WHAT KILLED GUITAR HERO? The rise and a fall…

What killed Guitar Hero? I look at the rise and fall of the Guitar Hero game including:
* How GuitarFreaks and Dance Dance Revolution inspired Harmonix and Red Octane to create Guitar Hero
* The rise to mainstream success with Guitar Hero 2 and 3, and the fall of Guitar Hero World Tour and Guitar Hero 5 after expansions and sequels burned out the audience
* How Rock Band threatened Guitar Hero and how GH helped bands and songs like Dragonforce "Through The Fire And Flames", The Fall Of Troy "F.C.P.R.E.M.I.X.", My Chemical Romance, and Aerosmith
* Guitar Hero Live, Clone Hero and Guitar Hero's lasting impact and influence
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0:00 Intro
2:31 GuitarFreaks and Guitar Hero 1
7:12 Guitar Hero 2
11:56 Guitar Hero 3
14:47 Guitar Hero World Tour & Guitar Hero 5
18:24 Guitar Hero's legacy and impact

[lrendd]

The impact that Guitar Hero 3 had on my music taste is actually nuts and im sure im not the only one

[zeroshift]

"They did what AAA game studios almost always do, and just kept running this thing into the ground."

Never have truer words been spoken.

[guilhermeptp]

So sad this game fall off. It’s like a “era” of kids learning about rock and metal and about playing and creating bands. Today, looks like there’s almost nothing without a huge impact on rock mainstream

[TheArtofGuitar]

I remember my guitar students at the time were coming in asking to learn songs like "Carry On Wayward Son" and "Slow Ride" so I'll always be grateful to Guitar Hero for introducing them to great guitar tunes. It also got me a lot of new students but many realized REAL guitar was way harder and quit shortly after starting. ;/

[IOxyrinchus]

This is really nostalgic for me, I discovered so many awesome bands as a kid through GH3 alone: Metallica, Weezer, Rage Against The Machine, Senses Fail, Mountain, The Killers & even Iron Maiden. Such a great gateway franchise into Rock & Metal

[MrTerrorFace]

Honestly, a lot of the issues with Guitar Hero can all trace back to the way Activision treated the franchise, similar to how they treated CoD and Tony Hawk.

[gmitchell]

There’s a 0% chance I’d be subscribed to a channel about punk rock if it wasn’t for playing Guitar Hero III in middle school with my friends

[TheArtofGuitar]

Strange how the more realistic the games became the less people wanted to play them. As a guitar teacher I thought my job was history when Rocksmith and Rock Band started using real guitars as controllers but I was way off on that prediction.

[rjheeb]

If it weren't for GH2, I wouldn't have discovered All That Remains. "Six" and later the whole record "The Fall of Ideals" were vital in growing my taste in music. TFOI is still my favorite metal album of all time. The fact that ATR is performing the entirety of TFOI on tour right now brings this all full circle for me, and I'm going to have a great time at the Seattle show. If it weren't for GH2 I wouldn't be going to this show 10+ year later, and I think that's crazy.

[GunDrummer]

I remember when guitar hero came out and it was the most ADDICTING AND FUN thing ever

[QuincyKane]

I actually used the Guitar Hero "Practice Mode" to learn songs on the real guitar; I played them at Youth Camp that Summer and I was the coolest kid there, haha!

This game was definitely hugely influential to me as a musician and for my taste in music.

[TheTriangleOffense]

I have always been a hip-hop head due to the music Ive grew up with and was surrounded by but I’m grateful for Guitar Hero 3 and just video game soundtracks in general for opening me up to other genre’s and styles. Now the music taste is eclectic af

[nickparadies]

When I was in 7th grade my friend was staying with us over spring break and my dad bought us Guitar Hero III so we would have something to do. Within six months I was playing the real guitar I found in our attic and writing songs. Within a year we started our own band. Awesome memories.

[SugarpillProd]

I don't know if you were aware, but Ryan Greene (the producer behind most of Fat Wreck's 90's catalogue) was one of the guys who recorded all of the covers for the early games. There's a podcast somewhere on YouTube where he talks about how they made them, and how difficult some of the songs were to recreate. Great video Finn!

[HimothyBurton]

Just saw all that remains on the 15 years of fall of ideals anniversary tour. Phil said "yall remember guitar hero?" then they tore into six, very cool that they still recognized that.

[triplesixmafia]

GH was *literally* the reason how i got into metal - before then i was almost solely into hip hop.
me turning 14 years old and playing the games obsessively got me into the genre because it made me fully understand the energy and appeal of it. i know GH isn't only metal songs but i magnetized the most to the heavier songs in the series (notably bands like In Flames, Killswitch Engage, Slipknot, All That Remains, Mastodon)

the channel i leave this comment with is filled with covers of brutal bands i liked through the years... so strange to think all that is seeded cuz of guitar hero

[graymind]

great analysis of this era. i was certainly a child of it. played piano growing up then picked up a real guitar after playing hours of guitar hero 2. i definitely owe a large amount of my interest in rock & metal to this game.

[crazydud]

Possibly your best video yet! Not many music channels have covered this series, if any. (Plenty of gaming channels have, but those don't emphasize the importance to music, like this one does. You are correct about the exposure it created. It certainly moved in a more metallic direction.

[AlbinoJedi]

GH3 in particular introduced me to so many bands I fell in love with and really turned the tide from me listening to my parents' music to harder rock. As a drummer, World Tour even opened my eyes and skills to new drumming styles.

[mackenziehunter]

It’s a shame this series burnt out so quickly. 5-6 years isn’t a very long time at all especially these days. Getting GH2 for Christmas literally formed who I am today, for better or worse haha. I found my love for metal, rock, punk and of course the guitar. Even little things, like if I never picked up guitar hero and ultimately the guitar, I probably wouldn’t be watching this channel!