Rock Band Turns 4 Years Old! Post Your RB Memories

[Koehan]

I played Rock Band for the first time in a party... I played guitar only because my friend only had a pair of guitars... but I didn't like it... Later in another party, a guy bring all his RB kit (drum, guitar and mic) to the party. With my first guitar experience, I chose playin' drums. Oh my... that made me schedule a shoppin' travel to the US (I live at 2 hr travel from the border with MX), and I aquired my full-bundled RB2, an used RB1 and Beatles RB. Since then, I think I've spent more than US$1,000 in DLC (almost 400 songs), newer games (RB3, LRB and GD:RB), and more instruments (2 mics, keys w/ stand, pro-cymbals, a mustang pro-guitar and recently a precission bass. Now I'm the guy who brings his X360 with RB, the one who brings fun with something better than a karaoke (the harmonies are the boom in parties!)

HMX, keep up this franchise! My sister is goin' to buy an X360 only to play RB... it continues hookin' ppl who didn't believe on it at the very begginnin'... And I would suggest you to bring more and better latin artists to RB, just like Maná and Juanes (eventhoug Maná band is as BAD as Nickelback, but sells big too hehehehe)


EDIT: I've discovered several bands I've never heard before, or that I heard theirs songs but didin't know they were the performers. I have to mention Judas Priest, Megadeth, A7X, AWB, Bang Camaro, Yes, Kansas, Dream Theater, Jethro Tull.

Yeah, most of them are classic ones, but there there always have been a pre-judgment to most of the mentioned bands. I stil remember people thinkin' that Dream Theater is scramo/growl music... but when I show their work, they can't believe that "they listened that track before, but did'nt imagine that they play it".

[twindadplus2]

It was early 2008. My neighbor had called me over a month earlier to play guitar hero and it just didn't click for me. Maybe it was the shape or layout of the guitar controller but something didn't feel right and I just couldn't get into it. Now he said had Rock Band borrowed from his brother and we had to try it. I figured I would play a few songs and then pass the controller to one of the kids and sit back and watch. Fast-forward about 6 hours; it's 3:30 in the morning and my wife (bless her heart) took the kids home hours earlier. We kept saying "one more small setlist and we'll wrap up for tonight". We finally wrapped it up about 4:30 and then started up again the next night. A short time later my neighbor bought Rock Band 2 and we went to town on that. When the kids were around it was always a struggle to get to an instrument so I seemed to always end up on Bass which quickly became my favorite instrument. Once it was out for the Wii I had to get it for my family since there aren't many games that all 4 kids will agree on and can play at the same time. The Wii version was fun but I wanted to play the RB 1 songs without having to switch discs and more room for DLC plus the graphics and sound just kind of paled so when I got a bonus from work it went to a PS3. Now I'm working on learning pro keys and the pro guitar (and finding out just how difficult it is to play real guitar) and still loving every minute of it.
There were so many bands I was introduced to by Rock Band that I can't even remember them all: Radiohead, Weezer, Rise Against, A Day To Remember, Disturbed, Avenged Sevenfold, AFI...
The DLC keeps me coming back and I can't wait to see what HMX comes up with next because I'm still not tired of this game!

[Der_Lex]

When did you first play RB?

I too came into music gaming relatively late. I was desperately looking for a fun game for my Wii, and because I was now a bit more open to different types of controllers and because I thought the setlist was pretty decent, I picked up GH3, which I liked well enough.
Then I started reading things about RB, and that looked even better. I liked the cleaner interface, the drums had instant appeal to me as well, and the fact that you had bands like NIN and the Pixies as well as The Who and a Rush cover on there really gave me confidence in the way you selected music. Weekly DLC seemed like an awesome addition as well (little did I realize it's pretty much digital crack).

Unfortunately, as we all know, the European release of RB1 was... problematic, to say the least. Since I was getting a bit tired of the wait, and because I had just purchased a PS3, I decided to import the band in a box, and ended up traveling about three hours by train to pick it up from a store in a nearby city that imported PS3 games (with that big unwieldy box in my arms on the way back). When I had set it up back home and my wife and I started playing, it was love at first play, though.

When did you know you were hooked?

I think after the first time I tried drums. I still like plastic guitar, but drums have always been something I love to play in RB, even if my keys get more play these days. When I noticed how much time I spent getting drum techniques down, and when my DLC purchases started to increase, I knew I was in it for the long haul. Getting involved with the forum only cemented that.

Have any crazy RB party stories / photos / videos / mug shots?

We used to have a weekly 'band meeting' back when I still lived in Antwerp, which were a lot of fun. One of my friends always tried to hit the high notes on Run to the Hills when singing and always failed miserably, which made his renditions only slightly less disturbing than his weirdly effeminate take on Suffragette City. And of course he kept trying, every single play session.

Also extremely cool was having a Message of the Day shout-out when my daughter was born. With the removal of that feature, I guess she'll always be able to lord that over her upcoming little sister.

I think the summer of last year was my RB-related high point, though. Visiting the HMX offices in Boston, playing the full build of RB3 for the first time with you guys (and inflicting Roundabout upon you... heh), meeting up with HMXSean over lunch, and then spending a week helping out the community team at Gamescom in Cologne was a unique experience. I noticed how incredibly fun and rewarding it is to introduce people to the game (or to new gameplay elements) and to see them get into it. Maybe it was just another con in a long list of summer cons to you guys, but for me it was definitely an awesome experience.

Meet any friends through RB?

There's definitely a few folks on here on the forum (and one or two who don't come around here much anymore) that I consider friends, and that I'm happy to have met through the game. And that even includes you, my good man.

Discover any new bands through RB?

Not through the regular DLC, although I did gain a new appreciation for a couple of bands that I already knew but never really listened to, like The Grateful Dead.

I have discovered some new stuff through RBN, though, which means it's doing its job right.

We want to hear all about it, from your first exposure to what keeps you playing to this day.

What keeps me playing is that weekly or biweekly tingle in the back of my skull that makes me pull out the keyboard or drums and just rock out to some of my favorite RB songs (or that week's new DLC releases, if it's stuff I like) for a few hours. RB might not be the only game I play, and might not necessarily be the game that gets the most playtime from me during an average week, but it is the only game that I keep coming back to on a very regular basis. And that's not even counting the time I waste here on the forums...

So happy birthday, RB. Here's to a great many more. As long as I can still swing a drum stick or a banhammer, I'll be around to celebrate them with you.

[ThatAuthoringGroup]

I could write a post here a mile long. About standing in line at the midnight launch for RB1. The hundreds of new songs and artists I've discovered. How my musical tastes, and those around me have expanded. The countless hours playing the franchise with family and friends. Getting to work with awesome bands and making new friends through TAG and the RBN. My nephews, their friends, myself, and even my four year old daughter all picking up and learning to play instruments all because of a 'game'.

But calling Rock Band a game is a disservice to the franchise and the concept. It's a musical experience that's changed my life and those around me for the better.

So I raise my glass in a toast to not only Rock Band for the best four years I've ever spent 'gaming', but to Harmonix for having the creativity, the drive, and the passion to not create a piece of entertainment, but a lasting experience who's impact will be remembered long after the final curtain goes down on that final plastic instrument concert at some point in the hopefully far future.

So Salud!

To the four years that have come before, and to the many more to come.

[Skode]

Im the works resident music expert... ive never told them i know so much about so many bands because of over exposure to so many whacky and wonderful bands from so many genres, countries and decades from RB and RBN and of course from the banter here on the forums on every announcement. Yeah, ive got HMX and Rock Band to thank for my ever expanding knowledge of music for our next assualt of the local pub quiz haha. Its THAT very thirst for trying out music old and familiar which keeps me coming back as ive never really been one for scores.

Met so many awesome people too... weird playing with strangers on a dailly basis and having little in common but clicking so well over a game which really does become the ultimate fun providing tool for people of any age and skill. I dont play the game online anymore really but my life has been greatly enrichened for coming across and falling in love with the plastic rocker experience.

Also helps that it NEVER gets old having four grown men crowded over a microphone drunk as a skunk at 5am on a weekend singing Poker Face with such passion and gusto (when truthfully we wouldnt be seen dead doing so normally)

[T-Hybrid]

I had just gotten out of college and landed a real-life job with a salary and everything. I had already bought an Xbox simply because GH3 got a Foo Fighters pack, and from there I was hooked on the music game genre.

I remember how exciting it was to stop at GameStop and throw that giant bundle in my trunk, getting home and setting up the drums and guitar for the first time....then the disappointment as both instruments failed within the first few weeks.

But because of that, I picked up the microphone and discovered just how fun it could be to sing my heart out to various music. And that lead me to opening up more in general. Great stuff! And now I have over 700 songs (I had never thought of DLC as anything other than a money grab before that).

Since then, I've hosted numerous RB nights and improvised karaoke. Hard to believe it's been four years. Wow.

[Apples]

About 3 and a half years ago, a local bar and lounge held a Rock Band contest. I didn't have a local group/band to go with, but I showed up to watch with Paul, a great friend who I had met through the forums here.

The contest was set up as a single elimination tournament among pairs of teams, with the winner determined by the best in-game score on a selected song. With nothing to lose and just excited to play, Paul and myself entered the tournament against a field of full 4-man bands, obviously at a great disadvantage based on the scoring mechanism.

The host was so amused by our ambition that he even served as a human microphone stand throughout the tournament, allowing me to act as both vocalist and guitarist. (This was relatively early in Rock Band's life, before mic stands had caught on as an official accessory)

Long story short of it, due to some expert play, good matchups, and lucky breaks, Paul and I won the whole tournment against a dozen or more teams, claiming the $500 first place prize.

It was so unexpected and thrilling to pull off, that it still puts a smile on my face to this day just thinking about it. The host and all participants were great sports, it was a genuinely amazing fun time.

[Dangimarocker]

Recent Memories: XMB! XMB! XMB! XMB!

Past Memories: So many i can't even list...

Edit:
Take that back on Past Memories....
My favorite memory is meeting a RB friend that i've been playing with for 2 years now. Met him on RB2.

[Dangimarocker]

I played Rock Band for the first time in a party... I played guitar only because my friend only had a pair of guitars... but I didn't like it... Later in another party, a guy bring all his RB kit (drum, guitar and mic) to the party. With my first guitar experience, I chose playin' drums. Oh my... that made me schedule a shoppin' travel to the US (I live at 2 hr travel from the border with MX), and I aquired my full-bundled RB2, an used RB1 and Beatles RB. Since then, I think I've spent more than US$1,000 in DLC (almost 400 songs), newer games (RB3, LRB and GD:RB), and more instruments (2 mics, keys w/ stand, pro-cymbals, a mustang pro-guitar and recently a precission bass. Now I'm the guy who brings his X360 with RB, the one who brings fun with something better than a karaoke (the harmonies are the boom in parties!)

HMX, keep up this franchise! My sister is goin' to buy an X360 only to play RB... it continues hookin' ppl who didn't believe on it at the very begginnin'... And I would suggest you to bring more and better latin artists to RB, just like Maná and Juanes (eventhoug Maná band is as BAD as Nickelback, but sells big too hehehehe)

Mana sells more than Nickelback? I think not.

[dog037]

Rock Band will be old enough to start school soon.