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It has been 20 years since Guitar Hero hit the market across the Atlantic, offering players everywhere the tools to become a rock star. Not literally, though you'd be hard-pressed telling that someone who's nailed the epic four-minute instrumental break in front of a packed living-room audience.

Developed by the developers, the game gave players a plastic guitar peripheral to follow coloured notes moving along the display synchronized to a song. Each riff corresponded to specific notes, creating the feel of an authentic performance.

The studio had already tried its hand with rhythm games prior to teaming up with RedOctane, later purchased by Activision during the mid-2000s. Collaboratively, they established the foundations for an unlikely massively profitable series that had a significant impact on numerous musicians featured, showcasing decades-old bands to millions of younger players.

A former executive, former COO from the developer, recalls the early financial challenges of licensing the recordings – even though initial releases mostly used rerecorded tracks.

“We rerecorded every song since the dollar figure prohibitive,” he explains. “Despite having the necessary permissions alone, it was extremely difficult. We couldn’t get acts such as the Who – the publisher had virtually no money, and we were pretty convinced the project would flop. However, when the game became a hit, album purchases airtime were going up, all artists desired to participate.”

He continues: “One of the remarkable aspects was the number of mothers and fathers reached out expressing gratitude for exposing their children to the songs they adored. It evolved into an intergenerational thing.”

Timeless Music Finds Younger Fans

Irish blues-rock band the Answer had their track in the 2008 release the popular installment. Lead musician Paul Mahon recalls how the series brought older hits back into vogue: “The game provided a bigger, new demographic. Typically this had been seen as music that was past it, but then once it got included in the title and teenagers discovered it, abruptly it became trendy. This validated the genre, eliminating the ‘dad rock’ tag. It provided all our music a new life.”

At that time, the Answer’s debut album remained not available stateside, meaning Guitar Hero served as a primary platform of discovery for the band during their US tour opening for the rock giants. “Their crew had on Never Too Late during travel, and several knew us from Guitar Hero,” he notes.

Rock’s Heavyweight Titles Enduring Influence

Rock’s heavyweight names quickly took advantage of the series’ popularity, including bands like Aerosmith, Metallica and Van Halen starring in dedicated spin-off titles centered around each band’s catalogue and related lore, visuals and rock’n’roll mythology. In the case of, the Aerosmith edition, it was said to have made the group more money compared to their studio albums. It sold more than 500,000 units in its first week, and demand for their songs saw an increase significantly at a time when the music business faced decline.

Guitar Hero continues to inspire nimble-fingered fanaticism within the community. Earlier this year, an online personality completed a remarkable feat of DragonForce’s the challenging track – a notoriously difficult power-metal song made popular by the game – using a fan-made version, a no-cost alternative with almost identical mechanics but an array of personalization features. This track is difficult enough on expert mode, let alone played at double speed and without missing a single one of its near 4,000 notes. They claimed requiring months of practice to accomplish.

“The game is a fun, imaginary experience. If you play other games, it doesn't imply you ought to use actual weapons and enlist,” notes musician the artist.

The band previously wrapped up a successful tour when Through the Fire and Flames was featured in the third game, yet he explains it turned them into widely recognized. “I remember the record label calling to tell me that we were selling albums like crazy,” he says. “It exploded on the subsequent tour, and we were playing just before top acts at the event.”

In fact, DragonForce’s exposure from Guitar Hero proved so vast that it has risked eclipsing all other accomplishments. Last year, the track was used in promotional material for Despicable Me 4. “Previously I thought otherwise, but I’ve made peace with it,” he admits. “If you only listen to one DragonForce song, it’s totally cool – each person has a unique path in music and I’m glad we’ve been part in fans' experiences”.

Enduring Impact of a Iconic Controller

The best promotion, whether it’s for cars, clothes or games, goes further than selling something – it evokes a longing. Did Guitar Hero tap into that? “That’s exactly what our team aiming to achieve,” he confirms. “That thrill of being a rock star on the stage. Since the beginning, the co-founders believed there’s an instinctive urge to make music, and their goal was to use technology to enable everyone to do it”.

The majority of Guitar Hero games were released in just a half-decade between 2005 and 2010, including spin-offs such as DJ Hero, complete with a spinning deck, and the band-focused game. Subsequently, corporate focus in plastic instruments died down, aside from a short-lived revival several years later.

Titles like Clone Hero and newer releases have kept the community active, and there’s expectations of a new product from the original publisher in development. Recently formed developers has entered production on their first rhythm-based title. Original co-founders are participating as special advisers. Are gamers ready to embrace another game in the spirit of Guitar Hero?

“We thought those games might become similar to sports games where you can update every year,” he remarks. “With abundant new music it could remain perennially popular, thus I remain optimistic. It's entirely possible for it to continue with new generations.”