This Day In Video Game History: November 8, 2005 – “Guitar Hero” Is Released In The USA

Has it really been 12 years since we all picked up a guitar to play virtual notes on our screens, rocking out to classic rock songs like “Smoke On The Water”, and pretending we were all Jimi Hendrix or Randy Rhoads? Indeed, it has. The original Guitar Hero game started what would eventually become a multimillion dollar app. The series was actually predated by the GuitarFreaks arcade games in the late 90’s, interestingly enough.

The game spawned countless sequels, spinoffs (like the excellent Guitar Hero: Metallica), mobile games, merchandise, and inspired a legion of fans to pick up a real guitar.

Below, you can find the song “Cowboys From Hell” (in all its glory in 2005), and a full tracklist of the original game. You can also find a few bullet points with reasons why the game (and more the series overall) is incredibly influential.

A few important points to note about the series and the sharp influence it continues to wield:

*Casual Gaming – even people who didn’t play video games were encouraged to “rock out”.

*DLC – for better or for worse, this was one of the first games (later installments, anyway) to add new content only available through DLC, in the form of songs, albums, etc.

*Inspired a host of imitators and competition – Rock Band (especially RB) was actually made by the people who created GH1/2, and they got the “full band” experience just right, improving upon it in further installments. It even inspired a game called Rocksmith, which took GH/RB a step further, where you actually played a real guitar in your hands.

*Encouraged fans of music to discover (and rediscover) classic albums they played in the games – Being a little older than the original target audience for this game, I can tell you that I grew up listening to much of the music in the series. But even more exciting was discovering albums and bands I had previously overlooked, or never heard of – GHIII included The Fall Of Troy, which instantly captivated me (and others, I’m sure). Guitar Hero: Metallica was a watershed moment in history as well, as it brought the band to life in a cinematic way, having you play through many of their most important songs.

Guitar Hero 1:
1. Opening Licks

* I Love Rock ‘N Roll – Joan Jett and the Blackhearts
* I Wanna Be Sedated – The Ramones
* Thunder Kiss ‘65 – White Zombie
* Smoke on the Water – Deep Purple
* Infected – Bad Religion

2. Axe-Grinders

* Iron Man – Black Sabbath
* More Than a Feeling – Boston
* You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’ – Judas Priest
* Take Me Out – Franz Ferdinand
* Sharp Dressed Man – ZZ Top

3. Thrash and Burn

* Killer Queen – Queen
* Hey You – The Exies
* Stellar – Incubus
* Heart Full of Black – Burning Brides
* Symphony of Destruction – Megadeth

4. Return of the Shred

* Ziggy Stardust – David Bowie
* Fat Lip – Sum 41
* Cochise – Audioslave
* Take It Off – The Donnas
* Unsung – Helmet

5. Fret-Burners

* Spanish Castle Magic – Jimi Hendrix
* Higher Ground – The Red Hot Chili Peppers
* No One Knows – Queens of the Stone Age
* Ace of Spades – Motorhead
* Crossroads – Cream

6. Face-Melters

* Godzilla – Blue Oyster Cult
* Texas Flood – Stevie Ray Vaughan
* Frankenstein – The Edgar Winter Group
* Cowboys From Hell – Pantera
* Bark at the Moon – Ozzy Osbourne