Remember When a Texas Teen Shredded His Way to Guitar Hero Fame

Remember when Guitar Hero was THE party game? Everyone would want to take turns playing that plastic guitar controller & rock out right in the living room. For many it was a fun video game, others saw it as a chance to prove they are the TRUE Guitar Heroes. One Texas teen did that by breaking a Guitar Hero Guinness world record in 2009: the Guitar Hero Phenom aka Danny Johnson.

Who is Danny Johnson?

The, at the time, 14 year old teenager from Grapevine, Texas really loved Guitar Hero, especially Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock. He was determined to reach the high score on Through the Fire & Flames.

You know...the super duper easy song by DragonForce?

Yeah...THAT SONG.

On February 3, 2009, while attending a Guinness World Record event in Manhattan, Danny would attempt to break the world record score (which was just shy of 900k points).

And well...Danny would do it. He would end up scoring a total of 973,954, and claiming the record.

This was the run that did it.

A few months later in May he would break the record even further; earning a total of 985,206 points. And as added bonus, he would break an additional record: the longest Unbroken Note Streak on Guitar Hero III, with a score of 3722, 100% notes hit, in the same attempt.

Where is Danny Johnson now?

After breaking the world record, Danny would end up making his own YouTube channel along his brother called GuitarHeroPhenom. Here the two would upload videos of Danny playing Guitar Hero online, as well as making cover songs with his family. So far the last video uploaded was 3 years in 2020. His most popular video is one of him hitting ALL the notes in Through the Fire & Flames with over 12 million views.

Wherever Danny is now, one thing is for certain... he will forever hold a special place in the world of Guitar Hero & video game records.

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EDIT: This article was originally published on September 12, 2023