Guitar Hero is a music video game for the Sony PlayStation 2 developed by Harmonix and released in 2005. Guitar Heros gameplay features the use of a special guitar-shaped controller modeled after a Gibson SG guitar to recreate the lead guitar part of several rock music songs; the player scores in the game by both pressing one or more fret buttons on the controller and using a strum bar in time with notes as they appear on screen. The game features a total of 47 songs.
Main set list There are thirty songs within the solo "Career" mode. The songs are grouped by difficulty into named tiers. Furthermore, four overall difficulty levels — Easy, Medium, Hard, and Expert — are present in the game, reflecting the number of frets that are employed, the number of notes to be played, and the speed at which the notes scroll on the screen. Tiers are presented sequentially within each difficulty level; in lower difficulty modes, only 3 or 4 songs of each tier must be completed before the next tier is made available for that difficulty level, while in the higher difficulties, all five songs must be completed. Once a tier is opened at any difficulty level, the songs in that tier are playable in quick play or competitive modes. However, in the easiest difficulty, you only play five tiers, and cannot unlock bonus songs.
All songs are covers of the original versions, credited as, for example, "'Iron Man' as made famous by Black Sabbath", and were performed by Wave Group Sound for the game. Wave Group has released a selection of these covers through paid download services like iTunes in a collection entitled "The Guitar Hero Recordings".
Year Song title Artist Tier 1980 "Ace of Spades" Motörhead 5.45. Fret-Burners 1983 "Bark at the Moon" Ozzy Osbourne 6.56. Face Melters 2002 "Cochise" Audioslave 4.34. Return of the Shred 1990 "Cowboys from Hell" Pantera 6.46. Face Melters 1968 "Crossroads" Cream 5.55. Fret-Burners 2001 "Fat Lip" Sum 41 4.24. Return of the Shred 1972 "Frankenstein" Edgar Winter GroupThe Edgar Winter Group 6.36. Face Melters 1977 "Godzilla" Blue Öyster Cult 6.16. Face Melters 2004 "Heart Full of Black" Burning BridesBurning Brides 3.43. Thrash and Burn 2004 "Hey You" ExiesThe Exies 3.23. Thrash and Burn 1989 "Higher Ground" Red Hot Chili PeppersRed Hot Chili Peppers 5.25. Fret-Burners 1982 "I Love Rock 'n Roll" Joan Jett & the Blackhearts 1.11. Opening Licks 1978 "I Wanna Be Sedated" RamonesRamones 1.21. Opening Licks 1994 "Infected" Bad Religion 1.51. Opening Licks 1970 "Iron Man" Black Sabbath 2.12. Axe-Grinders 1974 "Killer Queen" Queen 3.13. Thrash and Burn 1976 "More Than a Feeling" Boston 2.22. Axe-Grinders 2002 "No One Knows" Queens of the Stone Age 5.35. Fret-Burners 1983 "Sharp Dressed Man" ZZ Top 2.52. Axe-Grinders 1972 "Smoke on the Water" Deep Purple 1.41. Opening Licks 1967 "Spanish Castle Magic" (instrumental) Jimi Hendrix ExperienceThe Jimi Hendrix Experience 5.15. Fret-Burners 1999 "Stellar" Incubus 3.33. Thrash and Burn 1992 "Symphony of Destruction" Megadeth 3.53. Thrash and Burn 2002 "Take it Off" DonnasThe Donnas 4.44. Return of the Shred 2004 "Take Me Out" Franz Ferdinand 2.42. Axe-Grinders 1983 "Texas Flood" Stevie Ray Vaughan 6.26. Face Melters 1992 "Thunder Kiss '65" White Zombie 1.31. Opening Licks 1992 "Unsung" Helmet 4.54. Return of the Shred 1982 "You've Got Another Thing Comin'" Judas Priest 2.32. Axe-Grinders 1972 "Ziggy Stardust" David Bowie 4.14. Return of the Shred
Bonus songs Seventeen bonus songs are available within Guitar Hero. Bonus songs can be purchased with in-game money earned from the Career mode within the game's virtual store. Once purchased, the songs will be playable at all difficulty levels in Career, quickplay, and competitive modes. Many of the bands featured in the bonus songs are those that Harmonix members participate in. The song "Cheat on the Church" by Graveyard BBQ was selected for inclusion in the game as the winner of the "Be a Guitar Hero" contest.
All of the bonus songs are the original master tracks. Year Song title Artist 2005 "All of This" Shaimus 2005 "Behind the Mask" Anarchy Club 2005 "The Breaking Wheel" Artillery 2005 "Callout" Acro-bratsThe Acro-Brats 2005 "Cavemen Rejoice" BagsThe Bags 2005 "Cheat on the Church" Graveyard BBQ 2005 "Decontrol" Drist 2000 "Eureka, I've Found Love" Upper CrustThe Upper Crust 2005 "Even Rats" SlipThe Slip 2005 "Farewell Myth" Made in Mexico 2005 "Fire it Up" Black Label Society 2005 "Fly on the Wall" Din 2000 "Get Ready 2 Rokk" Freezepop 2005 "Guitar Hero" Monkey Steals the Peach 2004 "Hey" Honest Bob and the Factory-to-Dealer Incentives 2005 "Sail Your Ship By" Count Zero 2005 "Story of My Love" Model Sons The Model Sons
Other songs Two other songs are present on the game media, but they can only be unlocked through the use of a PlayStation 2 cheat device, such as GameShark, Code Breaker or Action Replay. "Graveyard Shift" - by Gurney (An unknown artist, possibly from within Harmonix however most current and former employees claim they knew nothing about the song.) "Trippolette" - by Andi Buch (credited as Andrew Buch), a composer at Berklee College of Music who has worked on the Harmonix team.
"Trippolette" was also downloadable at the Rock Band Network music store.
References
External links
Official website