Getting the Band Back Together

Like all good geeks and fangirls, I revel in my geekiness, wearing it like a badge of honor. Also like all good geeks and fangirls, secretly, I’d like to be a rock star.

Almost a year ago, I began channeling those impulses into Guitar Hero. (I keep telling EAToo that most wives would be offended at getting Guitar Hero — or any other video game — for their anniversary present, and he should be grateful to have a wife who actually suggested it.) Guitar Hero is a blast, and I turned out to be really good at it. I’m not one of those people who thinks this means that I can actually play guitar — but it did give me the opportunity to show my nine-year-old nephew that he shouldn’t assume a girl is automatically incapable of kicking his butt at a video game.

Unfortunately, it turns out that Guitar Hero is a gateway drug of sorts. At first, it seemed harmless. We bought Guitar Hero II, and another guitar. Then, we moved on to Singstar. Singstar is basically karaoke — except it grades your ability to hold pitch and match the meter of the actual singer. As a bonus, unlike karaoke, you sing in your living room. Whereas I’m not certain there is enough alcohol in the world to get me to sing in front of complete strangers, I’m fairly comfortable making a fool of myself in front of people who love me (and would laugh at me anyway). We now own all five different versions available for PS2.

We did manage to skip over Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s -- mainly because it costs the same as the other versions, but with fewer songs. And we got Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock for Christmas. But on New Year’s Eve, the most amazing thing happened to us. Our friends, who had gotten an Xbox 360 for Christmas, bought Rock Band. We rang in the new year playing, and within a week had bought it for ourselves for PS2. Things haven’t been the same for us ever since.

Rock Band is awesome for several reasons. The first is that, in addition to “guitar” and “bass”, Rock Band allows you to sing and play an electronic drum kit as well. Those two features, unlike the guitar analog, are actually similar to performing in real life.

The second reason that Rock Band is cool is that the entire family can play along. With Guitar Hero or Singstar, only two people could play at once. With Rock Band, up to four people can play together (five, if the four-year-old is playing guitar or drums with the help of an adult as she learns). And it’s great for all ages, unlike, say, Call of Duty or Grand Theft Auto.

(One note: I strongly recommend Xbox for playing Rock Band. It’s fun on PS2, but that version lacks Xbox features like creating band member avatars, the “tour” mode where you can win fans and make money, and the Xbox Live download store, with lots of extra songs you can buy. I can't speak for the Wii version, which won’t be out until June 22, but I’m interested to see what it’s like.)

But I think my favorite thing about Rock Band (and Guitar Hero and Singstar) is that it is introducing young people to music they might not have heard of otherwise. I’m pleased to see the four-year-old princess, whose musical tastes normally run to Kelly Clarkson and High School Musical, begging to sing and play along to songs like Radiohead’s “Creep” or Nirvana’s “In Bloom”. (Although I was a little concerned when I heard her walking around the house singing “Paranoid”, by Garbage.) And the nine-year-old, who ordinarily likes rap, prefers Skynyrd’s “Simple Man” and CCR’s “Fortunate Son” to a lot of the other music in the game.

Ok, my real favorite thing is that I can score 100% singing “Dani California” on medium (98% on hard). Which is really cool if I ignore the fact that I score highest when I sing songs originally sung by men....

We spent a lot of Saturday nights playing together right after New Year’s, but had kind of slacked off due to soccer, baseball, and all sorts of other commitments. But thanks to the holiday weekend, we got to spend both Saturday and Sunday nights playing Rock Band with the whole family. I hadn’t realized how much I had missed it, and I’m hoping we have more chances soon.

And if Rock Band isn’t enough to keep us busy, there’s always Rock Band 2, due out later this year. And Guitar Hero: World Tour, which promises drum and vocals, like Rock Band. And Rock Revolution.

Now that I think about it, I think I’m gonna need an Xbox soon. And maybe a Wii. And a lot more hours in the day.

Rock on!