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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 rock legends. Not literally, though you'd be hard-pressed telling that anyone who has nailed Free Bird’s four-minute guitar solo in front of an enthusiastic living-room audience.

Created by the developers, Guitar Hero gave players a plastic guitar peripheral to match on-screen cues moving along the screen synchronized to a song. Each riff mimicked particular chords, producing the feel of a genuine performance.

The studio previously tried its hand with rhythm games before partnering with the publisher, later purchased by Activision in 2006. Together, they established the groundwork for a surprising massively profitable franchise that had a remarkable impact on numerous musicians featured, showcasing decades-old bands to a new generation of gaming enthusiasts.

Michael Dornbrook, former COO of Harmonix, recalls the initial financial challenges of licensing the recordings – even though the first two games mostly used cover versions.

“We rerecorded all the music because the dollar figure prohibitive,” he explains. “Even with the publishing rights alone, it proved extremely difficult. We failed to secure acts such as the Who – RedOctane was operating on a shoestring budget, and our team was pretty convinced it would fail. But once the game became a hit, album purchases and radio play increased, everyone wanted to participate.”

He adds: “One of the amazing things was the number of parents got in touch and thanked us for exposing their kids to the songs they adored. It became a multigenerational thing.”

Classic Rock Gains a New Audience

Northern Irish blues-rock band the Answer had their track on the 2008 game Guitar Hero World Tour. Lead musician Paul Mahon remembers the way the game brought classic rock back into vogue: “The game offered a bigger, younger audience. Generally this had been considered outdated material, however once it got included in the title young people were finding it, suddenly it was cool. That legitimised it, and got rid of the outdated tag. It gave all our music a new life.”

At that time, the band's debut album remained not available stateside, so Guitar Hero served as a primary platform of discovery for the band as they went on a North American tour supporting AC/DC. “Their crew had on the song on the tour bus, and several recognized us from Guitar Hero,” he notes.

Major Band Titles Enduring Influence

Rock’s heavyweight names quickly capitalised on the series’ popularity, including bands like Aerosmith, Metallica and others featuring in dedicated game editions that focused on each band’s catalogue and related lore, imagery and rock’n’roll mythology. For example, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, reportedly earned the group more money compared to their studio albums. It sold well over half a million units upon release, and sales of Aerosmith’s music saw an increase of up to 40% during an era as the industry was already collapsing.

Guitar Hero continues to inspire quick-handed fanaticism among its fans. Earlier this year, a streamer completed an impressive attempt of DragonForce’s Through the Fire and Flames – an infamously tough anthem made popular by Guitar Hero – on Clone Hero, a no-cost alternative with similar mechanics but an array of personalization features. This track is difficult even in expert mode, let alone performed at double speed and without missing every one of its near 4,000 notes. The streamer stated it took months of practice to accomplish.

“Guitar Hero is a fun, imaginary experience. If you play other games, that doesn’t mean you ought to use a real gun and go to war,” says DragonForce guitarist Herman Li.

DragonForce previously wrapped up a successful tour when Through the Fire and Flames was featured on Guitar Hero III, but Li says it turned them into widely recognized. “I remember our distributors informing us that our records were moving rapidly,” he says. “It exploded on the subsequent tour, and we performed just before top acts at the event.”

In fact, DragonForce’s exposure from Guitar Hero proved so vast that it has threatened to overshadow all other the band has done. Recently, the track was used in a trailer for Despicable Me 4. “Previously I felt otherwise, but now I accept it,” Li says. “If you only listen to one DragonForce song, it’s totally cool – everyone’s got their own path in music and I’m glad we’ve been part of people’s lives”.

Enduring Impact of a Iconic Controller

The best marketing, be it for automobiles, apparel or games, extends beyond than selling something – it inspires a longing. Did Guitar Hero tap into that? “Precisely what we were aiming to achieve,” Dornbrook says. “That thrill of performing as a rock star in the spotlight. From day one, the creators believed humans have a natural urge to make music, and they wanted to leverage innovation to allow people to do it”.

Most of Guitar Hero games came out over a mere five-year period from 2005 to 2010, including spin-offs such as DJ Hero, complete with a turntable controller, and the band-focused game. Subsequently, corporate focus on peripherals died down, except for a brief comeback several years later.

Titles such as Clone Hero and newer releases have maintained the scene alive, with expectations of a new product from the original publisher in development. A new studio has entered production on their first rhythm-based title. Original co-founders are both involved as special advisers. Are gamers ready to embrace another game in the spirit of the classic?

“We thought such titles might become similar to sports games where you can releases,” he remarks. “There’s so much fresh tracks that it could be evergreen, so I’ve always been optimistic. There’s no reason why it can’t persist for future fans.”