History VideoGame / GUITARHERO

* FakeBand: ''Guitar Hero 2'' contains songs by [[ThisIsSpinalTap Spinal Tap]] and [[{{Metalocalypse}} Dethklok]]... and [[HomestarRunner Strong Bad]]. ''Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80's'' has one by [[HomestarRunner Limozeen]].

** This troper finds such [[GenkiGirl genkiness]] especially charming when Midori is assigned as a drummer, as seen in ''Guitar Hero: Van Halen'', particularly in fast paced or drum heavy songs. See an example of her doing so [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wz3CmW3fCC8 here]].

*** Double bass can swell the scores because there's simply so many more notes under the star power; the exported version of ''[[{{Motorhead}} Overkill]]'' has an Expert+ FC which, if Score Hero ever updates to track the extended ratings post-GHA, will be good for '''[[SerialEscalation 9.4]]''' stars.

*** Then there's the next stage of the Quest Mode: upon transformation Lars Umlaut becomes a PigMan, Pandora becomes a [[OurElvesAreBetter Dark Elf]], Casey Lynch becomes a [[ScaledUp Snake Woman]], and Axel Steel becomes TheMummy! After all that, all eight of them combine their powers to battle a HumongousMecha.

Originally developed by Harmonix, who are also the creators of ''{{Frequency}}, Amplitude'' and the ''Karaoke Revolution'' series, and went on to make ''RockBand'', ''Guitar Hero'' has become an extremely popular example of the RhythmGame genre that plays like ''GuitarFreaks'', but with five buttons instead of three and commercial songs.

From ''Guitar Hero III'' to ''Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock'', it has been developed by Neversoft and published by Activision. Neversoft rebuilt their own ''Guitar Hero'' engine from scratch when Harmonix handed over the reins to work on ''RockBand''.

* DownloadableContent: Quite a bit of it, though nowhere near [[RockBand its main rival]], for each main game of the series starting with the 360 port of ''Guitar Hero II'' (meaning not band-specific titles). For the most part, DLC is exclusive to the game for which it was purchased, but the Metallica album "Death Magnetic" for ''[=GH3=]'' could be played in ''World Tour'', and ''[=GH5=]'', ''Band Hero'', and ''Warriors of Rock'' support nearly all of ''WT'''s DLC with application of a patch.

* DuelingGames: with ''RockBand''.

** ''Guitar Hero 3'' and ''World Tour'' are very bad at this, due to the spectacular overcharting of many songs, which still manage to miss a great many notes that the original guitarists play. This led to many players abandoning the series for spiritual successor ''RockBand'' (easier in some regards, but also far more accurate), and many a flame war was brought against players for the only apparent reason to want more out of gameplay than [[NintendoHard "challenge"]].

* {{Game Breaking Bug}}s: Hardware edition again: Remember the early ''RockBand'' drums, specifically the drum pedal? That was easily fixable without voiding any warranty. The red pad on the ''World Tour'' drums, on the other hand, stems from a loose wire inside the drum, and fixing it yourself violates the warranty on it.

** VH-1's 100 Greatest Hard Rock Songs proved this '''''[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin spectacularly]]''''' with the "Celebrity Rock Band Challenge" segments, which featured real professional musicians sucking hardcore at RockBand (which technically works just the same as [=GH=]). The most likely reason for this? Musicians usually aren't gamers, and rhythm games require strong hand-eye coordination--of the type you can only develop by being obsessed with video games.

** Kinda gives Band hero the concept of [[Main/RockBand Rock Band]].

* YuppieCouple: Freezepop has managed to become a ''musical'' example. One Freezepop song showed up in almost every Guitar Hero game developed by Harmonix since one; this particular trope followed over to RockBand when Harmonix switched to that series. (And then back again for the DS version... although the fact that the song was called ''I Am Not Your Game Boy'' means that it at least made sense for it to be there.) This owes largely to the fact that one of the members of Freezepop is a Harmonix employee.

* Music/{{Instrumentals}}: "Spanish Castle Magic" became one in the original Guitar Hero, because Hendrix's estate didn't want someone impersonating him.

** Some of these were fixed in ''Warriors Of Rock". However, Music/FallOutBoy's "Sugar, We're Going Down" (originally Pop Punk) is now listed as ''Prog Rock'', of all genres.

*** If that's not enough There's also "Speeding (Vault edition)" by Steve Vai, and "Black Widow of la Porte" by John 5 featuring Jim Root.

* GenreBlindness: Since the games decided to add the song's genre to their general info and sorting options in ''5'', the creative team has done it on a hit-and-miss bases. For example, categorizing 3 Doors Down's "Kryptonite" as Southern Rock, when it's decidedly an alternative/pop-rock song, or the very folk "All Along the Watchtower" (BobDylan's original) being placed under the Blues Rock header.

* GrandFinale: Guitar Hero Warriors of Rock...[[TemptingFate For now]].

*** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JqlbXksWjg Around 5:09]]. Another example is in [[Music/{{Metallica}} "All Nightmare Long]] on Hard in [=GH3=]. (A ghost note [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UdVt0ZqvCs here]]). This is fixed when imported into ''World Tour'' and beyond.

*** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JqlbXksWjg Around 5:09]]

** [[Music/LinkinPark "The Catalyst"]] is impossible to FC on Medium Guitar because [[EpicFail a tap chord is charted, and is unhittable with any methods.]] ([[SarcasmMode Great job, Beenox]])

** ''Guitar Hero: Aerosmith''

** ''Guitar Hero: Metallica''

** ''Guitar Hero: Van Halen''

* ExecutiveMeddling: Minor example: While ''Guitar Hero: Metallica'' was in production, [[Music/{{Metallica}} Lars Ulrich]] originally wanted Music/{{Slayer}}'s "Angel of Death" in the game, but the development team, deeming the lyrics too offensive, forced Lars to change his choice to "War Ensemble" instead. Justified, as the song ''is'' about the experiments of [[{{CompleteMonster}} Josef]] [[{{HighOctaneNightmareFuel}} Mengele]].

* GrandFinale: Guitar Hero Warriors of Rock (If there's no Guitar Hero Release in 2012)

** Also the Guitar Hero franchise itself...[[TemptingFate for now]].

** And he isn't just a minotaur. He's actually [[spoiler: Lars Umlaut.]]
*** No, it's actually a minotaur. Lars turns into a boar for his Warrior Form.

* MarathonBoss: "Do You Feel Like We Do (Live)" on ''Guitar Hero 5'' and "2112" on Warriors of Rock.

** Also the Guitar Hero franchise itself.

* SequelDifficultyDrop (The easier modes in ''World Tour'')

*** If they had, it might have come out something like [=GH5=]'s version of Iron Maiden's "2 Minutes to Midnight." No cuss words in the song, but apparently the anti-war message was just too vivid and the result is a lot of censorship, ironic given Maiden's view on those issues.

*** Granted, since the DLC From Guitar Hero 5 (Yes, Most DLC From World Tour counts) is carried over to Band Hero.

* BeyondTheImpossible: Many examples, from the addition of extra instruments to the increased difficulty of the songs, but the best example is this: In Warriors of Rock, the cap for the amount of stars you can get in a song has increased from five to '''FORTY'''.
** Only in Quest mode though, and only after clearing it once.

*** Double bass can swell the scores because there's simply so many more notes under the star power; the exported version of ''[[{{Motorhead}} Overkill]]'' has an Expert+ FC which, if Score Hero ever updates to track the extended ratings post-GHA, will be good for '''[[BeyondTheImpossible 9.4]]''' stars.

* DeaderThanDisco: Or so we thought.

** Said 40 stars (or rather, learning how to earn 40 stars in every on-disc song in quest mode (Except the 7 2112 songs)) are necessary for the HundredPercentCompletion

* EarlyInstalmentWeirdness: Guitar Hero 1 With Nigh on impossible Hammer ons/Pull offs, only one multiplayer mode, and every cover version of a song in the main setlist it's most likely that the Dev team brought in the toughest for first.