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Marking 20 years since Guitar Hero debuted in North America, offering players everywhere the means to become a rock star. Figuratively speaking, 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, Guitar Hero gave players a plastic guitar peripheral to follow on-screen cues scrolling down the display in time with a song. Every sequence mimicked specific notes, creating the feel of an authentic live show.

The studio previously experimented in the music genre before partnering with the publisher, later purchased by Activision during the mid-2000s. Together, they laid the foundations for a surprising massively profitable series which made a significant impact on numerous of the artists included, showcasing decades-old bands to a new generation of younger players.

A former executive, ex-chief operating officer from the developer, recalls the initial financial challenges in securing the songs – despite the fact initial releases primarily featured rerecorded tracks.

“We reproduced every song because the dollar figure was so high,” he explains. “Despite having the publishing rights by themselves, it was extremely difficult. We couldn’t get bands like the Who – RedOctane was operating on a shoestring budget, and we were pretty convinced it would fail. But once the game became a hit, and record sales and radio play increased, all artists desired to participate.”

He adds: “One of the amazing things was the number of parents got in touch expressing gratitude for exposing their kids to the songs they loved. It became an intergenerational thing.”

Timeless Music Gains a New Audience

Irish blues-rock band the Answer had Never Too Late in the 2008 release Guitar Hero World Tour. Lead musician the artist recalls how the series brought classic rock back into vogue: “The game offered a larger, new demographic. Typically this had been considered music that was past it, however when it was included in the game and teenagers were finding it, suddenly it became trendy. This validated the genre, and got rid of the ‘dad rock’ tag. It gave all our music a new life.”

At that time, the Answer’s first record was still unreleased stateside, meaning Guitar Hero was a key medium of discovery for the group during their a North American tour supporting the rock giants. “The roadies had on the song on the tour bus, and some of them recognized us from Guitar Hero,” Mahon says.

Major Band Titles Enduring Impact

Music's biggest acts soon capitalised on the series’ popularity, with Aerosmith, Metallica and Van Halen featuring in dedicated game editions centered around each band’s catalogue and related lore, imagery and legendary status. For example, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, reportedly to have made the group more money compared to their records. It moved well over 500,000 copies upon release, and sales of their songs saw an increase significantly at a time when the music business faced decline.

Guitar Hero still motivates nimble-fingered fanaticism within the community. Earlier this year, an online personality completed a remarkable feat of DragonForce’s Through the Fire and Flames – an infamously tough anthem popularized through Guitar Hero – using a fan-made version, a freeware game with almost identical gameplay but an array of personalization features. This track is challenging enough on expert mode, let alone performed at increased tempo while hitting every one of its near 4,000 notes. They stated requiring months of practice to accomplish.

“Guitar Hero offers a, fantasy thing. If you play other games, that doesn’t mean you should pick up actual weapons and go to war,” notes musician Herman Li.

DragonForce previously wrapped up a successful tour when their hit was featured on Guitar Hero III, yet he explains it turned them into widely recognized. “I recall our distributors informing us that our records were moving like crazy,” he shares. “It exploded when we next toured, and we were playing right ahead of top acts at the event.”

Indeed, the band's visibility from Guitar Hero proved so vast that it threatened to eclipsing everything else the band has done. Recently, the track was used in a trailer for Despicable Me 4. “Previously I thought differently, but I’ve made peace with it,” Li says. “Should you just listen to a single track, it’s totally cool – everyone’s got their own musical journey and I’m glad we’ve been part in fans' experiences”.

The Lasting Impact from the Plastic Guitar

The best marketing, be it for cars, clothes or games, extends beyond mere transactions – it evokes a longing. Did Guitar Hero tap into that? “Precisely what we were trying to create,” he confirms. “The excitement of performing as a rock star on the stage. Since the beginning, the co-founders felt that there’s an instinctive urge to make music, and they wanted to leverage innovation to allow people to do it”.

Most of Guitar Hero games came out in just a half-decade between 2005 and 2010, featuring spin-offs such as the DJ version, including a turntable controller, and the band-focused game. After that, the publisher’s interest on peripherals waned, except for a brief comeback in 2015.

Titles like Clone Hero and newer releases have kept the scene active, with set to be a new product from the founders in development. 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 in the spirit of Guitar Hero?

“We thought such titles might become similar to sports games allowing annual releases,” Dornbrook says. “There’s so much fresh tracks that it could be perennially popular, so I’ve always been hopeful. It's entirely possible why it can’t continue for future fans.”