“The record label called to tell me that we were selling albums like crazy. We were playing just before Slipknot and Disturbed at festivals”: As Guitar Hero turns 20, DragonForce’s Herman Li recalls how the game turned them into a household name

(Image credit: Miikka Skaffari/Getty Images)

It’s been 20 years since Guitar Hero was launched in North America, and allowed the everyday gamer and guitar aficionado to experience the bona fide rockstar experience from the comfort of their bedrooms.

The concept was and still is simple. The player brandishes a guitar-shaped controller and must match the colored notes scrolling down the screen in time with their chosen track.

“We rerecorded all the music because the dollar figure was so high,” Michael Dornbrook, former COO of Harmonix – the game’s developer – tells The Guardian.

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“Even with the publishing rights alone, it was nearly impossible. We couldn’t get bands like the Who – RedOctane had virtually no money, and we were pretty convinced it would fail. But once Guitar Hero took off, and record sales and radio play were going up, everyone wanted to be in.”

DragonForce were one of the bands who benefited from the Guitar Hero effect. Their 2006 song, Through the Fire and Flames, was included in Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock – and quickly turned them into a household name.

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“I remember the record label calling to tell me that we were selling albums like crazy,” recalls DragonForce guitarist Herman Li. “It exploded when we next toured, and we were playing just before the headliners Slipknot and Disturbed on the Mayhem festival.”

In fact, their song’s exposure through the game even threatened to overshadow and upend the rest of the band’s repertoire.

“In the past, I thought differently, but I’ve made peace with it,” Li admits. “If you only listen to one DragonForce song, it’s totally cool – everyone’s got their own musical journey and I’m glad we’ve been part of people’s lives.”

Guitar Hero has also played a role in gamers actually picking up the real-life instrument – and becoming quite good at it. Last year, fingerstyle virtuoso Yasmin Williams recounted how Guitar Hero inspired her to flip her acoustic onto her lap and develop her one-of-a-kind lap-tapping technique.

Janelle is a staff writer at GuitarWorld.com. After a long stint in classical music, Janelle discovered the joys of playing guitar in dingy venues at the age of 13 and has never looked back. Janelle has written extensively about the intersection of music and technology, and how this is shaping the future of the music industry. She also had the pleasure of interviewing Dream Wife, K.Flay, Yīn Yīn, and Black Honey, among others. When she’s not writing, you’ll find her creating layers of delicious audio lasagna with her art-rock/psych-punk band ĠENN.