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Rock Band Fail
Sunday, July 27th, 2008Geddy Lee & Co. crash and burn attempting to play “Tom Sawyer” on Rock Band.
28 Responses to “Rock Band Fail”
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While a bit ironic, it doesn’t surprise me at all. Rock Band and Guitar Hero do a good job at making you feel like you’re playing along with the songs, but almost never do they actually approximate playing the song on guitar or drums. Especially as intricate a song as anything by Rush.
Plus, that was 30 years ago, and everyone knows Geddy Lee can’t sing that high anymore. :)
For those who missed the entire hilarious appearance of Rush on The Colbert Report, you can find it here.
Bollocks. It’s a video game, not a real band setting. Too funny, though . . . saw them play this tune (and many others) ON THE MONEY last Tuesday in Georgia on the second to last leg of their latest tour (they ended in Indiana Thursday) . They kicked MAJOR ASS. For guys pushing 60, they have few peers in the old men that rock your damn face off category.
BTW Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre in Alpharetta is an excellent venue for a show. I highly recommend it.
I read an article once with a guitarist (I forget who, but I remember he was solid) who tried “Guitar Hero” and had trouble with it because the methods for playing the GH guitar and a real guitar were completely different (he said the GH guitar was more rhythmic than technical). So it doesn’t really surprise me if the guys from Rush couldn’t play if they had no real experience with the game before that clip.
Not like they needed to play that game to get the rock band experience :)
Not that I’m putting myself in the same category (or even species) as Neal Peart, but I have definitely found that knowing how to play the drums is actually a liability when playing the drums on Rock Band.
Still, pretty damn funny.
Or the logical conclusion, Rush has and always will SUCK!
Or the logical conclusion, Rush has and always will SUCK!
Their music is better than your grammar. ;)
If you want to rock, then join a real rock band. Games like this are for people who have way too much time on their hands.
The guitars are nothing like actually playing it. The drums (on expert) and the vocals tend to be pretty close (according to the people who actually play them.)
I’m always amused by the people who seem to think that its offensive that someone might be entertained by a video game that imitates a rock band. I mean, I think most of us would agree that the statement “if you want to play pro football, then stop playing the video game and go join a real team.” is utterly stupid. Most of us have real jobs that we are quite content with. Why does our fun offend you so? I know I’m not in a real band, I’m just having fun. So stop being a dick.
Or the logical conclusion, Rush has and always will SUCK!
Yes, and Michael Anthony is god of all bass players.
You are a douche.
Robert,
Probably because he got his butt kicked by “Guitar Hero” :)
[...] Is this more of a comment on Rush (as they are nowadays), or Rock Band? (Via our pal Radley Balko.) [...]
How lame was it that Colbert kept interrupting them? If the song was running long, why didn’t he just ask them to play something shorter?
Not the best version of “TS” ever, but not as lame as some cover band struggling through it. Fuck it, it’s *their* song.
Oh, and loved the continuous promos throughout the show.
“I mean, I think most of us would agree that the statement ‘if you want to play pro football, then stop playing the video game and go join a real team.’ is utterly stupid.”
That’s ridiculous. You can actually play the game with a real football without the context of “pro football”. There is no way to approach the experience of playing in a rock band through this game. There is no analogy here, at all, in any way.
I have no problem with anyone having fun, but there should be no pretense that this is anything at all like making music. It’s not.
Seconded. I’d much rather have V-drums. The pads on RS feel like first generation electronic drum triggers.
That’s hilarious, and so was their entire appearance on Colbert. I have immense respect for these guys. They made their way on their own terms without falling into the typical rock-star traps of hard drugs, groupies, and petty internecine battles of egos. They’ve made consistently good music for over 30 years with little to no mainstream recognition of their talent, and the fact that they’re not in the RRHoF is an utter fucking joke.
Guitar Hero makes a lot of songs more difficult than they really are. Anything by the Ramones has 3 chords, so they add in all sorts of flourishes.
/////There is no way to approach the experience of playing in a rock band through this game. There is no analogy here, at all, in any way.
I have no problem with anyone having fun, but there should be no pretense that this is anything at all like making music. It’s not./////
I have been in my share of rock bands through the years (some good, most not so good), and it certainly wasn’t the purity of the musical expression that kept me coming back. It was being in a room with your buddies, drinking beers and enjoying the sounds and having a good time. Rock Band makes a pretty good “approach to the experience of playing in a rock band” in that respect. In many ways, it’s better, because your repertoire in Rock Band isn’t limited to the chords your buddy knows and because you don’t have to load your heavy equipment back into your mom’s minivan afterwards.
Someone should create a game called “High School Graduate.” Then all of the dropouts could push a bunch of buttons, master the game, and then call themselves “High School Graduates.” All of the glory without any of that pesky reality…
Then all of the dropouts could push a bunch of buttons, master the game, and then call themselves “High School Graduates.”
And how would that would be different than real High School? ;)
Fair enough, Les. I forget I went to a prep school…not the public mess.
“I have been in my share of rock bands through the years (some good, most not so good), and it certainly wasn’t the purity of the musical expression that kept me coming back. It was being in a room with your buddies, drinking beers and enjoying the sounds and having a good time.”
You could do that with an iPod outputting to speakers big enough for the room.
“In many ways, it’s better, because your repertoire in Rock Band isn’t limited to the chords your buddy knows and because you don’t have to load your heavy equipment back into your mom’s minivan afterwards.”
I see.
Okay, everyone: children aside, I’ll expound on what I said. People who are interested to make music actually have other things in mind than fellowship (they’ll often put up with demented people in order to make music with them). The matter of “the sounds” is necessarily implicit in the principal goal (to make music), and — in fact — the sounds are often not so good, which is what all the actual work of a rock band is about and none of which is present in the game, the necessity of persistent work at developing game skills notwithstanding. Do “Rock Band” players do it over and over in order to get better? Of course. And when they’ve made their way through the rote rat-maze, they have still not achieved anything like what it takes to bring a real musical instrument to full voice in time with others doing the same thing. That is the “good time”, and real players won’t care about “beers” or “buddies” in pursuit of it because none of that is essential. Again: you could do that on a golf course, or anywhere for any reason or no reason at all.
It’s a game, ladies and gentlemen. That’s the relationship that it bears to the reality.
That is the “good time”, and real players won’t care about “beers” or “buddies” in pursuit of it because none of that is essential.
You speak for all “real players,” Mr. Beck?
People who are interested to make music (sic) actually have other things in mind than fellowship (they’ll often put up with demented people in order to make music with them).
Well, that certainly depends on the person, doesn’t it? I mean, I figured musicians were individuals, each with their own tastes, desires, interests, passions, background, and beliefs. But you appear to be suggesting that only certain types with certain interests and certain goals are really able to make music, which is a pretty silly idea.
I don’t care for the music games, myself, but I know excellent musicians who love them. Why do you think there are some fine musicians out there who also love to play these games?
“You speak for all ‘real players,’ Mr. Beck?”
They can speak for themselves. I’m telling you what I know.
I played in my first electric band when I was thirteen years old. That was 1969. I’ve only been playing real guitars with other real players for almost forty years.
“Why do you think there are some fine musicians out there who also love to play these games?”
Because they’re games. That’s why.
They can speak for themselves. I’m telling you what I know.
Well, I think we’re just miscommunicating. It’s confusing, because you said
That is the “good time”, and real players won’t care about “beers” or “buddies” in pursuit of it because none of that is essential.
This implies that a musician who does care about “beers” and “buddies” when he’s planning on making music isn’t a “real player.”
Then you said
People who are interested to make music actually have other things in mind than fellowship
This implies that musicians who are interested in fellowship aren’t really interested in making music. But certainly we can agree that there are people all over the world who make music precisely for the fellowship and that in some cultures, the music is secondary to the fellowship it inspires.
I have no problem with anyone having fun, but there should be no pretense that this is anything at all like making music. It’s not.
I suspect we agree more than disagree, but the person you were responding to here was only saying that no one is suggesting that playing “Rock Band” is like actually being in rock band any more than playing “Madden 07″ is like actually playing football.
Your “This implies that…” and “This implies that…” are not necessary conditions, Les, and that’s because the referents you’re citing are taken out of the ethical hierarchy in which the root value is making music. Go back to the top: my assertion is that “there should be no pretense that this is anything at all like making music”. The counter-arguments are referring to everything but making music: “buddies”, “beers”, you name it. My contention has nothing to do with whatever else people who play live music might enjoy, and that includes whatever you might name, but none of them are the essential and principal reason why players make music together. And that’s why none of those referents from the “Rock Band” context can validate an insinuation counter to what I said first.
“But certainly we can agree that there are people all over the world who make music precisely for the fellowship and that in some cultures, the music is secondary to the fellowship it inspires.”
{shrug} Tell me again how many millions of copies has the tribal drum-stomp game sold? I didn’t know we were talking about that.
In Other Words, Les: “This implies that a musician who does care about ‘beers’ and ‘buddies’ when he’s planning on making music isn’t a ‘real player’.”
For god’s sake: all the way through this my use of the obviously fucking plain English phrase “real player” could have been plainly distinguished and discerned contextually from the simple fact that this whole thing is about a g a m e. Do you people see this?