Rock Band Turns 4 Years Old! Post Your RB Memories

[hmxhenry]

Hey gang,

The 4th anniversary of the release of Rock Band is fast approaching and we've got a bunch of rad stuff lined up to celebrate the birthday. There's all sorts of cool content focusing on the hardware, the art, interviews with HMX seniors and a bunch of crazy stories and pictures we've never shared before.

One of the things we wanted to add to the stream of content is all of YOUR stories. There's already a few RB BDay threads floating around, but I wanted to toss this one up so everyone has a place to look back at the initial launch of RB and just how much things have changed since then.

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'll post some of my favorite / craziest RB stories in this thread as well, but I'll let you guys kick things off. Happy birthday Rock Band!

[HeyRiles]

I first played RB Christmas 07 at my cousins' house. Had already played a ton of guitar in GH3 but I was immediately hooked with singing. My brothers and I waited for the release on the Wii but it kept getting delayed, so we ended up saving money and purchased an Xbox 360 and Rock Band in February

The first DLC I purchased was the Wolfmother single and two Queens of the Stone Age songs, and now I guess I'm here 1,300+ later!

Obviously with this many songs in my library there are a ton of new bands and songs that I hadn't listened to previously that I am now in love with. Probably the biggest one is Motley Crue, of which I love listening to nowadays

I met a ton of friends via Rock Band, even a girlfriend at one point, so that was cool. I've got a couple friends now that I hope I never lose and all hope to meet one day

But my most favorite/satisfying thing I've done is make the weekly DLC videos for over a year now. So much fun, and worth every penny

Happy birthday Rock Band!

[PikminGuts92]

My favorite memory of RB was playing the Endless Setlist in Rock Band 2. I played it without pausing or failing a song, therefore I earned the "Bladder of Steel" award. That was cool.

[grantyO]

My favorite memory is Hysteria. 'nuff said.

[HeyRiles]

Oh man, Bladder of Steel was crazy. Allow me to nostaligize

I was on vocals, little brother was on guitar, littlest brother on guitar. We didn't want it to be a cake walk, so we did it on hard. Midway through littlest brother had to take a break because he was so tired and had to use the bathroom, so my little brother switched to drums and I covered voxtaring. That was an interesting two songs

It got intense when Visions came up. We were all yelling at each other letting us know when we were using overdrive and that we had it and oh god that close to failing out literally seconds away but we made it! I would've cried if we failed out

Most intense seven hours ever, you guys

[SheSaidSheSaid]

When did you first play RB?

First time I played the game was at my friend Jack's house. I don't know why I went over, but he and his roommate had Rock Band 2 up and running. I tried guitar, feeling a bit intimidated at first. Jack made sure to pick a song that was easy as hell. Of course I still remember the first song I ever played - "In Bloom" by Nirvana, on Easy Guitar. Right away, I kind of wondered why I wasn't using the blue or orange buttons. It only took about an hour before I started playing on Medium.

I tried drums as well and haaaaaaaaaated it. Too hard for me. I also sang, very, very, very, very badly. But I had a lot of fun doing it. That much is still true

When did you know you were hooked?

Part of me wants to say "immediately," and that's true to an extent, but the real point of no return, so to speak, was when Jack got The Beatles: Rock Band. I went over and again sang absolutely dreadfully - I got like 56% on "Drive My Car" on Easy Vocals. Thank heavens for No-Fail. It wasn't long after that that I found myself buying a PS3 of my own. I bought an RB2 bundle with it, even though all I have left from that bundle is the microphone (traded in the game disc, sold Jack the drums, the guitar broke almost immediately after I bought it). Wasn't until a few months later that I got The Beatles: Rock Band for myself.

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

I did have some friends over to play once, but I was way more into it than they were. Even Jack just seemed to be going through the motions.

Meet any friends through RB?

Online friends? Tons. Nobody IRL. But I've got such a wide array of "bandmates" online that I hardly ever log into my PS3 and don't see at least one person playing RB3. A big shout-out to Troy, our de facto bandleader. Cool guy who organizes all of our full-band sessions. Sometimes I'm not quick enough to join, but Troy's usually keen to include me, and I'm thankful for that. I imagine Troy's friends list is a microcosm of the playerbase for the game itself - I've seen lots of other guitarists when jamming with him. I'm better than about 70% of them, equal to about 25% of them, and not as good as maybe 5% of them (happens sometimes that we'll be jamming and a dude just up and FC's some bat**** insane Amberian Dawn song). I think that's probably pretty much where I stand overall.

Discover any new bands through RB?

The main one so far is Drugstore Fanatics. I picked up "Hangman" on a whim because I had $1 left in my PSN account at the time. That song, and this band, absolutely kick ass. Then I came to find out that the $1 I spent for "Hangman" is more than they charge for their whole album (it's free on their website -- seriously, go download it). Definitely a big fan now. Also Neonfly. "Ship With No Sails" was the standard $2, but it's seriously one of my favorite songs right now. No free album from these boys, but I've listened to their songs on YouTube and proceeded to get my socks blown off. Lights Resolve is another. "Dreaming of Love" is another awesome tune, easily the best free song. Their guitarist sent me a message on YouTube after I commented on one of their videos. Little touches like that are what win you fans. And it did

Happy birthday Rock Band!

And maaaa-nnnnny more!!!!!

[nascarfan19]

I played Rock Band for the first time in early 2008. I was a Guitar Hero fan at the time (Rock Band being just starting up and not paying attention to who made the games) but the drums were a huge turn on to getting here. After rebuying a PS2, getting a 360 and spending several hundreds on peripherals and DLC, I'm glad I picked the better game

The game especially influenced some of my favorite bands. The Beatles were familiar to me before the game's release but HMX made them my favorite band (and addiction). Even the smaller bands, Hautewerk and Big Dipper in particular, became some personal favs. RBN took it even a step further where I discovered Creed and other small bands. Rock Band definitely opened my musical tastes.

[folkeye]

Rock Band 2, the Bandmates (custom figures), and adopting my avatars for some of the most fun fan art I've done in a while. Because of those two things, made a new friend! Doesn't get much better than that. Only gets better considering the art is still going on and forever evolving into something better each time, and I get to meet said friend in person soon.

The Ongoing Art Thread.... over two years old, good for us: http://www.rockband.com/forums/showthread.php?t=143337


The Bandmates (they are truly missed since they were so awesome):
http://www.rockband.com/forums/showthread.php?t=188957

[ClaptonsWig]

The red forums, holy cow were they red. As for the game, I remember when 55 disc songs wasn't that big of a deal to consistently play.

[RockBandAtlanta]

Too many to name just one favorite but I guess it was the first time I fired it up with a full band over at a friends house and I sang The Police's ROXANNE and from the first word in the song I belted it out like I was singing in the shower all by myself without anyone watching.

By the time the song was done, I was the only one still playing as the rest of the band members were all literally on the floor laughing breathless with tears in their eyes.