Rock Band Turns 4 Years Old! Post Your RB Memories

[MPPMike]

I resisted Guitar Hero for a long time. I love music, but playing a plastic guitar to simulate a real one - lame. I finally tried it months after GH2 was released, and loved it. Then I heard about Rock Band. 3 instruments plus vocals! I'm a far better singer than anything else, but karaoke games never interested me that much. A musical game that is rock based and involves 4 people at a time? Perfect. I preordered the bundle on the day it was offered.

I had a group of 3 other friends, and we often got together to play games. Once Rock Band was announced, 3 of us couldn't wait. The other is not into music released in the past 20 years (unless it's an 80s band with a new album). He was unable/unwilling to play any instruments, so we decided he would be the singer. God was he awful. My first experience with Voxtaring was him holding the mic in front of me to take over singing after he failed for the second time on "In Bloom." Seriously... tier 0 "In Bloom".

[Sayburr]

...he failed for the second time on "In Bloom." Seriously... tier 0 "In Bloom".

That sounds like me! As I have often said, even if you could put a tune in a bucket, I still wouldn't be able to carry it.

But, reading one of the previous posts... maybe I should try singing more, if it helped that other person learn how to sing properly maybe it would help me out too... Naw... I will kick that bucket before I can carry it.

[DrowGamer77]

Ah, memories.

My first time: My wife and I were snowed in on top of Queen Ann (Seattle, Wa) during the "20 year" snow storm of January '09.

It was Day 3 of being trapped together when she said we'd better find something to do or we're going to go nuts. There was still a blockbuster open within walking distance and when we got to the checkstand, my wife had the last RB2 bundle in hand.

When I knew I was hooked: After I played my first track on drums with the cymbal expansion. It's been an obsession since then. There were days that I couldn't wait to get out of work so I could get home early to play some new DLC I was excited about.

Parties: Lots of 'em, but I'll never post pictures of them in a teen rated game forum

We used Rock band during our Independence Day, Labor Day, Halloween and New Year's parties mostly and people always had a good time. I think all of our guests were skeptical at first, but after my wife and I took the lead, people were anxious to join in.

Met Friends: I would like to think so. A majority of my PS3 friends list is RB people, and I love 'em all. They're good, really nice human beings - all of which are ready to chat, jam or co-op at a moment's notice. I mean, people who I consider good friends - and I've never even met them face to face! Trippy.

Bands: Oh yes, I've been exposed to some great new music from other genres that I would have never really looked at. Even some of the classics that I'd forgotten about!



Easily one of the best game franchises I've ever been exposed to - and I've been gaming for a while. Thanks Harmonix; Rock Band is ****ing sweet.

[thjimmy]

It was March of 2008 and I was at a friend's house celebrating his birthday. My PS2 was at home collecting dust and I thought we were just going to have some dinner. He pulled me aside, and in a hushed voice told me that he had a surprise for us. His wife had just bought him Rockband for his X-Box and we were going to learn how to play.

Since I was completely unfamiliar with the genre, I asked all the standard questions and began to picture what this was going to be like. I always thought it would be cool to play guitar or drums so I was open the learning the game.

Six hours later we finally pulled ourselves away from his TV and went home. The next day I began researching the PS3 and X-Box so I could buy a system (and the game) for myself. I ended up with an X-Box and a starter bundle within the week. I also realized that I was pretty good at the drums and awful at the guitar. Apparently I can flail my arms wildly and have little control over my fingers. :-)

Since then I've bought a ton of DLC, upgraded to ION drums, and developed minor GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome). Thank you, HMX. It's still a ton of fun.

[meck77]

The first time I played was launch day in Nov of 2007, I preordered the bundle. I remember the night before it launched I was like a little kid a christmas, could hardly sleep. All I wanted was to get those drums and get to playing them. I have some other friends that got me into the guitar hero series before RB was announced, that is when I new I was hooked on the music genre. I still have RB nights every week, we play AIM on a regular basis and last sat night we had about 20 people over here alternating in and out at different instruments. Also introduced a friends band to RB and think I may have them convinced to allow me to author 3 of there songs on RBN. I love this game, HMX is an exceptional company who truly cares about there customers.

I am so happy that I chose to stick with this company and not its competitor, we all that choice to make years ago when GH:WT came out with there full band game and that sweet looking drum set(Ion had not yet been introduced). I made a great investment in you guys and I can never put a dollar amount on the fun that I have had over the last four years with friends and family!!

[Plutarch]

When did you first play RB?

Well, back in like December 2007, a buddy of mine who follows video game news pretty closely said that this game was coming out and it was going to be a lot of fun. He would drum, my brother would play guitar, and I was designated as a singer because neither of them wanted to. They knew I liked to sing along to my favorite power metal songs and that was apparently all they needed to give me the role. When I found myself at the mic, I was having an awesome time right away.

When did you know you were hooked?

When I started buying the songs off the RB1 soundtrack on Itunes so I could sing them better.

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

Getting through the endless setlist on RB1 was a big deal for us. My brother nearly threw his guitar out the window after we failed GGaHT for the third time. But we took a twenty minute break or so and came back to win. I personally failed I Get By a few times in a row. We hadn't actually played it until that endless setlist run and I was like "WTF is going on with this part in the middle, his f***ing voice is all over the place this is bulls**t!" Our buddy the drummer had to endure Run to the Hills near the end, when he was already beat.

It's a shame that we never did the endless setlist for RB2, we knew Visions was just too rough for everyone except me. RB3's may be feasible though.

I think my favorite RB memory of all time was one night when the three of us came up with an interesting system - play a really hard song, play an easy song, then another hard song. We were on fire and just put away all these brutal songs we hadn't yet been able to finish - Shoulder to the Plow, Sleepwalker, Battery, it went on and on. We felt awesome after that session.

Meet any friends through RB?

I actually don't think so...I mean, there's people on the forums I like pretty well, but that's about it.

Discover any new bands through RB?

I don't even know where to start with this. The obvious answer is yes, but to go through them all....we'd be here forever.

In conclusion, Rock Band did a lot to improve my quality of life. I don't think I would have had the stones to do karaoke with friends if singing for RB hadn't made me feel more confident about my voice. It's been a great hobby and I'll be loyally buying DLC that appeals to me for as long as you guys keep putting it out. My friends aren't as interested, I can still get them to play every so often, but they've drifted a bit. Not me, though. I'm in it for the duration. Happy birthday, RB!

[turnitup321]

I remember getting the Wii version of the game for Christmas 2008. We got the drums, mic, and guitar bundle with the game. For a while, my family and I played a bunch of songs. We were atrocious. We had a blast.

[jeronemitchell]

My Rock Band Habit actually began with me buying Guitar Hero II for my now ex-wife in an attempt to find a video game we both could get into. She hated it, but I fell for the game once I played "Shout at The Devil" the first time. I'll note that I could count the number of rock bands I was into on two hands (seriously... RHCP, Marilyn Manson, RATM, KoRn, Linkin Park, Limp Bizkit, and - though I don't put him in the aforementioned groups - Prince... all stuff that was comparatively mainstream (though RATM wouldn't like that characterization) and easy on the non-Rock ears), so this was huge. One divorce and claiming of the game (she either smashed or threw away my first guitar, so I took that as her wanting me to have the game) later, and my new roommate and I found ourselves enjoying the "air guitar with rules". I looked to expand upon it, and saw the first Track Pack at Blockbuster. That lead to the "great discovery"...

There was going to be this "Rock Band 2" game... and all of the tracks from Rock Band exports into it! I can have a HUNDRED AND FIFTY songs in my library... Mwahahahahahaha!


Hey... you remember when 150 songs was a lot?

I actually bought my first XBox 360 because of the Rock Band exporting function. I was down with the team ever since.

I also did the Endless Setlist, but that became a party event. For the first couple of hours, it was me and my roommate, sleeping through the easiest tier on Medium. Why Medium? Because about 10 people came over to help, and we all just traded out instruments as we hit different songs that different people liked. We also did this to give each other time to drink. It wasn't until the last hour that the A-Team (i.e. my roommate and I) came back on to knock out the Painkiller/Visions/etc. tracks.

BTW - Before I get any "I'm sorry"s for the divorce, know that not only am I remarried, but my new wife was cool with me putting the Mustang on the wedding registry as a gift...

... and PEOPLE ACTUALLY BOUGHT IT FOR ME!

Men NEVER get ANYTHING cool from a wedding registry, so that was spectacular.

EDIT: Oh yeah... introducing me to new music? I am a fan of Talking Heads, CCR, Juanes, Paramore, The Offspring, Depeche Mode, Lady Gaga, Fleetwood Mac... yeah, I've picked up a LOT of artists I didn't listen to or didn't recognize before Rock Band.

[GameMaster439]

My favorite RB moment(s) are hands down: The day the Wii got RBN
The day I finished Endless Setlist 2 in one sitting, no breaks.

The reason I got into RB was because of GH and I was a singer for a few years before GH and when RB came out, my friend bought the full band kit and the first song I sung Epic by Faith No More and the rest is history sorta. I didn't own my own copy of it till April of 2010 so I had to play Guitar and Bass only on GH till I finally bought RB2 and a mic. Now the rest is history...

[CJHobbes]

Gee, I wish I had kept a mental timeline of my RB life so I could quickly write a reply to these threads. I suppose that last sentence just shows how much RB has integrated itself into my life, though: "my RB life". I don't view Rock Band as merely a game, like all the others that have come and gone; I view it as an era. There are very, extremely few games that hold this honor (Unreal Tournament, EQ/WoW (which blurred into each other over a decade+ of playing), and Diablo are the others).

My first exposure to anything music-wise was Guitar Hero I at a friend's party. My roommate and I walked in, drinks/food in hand, and entered to a display of one guy with a plastic guitar staring at a TV while 6 other guys are all drinking, eating, watching, and talking.

"What the heck is that?"
"It's called 'Guitar Hero'. You should try it!'"

Quickly, I found out one of my all time favorite songs ("More than a Feeling" by Boston) was in the setlist. Even more quickly than that, I fell in love with a new game. And better than all of this, Guitar Hero II was just recently released! So on the way home (literally, on the way home, probably 2am at Wal-mart in Vegas) I stopped and bought GH 2 with a guitar.

I tell that saga because it sets up my initial experience with Rock Band. So I had been playing GH 1, 2, and eventually 3 every day since that party. I eventually worked up to expert level, and was having a blast. Another group of friends has a party, and they mention how they're going to be playing this new game called "Rock Band" at it.

"Rock Band? How is that different?"
"Well, you have drums and a mic so you can sing!"
"Oh, well I don't really care, I'm having fun with my guitar."
"Dude, just come over and try it, you're going to love it."

Needless to say, my friend was right. I went to the party, tried the drums, and they had to pry me off with a crowbar. I had always wanted to play drums in school, but was a bit of a jock so I spent all my time in athletics. (No regrets, it was hella fun!) But this, this tapped that inner dream I had pushed off for so many years. Awesome music? Drumming? Singing?? Plus the guitar I've loved playing, and BASS??? That is a recipe for creating melt-facing potions of extreme greatness. (Yes, I've been playing Skyrim: back off)

So going along and enjoying Rock Band, coming to the forums and reading up on Harmonix and all their shenanigans, learning about Rock Band 2...and all of a sudden, OMGWTFBBQ the Ion is announced. One pre-order later, I'm hooked up! Not only did this take my fun of drumming a whole pantheon level forward, but I 100% believe it extended my enjoyment of the franchise by years to come. The drums felt better, I could re-position if needed, and I could modify it! Hmm, looks like I need a new pedal: bought! Oh hey, this snare looks cool, snagged! Hmm, but now a cymbal would look nice..no, make that two..noooo, make that three, GANKED! Soon enough, my Ion kit looked less like the Ion set of old and more like a n00b drummer's franken-kit. But oh, was it a glorious time. Those halcyon days of yore.

So, yeah, I suppose you can say I like the game a little bit. As for friends and memories, there are just a lot of good ones. But the one that will always stick out in my mind is telling a friend at work that I've finally been able to get through Green Grass and High Tides on expert guitar; then that weekend, having a RB party and everyone asking me to play it (and passing it with one of the highest percentages I've had). That was a great feeling, and I felt kinda like a rock star in my own little world.

And as for the music, pshhht, come on! I can't count how many bands I've learned about through this game and one of the greatest inventions ever: Rock Band Network. Seriously, between this, Pandora, and YouTube, I feel my musical world has blown up from Rhode Island to Jupiter size. I don't hang with many music afficionados, so it feels good that I'm the one recommending bands to friends. See? I'm trying to spread the love!

All in all, $3,000+ worth of DLC, games/exports, and hardware later, you, Harmonix, still have my attention. What you have accomplished here is brilliant, and I am forever grateful for the way you've brought more musical enjoyment into my life. And I feel this has been money and time extremely well spent.

You guys not only make games, you make memories. *raises glass* Cheers!