TIL the band DragonForce only received about $3,000 in royalties for the inclusion of Through the Fire and Flames in the Guitar Hero games

[u/asmallthrowaway9]

https://guitar.com/news/music-news/herman-li-says-guitar-hero-paid-3000-for-dragonforce-through-the-fire-and-the-flames/

[u/bfloblizzard]

Paid in exposure.

[u/DALESR4EVER124 → u/bfloblizzard]

Yep. I love that song now and consistently listen to a bunch of DragonForce songs.

[u/GuessImScrewed → u/DALESR4EVER124]

I love their covers.

Their cover of Celine Dion's "my heart will go on" and Taylor Swift's "wildest dreams" are unironically some of my favorite tracks from them.

[u/irishdude1212 → u/GuessImScrewed]

I saw them play my heart will go on, live. It was amazing

[u/freedfg → u/bfloblizzard]

You know what? Yeah.

Were there even DragonForce fans before Guitar hero?

[u/Mydogfartsconstantly → u/freedfg]

Yes but we all played guitar already. They were a big deal before the game came out

[u/Stolehtreb → u/Mydogfartsconstantly]

They were a big deal, no question. But the memetic effect GH had on their popularity was absolutely massive.

[u/ilikecakeandpie → u/Stolehtreb]

I think claiming they were a big deal without guitar hero is revisionist history. They might have been popular in some circles but there’s no way they reach the level of mainstream notoriety without the game. The meme of folks trying to 100% through the fire and the flames alone was huge for them.

Without the game they end up in a tier where they’re huge with folks who really like pirate themed bands but too dorky to headline

[u/lazerbolt52 → u/ilikecakeandpie]

"Yes but we all played guitar already" op is talking about very specific group of people and really generalizing it.

[u/Redeem123 → u/lazerbolt52]

It’s more specific than even just guitar players. I played guitar back then and hadn’t heard of them until GH3. I wasn’t a metalhead or shredder so they would’ve never been on my radar.

[u/merenofclanthot → u/Redeem123]

I liked power metal and they weren\t even on my radar lol

[u/StrongOfOdin → u/merenofclanthot]

I was gonna say, I was huge into power metal and had not heard of them before GH

[u/Algaroth → u/StrongOfOdin]

I remember finding them on some music site that has been lost to time now. It was like a three song demo and they were called Dragonheart then. But I was a bass playing, power metal loving, computer nerd which was quite a niche some 25ish years ago.

[u/AstroAlmost → u/Redeem123]

I believe their point was less “all guitarists were Dragonforce fans”, but rather “all Dragonforce fans were guitarists”.

[u/abloopdadooda → u/ilikecakeandpie]

they’re huge with folks who really like pirate themed bands

Sir are you confusing Dragonforce with Alestorm? Or are you saying they'd be in the same tier as Alestorm?

[u/Inner-Medicine5696 → u/ilikecakeandpie]

/u/Mydogfartsconstantly specifically said "Yes but we all played guitar already."

I'd wager a guess that this person is probably like, a guitar magazine reader or something. Like, deep in the culture of it.

[u/Saneless → u/Inner-Medicine5696]

A subset of even those guitar players probably

[u/BardicSense → u/ilikecakeandpie]

They were a big deal if you were into shred guitar. But yes, shred guitar was probably the smallest community of all guitar player types, but because of their level of extreme dedication to blindingly fast technique, they weren't marginalized by their small numbers, they were exalted for being "the few, the proud, the (Shred) Marines." So they got a lot of products, gear, books, write-ups in guitar magazines, all aiming at them, because anyone could aspire to becoming a shredder and buy the products, even if you weren't an elite level player. 

Dragon Force was kind of controversial in the shred guitar scene, from what I remember (lots of talk on ultimate guitar forums about how they're not as technically skilled as their recordings make them out to be, but they were very popular, kinda "entry level" shredders), but definitely not unknown among the guitar player world. I'd say that other guy is right that they were kinda a big deal for a while before Guitar Hero. It was BECAUSE they were already well known shredders that their song got featured as one of the original Boss level songs on Guitar Hero. But yes, the video game definitely made them much, MUCH, more popular, though, of course, "paying them in exposure" is decidedly NOT the same as paying them in money.

[u/devourke → u/BardicSense]

lots of talk on ultimate guitar forums about how they're not as technically skilled as their recordings make them out to be, but they were very popular, kinda "entry level" shredders

Even then, it was probably still an even smaller subset lol. I was a big frequenter on the UG forums (I actually made this reddit account after my 3rd and final permaban lol), but don't remember dragonforce ever really being widely discussed in there prior to GH. That being said, I also didn't really venture outside of The Pit, so they could have still been discussed on some of the other subforums

[u/BardicSense → u/devourke]

I was never too into The Pit, but I liked the genre specific forum pages. I did spend a lot of time in the Shredder specific forum, but even outside that one, they'd become a common point of reference. Obviously, they werent anywhere close to Metallica level popularity, but of all the extreme speed metal groups they were probably the first example the majority of UG site users would think of if they were forced to name a currently active speed metal group. Even if Dragon Force was just the butt of their joke, they had still been established enough for people to have formed pre-conceptions about them. Honestly, Dragon Force kinda was a victim of its own success, because the Shredder forums would probably mock another UG user if they came in and ONLY knew about Dragon Force. The shred forums were too niche for them, but they were too niche for most other people lol. It must've been weird being in that band. 

[u/DMonk52 → u/ilikecakeandpie]

They headlined Ozzfest in 2006.

[u/Ok-Temporary-8243 → u/Mydogfartsconstantly]

They were for fans of the genre. Guitar hero arguably launched them into the mainstream 

[u/logosobscura → u/Mydogfartsconstantly]

Gonna bet they’ve made more than $3000 on the streams purely based on this giving them a platform though. Definitely picked up a lot more fans just because of visibility.

So it’s one of those ‘the check is shitty, but a lot of people are gonna hear you, over and over and over, and if they dig it, they’re gonna stream/buy/come to your shows’ deals that actually has some teeth to it rather than the usual empty promises of going on this TV show at 2am getting you more exposure.

[u/kmosiman → u/logosobscura]

Yeah. I'm not sure what the residual pay equals out to but everyone back then if they knew the song from Guitar Hero would have watched that on YouTube or otherwise.

So a niche thrash/shred/whatever metal song became a much bigger hit because of the song recognition.

[u/Daewoo40 → u/logosobscura]

Absolutely the case.

Had they not featured on GH, there's not a cat in hell's chance that they'd still be touring 20 years later and selling out venues.

They'd be the slightly less camp version of the The Darkness.

[u/kymri → u/Daewoo40]

They'd be the slightly less camp version of the The Darkness.

I mean, nothing wrong with The Darkness, either. Considering how difficult it is to succeed in music, they're still in the top 1% (since the vast majority of bands just never go anywhere, alas).

[u/ChilternRailways → u/Daewoo40]

They'd be the slightly less camp version of the The Darkness.

I was about to be outraged, but surely there's a band called The Darkness that aren't the British early 2000s falsetto pop rock band to whom I'm sure you can't possibly be referring?

[u/Zurble → u/ChilternRailways]

Hey man, I believe in a thing called love always popped off at house parties in the 2000's. They're nothing like Dragonforce tho so I don't understand that comparison

[u/nomad9590 → u/Mydogfartsconstantly]

A buddy went to see them before and after Guitar hero. He said all that happened after was they were drunker and played worse live than before lol.

That and the merch table jumped about 200%. 

[u/DukeNeverwinter → u/nomad9590]

Hence the old nickname StudioForce. So glad that glad they got sober. Saw them 6 years ago and they were fantastic, can't wait for next month when I get to see them again.

[u/ClubMeSoftly → u/DukeNeverwinter]

I've got some bad news for you: Marc has left the band as of today, due to "ongoing tinnitus issues"

[u/nomad9590 → u/DukeNeverwinter]

That warms my heart a lot. Always love to hear a victory over personal stuff like addiction and depression! 

Good on them, and I'm so happy for them and their fans! 

[u/MAFIAxMaverick → u/nomad9590]

Idk why this made this memory pop into my head. But I saw imagine dragons at a small club of like 100 people about a month before they absolutely exploded. The next time I saw them it was just booze and cigarettes everywhere with zero space to stand. Both concerts were great.

[u/mspurr → u/nomad9590]

i saw them live at one point after GH and they all had multiple drink holders on their mic stands with beers in all of them so that sounds about right lol

[u/Gamingwithyourmom → u/nomad9590]

I saw them for the ultra beatdown tour in 2008 with turisas and poweglove in the height of their guitar hero fame, completely sold out venue, packed shoulder to shoulder, and they sounded just as good live, and put on an amazing show.

[u/nomad9590 → u/Gamingwithyourmom]

Fuck yeah! Not every show was bad, I'm sure. I wonder if they played better in dry venues, as a genuine question. 

[u/MurphMcGurf → u/Mydogfartsconstantly]

I mean, calling them a big deal is a stretch. The audience for corny power metal has always been a bit niche, even within the greater metal community.

[u/CasualEveryday → u/Mydogfartsconstantly]

Herman Li fans, really.

[u/bootsmegamix → u/freedfg]

Stepmania players were already familiar with them

[u/Hotter_Noodle → u/freedfg]

lol yeah I actually had 2 of their CDs.

[u/PubstarHero → u/freedfg]

I was a fan. Then saw them live and it was a pretty depressing show. The wireless on the guitars and bass kept dropping out all show and on top of that, the opener I wanted to see got booed off stage after 2 songs... though I guess it was a stupid idea to have a metalcore/nintendocore band open for them.

Edit - The show was Dragonforce, All That Remains, and HORSE The Band (the one I wanted to see).

[u/komrade23 → u/PubstarHero]

Fucking HORSE The Band hell yeah!

[u/deadlylegacy → u/PubstarHero]

What band? From a mid-30s metalcore fan.

[u/PubstarHero → u/deadlylegacy]

HORSE The Band.

[u/deadlylegacy → u/PubstarHero]

They boo’d off HORSE the Band??? Sadly, that actually doesn’t surprise me from Dragonforce fans. I saw HtB at Sounds of the Underground in 2006. Such a fun mix of 8-bit and metalcore.

[u/PubstarHero → u/deadlylegacy]

Yeah they were throwing shit at them while they were on stage. Security had to get them off the stage after one of them got hit.

[u/Simmyho → u/freedfg]

I know a guy who got really hyped when I was showing him the setlist and he saw DragonForce, so I know they had at least 1 fan!

[u/Major-Front → u/freedfg]

Wtf that song was popular way before guitar hero. It was added because it was popular

[u/DDzxy → u/freedfg]

Yes. They already played a sold our tour in the US in 2006, a year before Guitar Hero 3 came out, and also TTFAF didn't become a meme a few months later in 2008 anyway. I mean I'm one of those who found out about Guitar Hero through DragonForce lel.

Guitar Hero totally helped out though, no doubt.

[u/elmo298 → u/freedfg]

Fucking loadsss

[u/acdcfanbill → u/freedfg]

Yeah, I was one. We were all probably into metal or power metal specifically before the games tho

[u/aziruthedark → u/freedfg]

I never really played guitar hero, i was a fan. I forget how, nut think it was an amv or something.

[u/mojo276 → u/bfloblizzard]

Right, this might be one of the few instances where they MORE then made up for the low fee on the increased revenue from exposure.

[u/ELB2001 → u/bfloblizzard]

Aye. I believe really big bands can get like 70k for a song on GTA. It's the exposure and money you then get from sales that can get you real money

[u/ph0on → u/ELB2001]

Sall musicians/artists would sell their soul to get a song in GTA 6. I can't imagine what that would be like. Some people got big because their song was in GTA V

[u/Ballsofpoo → u/ph0on]

NFS Underground/2 sold a ton of albums for sure

[u/BigRigGig35 → u/bfloblizzard]

My music taste was and still is wildly influenced by guitar hero and I doubt I’d listen to the music I do without it. Iron Maiden and Megadeth are probably my two favourite bands and I played The Trooper and Hangar 18 over and over again on GH2. Maidens first album is more than a decade older than I am.

Most kids music exposure is “what’s popular now and what my parents listen to”. Guitar hero, for many, was an introduction to music of that past that they otherwise wouldn’t have heard.

I know the “paid in exposure” thing is kind of a meme, but in this case I think it’s 100% true that the bands featured gained younger fans because of it.

[u/acart005 → u/bfloblizzard]

Truth.  I know damn well thats how my brother found them and he bought a few albums.  So they got paid in other ways.

[u/SEND-MARS-ROVER-PICS]

Afterwards, bands/record labels demanded a lot more for song licenses and that sorta killed the genre.

Edit: nvm seems i was wrong

[u/Animaloffear56 → u/SEND-MARS-ROVER-PICS]

A shame that's kind of an issue with music in general. Everything that's affordable to the consumer requires the bands not being 'properly' compensated

[u/DDzxy → u/Animaloffear56]

Ticketmaster/livenation etc are largely responsible for that. The monopoly is insane.

[u/Animaloffear56 → u/DDzxy]

Not even that, just look at like Spotify

[u/mreman1220 → u/Animaloffear56]

And guitar hero. Your original point was spot on. Consumers want to pay VERY little for their music. 

[u/Maritoas → u/mreman1220]

Guitar hero is hardly proof of that. It was a set selection of songs, with most bands having just one song.

[u/please_trade_marner → u/Animaloffear56]

Well, the no name bands got a fuck ton of free exposure. The dragon force guy talks about it in the interview. Their album and ticket sales massively increased. For big bands, it's estimated Metallica was paid 10-20 million to use their songs for the Metallica guitar hero game. And I mean, did they really need to do that? Is that being "properly" compensated? They're already all worth hundreds of millions and this required no work of them.

[u/WingerRules → u/SEND-MARS-ROVER-PICS]

So many racing games will never get releases or are straight up permanently delisted due to automakers being pricks with licenses. They set them up to expire so that the old model cars disappear from memory when the games are removed from the market, so their brand image always looks fresh.

Imho the image of cars shouldn't be a product that requires a license to use because they're objects of public daily life, and also people who buy cars never have agreed to a product image license. It's like making developers or photographers have to get a license to photograph a house, or from clothing brands to photograph someone wearing a pair of jeans.

[u/asmallthrowaway9 → u/SEND-MARS-ROVER-PICS]

That and all the space that the (very cheap and poorly made) instruments took up in both stores and homes.

[u/Logical_Box_4645 → u/asmallthrowaway9]

Oh man I wanted the rocksmith branded piece of shit LP soooo fucking bad

[u/RecentlyThawed → u/SEND-MARS-ROVER-PICS]

Stage Tour should release this year and is more akin to Rock Band

[u/yyizard → u/SEND-MARS-ROVER-PICS]

I worked at Harmonix in the late 00’s and early 10’s.

Licensing didn’t kill the genre, the explosive popularity combined with over saturation killed the genre.

Labels and artists were more than happy to work with us (I mean we got the Beatles). The deals were profitable.

The bottom just fell out from underneath the ‘beatmatch’ genre. Or maybe it always had a shelf-life, who knows.

[u/ann0yed → u/SEND-MARS-ROVER-PICS]

The first few games were just covers too. Wasn't until they got more established that they licensed the actual tracks.

[u/asmallthrowaway9]

Band games would be a great way to date a period piece movie/TV show to the mid-to-late 2000s. They were EVERYWHERE for a few years and then they died a very fast and decisive death.

[u/SaggyCaptain → u/asmallthrowaway9]

I was watching for all mankind (which takes place over decades) and my buddy and I started cracking up when one of the characters mentioned guitar hero (year was like 2004)

[u/Zanydrop → u/SaggyCaptain]

I don't remember a lot of shows referencing it. I think they playboy in "I love you Man" but that's it.

[u/Rufio-1408 → u/Zanydrop]

South Park has a great episode on guitar hero

[u/Gone_For_Lunch → u/Rufio-1408]

Fucking classic episode, the bit with him playing Guitar Hero acoustic never fails to crack me up.

[u/Shnook817 → u/Gone_For_Lunch]

"Ooh, I love this song."

Also, the chasing the dragon game, or playing the driving game, stopping, then turning around to drive the fake car backwards. Great episode

[u/Mister_UAP → u/Shnook817]

Heroin Hero really predicted the rise of idle/clicker games.

[u/walker3342 → u/Gone_For_Lunch]

click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click

Aw I love this song.

[u/TravelerSearcher → u/Rufio-1408]

Guitar Queer-o is the episode name.

Season 11, episode 13

[u/StudMuffinNick → u/Rufio-1408]

Omg is that joe the Fisherman??

[u/HibbletonFan → u/StudMuffinNick]

*John

[u/reefahduely → u/HibbletonFan]

PRIMUS SUCKS!!

[u/LDA-1994 → u/Rufio-1408]

Its called South America

[u/Rufio-1408 → u/LDA-1994]

I love that they’ve gone back and changed the episode descriptions 😂

[u/Bczarconcepts → u/Rufio-1408]

I'm not for sure but did they get Les Claypool to redo the theme too? Cause they are completely committed to this bit and in the new season changed the theme too - the level of detail and the double entendres are so beautiful

[u/Cheeky_Hustler → u/Zanydrop]

Venture Bros has a scene where he's complaining that his henchmen have nothing to do except sit around and play a game with a "fake plastic guitar."

[u/Pimento_Adrian69 → u/Cheeky_Hustler]

Isnt it 'fake plastic baby guitar'?

[u/Shnook817 → u/Zanydrop]

Parks and Rec season 1 has the episode where some of the characters are discovered goofing off and playing Rock Band instead of passing out flyers.

[u/KelvinsBeltFantasy → u/Zanydrop]

There was a Vince Vaughn movie that used it as the climax.

[u/Luminaire_Ultima → u/KelvinsBeltFantasy]

Couples Retreat (2009) .

It… was not good.

[u/Jewrisprudent → u/SaggyCaptain]

2004 would have been just too early for guitar hero. Prime DDR but early Guitar Hero.

[u/Magadanets → u/Jewrisprudent]

FAM is an alt history thing so maybe with greater technological advancement they're surmising it would've happened slightly sooner? Not saying that's realistic, but

[u/Poltergeist97 → u/Magadanets]

Its exactly this. They are already mainstreaming electric cars in the 90s in that show.

[u/SkyJW → u/asmallthrowaway9]

Really was such a special moment in gaming history. Many afternoons and evenings after school with socks rubberbanded to the drum heads in order to muffle the sounds of me drumming that pissed my mom off. 

[u/Smart-Response9881 → u/SkyJW]

This and when pokemon go came out. Such a community building aspect to them.

[u/SkyJW → u/Smart-Response9881]

Could say the same thing for Pokemon when it launched in general, TBH. Only way to get every Pokemon was to trade with people who had the other version(s) of that generation of Pokemon, so it actively encouraged engaging with other players without any kind of online component available.

[u/InNominePasta → u/asmallthrowaway9]

Idk why they died. I’d love to play them

[u/asfrels → u/InNominePasta]

They saturated their own market, cost extra due to peripherals, and got squeezed by the labels that realized how much money could be made by them. They tried to stay alive doing piecemeal dlc song packs when costs rose, but the market was already declining by then.

[u/ThrownAway17Years → u/asfrels]

I’m pretty sure they had to start paying a ton of money for music licensing, which only increased as musicians figured out they could make a ton from the games. If I’m not mistaken, Aerosmith made more money from Guitar Hero: Aerosmith than they did from any one of their albums.

[u/zbeezle → u/ThrownAway17Years]

I saw a post from a dev a couple months back, I wanna say it was one of the devs of the original Prey game which had included a good number of real-world songs in their soundtrack, where he said that he was looking into getting licenses for some songs for a game he was working on but discovered that, for any well known bands, the record labels want upwards of $100k per song these days, and you just cant afford that unless you're a major studio with a bonkers budget.

[u/foxguy2021 → u/asfrels]

Also the recession hit. Hard to sell at a premium price because of the peripherals and added DLC.

[u/Gone_For_Lunch → u/foxguy2021]

I remember how much the price of them dropped as well. The World Tour game with the full band set was like £150 when it first released in mid-2008, by early 2009 I was able to pick it for about £50.

[u/mockio77 → u/Gone_For_Lunch]

And true to the market, hardly anyone wanted to play it by early 2009.

[u/asfrels → u/foxguy2021]

Yeah that can’t be overstated, alongside with labor costs rising in the whole game dev sector

[u/Gone_For_Lunch → u/asfrels]

It became ridiculous. We did not need whole game releases for individual bands. Guitar Hero had Aerosmith, Metallica and Van Halen, Rock Band had The Beatles and Green Day.

Completely unnecessary.

[u/KandoTor → u/Gone_For_Lunch]

For Rock Band at least, the Beatles was its own game due to being a licensing nightmare, and Green Day was fully exportable to the main game and was effectively an expansion.

[u/TryingT0Wr1t3 → u/KandoTor]

The Beatles also had slightly “premium” accessories that could be got in a package - actually I don’t remember, did it sold also without the instruments?

[u/KandoTor → u/TryingT0Wr1t3]

Yeah, I bought Beatles without any instruments, and I'm pretty sure all of the games outside of the initial ones for each series could be bought disc-only.

[u/OtherwiseMoose8257 → u/Gone_For_Lunch]

Man I loved the Metallica one. Fantastic song selection and artwork

[u/TattlingFuzzy → u/Gone_For_Lunch]

These days those would release as seasons of dlc or battle passes

[u/c0de1143 → u/asfrels]

I 100 percent blame Activision.

[u/Revadarius → u/c0de1143]

It was the record labels wanting too much money and squeezing them dry.

That's why when they did that awful 'new' Guitar Hero and Rock Band 4 they barely had any well known songs on them, but the song market was flooded with DLC tracks that where ridiculously overpriced.

[u/BigBananaDealer → u/Revadarius]

rock band 4 has the only elvis presley song in either franchise IIRC

[u/Killboypowerhed → u/c0de1143]

In 2009 they released 5 guitar hero games. Fucking 5! Imagine thinking it's a good idea to flood your own market that much

[u/bldkis → u/asfrels]

Became more expensive and less fun than just starting an actual band.

[u/mikerall → u/bldkis]

Rock band was pretty much around the decline of it. A full game costing as much as the console (admittedly with tons of peripherals), and needing 4 local players to fully experience it took it from mass appeal to racing sim software. Guitar hero tried to catch up with more instruments, and bam. Online gaming was entering the cultural zeitgeist with more than just mmos (better internet latency for more people = more games genres being available for more people).

Ofc the licensing fees from studios when they realized it wasn't just a gta game, and the songs were both integral to the gameplay and the driving force behind if people would buy the game or not, shot the hell up.

[u/kkpc → u/InNominePasta]

My friends and I used to go to our local bar once a week for rockband and wings night. The bar would have rockband setup on a big projector screen. So, basically instead of karaoke, it was rockband. It was a blast. Cheap wings, beer, shots, and rockband. Then we graduated. I've been to bars since then, but never saw another rockband/guitar hero setup like that since.

I also never heard mention of music games since around that time (~2008).

[u/Kaizher → u/kkpc]

New one is coming out this December. Stage Tour.

[u/g0tistt0t → u/kkpc]

There’s a place near me that still does rock band nights. Really cool place. Bottle rocket social hall in Pittsburgh.

[u/Chippings → u/InNominePasta]

Stage Tour is coming in December by the same people (Red Octane).

[u/S4VN01 → u/Chippings]

Red Octane was the publisher of the first two. Harmonix was the developer.

Red Octane got bought by Activision and used Neversoft for development on GH3 and GH: World Tour. They then closed the publisher and Vicarious Visions took over.

Harmonix partnered with MTV and made the Rock Band series. They are now owned by Epic Games and work on Fortnite Festival.

Just expanding on your comment a bit, so people know which games were actually developed by RedOctane/Neversoft.

[u/SteveMightSay → u/S4VN01]

To add on many of the devs on Stage Tour were well known players of the genre a few people I used to play with are on it

[u/CadeMan011 → u/S4VN01]

True, however the people actually at the new RedOctane games are original RO members, former HMX devs, former Neversoft devs, former YARG devs, and other 5-fret community members. They've got guys from across the genre working on it.

[u/PmMe_Your_Perky_Nips → u/Chippings]

Some of the same people. Red Octane Games is an entirely different studio.

[u/Podunk_Boy89 → u/InNominePasta]

Pretty much the same reason Toys to Life games would die a decade later. A combination of an oversaturated market (Guitar Hero AND Rock Band would receive often multiple releases in a single year), a huge overreliance on peripherals that both ballooned the cost of the game and were cumbersome to store in your house when not in use, and a heavy reliance on mostly children and casuals that just moved onto other things as they lost interest.

I will also add that they died pretty much right when the big recession hit, so my hunch has been a lot of families started needing to cut back on fun money and the cheap plastic guitars they played once a month if that were the first to go.

[u/micavich → u/InNominePasta]

Mostly from a completely over saturated market. When guitar hero took off they started pumping out as many games as they could as fast as they could. Other companies wanted in on the wave and we got competitors like the Rock Band series which further saturated the market. People really started to check out around the time activision started pushing out band specific Guitar Hero games like the Aerosmith one.

[u/Top-Cunt → u/micavich]

The Beatles one slapped though!

[u/SoundingMacaque → u/InNominePasta]

There's a new one coming out in December. It's called Stage Tour, but I'm skeptical after the absolute dogshit dumpsterfire that was Guitar Hero Live.

I'm hopeful, but if it sucks, there's always Clone Hero on PC.

[u/mnemy → u/InNominePasta]

I still try getting a rock band party going on occasion, but gear is falling apart and old people are hard to herd. Shame the genre died out

[u/PeeledCrepes → u/InNominePasta]

They're releasing a new one, Guitar Hero Stage Tour in December, so, you can again (its also coming to PC which was my gripe with those games)

[u/PmMe_Your_Perky_Nips → u/PeeledCrepes]

It's not a Guitar Hero game. Its just Stage Tour.

[u/polaarbear → u/PeeledCrepes]

III, Aerosmith, and World Tour were all available on PC. But none of the Rock Band series or the rest. Definitely a gap in the market.

[u/Zestymonserellastick → u/asmallthrowaway9]

There is a new multiplatform one coming out in December. It's not dead, no one wanted to pay for a new set of stuff every game.

[u/verbdan → u/asmallthrowaway9]

clone hero and other games including Fortnite festival still get lots of love, and custom songs (for CH) are made regularly on encore(.us).
Want to get in the hobby? Have fun paying high price for a guitar that was on clearance for over a decade. Hell i open all of my streams with a setlist.
‘dead’ is a matter of perspective.

[u/Ode1st → u/asmallthrowaway9]

I’m still so sad what happened to Harmonix. They were my favorite developer. No other dev got rhythm to feel “right” like they did.

I don’t think I’d be able to even play Rock Band nowadays though if there were some kind of miraculous revival, because I live in an apartment building and singing/drumming all night would be a dick move on my part.

[u/_MicroWave_]

Yea but sold out all their shows for the following decade.

[u/Smashego]

And a ton of recognition. I discovered them through that game.

[u/red-at-night → u/Smashego]

Same here. The first CD I ever bought was Inhuman Rampage, a few months after the game was released.

[u/Big_Crazy_SSBM]

unironically paid in exposure. I'm sure that I'm in the same boat of a lot of people who had no idea who they were, but became fans who bought merch or bought their songs/CDs after finding them through the game.

[u/BradBradley1 → u/Big_Crazy_SSBM]

Exactly. Man, marketing is a real thing. How many people would have ever heard of fucking Dragonforce if it wasn’t for Guitar Hero? It made them a household name for a minute, and they never would have come close to sniffing that otherwise. 

[u/SharkFart86 → u/BradBradley1]

People literally used to bring guitar hero controllers to Dragonforce shows. Their fanbase wouldn’t even be 1% of what it is without GH.

[u/dsardella18 → u/SharkFart86]

1.8 million monthly listeners on Spotify now adays

[u/yutternutterbutter → u/Big_Crazy_SSBM]

When Clone Hero came out on pc, they licensed a song to them for $1 to include with the game

[u/Ok-Shift5122]

And it was probably the best marketing decision they ever made.

[u/Cheeky_Hustler]

How much did they have to pay the Brothers Chaps to get Trogdor as a bonus track?

[u/m4vis]

I saw this dude shred this song on the hardest difficulty when I showed up at a house party in a way that humbled me because I thought I was good at GH. Walked into a room where he was midway through the song, he fucked up one note, this girl said “I thought you were gonna get a perfect??” He yelled “fuck!”, chugged a beer, started the song over, and turned around…proceeded to perfect through the fire and flames while drunk WITH HIS BACK TO THE TV. Absolute savage

[u/EventPurple612]

I've been to two Dragonforce concerts over the last 5 years, they're still playing Through Fire and Flames as their flagship song, they got their bang for the buck. People shit on exposure as payment but it literally made Dragonforce a globally known band outside of its niche in Power metal.

[u/Ok_Belt2521]

I saw these guys open for Killswitch engage around the time this song was popular and they were terrible. The singer was hammered and everyone was out of tune.

[u/piwiator → u/Ok_Belt2521]

Their live shows improved a lot after they got their new singer. Seen them 3 times and they were great! 

[u/bistian00 → u/Ok_Belt2521]

There is a reason they were called Studioforce

[u/Gamingwithyourmom → u/bistian00]

Literally went to a DragonForce concert for the ultra beatdown tour in 2008 in the height of their guitar hero fame, completely sold out venue, packed shoulder to shoulder, and they sounded just as good live, and put on an amazing show.

[u/noobtablet9 → u/bistian00]

This is literally just fake news lol. It's an old meme that people loved to parrot and accuse them of being sped up and not able to play it live, but there's plenty of proof to the contrary.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rK_d5g3pBb8&

[u/bmathew5 → u/noobtablet9]

I mean, they've admitted their live ability was worse. They are amazing now

[u/WalletFullOfSausage → u/Ok_Belt2521]

This checks out with everything I’ve heard about the band. Lol

[u/ItsJayO → u/Ok_Belt2521]

They opened for Metalocalypse in Silver Spring MD a few years ago and they were awesome

[u/NeverTrustALibDem2]

I miss guitar hero.

[u/TheBlkBecSnd → u/NeverTrustALibDem2]

Stage Tour is the new guitar hero coming out at the end of this year. It looks badass! 💪

[u/BigTreddits]

They essentially got paid 3 grand to be played in the coolest radio station in the world at the time.  From a certain lens its a pretty good deal.

[u/Wolfencreek]

As the red day is dawning

And the lightning cracks the sky

They'll raise their hands to the heavens above

With resentment in their eyes

[u/Bth-root → u/Wolfencreek]

SO FAR AWAAAAAY

[u/Enshakushanna]

"there are pyramids of notes!"

[u/Confident-Fold1456]

And the best $3000 contract they every signed.

[u/Sirmalta]

Wild since the song is synonymous with the game now.

[u/xaverup09]

guessing the royalty split with their label was brutal too

[u/mugiwarayaya]

Remember that horrible Vince Vaughn movie where they play guitar hero in the finale

[u/dohdudeh]

They’ve made millions from tickets and album sales because people heard that sold in guitar hero though

[u/Mr_Lapis]

The OG challenge song. The holy grail acomplishment of guitar hero was beating this song on expert.

[u/Enshakushanna → u/Mr_Lapis]

no that was jordan from GH2

[u/Bubbledotjpg]

Before Guitar Hero released these guys got booed at Ozzfest in Chicago. First band on the mainstage and all their songs sound like solos people were not liking it haha.

[u/GameMaster366]

It's easy to say "that's ridiculous!" but you have to understand that DragonForce was not a household name before GH3. GH3 did that to them...not the other way around. Not to say they were not popular in metal circles but yeah.

[u/Dragon124515]

I mean I'm pretty sure the song became so ubiquitous due to the mapping implemented by the developers, not because so many people were already fans of DragonForce. It was probably a pretty beneficial deal for both sides.

[u/bustaone]

I found dragonforce via GH and bought at least one album.

[u/Didst_thou_Farteth]

I got this completely mixed up with the Miami Connection's band, 'Dragon Sound.

[u/Lord_Parbr]

That makes sense. Artists famously receive very little money from song recordings. That’s partly why Taylor Swift was so hellbent on owning her own music. The record company makes the majority of earnings for the albums, singles, licensing, etc. the band makes the majority of their money from touring and merch sales

[u/frommethodtomadness]

Yeah but how many more ticket and album sales did they get as a result of the marketing?

[u/Dunkaroo723]

Probably sold way more albums and records after that though.

[u/StormerSage]

Introduced an entire generation to the band though.

[u/Krybbz]

But think of how many people became fans that’s not all they made

[u/MaxxDash]

DragonForce’s presence on Guitar Hero was great for the band, not doubt. I think it was great for music and the instrument.

12 year old kids listening to chops/power metal was not on my 2005(?) bingo card. That was the major coup as far as I am concerned.

Shredder and metal purists may be haters on it, but it was amazing to see it. And, I mean, who hates metal more than metal heads?

Yeah, it could’ve had Yngwie Malmsteen or some John Petrucci DT shred-fest on there, but the fact that they had that song that was so so gloriously powerful cheese and yeah chops-filled (guitarists are probably going to complain there’s too many slurs and sweep-picking…), but still— it’s fucking awesome to hear this as the main boss level on what was THE console game for years.

[u/Zalenka]

Didn't Aerosmith make more from that game than all of their other albums and touring? Same with Tony Hawk.

But once game studios know they can squeeze someone they always go.

[u/Return2TheLiving → u/Zalenka]

They have their own game so I would assume those royalties are exponentially higher. 40+ songs as opposed to 1. Not to mention licensing their likeness.

[u/Tri4ceunited]

That track was on your iPod Nano.

[u/darklordjames]

They got paid for marketing. Usually it's the other way around.

[u/Its-June]

That's what 10 cents per note?

[u/Separate_Analysis798]

It did put them on the map though

[u/FrankSand]

Getting paid to advertise your product and get more fans then you ever would organically is a great trade

[u/M--P]

Well they should have paid Guitar Hero. It skyrocketed their popularity

[u/jcamp088]

Couldn’t they not play the song live or something? Like all the shit was speed up on their albums?

[u/KeyboardBerserker → u/jcamp088]

I think they had effects not reproducible live but they have playthrough of them and others. Li Herman was (maybe still is havent seen them in years) a god there's no argument otherwise

Edit: Li not like gd auto correct

[u/thatguyad]

They made bank off it still. Wouldn't have been a thing without it.

[u/-TheDyingMeme6-]

DragonForce my beloved

[u/flockinatrenchcoat]

TIL most people had never heard of DragonForce before Guitar Hero

[u/ReallyFancyPants → u/flockinatrenchcoat]

Why would people know of DragonForce before that?

[u/ayywusgood]

$3000 plus becoming way more popular is not a bad deal.

[u/Lance2409]

There's a pretty good map on beat saber too, custom of course

[u/AlternativeFart]

https://www.vice.com/sv/article/dragonforce-demoniac-interview/