controller to match coloured notes moving along the screen synchronized to a song. Every sequence corresponded to specific notes, creating the feel of an authentic performance.

Harmonix had already experimented in the music genre before partnering with RedOctane, which was purchased by the gaming giant in 2006. Collaboratively, they established the groundwork for a surprising billion-dollar series that had a remarkable impact for many of the artists included, introducing decades-old groups to millions of younger players.

Michael Dornbrook, former COO of Harmonix, remembers the initial financial challenges in securing the songs – even though the first two games primarily featured rerecorded tracks.

“We rerecorded all the music because the cost prohibitive,” he explains. “Despite having the necessary permissions alone, it was extremely difficult. We failed to secure bands like legendary groups – RedOctane was operating on a shoestring budget, and we were fairly certain it would fail. But once the game became a hit, album purchases airtime were going up, all artists desired to participate.”

He adds: “One of the amazing things was the number of mothers and fathers reached out expressing gratitude for exposing their children to the music they adored. It became an intergenerational thing.”

Timeless Music Finds a New Audience

Northern Irish group the Answer included Never Too Late in the 2008 release the popular installment. Guitarist the artist remembers how the series brought older hits to the forefront: “The game offered a bigger, new demographic. Generally this had been considered outdated material, however once it got featured on the title and teenagers were finding it, abruptly it became trendy. That legitimised the genre, and got rid of the ‘dad rock’ tag. It provided our catalog renewed popularity.”

In 2008, the band's debut album was still unreleased in the US, so Guitar Hero served as a primary platform of discovery for the band as they went on US tour opening for the rock giants. “Their crew were playing Never Too Late during travel, and several knew us from Guitar Hero,” Mahon says.

Rock’s Heavyweight Titles Enduring Impact

Music's heavyweight names quickly took advantage of the series’ popularity, including bands like Aerosmith, Metallica and Van Halen featuring in specialized game editions centered around their music collections and associated stories, imagery and rock’n’roll mythology. For example, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, reportedly to have made the group greater revenue compared to their studio albums. It sold more than 500,000 copies in its first week, and demand for their songs saw an increase of up to 40% during an era as the industry was already collapsing.

Guitar Hero continues to inspire quick-handed dedication within the community. Earlier this year, a streamer achieved a remarkable feat of DragonForce’s Through the Fire and Flames – an infamously tough anthem made popular by Guitar Hero – on Clone Hero, a freeware game with almost identical gameplay and extensive personalization features. This track is difficult even in the hardest setting, not to mention played at increased tempo while hitting a single one of the thousands of cues. The streamer claimed requiring nine months to accomplish.

“Guitar Hero offers a, fantasy thing. Just as with other games, it doesn't imply you should pick up a real gun and go to war,” notes DragonForce guitarist Herman Li.

DragonForce previously wrapped up a profitable run when Through the Fire and Flames appeared in the third game, but Li says it turned them into widely recognized. “I remember our distributors informing us that we were records were moving rapidly,” he shares. “Popularity surged on the subsequent tour, and we were playing right ahead of top acts on the Mayhem festival.”

Indeed, the band's visibility from Guitar Hero proved so vast that it has threatened to overshadow all other the band has done. Recently, the song featured in promotional material for a major film. “Previously I felt differently, but I’ve made peace with it,” Li says. “If you only hear one DragonForce song, that's fine – each person has their own path in music and I'm pleased we played a role in fans' experiences”.

Enduring Legacy of a Plastic Guitar

Top-tier promotion, whether it’s for automobiles, clothes or games, goes further mere transactions – it inspires a longing. Was the game able to harness this? “That’s exactly what we were aiming to achieve,” Dornbrook says. “The excitement of being a music icon on the stage. From day one, the co-founders felt that there’s an instinctive human desire to create songs, and they wanted to leverage innovation to enable everyone to do it”.

Most installments came out in just a five-year period between 2005 and 2010, including spin-offs such as the DJ version, complete with a spinning deck, and Band Hero. After that, corporate focus on peripherals waned, except for a short-lived revival several years later.

Titles like the fan project and newer releases have kept the scene alive, and there’s set to be a new product from the founders on the way. Recently formed developers has entered work on its debut rhythm-based title. The initial creators are participating as special advisers. Is the world prepared to welcome another game following the classic?

“Our team believed such titles could be like Madden where you can releases,” he remarks. “There’s so much new music that it could be evergreen, so I’ve always been optimistic. It's entirely possible why it can’t continue for future fans.”