Which Guitar Hero has the best songs?

Which Guitar Hero has the best songs? It’s rather difficult to answer this question because we all have different definitions of what “best” means, especially since we adore different music genres. Nonetheless, if we have to choose one, Guitar Hero 5 has the most balanced compilation of songs.

Guitar Hero is one of the most popular music games in the market today. It’s a great avenue for aspiring musicians but can also be a fun game to play with friends and family. Having been around since 2005, Guitar Hero has released numerous versions with countless songs.

So, if you want to play this game but don’t know how, a good place to start is to determine which Guitar Hero version you should play. In total, you have more than 30+ Guitar Hero games to choose from.

The question now is, which among these versions is the best? How different is one Guitar Hero from the other? Which one should be in your home? We’ll try to answer your questions in this article.

Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock

The Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock was released in 2010, and it’s otherwise known as Guitar Hero 6. This version of Guitar Hero is mainly made up of hard rock to metal songs. The Quest Mode of GH: Warriors of Rock even has Gene Simmons, the bassist and co-lead singer of Kiss, narrating the story and the game.

This version allows up to four people to play simultaneously; one for the vocals, another for the drums, and the lead and bass guitar would also need one player each. In total, Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock features 93 songs.

This setlist includes songs from Flyleaf, Avenged Sevenfold, Soundgarden, Linkin Park, Slayer, Black Sabbath, Aerosmith, Slash, Pantera, My Chemical Romance, Metallica, Def Leppard, Steve Vai, and Megadeth, among others.

Band Hero

The Band Hero, which is a spin-off game from the Guitar Hero series, was released in 2009. Instead of heavy rock and metal, Band Hero features songs that are more for pop-rock lovers. It’s almost the same as Guitar Hero 5, provided that it allows a full band to play the game. This includes the vocals, drums, lead, and bass guitar.

However, the main difference is that, unlike other Guitar Hero games that heavily focus on the lead guitars, the Band Hero challenges each member of the band. It has six playable venues, namely, Hourglass Tower, Parade of the East, City of Water, Pitch Peak, Rock-quarium, and Music Awards.

The setlist has a total of 65 songs which vary from artists and bands like The Jackson 5, Don McLean, Evanescence, The All-American Rejects, Dashboard Confessional, The Rolling Stones, Marvin Gaye, Papa Roach, Taylor Swift, Maroon 5, and Fall Out Boy, among others.

Guitar Hero: On Tour

The Guitar Hero: On Tour is another series under the Guitar Hero flagship. It went on to produce three games, the first being the series-titled On Tour. The second one is called On Tour: Decades, and On Tour: Modern Hits. The main difference in this series is that it features songs from non-English languages.

The game also skews away from the traditional hard and metal rock of the Guitar Hero games and leans more into pop-rock, much like the Band Hero. While a lot of people argue that it’s not exciting to play, it’s also a notable Guitar Hero game because it’s much more friendly and mainstream.

The Guitar Hero: On Tour has two setlists, one for English-speaking regions and another for non-English-speaking countries. The setlists include songs from Smash Mouth, Nirvana, Blink-182, Maroon 5, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Héroes del Silencio, Mademoiselle K, Beatsteaks, and Tokio Hotel, among others.

Guitar Hero: Aerosmith/Metallica/Van Halen

Guitar Hero also produced band-related spin-off games, which include Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, Guitar Hero: Metallica, and Guitar Hero: Van Halen. These games are band-specific, so you should expect that the setlists are mainly made up of songs from these bands.

Guitar Hero: Aerosmith has a total of 31 songs on the setlist, Guitar Hero: Metallica has 28 songs and 21 guest acts from bands related to Metallica, and Guitar Hero: Van Halen has 25 songs, three guitar solos from Eddie Van Halen, and 19 guest acts from bands related to Van Halen such as Blink-182 and Foo Fighters.

Guitar Hero 5

Finally, we reach what’s arguably the most diverse version of the Guitar Hero series. The Guitar Hero 5 was released in 2009, and as we said, it’s by far the most balanced setlist of all the Guitar Hero games out there.

The Guitar Hero 5 was the second time the developers introduced the four-piece band by including controllers for vocals, bass, and percussion. The first time was on Guitar Hero: World Tour, otherwise known as Guitar Hero IV.

Without the addition of downloadable content, the Guitar Hero 5 has a total of 85 songs from 83 musicians. This includes bands and artists like Iron Maiden, Bob Dylan, Arctic Monkeys, Billy Idol, David Bowie, Gorillaz, Duran Duran, Coldplay, Nirvana, Santana, Blink-182, Elton John, Kiss, Stevie Wonder, Megadeth, The Rolling Stones, Queen, Bon Jovi, and Attack! Attack!, among others.

The Best One

The “best version” of Guitar Hero is heavily dependent on what you enjoy. For instance, those whose music taste is heavily influenced by hard-rock or metal will certainly enjoy Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock.

On the other hand, if you want to enjoy the game with your friends while singing along to pop-rock songs, the Band Hero spin-off is a good place to start. Additionally, people from other parts of the globe will definitely appreciate the Guitar Hero: On Tour series.

Fans of Metallica, Aerosmith, and Van Halen should also check out the band-related spin-offs for more in-depth gameplay of their favorite bands. On the other hand, if you want a general idea of how to play Guitar Hero, or you just simply love all sorts of music, the Guitar Hero 5 would be your best option.

Conclusion

Guitar Hero is currently the best music video game we have. It’s just a matter of what genre you enjoy. Nonetheless, no matter what you choose, we can guarantee that this is a great place to start your musical journey. The best part is that you get to bring your friends and family, too.