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It has been two decades since Guitar Hero hit the market across the Atlantic, providing everyday gamers the means to feel like rock legends. Not in reality, though you'd be hard-pressed telling that someone who has mastered the epic lengthy guitar solo in front of a packed living-room audience.

Created by Harmonix, Guitar Hero gave players a plastic guitar peripheral to match on-screen cues moving along the display synchronized to the music. Each riff corresponded to specific notes, producing the sensation of a genuine live show.

Harmonix previously tried its hand with rhythm games prior to teaming up with the publisher, which was purchased by Activision in 2006. Together, they established the groundwork for a surprising billion-dollar series which made a significant influence on numerous of the artists featured, introducing classic bands to millions of gaming enthusiasts.

Michael Dornbrook, former COO from the developer, remembers the initial budgetary hurdles of licensing the recordings – despite the fact initial releases primarily featured rerecorded tracks.

“We reproduced every song because the cost was so high,” he says. “Even with the publishing rights alone, it was extremely difficult. We couldn’t get acts such as legendary groups – RedOctane was operating on a shoestring budget, and we were fairly certain the project would flop. But once Guitar Hero took off, album purchases airtime increased, all artists desired to participate.”

He adds: “Among the remarkable aspects was how many parents reached out expressing gratitude for exposing their kids to the music they loved. It became a multigenerational thing.”

Timeless Music Finds a New Audience

Northern Irish group the Answer included their track in the 2008 release the popular installment. Guitarist Paul Mahon remembers how the series revived older hits to the forefront: “The game offered a bigger, younger audience. Generally this had been considered music that was past it, but then once it got featured on the title and teenagers were finding it, suddenly it became trendy. This validated it, eliminating the outdated tag. It provided all our music renewed popularity.”

In 2008, the Answer’s debut album remained unreleased stateside, so Guitar Hero was a key medium for exposure for the band during their US tour supporting AC/DC. “Their crew had on the song on the tour bus, and several recognized us from Guitar Hero,” Mahon says.

Major Band Spin-offs and Lasting Influence

Music's heavyweight names quickly capitalised on the game's success, with Aerosmith, Metallica and Van Halen starring in dedicated game editions centered around their music collections and related stories, visuals and rock’n’roll mythology. For example, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, reportedly to have made the band more money than any of their records. It sold well over 500,000 units upon release, while sales of their songs rose significantly during an era as the industry faced decline.

Guitar Hero still motivates nimble-fingered fanaticism within the community. Earlier this year, a streamer completed a remarkable feat featuring Through the Fire and Flames – an infamously tough power-metal song popularized through Guitar Hero – using a fan-made version, a freeware game with almost identical gameplay and extensive personalization features. The song is difficult enough on the hardest setting, let alone played at increased tempo and without missing a single one of the thousands of cues. The streamer claimed it took nine months to accomplish.

“Guitar Hero is a fun, fantasy thing. If you play Call of Duty, that doesn’t mean you ought to use actual weapons and enlist,” says musician Herman Li.

The band had already completed a successful tour when Through the Fire and Flames was featured on Guitar Hero III, but Li says it made them widely recognized. “I recall the record label informing us that we were records were moving rapidly,” he says. “Popularity surged on the subsequent tour, and we performed just before top acts on the Mayhem festival.”

In fact, the band's visibility from Guitar Hero was so immense that it risked eclipsing all other accomplishments. Last year, the track was used in a trailer for Despicable Me 4. “Previously I thought differently, but now I accept it,” Li says. “Should you just hear a single track, it’s totally cool – everyone’s got a unique path in music and I'm pleased we played a role of people’s lives”.

The Lasting Impact from the Plastic Guitar

Top-tier marketing, be it for cars, clothes or games, goes further than selling something – it inspires a longing. Was the game able to harness this? “Precisely what we were trying to create,” he confirms. “The excitement of being a music icon on the stage. Since the beginning, the co-founders felt that humans have a natural human desire to create songs, and they wanted to leverage innovation to allow people to participate”.

The majority of Guitar Hero games were released in just a five-year period from 2005 to 2010, featuring spin-offs like the DJ version, complete with a turntable controller, and Band Hero. Subsequently, corporate focus on peripherals waned, except for a brief comeback in 2015.

Titles such as Clone Hero and newer releases have kept the scene alive, with expectations of something from the original publisher in development. Recently formed developers has begun work on its debut music game. The initial creators are both involved as special advisers. Is the world prepared to welcome another game in the spirit of the classic?

“Our team believed those games could be like Madden where you can releases,” Dornbrook says. “With abundant new music that it could be perennially popular, thus I remain hopeful. It's entirely possible why it can’t persist with new generations.”