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Fan Story: Eventually the Rock Band Will Find You

One of our Community Authors returns, now with the tale of a Rock Band superskeptic turned superfan. Read on for a story from Rock Band superfan Rob, aka @RoboGles.

I have this one friend, let’s call him Murphy (not his real name). This friend is an awesome friend, the kind that people often deem as the bestest or freaking fantastically cool. But there was a time where he was slightly less freaking fantastically cool (but still awesome) as he scoffed at the greatness of Rock Band. This guy was (and still is) a “real” musician in a “real” band and turned his nose to my love of the plastic instruments.

There’d be open invitations by my wife and I, to get him to come over and rock out (we even threw in the promise of pizza). But he wouldn’t take us up. He thought of it as a mockery of the craft, something for us talentless goofballs to partake on Saturday nights.

It wasn’t until Thanksgiving 2010 when we invited him and his wife (along with a whole mess of in-laws) over to feast on a turkey carcass, that I was able to finally get him to crack. After the meal and before the tryptophan began to set in, we all settled into the basement/Rockatorium for a session of Rock Band. The in-laws were already in the cool kids club, between my father-in-law’s need for anything Jimmy Buffet to my brother-in-law’s spot on Chris Cornell impression, we partook in the recently released Rock Band 3.

Murphy eventually wandered down to the Rockatorium, his nose likely in the air and ready to scoff. I caught him watching us all play for a bit, likely silently judging us peasants and our peasant game. But it was when he finally noticed the drum kit that something clicked inside his brain. Somewhere, deep in his psyche, this Murphy dude secretly wanted to be the dude who smashed things with drumsticks.

So we let him have a turn on the kit. With some practice he eventually turned around on Rock Band, going from superskeptic to superfan. The entire group played for hours, trying out a good percentage of my DLC library.

A few weeks later he had his own copy and instruments, inviting us over for Rock Band nights every couple of weeks. This was great because he had access to more delicious pizza and had a giant projector TV setup. He was a downloading fiend, picking up every single one of his favorite bands’ tracks.

Normally an introvert, when Murphy played Rock Band he came out of his shell. He’d even jump on vocals and belt out some Hall & Oates with me or go lead on some Rush, something that no one had ever seen him do. No longer did he see Rock Band as a perversion of his other hobby, but instead as a new way to appreciate music.

While he eventually moved far away and the RB nights eventually ended, Murphy always makes a point on his return visits to town that we eat pizza and play Rock Band, just like old times. Now with the recent announcement of Rock Band 4, we’ve already begun to plan out the band’s next big reunion tour.

Thanks again Rock Band, for finding another way to do cool things in my life.