Rock Band Turns 4 Years Old! Post Your RB Memories

[GRUMP1019]

My first rockband experience was in May of 2008. We rented a house in Lake Tahoe for my buds bachelor party and during the downtime (recouping) a few people busted out RB. I at first was skeptical since what fun is playing a plastic guitar when you should play a real one (that was my whole opinion for GH as well). Well, it was fun watching and singing along with the screen that it was karaoke, but with plastic instruments.

After I returned from CA (NJ native), I dropped money on a cheap GH III bundle for the PS2 to learn the basics of the plastic guitar and became hooked. That Xmas, I was gifted with a Wii and then came the decision – RB or GH bundle. After reading several reviews, I decided I wanted RB. At this point in time RB2 was out and it took me 4 months to find a RB2 bundle for the Wii and have had no regrets since.

Brought the items to several parties and after the drums stopped working (after only 3 months) they were replaced without any issue. I bought the Beatles, Lego RB, and more importantly RB3 with the keytar and still play at least 1x a week and of course purchase DLC when it fits my taste. RB still is taken out at parties using my Wii driver since I have the most songs and everyone has a grand time.

I congratulate everyone at Harmonix on their 4th Bday and everyone raise your glass to many more.

[samjjones]

A dude I used to play baseball with was an early adopter of the original GH. He had a wild party, I got a few in me, and saw his PS2 over in the corner with this guitar looking thing sitting on it, and I went into his empty living room (the party was outside by his pool) and hooked it up. First song I ever played was "Thunderkiss '65". Within 10 minutes, the living room was filled and everybody wanted to play.

Fast forward a couple of years, and another dude I know had a party. By that time, I already knew about Rock Band being out for a few months, and was itching to play again. 3 dudes were already playing (G/B/D) in a room full of people when I got there, but nobody was singing. Pretty lame. I guess they were intimidated or didn't want to make a fool of themselves. Luckily, I already had a couple of ****tails in me, so I grabbed the mic, picked "Won't Get Fooled Again", proceeded to scare women, children, and effeminate men with my Daltrey scream at the end. One roundhouse karate kick later, and I was hooked. I don't think my wife was there that night, but if she was, I would've gotten laid for sure.

Bought an Xbox and the whole shebang for when RB2 came out. I eventually bought a house and moved my wife and kids far away from everybody I knew, but I still keep up with DLC and unleash the monster whenever guests come over.

Best random RB moment: went to a dude's wedding, wedding party was having an after party in the hotel. Got to the room, everybody's sitting around drinking, I go "where's the #*$&ing Rock Band?". Groom says "the TV here doesn't support HDMI. I can't hook it up." Clearly they chose a crappy hotel.

I drove 50 miles home, grabbed an old (at least 25 years) 150 lb tv and an RF adaptor, threw it in my Jeep, drove it back, carried that sum***** up flights of stairs and through long hallways, and hooked it up. Bride was singing Paramore in her wedding gown, and groom gave me the head nod of approval.

Rock Band = salvaging lame-ass weddings since 2007.

[Dadasaurus Rex]

Realizing there was another music based game out there that had drums and mic and guitars, oh my.
My wife and I skipped going out to dance on our anniversary and stayed up til dawn playing this crazy new game we bought.

[Megashot]

Warning!!!! HUGE post ahead! lol

I first played Rock Band way back around May of 2008. Before then I had been playing Guitar Hero 3 like CRAZY on the PS2. I had heard about Rock Band, but not a whole lot. I bought the game on the PS2 after playing the 360 version at a friend's house. I got it on the PS2 mostly because I already had two Guitar controllers for that, so in order to the get the full band all I had to get was a USB Mic and a Drum set. I was working at Wal-Mart as a cashier so I had a decent amount of income to buy games and such. At first I didn't care about the absence of the World Tour mode, I just wanted to play the songs. Several months later I finally got the Drums, and a microphone. I really enjoyed playing through the RB1 setlist on Expert Guitar, and played the other instruments occasionally. I started the Drums on Easy and quickly moved up to playing on Hard. Drums were perhaps one of the most fun new instruments to play. The game made me pick up the essentials so easily that my Dad was shocked of how good I had gotten simply by playing RB Drums. He was even more shocked when I showed him a few simple beats on a MIDI Drum Kit at a local Guitar/Music store in Conyers, GA.

However, a few months later I started to be interested in getting the Xbox 360 version of RB1 due to its downloadable content and the Band World Tour mode. So I managed to get two GH Xplorer Guitar controllers (with GH3/GH2 on the 360) and then got RB1 on the 360. My first ever DLC that I downloaded was the Disturbed, Boston, and Metallica packs in the summer of 2008. I shortly got the Best of the Who that came out near the end of summer 2008. (This was around July or so)

After enjoying Rock Band 1 for a good quarter of the year, Rock Band 2 was already coming out pretty soon in September of that year. Lucklily I was able to get it on Day One at a Wal-Mart (ironically enough) where I found a copy sitting on the bottom shelf. I asked for it and rang up, and they sold it to me no problem. Before that I had gone to a Gamestop to purchase it and they refused to sell it to me because they were fufilling pre-orders. So I said "okay, I'll just go to Wal-Mart and get it". And the rest was history! I still feel good for snubbing Gamestop then, even though I like them.

Now I have the Keyboard, two Guitars, and a mic on the 360 (my drum set broke). I am so crazy about Rock Band that I got the game on multiple platforms! I got Rock Band 2 on the PS3, the Wii, and even the PS2, all with Guitar controllers to play them with. Recently I did the same thing for Rock Band 3. I currently own EVERY version of Rock Band 3. The DS, Wii, PS3, and 360 version.

I have two Guitar controllers each on the Wii/PS3/360/PS2, as well as a drum kit for the Wii and PS3/PS2, a keyboard for the 360, a Pro Guitar on the Wii, and a universal microphone. Add that in with about 1000+ DLC songs on the 360, a good handful on the Wii, and about 200+ DLC songs on the PS3. I'm perhaps one of the most addicted Rock Band guys out there. I love playing on each version, although the 360 gets the most use due to the amount of DLC on it. The reasons behind having the same game on multiple consoles is complicated (mostly because of controller availability).

Whatever the case, I will always like Rock Band. It stands next to Guitar Hero as the best music game(s) ever made. I started out with Guitar Hero, and I appreciate the fact that RB Drums/Mics work on the later GH's when they introduced Drums/Singing as well. So I'm in a sort of music game heaven, with all of the GH's and RB's and plenty of instruments to play on. Rock on!!!

To this day I still play Expert Guitar/Bass on Rock Band. It's my preferred instrument. The vast number of songs combined with the challenge of playing as a band and keeping up with everyone's performance is what has kept me coming back to Rock Band/Guitar Hero. It is the feeling of being a virtual rock star that has kept me playing these games, and I will continue to enjoy playing them for years to come.

[blingdomepiece]

When did you first play RB? When did you know you were hooked? Have any crazy RB party stories / photos / videos / mug shots? Meet any friends through RB? Discover any new bands through RB? We want to hear all about it, from your first exposure to what keeps you playing to this day.

I started with GH2 and was interested in Rock Band when I saw it would have drums, which I'd always wanted to learn, but wasn't sure how good it would be. Shortly after release I saw AzuriteReaction's And Justice For All drum video on Youtube and decided I had to have it. Couldn't get it in Canada yet but someone on Craigslist had a bundle so I bought it out of the back of a trunk in a parking garage. Took me three months to "win the game", being stuck on Run to the Hills for the last part of it. I upgraded from a PS2 to a PS3 around then so I could buy DLC without replacing all my instruments. My other RB1 milestones were getting 10 million points on Expert drums, and finishing the Endless Setlist solo on drums and vocals, after failing Run to the Hills nine times in a row right at the end. RB2 was more of the same, just getting more DLC and always trying to get better. It was always in the background, there if I needed to blow off some steam. I had an on-line band for about a year called Atomic Toaster Oven, and we'd work on songs with paths and had all the fun associated with that.

My interest got renewed with RB3 because of the keyboard and pro guitar. I also picked up an electronic drum kit with programmable hi-hat, so the pro drums offered a lot of new challenges as well. RB3 made the rhythm game thing "new" for the third time; first was GH2 with plastic guitar, then RB with plastic drums, and finally RB3 with keys and pro guitar. I got to play songs on Medium! And be happy about passing them! On pro keys I started right at Expert and re-experienced the fun of working through a game disc arduously, earning each tier. It took me almost six months to pass everything without no-fail. I got my Completionist ranking in September. I've still only passed half the setlist on expert pro bass (we won't discuss pro guitar). Pro drums has opened up new challenges too, mainly with the hi-hat... using all four limbs feels so much more rewarding, even if I struggle on songs I used to kill.

I don't have any crazy RB party stories. It's mostly stuff you'd expect... creating a band entirely of Phil Collins (including a female Phil Collins and an African American Phil Collins), hearing someone do Sabotage for the first time, kicking the same guy out of the band every time when he'd fail out on easy bass, trying to figure out who exited us to the main menu. Playing through the whole Beatles game the week of release at a buddy's place. Met a few people through the game, mostly on-line but not exclusively, but it was mostly a way to have fun with the friends I already had and a way to focus my habit to constantly improve at something I like.

I have discovered a lot of music from the last 20 years through RB. A lot of stuff I didn't know about or didn't give a fair shake when it was released, I got a new appreciation for.

What keeps me playing is the new DLC and the chance to keep improving. Would be great if left-hand play for keys became possible, or a bass peripheral, but I'll probably be happy to go for another couple years with what we have.

[disturbed11]

Rockband brought back some old music I had all but forgotten about,best game since final fantasy!!!!!

[Dustin_Echoes]

I bought RB1 mostly based on my love for guitar hero II, the first music game I ever tried. While I really liked Guitar Hero II and RB1, it wasn't until I decided to give the drums a shot that I got hooked.
It was a bit of a slow burn since the learning curve was so high for me, but once it clicked I kept getting better and better.

Which brings me to my favorite memory. I loved Rockband so much I would have weekly parties with my friends and it was a great pastime. By the point that Rockband 2 was coming out we were still having weekly parties and the anticipation was immense. Since Rockband 2 was going to be released on a Sunday, I called countless stores seeing who would be selling the game at midnight Saturday night.
I finally found ONE Blockbuster who said they would be willing to sell it to me since their normal hours were until 1am. This was all I needed, I planned a big Rockband party and we rocked the house until midnight. When everyone took a drink (refill lol) break, I ran out to Blockbuster to pick up the game.

That night we partied until 5am and it was amazing. Oh, and I still have weekly Rockband parties

[SheSaidSheSaid]

I had heard of Guitar Hero previously, but thought to myself, “one player glorified air guitar, not for me”. Then I started hearing about Rock Band. Guitar, Bass, Drums, and Vocals… all able to play local. Wow, how awesome is that?

I had much the same thought process when I first got 'in the game.'


And now...all I play is Guitar

[SheSaidSheSaid]

I didn't know much about music games, so I bought the most recent. And it was before Rock Band came out. I bought that a month later, and was hooked.

I think you might have misunderstood. You said you came 'late' to music games, yet you bought GHIII. My first music game was RB2. There's at least a few forum regulars for whom RB3 was their first.

[Icemage]

Lots and lots of great memories with the Rock Band games over the past four years, but I think the highlight for me was attending the Total Rock Total Rewards Rock Band competition last year in Atlantic City. It was a truly surreal experience to get up onto a stage and perform something in front of a real crowd, while still playing a video game.

Extra bonus (with video!): Having a room full of some of THE most talented Rock Band players in the world laughing hysterically at a vocals sightread on Valleys of Neptune by Jimi Hendrix by my friend Youhas in my hotel room after the competition.