Rock Band Turns 4 Years Old! Post Your RB Memories

[big_old_tom]

Going through my ipod, i found about 10-20 bands that i got into after playing their songs in RB. Some of them, i knew of some of their songs. Some i had not heard any of their songs. I've played these games with my family and friends. The Beatles Rock Band was the first RB game i owned/played. I love the images and gameplay. Rock Band is the only game series that i have spent/will spend so much money on, and i'm okay with that because i love it so much.

[WillDrum4Food]

He finished the rest of the song sitting in a dejected slump on the ground, his eyes still firmly fixed upon mine. It was one of the most traumatic and hilarious incidents in my life.

Boy, if I had a nickel for every homoerotic moment I've had at a Rock Band party...

[Scythemaster 37]

I first played Rock Band in 2007. I had just gotten a PS3 and Guitar Hero 3. I didn't really care for Rock Band back then because my friends were all better than me at Guitar Hero, so I spent all of my time honing my plastic guitar skills. I occasionally played Rock Band 1, but not nearly enough. My PS3 then died and I got an Xbox 360 (best thing that ever happened to me). My parents replaced all of my games for it including both Guitar Hero 3 and Rock Band (looking back on that, that must have been EXPENSIVE for them). Then I went into Gamestop and saw a video of "When You Were Young" and I was like, "I wish I could sing that song, but it's only on Guitar Hero.." and then I saw a sign that said various bands including The Killers were on Rock Band and I was like "what!??? Rock Band has more than like 10 songs?!!" because I hadn't played the tour mode at ALL! Only Quickplay. That was when I started actually playing.

I hated the drums because they were so hard, all I wanted to do was throw them every time I played them. I eventually got jealous because one of my friends were good at the drums, so I learned them and started playing like medium. Unfortunately, at this point, I was still a Guitar Hero junkie and was super excited for GH:WT. I made fake setlists for it hoping that it would come out and be awesome.... and it was horrible. This is when I made the full on switch to Rock Band.

I knew at this point, I was hooked! I didn't get Rock Band 2 right when it came out, but a couple of days afterward. I played RB2 like nobody's business. Rock Band didn't just become an outlet for me to escape my life into - it opened up my world. I started actually LISTENING to music. I now heard all of the music I was listening to, not just the guitar and some of the words. RB1, 2, and 3 all opened new parts of my mind and allowed me to hear the music I was listening to for what it really was.

Crazy stories??? Well... some might say that I recently did some some underage drinking and that I excellently roared out the vocals to "I Believe in a Thing Called Love" while my boyfriend was recording me, but those people are just liars! Other than that, my friends just constantly picking "Du Hast" to purposefully make fun of the German lyrics might be considered 'crazy' but nothing too crazy.

Memories.... like.... sitting in my living room spending 6 and half hours of non-stop RB2 with my mother telling me to go to bed and me begging her not to let me so that I can finish the endless setlist? Oh, the Bladder of Steel was so gratifying. What about standing in Walmart playing Rock Band with total strangers watching me as I played "Peace Sells", "The Middle", and "Man in the Box" on Expert Guitar/Drums? The feeling it gave me is somewhat indescribable. I also remember how excited I was for RB3. I think everyone around me would've liked to kill me. I also remember being so mad that everyone at Gamestop was buying Fable 3 and not Rock Band 3 at midnight on October 26, 2010.

I've met a couple friends through RB, but not many really. Would love to meet more though!

I believe I discovered over 50% of the music I know through Rock Band, or at LEAST though the Ultimate Setlist Forum, which is also Rock Band's fault. I believe that The Main Drag is a good example of a band I would NEVER have listened to if not for Rock Band.

Why do I keep playing? Well, I LOVE music, and it's really HMX's fault. I think I'm going to college to study music, and Rock Band gave me the passion I need. I recently wrote a paper for my English class. The topic was "The Most Important Thing That Ever Happened to Me". Rock Band definitely was the most important thing. Rock Band allowed me to discover myself AND provided me with an escape in music. If not for Rock Band, I would never have immersed myself in music as I have now, and I would be lost! Rock Band has been much more than a game, it's been a tool for me! A building block or a character giver! I love this game and want to play it for as long as I possibly can. Nothing else has honestly impacted me more than this game.

My favorite days of the week are Fridays and Tuesdays, and Rock Band is one of the very few games I actually play on my 360. I spend most of my time annoying my classmates about the new DLC or how they should come over and play RB with me. They say they will but they never do. That's been okay though. I really prefer playing by myself because I don't see so many greyed out songs :'(. Rock Band will forever be in my heart.

Viva la Rock Band!

[Lord_Mhoram]

I came into music games late. I coworkers telling me how great Guitar Hero was. I was leery (even though I love music) because I didn't want to blow the money on a guitar when they were expensive. The convinced me to play Frets on Fire with a keyboard. I loved it.l
So then one of them lent me a GH guitar and that was fun.

So bought GH III (360) and played it with the borrowed guitar. Beat it, but I really didn't like some of the stuff about it (Boss Battles). But I was hooked on the genre. I had to give him his guitar back, and it was late November, so I bought Rock Band with Guitar.

First thing I noticed is that I really really liked the guitar design. I loved the recessed keys and such. So I played through the single player mode, and loved it. Started buying DLC immediately. Found a cheap second hand Mic and did vocals, and started a new career because the game wouldn't track the songs by instrument. Did the same on Bass. Then I bought a used Drum set and did it again on Drums.

By the time I bought Rock Band 2 - I had played and beat (at least on Medium) every song once on each instrument.

With Rock Band 2 I got a new guitar, and a new set of drums. When there was Tour mode for solo play, I really spent a lot of time at the game (the immersion/band story/rock career emulation was something I really liked. It was playing during RB 2 that I finally got good at expert and actually started Gold Starring some songs. And my DLC library got huge.

At that time I had friends who wanted to try, and for the first time did full band. That was fantastic - my love will always be single player but the energy of band play was cool.

Got every RB game that came out - Lego, Beatles, a number of Track Packs, Green Day.

I actually learned how to sing. I always had to play on easy on vocals in RB 1 because I'd fail out. But I learned how to hear myself make mistakes and see how that showed on the game. So I improved as a singer.

Had a friend (the same one who played band play occasionally) say "He went from someone functionally tone deaf to a pretty decent singer" Pretty accurate too.

I have spend more time playing the various Rock Band games than any other video game franchise in the history of my playing video games (and I started with a solid state pong home game - before there were tricky things like Cartridges for the games).

All in all, I've learned about many new bands, enjoyed music more, learned how to sing, and all in all had a happier life because of this game.

[grimripper82]

Oh the nostalgia... I bought the first Rock Band the day it came out. I was working at Wal-Mart at the time. I took my lunch break at midnight, bought the bundle, and then headed home with two of my friends to play it a bit. We didn't make it back to work on time... Longest lunch break I ever took...

As a few of you already mentioned, the endless setlist in RB2 was also pretty special. I played expert vocals, by myself. Going into it, there were a handful of songs I had never five-starred before. About six and a half hours later, I came out of it with the BOS trophy, my platinum icon, and I even managed to five star every song along the way, for a perfect star run! I was so excited, I called up one of my friends (though I could barely speak at the time) and told him about it at around 4 in the morning! A few days later, my PS3 got the YLOD...

Since Rock Band came out, I've bought every single DLC song, and I still look forward to it every Tuesday. Four years since the original title, and I still play Rock Band (3) more than any other game by far. A big thanks to the guys and gals at Harmonix for making the greatest video game of all time! I can't wait to see what you all have in store for the next one!

[lvmathemagician]

IN 2009 Harrah's Reno and Tahoe had a contest each sunday. The winner each night won free bottle service at the Vex nightclub at Harrah's Tahoe. We won about 7 weeks. One week at Tahoe we played Let there be Rock. At the end, during the BRE I jumped off the stage and ran through the crowd like a madman. On the last week of competition, we did Master Exploder. At the end of the song I pretended to faint. I almost got kicked out of the casino for that stunt.

[Pitch-Black]

I've been a (mostly) amateur musician/songwriter most of my life. I am ashamed to say that I was once one of the musician-types that would stick thier nose up at the idea of playing fake toy instruments. Then my girlfriend came home with The Beatles: Rock Band band bundle one day. I rolled my eyes. She insisted I play guitar while she sang. I rolled my eyes some more but grabbed the Hofner bass just to humor her. She picked her favorite song, Twist and Shout. I chose medium and had at it, thinking it would be easy having played guitar for over 30 years. I failed pretty miserably. It took me a few tries and I finally made it thru the entire song. I was ecstatic about those lowly three stars on medium, and I realized I had just had the most fun playing a video game I had probably ever had. I kept playing long after my girlfriend had gotten tired and gone to bed. The next day I gobbled up both Rock Band and Rock Band 2 and I haven't looked back since, nor regretted a dollar spent on the games, instruments or DLC. The only regret I have is not getting the games sooner because I was such a musical snob. Happy Birthday, Rock Band. I certainly hope there are many more to come.

[JavoneWilliams]

First time Ever Playing Rock Band 2 at friends house .. Paramore - That's what you Get ... made me fall in Love with the Rock band Franchise

[SheSaidSheSaid]

I came into music games late.

.....

So bought GH III (360)

Does.....not.....compute

[hakko504]

Like so many others here, I started with Guitar Hero. We had a party at work where my then boss had brought both a Wii and a PS2 with various incarnations of GH for us to play. This was just before Christmas 2008. It resulted in me going home and buy a PS2 of my own with as many Singstar and Guitar Hero games as I could. And I picked up Rock Band AC/DC also. Unfortunately, I can't say that RB on the PS2 was a very nice experience. RB:AC/DC just reinforced my opinion that RB was some sort of knock-off from GH. Then I heard that RB was making RB:The Beatles. And not available on the PS2! What to do? Well, get a XBOX360 of course. And the special edition of RB:TB. And GH:Metallica. GH:M was the last game of GH I enjoyed... Once I started playing the Beatles I realised that this was really so much better than what I had had on the PS2. I started coming to these forums. I bought RB1, RB2, LRB, RB:AC/DC and RB:Green Day and loved them all. Then came RB3. Oh My! A Real Guitar? Real Keyboard? I can use my old Casio? Wow, this is just getting better everyday.

So, Congratulations HMX! You've made me a rock musician after all. Here's to the next 4 years with hopes that RB4 and it's successors will make me a musician someone actually wants to listen to.