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It has been two decades since the legendary game hit the market across the Atlantic, providing everyday gamers the opportunity to become rock legends. Not literally, though you'd be hard-pressed telling that someone who has nailed Free Bird’s four-minute guitar solo in front of a packed living-room audience.

Developed by Harmonix, the game gave players a guitar-shaped controller to match on-screen cues scrolling down the display in time with the music. Every sequence mimicked particular chords, creating the feel of an authentic performance.

Harmonix previously tried its hand in the music genre prior to teaming up with RedOctane, which was acquired by Activision in 2006. Collaboratively, they laid the foundations for a surprising massively profitable franchise which made a significant influence on numerous of the artists featured, introducing classic bands to a new generation of younger players.

A former executive, ex-chief operating officer from the developer, remembers the early financial challenges in securing the recordings – even though the first two games primarily featured rerecorded tracks.

“We rerecorded all the music because the cost was so high,” he explains. “Despite having the necessary permissions by themselves, it was extremely difficult. We failed to secure acts such as the Who – RedOctane was operating on a shoestring budget, and we were pretty convinced it would fail. However, when Guitar Hero became a hit, album purchases and radio play increased, all artists desired to be in.”

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

Timeless Music Finds a New Audience

Irish blues-rock band one featured act included their track on the 2008 game Guitar Hero World Tour. Guitarist Paul Mahon recalls how the series revived older hits back into vogue: “The game provided a bigger, new demographic. Generally such music was seen as music that was past it, but then when it was included in the title young people discovered it, abruptly it was cool. This validated it, and got rid of the ‘dad rock’ tag. It provided our catalog renewed popularity.”

In 2008, the Answer’s first record remained unreleased stateside, meaning Guitar Hero served as a primary platform of discovery for the group during their US tour supporting AC/DC. “Their crew had on Never Too Late on the tour bus, and several knew us thanks to the game,” Mahon says.

Major Band Spin-offs Enduring Influence

Rock’s biggest acts soon capitalised on the game's success, including bands like Aerosmith, Metallica and others featuring in dedicated game editions that focused on their music collections and associated lore, visuals and rock’n’roll mythology. In the case of, the Aerosmith edition, it was said earned the group greater revenue than any of their studio albums. It sold more than 500,000 units upon release, and demand for Aerosmith’s music rose of up to 40% at a time when the music business was already collapsing.

Guitar Hero continues to inspire quick-handed fanaticism among its fans. Recently, an online personality completed a remarkable feat featuring the challenging track – a notoriously difficult anthem made popular by Guitar Hero – on Clone Hero, a no-cost alternative with similar gameplay and extensive customisation options. The song is challenging even in the hardest setting, let alone performed at increased tempo and without missing a single one of its near 4,000 notes. They claimed it took months of practice to accomplish.

“Guitar Hero offers a, imaginary experience. If you play Call of Duty, that doesn’t mean you ought to pick up a real gun and go to war,” notes musician the artist.

DragonForce had already wrapped up a successful tour before Through the Fire and Flames was featured in the third game, yet he explains it made them a household name. “I remember our distributors informing us that our selling albums like crazy,” he says. “It exploded on the subsequent tour, and we performed just before the headliners at the event.”

In fact, the band's visibility via the game proved so vast that it risked overshadow everything else the band has done. Recently, the song was used in promotional material for Despicable Me 4. “In the past I thought otherwise, but now I accept it,” he admits. “If you only hear one DragonForce song, that's fine – everyone’s got a unique musical journey and I'm pleased we’ve been part of people’s lives”.

The Lasting Legacy from the Plastic Guitar

Top-tier marketing, be it for automobiles, clothes or games, goes further mere transactions – it evokes a longing. Was the game able to harness this? “Precisely what we were aiming to achieve,” he confirms. “The excitement of performing as a music icon on the stage. Since the beginning, the co-founders felt that there’s an instinctive human desire to create songs, and their goal was to use technology to allow people to participate”.

Most installments were released over a mere five-year period between 2005 and 2010, featuring spin-offs such as DJ Hero, complete with a spinning deck, and the band-focused game. Subsequently, corporate focus on peripherals died down, except for a short-lived revival in 2015.

Games like the fan project and Fortnite Festival have kept the scene alive, and there’s expectations of something from the founders on the way. A new studio has begun production on their first music game. The initial creators are both involved as special advisers. Is the world ready to embrace another game following the classic?

“We thought such titles could be similar to sports games where you can update every year,” he remarks. “There’s so much new music it could remain perennially popular, so I’ve always been hopeful. There’s no reason for it to persist with new generations.”