Guitar Hero & Rock Band Retrospective
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- Опубліковано 15 чер 2024
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Examining some of the biggest video games of the late 2000s, looking back on it all vanished so suddenly, and why they were remarkable for bridging games and music as art forms.
Edited by @clickingaming
Thumbnail by @hotcyder
Chapters
0:00 Intro
5:06 "What Can This Strange Device Be?"
19:43 "Our World Could Use This Beauty"
33:55 "A Little Help From My Friends"
42:32 “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”
53:06 "Just Like Heaven"
1:05:55 Conclusion
Sources
Harmonix startup story money.cnn.com/2009/09/03/smal...
RedOctane Interview on Guitar Hero web.archive.org/web/200805281...
Excerpt from “Inside Game Design” web.archive.org/web/202005070...
Greg Fischbach Interview web.archive.org/web/201608200...
Ed Fries Interview web.archive.org/web/201209230...
NPD Sales, December 2006 web.archive.org/web/200709272...
Activision pays $100 million for RedOctane www.gamesindustry.biz/sec-fil...
How Neversoft Took Over Guitar Hero www.shacknews.com/article/491...
“Games that Rock” web.archive.org/web/200904302...
Aerosmith on Guitar Hero web.archive.org/web/200802280...
Guitar Hero 3 Sales www.shacknews.com/article/567...
Ed Fries on Frequency web.archive.org/web/201209230...
Guitar Hero Suit Settled www.gamespot.com/articles/gui...
Rock Band 2, GH World Tour Sales web.archive.org/web/201210111...
BusinessWeek on The Beatles in Rock Band web.archive.org/web/200908142...
How Beatles Rock Band came together www.cnet.com/news/how-beatles...
While My Guitar Gently Beeps www.nytimes.com/2009/08/16/ma...
Dhani Harrison on The Beatles: Rock Band www.billboard.com/articles/ne...
Offworld on The Beatles Rock Band Intro web.archive.org/web/200906111...
The Beatles: Rock Band sales web.archive.org/web/200912131...
Reddit thread of favourite Guitar Hero games / by_your_opinion_rank_t...
Inside Game Design by Laurence King, ISBN 978-1-85669-532-9.
Music used
Home - Resting State (used throughout)
Daisuke Ishiwatari, Naoki Hashimoto - Heavy Day (Karaoke)
Daisuke Ishiwatari, Naoki Hashimoto - Big Blast Sonic (Karaoke)
Norichika Sato - Ocean
Daisuke Ishiwatari - Fizz
Daisuke Ishiwatari, Naoki Hashimoto - Find Your One Way
Daisuke Ishiwatari, Naoki Hashimoto - What Do You Fight For
Dragonforce - Through the Fire and Flames (MIDI by Estouls Aruta) • 【MIDI】 DragonForce - T...
C-Side - Clickbait
Daisuke Ishiwatari, Naoki Hashimoto - Play the Hero
Norichika Sato - Django Django
Nirvana - Come As You Are (Super Mario 64 Cover by Something is Real) • Nirvana's Nevermind bu...
Nirvana - In Bloom (Super Mario 64 Cover by Something is Real) • Nirvana's Nevermind bu...
The Beatles - While My Guitar Gently Weeps (Super Mario 64 Cover by Durag Gohan) • The Beatles - White Al...
Hidenori Shoji - Cover of Mute City’s Theme
The Beatles - Dig a Pony (Super Mario 64 Cover by bruhmoment28) • The Beatles - Let It B...
Daisuke Ishiwatari - Give Me A Break
Daisuke Ishiwatari - The Lily of Steel
Koji Kondo - Steam Gardens - Ігри
You're absolutely right about Rock Band drums being able to translate into real drumming. I literally used that game to learn real drums and ended up taking lessons once I realized how good I was getting at Rock Band
When Guitar Hero came out with the drums with cymbals and both titles having the ability to use a splitter to play double kick drums, I directly attribute my immediate ability to play real drums to these games.
I know multiple drummers who learned from Rock Band/Guitar Hero and went on to be career musicians in signed bands. I personally learned from Rock Band and ended up in a touring band for a bit. Now I'm a hobby guy and play 3-5 days a week. None of this would have happened without Rock Band.
As someone who, after 6 years of switching to real drums, is still reeling from how rock band didn’t teach me how to use my left leg for hi hat control and time keeping, I really wish they had something for that on top of everything else though
Oh this is so true. I taught myself how to play drums entirely from these games (as well as understanding how a hi-hat worked)
Yep, I’ve been drumming for 15 years or so thanks to Rock Band
There was that dude in his dorm room that nailed Through the Fire & Flames, but i can’t help my incredulity. It requires too much of a commitment, and 7 other hands.
I remember seeing a video of this kid beating TTFF on expert and having his entire family watch him
Nah, just be more efficient. Up&down strum and hammer ons/pull offs and anyone can play expert lpl
@@liammcnicholas918 You're either on about IAmChris4Lyfe who was the first guy to 100% full combo the song, or GHPhenom, also known as Danny Johnson.
I beat it recently and it’s really about slowly mastering the intro in practice mode and then once you get past that, you just need to learn when to use star power through trial and error and then you’re good
Iamchris4lyfe
It neeeeeeeds to come back
Rock Band actually got me started on drums in a pretty accurate way. And that led me into other instruments, discovering my favorite bands, and eventually writing and recording music.
Yup unlike guitar, playing on drums will actually teach you how to play real drums decently well
@@EmilForsberg_GRYBO They tried to do this with guitar by releasing the pro guitar, but the original pro guitar was just awful, and was only fully compatible on songs that were made for it.
@@ohno5507 yeah I haven't used one of those, haven't even really heard much, I assumed it was similar to playing Rocksmith or something
@@EmilForsberg_GRYBO not really. The original pro controller had plastic buttons for each fret, and plastic strings for strumming. The neck was really wide and uncomfortable, and it wasn't even a full set of notes, which meant some songs needed a chart different from the actual song. I'm pretty sure those discrepancies are why the pro chart for Through the Fire and Flames is considered impossible to FC. The only real similarity to Rocksmith is it does have a proper training mode, but nowhere near in depth.
They inevitably released a real guitar that had sensors to track your finger placements, but it's not exactly easy to come by these days.
@@ohno5507 that's very interesting, I didn't know that
Growing up my siblings and I had Guitar Hero 3, Rock Band 2, and Lego Rock Band (all Wii versions), and we played all of them constantly. Last year one of my brothers and I moved out of my parents’ house, and we took all the old Wii stuff with us. We decided to most of the games and peripherals and split the money. After over a decade of devouring space in the basement, all the Guitar Hero and Rock Band controllers are just gone, and I find something sad about that. This video reminded me how much I love those games.
Dude...this was a RUSH of nostalgia for me. I adore these games, all of them. I spent 1000s of hours mastering every instrument, straining my voice wailing every song. Destroyed so many Rock Band drum sets and using the Penny Mod trick to attempt to revive them whenever I could. So many nights with friends, so many tournaments competing, and so many deeply fond memories. I could talk about these games forever, and love occasionally picking up one of my plastic weapons and shredding for hours. One of my favourite past times was making a band with my two friends, and playing Expert Bass while also singing with a Mic stand.
For me I think my top 3 are Warriors of Rock > Rock Band 3 > Guitar Hero 3. Some incredible DLC was in GH3, including the Top Gun theme, the Halo 2 Mjolnir mix, and I AM MURLOC!
Speaking of, you mentioned Pandora looked like she was ripped straight out of Warcraft. You can actually unlock Arthas Menethil, The Lich King, as a playable a character. AND he uses his Frostmourne as a Guitar. A rare Activision W.
Thank you for doing such a great job at honouring both of these series. I saw that a premium version of the Guitars was being made, the Riffmaster and I cannot WAIT to get my hands on it and relive these games once again. It's crazy how the Drums, Keyboard AND Mic all truly do teach you have to be a musician. I've always loved music, and especially classic rock, but I think these games really made me appreciate the craftsmanship behind creating and mastering it.
Tremendous job dude, very well done. Also RUSH is the best.
“It ain’t easy being cheesy”
-Chester Cheetah
My first impression given the difficulty you play was that this would be a recap from a more casual player's perspective that would miss fine details or struggle to present the aura that was present at the time, but my judgements were quickly put in check. You completely nailed the entirety of it in a unique way nobody else has accomplished so far, especially with presenting the monstrous reach it had to all ages and gifting accurate anecdotes in a way that even someone who had never been connected to the genre can empathise with. All the feelings of the magical revolution when Harmonix struck gold, to the worldwide electricity in the air as it peaked and the overwhelming saturation leading to the downfall were captured by you flawlessly.
HOLY MOLY. Now that is a meme and photo I have not seen in a LONG TIME. Totally not related to your comment but gonna go binge some old school The Creatures stuff now.
You don't even know how much I needed a proper retrospective video on GH & RB like that.
Thank you so much for making it.
Dude, I remember when Warriors of Rock first came out, they had a stage set up where you can play the game in front of thousands of people. It was me on Guitar and two other people on Bass and Drums.
We played Bleed it Out by Linkin Park on Expert and the crowd was going wild because we were able to carry a continuous combo throughout the entire song. Good times.
In December of 2008, my parents surprised my brother and me with Guitar Hero World Tour. That game was played in our house almost every day for years. Sometimes one of us, sometimes all of us. There’s not a video game I have more fond memories of playing with my family, it was one of very few games my parents ever played.
Guitar Hero single-handedly taught my brother and me how to play drums well enough to eventually get our own drum kit. I eventually taught myself guitar too.
Playing music has remained a favorite pastime for myself and my brother to this day, and I’m certain we’re not the only people who had this same experience. No other game has had a greater ripple effect into my future than this game did.
This has to be the best video on the GH / RB series. You perfectly captured the spirit, the message, the flaws, and the good PERFECTLY! You put it in an easily understandable retrospective video, and I salute you for it. And your own story at the end made this game and video more impactful. I discovered so many new bands and music genres all because of this series. I discovered Pleymo, Filter, Dragonforce, Flyleaf, Lamb Of God, as well as a growing appreciation for NIN, KoRn, Rush, and Smash Mouth!
I truly appreciate this video. I hope this video can help people explore other music genres and play this game or even take rhythm games further by making new concepts!
Thank you for showing the power of music and gaming to light. You deserve so much more attention!
I'm glad you agree with the sentiment of "what if full albums could be used as a narrative in future Guitar Hero games." I would like that too. Or at least songs that are 15 or more minutes in length. *cough* Tarkus. I would really like to see Tarkus have its own event in Guitar Hero.
Beatles Rock Band is solidly in my top 5 games of all time. My brother and I have got together and play the whole thing in one session multiple times over the years.
Its a true work of art that you can tell is just dripping with love from every pixel, and has left a massive impact on me and my family.
I grew up with Atari 2600, and stopped gaming after SNES. Guitar Hero brought me back to gaming in the PS2 era. A have huge respect and the fondest memories from this franchise
Man, that rush story got to me hard 😭
I found out about Guitar Hero through a local tech con called Digital Life Expo. I played it, sucked, but I understood what it was going for. Then, months later, there was a demo setup at Best Buy across two TVs. My friend and I just kept taking turns, and we probably stayed there for 3 hours. Then we spent the rest of the day jumping from store to store to find Guitar Hero.
We ended up finding it back uptown, and the rest was history.
For a 34-year old boomer with no talent, discipline and no will to learn real guitar like me. GH and RB were perfect. Had so much fun. Glad to see its spirit lives on with Fortnite Festival. Yeah it's been nerfed af but it's good to see Zoomers or whatever discovering old music and playing their own gen's music
I thought I wouldn’t finish an hour long video about something I already know a lot about. But the Rush part got me in tears. You’re one hell of a video essay-er
Rush is fucking amazing. Lifeson also guest starred in TPB, so they're legit just legends.
Babe wake up, a new Liam Triforce Retrospective dropped.
Mom!!! They're milking that stupid comment thread meme again!!!
@@KBXband UA-cam comments might be the cringiest place on the Internet. They are even proud of themselves for posting this
@@saschaberger3212 Eh at least it's not that dumb thing where you go to a video and the first twelve comments say "FIRST!"
Another unoriginal comment
This just threw me through a loop. I used to play Guitar Hero AND Rock Band with my family when I was younger. For Rock Band we straight up had a full band going at one point with someone on the mic, someone on the drums, and someone on the guitar. Those were fun days.
I grew up playing with my dad, brother, and uncle. And I even remember when my little cousin was around 4 we gave her the drum sticks and just let her go ham on a song with me on guitar 🎸
@@kotabear0172 That is epic.
I respect the hell out of the Heavy Day jumpscare around the 10 minute mark
Big Blast Sonic immediately after damn Liam I didn't know your game
An engaging opening as always, diving in now. Glad to see a new retrospective, and looking forward to the next!
Just wanna say your video essays are some of the best out there. I never really played guitar hero aside from one night camping with my high school girlfriend (A very fond memory) but the way you pace these videos keeps them informative, entertaining, and heartfelt without feeling the need to use dramatic music or put on a sad voice. You're probably the only video essayist I know that can make me tear up a bit over a game series I've barely even touched aside from Fortnite festival. Good stuff as always, keep it up
Guitar Hero was something of my childhood ever since I first got that Xbox 360 copy of GH2. Holding the Xplorer guitar for the first time has been such a positive memory of childhood since forever and I still to this day remember how much it hurt when I played the guitar wrong for so long that I got a full blister on my thumb from purely SLIDING the strum-bar. Yet I wanted to just keep playing but all that time waiting for it to heal was so tantalizing! This video has motivated me to revisit all the past games as well, this video was awesome and it was lovely to see another person's perspective on the entire series of these games and remind me of the positive things of my childhood. Thank you.
Got a blister on your strumming thumb? Play with your index and middle fingers instead!
I got GH Aerosmith for Christmas one year and I loved that game so much I would wake up at like 6:30 on Saturdays to play it. Fast forward a couple years and I’m entering middle school with the option to take some extra curricular classes. My parents suggest I join band. I was reluctant but still did it my 6th grade year anecdotes the rest was history. I did band for nearly 12 years including 5 while in college. I was consistently one of or the best players in my instrument at every level I played, including making All-State in high school.
I think my parents saw how much I enjoyed playing GH and saw a passion for music and saw it as a spring board to learning a real instrument. I’m definitely not the only one who became passionate for music because of this game.
I can’t imagine what my life would have been like if I didn’t get that plastic guitar
Always great to see what you cover next!
What an absolutely amazing video! Your passion and personal anecdotes took something that I already love and have connected to from an early age and gave me a new perspective and even more appreciation. Thank you for making this video!
Man... I've spent so many hours with guitar hero and rock band through my high school and college years. So many great times with friends jamming out. A great little setup at parties.
This stuff inspired me to pick up the guitar and drums for real. But sometimes I still get the urge to break out the plastic instruments lol.
I remember my first experience with Guitar Hero. It was at the peak of 2's popularity and my nephew who is a savant invited me over to try it. As soon as I sat in front of the TV, he slapped a plastic guitar into my hands and put it on hard difficulty. Being a guitarist already, I was familiar with the game on a mechanical level and it was so addictive that once preorders started for Guitar Hero III I pre-ordered it and on the night I got it, we stayed up all night playing it on expert. I also thought it was really weird that there were so many songs shared between GHWT and Rock Band 2. In fact I work at Walmart and we had a drum set and guitar set up for people to play a demo version of RB2. I also wanna say that I was a GH loyalist but I absolutely loved Rock Band's diversity. I never would have known about Garbage, Modest Mouse, and many others had it not been for that game. Warriors and Metallica are my favorite games overall.
I just started the video Liam, I love your content and just wanted to check in as a die hard rhythm game fan and nonstop GH & RB player who has taken up an interest in CloneHero in the modern day, that I will always have a deep place in my heart for all of these games. Thank you for making the content you make! I'm going to start the video now and listen while I work.
Very nice touch using lyrics from 2112 and various Beatles and Cure songs for chapter titles. It makes my inner music buff very happy 😊
Man I was just talking about this with my friends last night, the timing of this video is amazing. I miss the days of Rock band and DJ hero soooo much. I would play it for hours and hours growing up. Thanks for letting me remember it again to remember the good old days when Rhythm games were in mainstream for just a little while.
Your videos are always straight bangers brother. Appreciate you and all the hard work you do! 🤘
These games really shaped my music journey throughout childhood. I remember once playing GH3 co-op with a friend, we had just finished the last battle and... I was playing on Expert. When Through The Fire and the Flames hit I was nowhere near good enough to beat the song, but I took the challenge and struggled to try.
Part of what motivated me was that not only had my friend stopped, but their little sibling came by JUST TO WATCH MY FINGERS and I knew even though I was failing the song I was giving it my best. It was just such a cool little moment.
Thanks for bringing back those memories, and hey maybe I'll find a way to play all these games again with a new controller and everything. I missed the later entries, and that's just not right.
liam this video is so awesome. keep doing what you do man, i love it.
Man, thank you for this retrospective. These are my favorite games ever, honestly. You echoed so much of how these games made me feel, too, and I was touched by your RNR HOF story and how much Rush's music holds a special place for you. Great video on a series that I also hope will have a revival down the road.
I miss guitar hero. Rockband ever was a big part of me and my friends lives. But I've been playing guitar for 17 years. Thanks to guitar hero.
After listening to the ending before the conclusion, I honestly shed a tear. I have only discovered your channel in the past few months but man, your way of telling stories about games and the impacts they had in your life are so catching and sometimes even greatly inspiring.
Without rambling on even more I just wanted to say: You are a real one, thank you for posting Videos! ❤
this was an amazing video! brought back so much nostalgia of me and my family playing all the rockband and guitar hero games my dad collected. i screamed when you mentioned the beatles rock band, its definetly me and my fams favorite being a group of people who grew up and all the beatles music for many years (and being a very music oriented family as well). we still play all these games everytime we go and visit my parents and i think to whoever grew up with these games such as myself theyve become a staple even in the later years of our lives :)
This was a really well made video Liam. It's almost like a documentary going through the history of it all while also being on the receiving end of the product.
My family also played this game a lot. We only had Guitar Hero: World Tour and Band Hero but they were still a lot of fun to play and I got into some bands from these two games. They exposed me to pop punk and I got interested in the sound without realizing it. I would discover pop punk on my own later on but it at least got me familiar with some of the iconic songs. See, my family loves classic rock and I grew up sheltered so I didn't really have a music taste of my own and I wasn't really a fan of classic rock and 80's pop. So I played the game because it was fun to play but not because I liked the music. And the career mode wasn't really that much fun to play since the game was more fun with others so I didn't get to explore the songs either. However, with Band Hero that kind of shifted because there was only so many songs on there and I got to explore my own taste on there. We would make a setlist of 5 songs and each person could pick a song and that's how i started to pick more songs I wanted to hear. The story of the music game was also really interesting for picking an instrument. See my parents switched off the singing. My siblings and I tried it but neither of us really liked it nor knew how to sing. My brother started on the drums, I started on the guitar, and my sister played the bass cause the guitar controller didn't really mesh with her and she struggled to play it. As it went on, i started getting better at guitar and got up to hard/expert. I couldn't play expert on the hard songs but I could on the easier ones but I could play hard pretty reliably on every song. My sister ended up learning the drums and got up to a medium difficulty. And my brother liked playing all the instruments (being the one who was in band in hs) but we would regularly challenge each other on guitar to see who could get the highest score since he could play on hard also (though he struggled to keep up with my scores.) And I was getting ready to try vocals while playing guitar on the songs I knew by heart before we all stopped playing it. It's a fond memory I have for a family that's been torn by a late divorce (when I was halfway through college, my brother graduated college, and my sister just finishing hs). These games mark a time when we did feel like a family and doesn't feel like the divorce can touch it. Idk if that's a reason why I want to play them again or if it's because of the gameplay. Maybe both. But I also know the game will never be the same for me, much like for others. It's locked in time. I can say that it hit this itch of me wanting to be a rock star. I mean, how cool is it to play a song in front of people and provide an experience they'll never forget. How fun it is to sing songs and make music together. While I'm not performer, I do think it inspired my love for music but it also let me know that I'm not a musician. It was just a daydream. My guitar collected dust in my room despite these games. But I did fall in love with music partly because of this game and the making of music in a way. This game didn't directly lead me down the road I'm on but I can't deny that there was probably some sort of subconscious influence on me from it. Today, I'm a music producer. I can play guitar to a campfire level and I'm currently slowly learning bass. I did learn piano a decent amount but didn't have a way to practice for some years and I'm trying to get into the habit of teaching myself again. But I always do think back to this game whenever I'm having difficulty with an instrument. Learn it like it was guitar hero.
I also feel this franchise is done for and possibly at home rhythm games as a whole. The amount of money to buy these controllers is a lot and then you also have to think about the space they take up, especially the drums. Most people got rid of these and or used them until they couldn't and then they weren't replaced. Like this type of thing just doesn't seem possible to happen again to me. It seems like a relic of the past to be able to get families to purchase all of this. You need a console, a decent size tv, the game, two guitars, a drum set, and a usb mic to play as a full band. It's just so much. Clone hero feels like the future of the series for a long time.
Seeing as how you lightly touched upon guitar freaks, I'd like to mention that by GFDM XG, the games had included a 4th and 5th fret button on the guitars with another rebranding into Gitadora not too long after. The series still lives on to this day, with the latest installment; Gitadora Galaxy Wave having been released about a month or two ago.
The major difference between Gitadora and Rock hero/guitar band is the emphasis on strict timing windows, wailing, original music, and a finer detail of keysound quality instead of sheer note density with windows as wide as a bus, emphasis on combo and multipliers, and licensed music. To see a rough equivalent to GH's hardest charts like through the fire and the flames, search either ichimoudajin (一網打尽) or Saiph on master difficulty.
2008 was an odd case for me, as I knew about DragonForce before ever knowing they were in these GH3. Once I had seen Through the Fire and Flames with my own eyes at the end of the bonus setlist in Guitar Hero 3, I had the drive to work through the game's difficulties to pass not only that song, but future DragonForce song inclusions. Their music more than any other band sound like they were made to be in a video game, and when this genre was in its golden age I was begging for that band to get a whole album released for DLC, if not a whole game. It was disappointing that we only got 3 tracks as DLC (in a time where I didn't have the right console for it, nor convenient internet access) and then only Fury of the Storm over 2 years later. I am so thankful though that the people of the internet put in the work to mod GH3PC and learned to make their own rhythm game engine so that this niche game genre can still exist today, even though it's a shadow of what it was commercially. It's because of them that I am still trying to pass the whole DF discography, which gets extremely demanding if you play it on modded GH3 and not Clone Hero.
Thank you for this video, Liam. To say I spent a great portion of my childhood playing these games would be an understatement. I still play Rock Band 4 with friends sometimes at parties. I learned to play every instrument on Expert pretty well except the eventual keyboard. I even used to upload UA-cam videos with my terrible Dazzle capture device back in the day 😂 some were FC videos, some just good rankings of gold stars. It's probably the video game I'm overall the best at to this day. So many great memories with these games!
I heard it in the background, but holy moly is Big Blast Sonic so much fun to play! I paid a prefessional charter to chart it on expert for Clone Hero (personal use) and geeeez. I still have two xplorer controllers.
I would like to point out that the “ugly brown color” of the rock band guitar is still accurate to a guitar, guitars often have a maple neck with a maple fretboard like the one rock band guitar, but sometimes the fretboard is an exotic wood that is a darker shade of brown
The only retrospective I have been waiting for.
Awesome video, thanks for the update.
This was a really great watch. That part at the end about listening to Rush in the car hit me quite hard - I know the feeling of music helping you cope with bad health news all too well.
As for the games? This was really interesting as I think I have a bit of a unique relationship with the series. I've played guitar since I was quite young so I always found it really frustrating as the charts never lined up with what I knew my left hand should be doing! That being said - playing it with friends was always a lot of fun and World Tour in particular got a lot of rotation because of the track list.
Your segment about 2112 and your trip… really struck a chord with me. (Pun not intended but appreciated.)
Something about Rush, in my darkest moments, has kept me going. This year has been really hard so far, but music/lyrics like theirs and works like yours, Liam, are what slowly reignite that spark in me to create.
I had WoR but didn’t know anything about Rush, fumbled my way through most of it.
I want to find a copy again and give it the honor it deserves. And play the rest of the series while I’m at it. All of this after your video on THPS opened my mind to a series I never knew I’d love as much as I do.
All of that to say, for all your works and writing and such. Thank you. ❤
I got Guitar Hero Aerosmith for Christmas back in 2008 for the Nintendo Wii and I was the first out of my friends to get it because everyone else was playing Legends of Rock.
Awesome memories.
I appreciate your perspective on Rush. A truly incredible band and I’m glad they helped you the way they helped so many others.
Discovered you for your Zelda content, really loving the branch out to other video games! I loved Rock Band and I thought this was very educational and a really lovely tribute. Nice job!
I think what's understated about rockband/GH is that it was a lot of kids introduction to a lot of rock classics. At least for me personally I still remember learning some of the rockband 1 songs for the first time, or having my dad come down to want to sing/play one of his teenage favorites. It was a late resurgence for a previous generations music which I think is awesome. Keep in mind the only other way to hear these songs back then was listen to them on classic rock radio, buy them on the early iterations of iTunes, or listen to your parents CDs/cassettes/records hahah
Your video made me think a lot about those discussions that went on back in the day: was this just the novelty of getting to play along with your favorite songs, karaoke-style? And I had an epiphany while watching this that disproved that and I was nodding along to hear it was the same for you. Before playing Guitar Hero, I didn't have favorite songs. I guess I liked the songs from Disney movies and a few records my parents played, but by the time I was old enough to inherit a wiped version of my big sister's iPod, I only had about 45 songs (and like a third of them were TV show themes). I simply did not engage with music. Then I played Guitar Hero and for the first time I began to *feel* songs. I connected with them and they reached into my core. I didn't just have them as a backing track to something or memorize the lyrics; playing the game made me understand the power of music. Maybe I was just around the right age (Rhythm game-mania peaked when I was in middle school), but to me, every generation has its technology for music. Boomers had the radio. Gen X had MTV. Gen Z has TikTok. And that tiny slice of millennials who were there for the peak, we learned to love music by following those traffic light-esque dots and squares rushing down the screen at us. And we understood.
also, yes I did pick up real drums after becoming the designated drummer in the play group. All it took was a few rudimentary lessons before I was confident at being able to keep time on my own. I was probably the worst irl drummer in my high school jazz program, but I played for two years in a quartet and ensemble and we pulled off some great performances.
Man, we're all starting to get nostalgic about these games! I've been working on starting to make a script for a music games video myself.
Good job on this one!
Love your videos Liam! They are always great
i hope you are doing well lately !
thanks for the video !
i remember playing a lot of GH2 after school with my friends
it was pretty cool ! :D
Bruh - fanTAStic video. Brings back lots of memories. Just one nitpick: you forgot the whammy bar!! It's a rad little addition and helps you get star power faster on sustain notes.
Music connects us all! Love that story of you listening to Rush with your librarian
Need to listen to albums with strangers more often
I started on GH2 when I was around 6 or 7 and I remember being stuck on YYZ on medium for so long that I hated it for a while. When I eventually got it, I started to love it and since my parents were huge Rush fans since long before I was born, I got to grow up with the band. From elementary school when me and my brother saw our first concert all the way through college.
As someone who struggles with mental health often, I find that Rush was the band I could listen to that helped me out. From the two concerts I saw and the live DVDs to completing my CD collection by my late best friend. I even have my own pair of Neil Peart signed drumsticks I got from work once just by a random encounter. To say that Rush is tied to not just my life but also my family's would put it lightly, but for me it's I find it funny that GH2 was how I got introduced to my now favorite band. It was nice hearing that we share a similar introduction to Rush through a GH game and how they've both helped us!
I stumbled on this video randomly but I enjoyed it nonetheless, I never knew about the Sex Pistols trivia and I love GH3! This deserves a like and a sub, keep it up!
Such a great video Liam, I feel it's a bit sad seeing that these rhythm games have ultimately been replaced by Clone Hero, but I think for all of us that grew up with Guitar Hero or Rock Band can appreciate what was truly going on at the time :P
Guitar Hero is a special time capsule that makes me remember a feeling of comforting distraction I don't know what I would have done without in my middle and high school years. I spent the most time with 3 and 4, since that's what my best friend at the time had at his place, but Warriors of Rock is my favorite. There aren't many times I can remember buying a game on release day, but this was one of those rare times. I was anticipating it and begged my dad, knowing we didn't have that much money, to get it. Just practicing to the point of reaching perfection on so many songs was such a special feeling, and the custom songs and DLC packs made it all the more memorable. The social aspect wasn't as strong for me, but I certainly remember my uncle super drunk singing hotel california when we had world tour on at a party.
I am 28…played guitar hero 1/2 at a friends house and later my dad got GH3. Then we got Rockband and I hogged the drums in our family for 2-3 years and played solo often…long story short got to expert drums on Rockband 1/2. Ended up buying a kit at 12 years old (saved up $500 of the $750 price tag). At 12 years old finally played a real kit already knowing basic beats. Never played rock band again more than 5 times…real life drums took over. After 5 years I was easily 7,000+ hours on the sticks. Another ten years and I’m fairly seasoned.
Thank you RockBand
Still play GH 1-5 on the PS2. Earlier today even. GH3 is near and dear to my heart.
You said fill your star meter, but what you really meant to say was you FEEL your star power meter full. Such a fun game. I love how video games as art can really touch the child like nature of our souls.
I just realized that Liam Triforce would be a great name for a power metal frontman
Your Zelda videos were always on at work when I was in my deepest depression. You sir, have done your job. Thank you!
LOVE to see Trogdor getting some love in this. :D
This video is absolutely amazing. Definitely the best video on these games I've watched. I also love your comment about having a Year Zero chapter in a game. While I would love one to be based around The Downward Spiral, Year Zero would make for a much more epic visual and gameplay experience. Anywho, great video!!! I look forward to your future content.
This showed me classic bangers, introduced me to new cool bands, and definitely taught me rhythm at least
Rock Band and Guitar Hero are such 2000's things to me. When I think of that time and my early childhood I think of Halo, Lego Games, and playing Rock Band on the Wii we also got for christmas in 2007
I just had a crazy idea that I wish the genre were still around for. Imagine this game - Rock Band: Live Aid.
Imagining the Queen set alone makes me misty-eyed. Someone needs to make this happen.
I never got into these kinds of games but my college roommate was OBSESSED with them - even though I didn't play them much, they REALLY remind me of my last two years of college in 2007 and 2008
Thanks for posting this while I wait for my PDP Riffmaster to arrive
These Band games were such a fun 2000s game. This was the time when we had no idea what could be a game. Fitness could be a game, music could be a game, or cooking as a game. My parents got my brother and I the Beatles rock band set on Wii and we also had lego rock rock band. I also played guitar hero (which ever one has no sleep to Brooklyn and Living on a Prayer, im to lazy to look it up) at a neighbors house which was fun. I was never really good at using the guitar. I cant play a musical instrument irl and i can't play the game verison of it either. My fingers have to move to much and my brain cant keep up with it. I was ok at drums as long as it was on easy mode. That left me with singing which i was terrible at. So mostly i just watched other people play the game. Its kinda sad that the fad died out so fast. It was a fun time with friends. Now the biggest problem is that special hardware (guitars, drums, mic) aren't being made anymore, not even crappy 3rd party ones. So if you want to get a group of friends together you either have to hope that poorly made plastic guitar still works or shill out $60 for a replacement one thats for the ps3, when you have a Wii
Oh heck yeah, these games were my jam and was always fascinated by their downfall.
I think I've played the game so much that I was able to recognize some of the songs being played in the video despite the song not being heard
Dude I remember my friends and I playing rock band together every weekend. We had all pro drums and even the stage kit that had a fog machine and lights that would sync with the music. That shit was so fucking fun man.
My sister memorized fire and flames on medium and could hit 90% of it without looking at the screen, and she was 13 at the time
Even though I only played LEGO Rock Band on the DS, I get why are those two series so beloved. I love rhythm games and I had a blast playing LEGO Rock Band. So many amazing songs (compressed by the DS lmao) and I was surprised how good I was getting at those harder difficulties by playing more and more. The DS version only uses LEFT, UP, X and A buttons to hit notes and L, R for changing instruments. And if you change to drums for example, the music focuses more on the percussion, making other instruments and vocals quieter. Also it contains the theme song from my most favourite film The Devil Wears Prada - Suddenly I See by KT Tunstall
I literally bought rock band 4 and the new riff master yesterday to relive those musical moments
The Rock Band games solidified my taste in music. Growing up I would listen to my brother master the drums (eventually connecting a real electronic drum set, so yes, you can learn to play drums for real on it), and to this day the songs on those playlists are my favorites
The audible “YES!” I just let out…one of my favorite gaming series n the series that helped explore my musical tastes
I saw a great reddit post about the lawsuits over the original Guitar Hero controller a few months ago. Basically while Guitar Freaks only used 3 buttons, some 3rd party controllers included 5 or even 6 buttons either in anticipation of new features or to not be sued for completely stealing the design. Red Octane originally sold one of those 5 key guitars on their website. Harmonix used GF controllers for testing GH, and there's a good chance it was one of those. Problems arrived when Red Octane started suing a company for making clone GH controllers, and that company counter-sued because they're the ones that made the 5 button controller that Red Octane clearly had beforehand. They alleged that their controller was copied for the GH controller, and this was similarly handled out of court.
This was excellent!
Great to hear about your visit to my hometown, Cleveland. Drop by anytime
“At least we’re not Detroit!”
Guitar Hero is the reason I started playing real guitar and today it's such a core part of my life that I cannot even begin to imagine a life without being a musician. This was an amazing video mate, the only bad thing is that I REALLY wanna play the game now, and my old Guitar Hero controller is broken. xD
I was in a guitar class in middle school. Was my second year so I was in advanced guitar class. One day guitar hero 3 was brought in an we all played it. Then the best kid in our class decided to play it. He chose Through the Fire and Flames on expert and proceeded to 100% the song while holding the guitar behind his back. That moment will live rent free in my head forever
So he had played the game before, right? That seems odd to me. Someone who had dedicated time to actually learning an instrument but also mastered plastic toys?
@@leeartlee915I play bass and a couple of woodwinds and still play some Clone Hero on Expert, it can be done. It’s just fun!
@@leeartlee915Can you explain why that seems odd to you? Being able to play real guitar while also enjoying Guitar Hero aren't mutually exclusive concepts.
@@chibilawl They just both take a ton of time to master. Most kids, if they were already dedicated to learning a real instrument, wouldn’t also find time to master Guitar Hero. Every kid I knew in middle school who took music seriously, THAT was their entire life. I’d have to work pretty hard to even have them watch a movie or play a board game or play a video game.
That was my experience though. I guess some people could have enough drive to do both at high levels…. but that’s the part that seems odd to me. I can see a middle schooler doing one. Not both.
That did not happen…
you should do one for DDR Dance Dance Revolution
Ive been playing drums for 14 years and i started by playong Rock Band and Guitar hero on drums. I still use it to this day with Clone Hero. The drums do translate so well when you get the feel for it all
Damn I had 2112 bought as a DLC song for Rock Band 3 but had no idea it got so much love in Guitar Hero WoR with that special stage. I love both series so much and this video was a fun nostalgia trip and you barely touched the surface.
That discussion of your experience with leukemia hit pretty hard for me. I lost my mom last year to an accident related to her AML. The platelets was a constant thing. We went to the hospital every week for a transfusion. I’m glad you made it through.
You're my favorite UA-camr and I'm sure imma love this video cause I love guitar hero
Rock band introduced me to the band Phoenix and haven’t stopped listening to them since. It’s been about 15 years
I love all your retrospectives, so let me give you a giant THANK YOU for doing a retrospective on my 2 favorite 3rd party developed video game series. I could say so much about this video, but just to give the the UA-cam traffic you deserve, beside my like, let me comment with my ranking of the Guitar Hero and Rock Band video gaames on console (seperately, of course).
GUITAR HERO:
1. Guitar Hero Smash Hits
2. Guitar Hero 3
3. Guitar Hero 2
4. Guitar Hero 1
5. Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock
6. Guitar Hero: World Tour
7. Guitar Hero 5
8. Guitar Hero: Aerosmith
9. Guitar Hero: Metallica
10. Guitar Hero: Van Halen
11. Guitar Hero Encore: Rock the 80s
12. Guitar Hero Live
13. Band Hero
ROCK BAND:
1. Rock Band 3
2. Rock Band 2
3. Rock Band 1
4. Beatles Rock Band
5. Green Day Rock Band
6. Lego Rock Band
(I've never played Rock Band 4, so I can't comment on it)
I used to play Frequency as a kid, I had no idea it was Harmonix. I've tried to remember what the game was called for ages, thanks!
I used to play the Guitar Hero games all the time as a kid with my dad. I mostly did the drums and vocals, while he played the guitar, and other times I would just watch him play. It makes me miss these kinds of games, I have so many good memories associated with them.
i found this game so cool back then.
i grew up with a lot of classic rock and metal so hearing certain songs like War Pigs made me light up.
at the time i was looking for some heavier music (still am) so i was pretty into death metal.
i ended up falling in love with Dethklok and seeing Thunderhorse in guitar hero 2 made me so happy.
most i was ever able to play was hard, but i can play a good chunk of the song on the actual guitar.
also i would have cried as well after playing 2112, but cuz it's a 20+ min long epic song
I couldn't agree more that Guitar Hero not only shaped my music tastes but also made me more open to listening to even more artists as I grew older. I don't think these games will ever leave my heart.
My first experience with Guitar hero was GH1. My best friend at the time had GH1 for his PS2 and we played it some but I thought it was kind of hard to play. About a year or so later, my brother had friends who had GH2 on PS2 and we got really into the game. We didn't have a PS2 at the time, so we would go to Best Buy and play the demo a lot. My mom got us a PS2 so we could play it at home. I was really into the game growing up in high school and played a lot of Rock Band/GH in college.
(Looks at the music credits) Music from a game that isn't a music game so much as a musically inspired game?
I see you out here, Ser Liam! Ain't no guilt in your gear and I am here for it!