Axe maniacs
Guitar Hero was the ultimate 2000s metal videogame. How would teenage thrashers Tortured Demon handle something that was massive when they were still in nappies?
WORDS: STEPHEN HILL • PICTURES: KEVIN NIXON
In the 90s and early 00s, metal and videogames had a good thing going. The Doom soundtracks featured bowel-shaking heaviness, while the music for spiritual successor Quake was written by Trent Reznor. In 1999, the composers of the Duke Nukem soundtrack released a Music To Score By (geddit?) – a compilation of their influences ranging from Megadeth to Type O Negative. That year, we got the Iron Maidenendorsed first-person shooter Ed Hunter, while the band’s music also appeared in Carmageddon. By the turn of the century, it was all about the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater soundtracks (Anthrax and Papa Roach, anyone?).
But when publisher RedOctane enlisted game developer Harmonix to make the first Guitar Hero in 2005, everything changed. Now the music was the game, and anyone could play out their rock star fantasies with a plastic replica guitar and a bunch of songs from the likes of Slayer, Lamb Of God, Anthrax, Slipknot, Avenged Sevenfold and many more.
On paper, Guitar Hero should have been a niche game for a small group of rock music obsessives. In reality, it was a smash hit and a cultural phenomenon so huge they even made an episode of South Park about it. More importantly, it was an entry point for many kids to get into metal, lighting a rocket under Dragonforce’s career in the process.
“GUITAR HERO WAS THE FIRST TIME I EVER SAW ZAKK WYLDE”
JACOB PARKINSON
But as with all trends, its moment passed, and today Guitar Hero sits largely forgotten and unloved in a drawer marked ‘I ❤ The 00s’ next to Crazy Frog, Napster and Wheatus, meaning subsequent generations have missed out on the joy of wielding a plastic ‘axe’ while trying desperately to master Through The Fire And Flames.