How Guitar Hero made everybody a rock star

“Well Dressed Man,” by ZZ Top. Difficult on a good day, Average when my friends were around, Expert once and then never again. It was my Guitar Hero ideal point. And for years, it seemed like everyone had one. Plastic guitar controllers became a staple of living rooms around the world, and the songs – by big bands, small bands and groups that didn’t even exist – became huge hits. Long before TikTok was the biggest thing in music, putting your track on a Guitar Hero the setlist could change your life forever.

For this episode of Version history, we go through the whole history of Guitar hero. The story begins in arcades in Japan, travels to two unlikely companies in the United States, and almost completely flops before becoming a huge hit. For several years, Guitar Hero was as big as any game you could find, before slowly starting to fade into the background. The game may no longer exist, but you can still find its legacy in some renowned video games.

Hosts David Pierce, Ash Parrish and Chris Grant have all experienced different parts of the Guitar Hero history. They gather at Version history panel discussion to talk about the franchise’s many precursors and influences, the E3 conference that became the franchise’s success, the eventual rise of Rock Band, and how Guitar Hero eventually lost most of its luster. We also pull out the ax for the first time in a while, to see who still has it.

This is the fourth episode of Version history. (The first three were hoverboards, BBM and Sony Watchman). If you want to catch the show, there are three good places to go:

Thanks to everyone who has already watched or listened to the show and sent in their comments! We’re already working hard on the next set of episodes and want to hear anything you think we should or shouldn’t do or do differently. We’re rewriting the eight version history questions as we speak, and we’d love to know what you would include in the list. In the meantime, if you want to relive Guitar Hero like we did, here are some links to get you started: