History VideoGame / RockBand

** Some loading screens suggest playing an instrument and singing at the same time.

* DoublePlay: Not officially supported, but the game drops a lot of hints about using a mic with another controller. There are also Youtube videos of people doing [[SelfImposedChallenge all 4 at once]] using modified controllers.
** At least one person has [[FlawlessVictory Full Comboed]] Rock Band 2 (considered the hardest game in the series) playing guitar and singing at the same time.

* SelfImposedChallenge: The game drops hints like crazy. Playing two instruments at once (one being singing) is popular (and fun).
** Players also have the option to turn off the note track that tells them what to do (meaning you must play from memory). You also can turn off the master track's vocals (so your voice is the only one you hear), and you have to play ''entirely'' from memory.

* ViewersAreGeniuses: Rock Band 3 has no tutorial except for pro guitar, probably because most people just dive in anyway. It does have trainers for drums, pro keys, and pro guitar, and practice mode for all instruments.

* VirtualPaperDoll

** You are penalized more for missing a Kick Bass note or a snare note than any other note (including when the hi-hat and snare are flipped like Run to the Hills and Everlong). "Miss" includes [[CaptainObvious actually missing the note]] in addition to playing a non-existent note. (incidentally enough, knowledge of this actually makes Visions [[SubvertedTrope a lot easier to manage]].)

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: [[Radar/RockBand Some lyrics]] push the envelope as far as a T-Rated game can (or E10 in Lego's case).

** One specific song in 3, [[Music/{{Primus}} Jerry Was a Racecar Driver]], is considered by many to be the hardest song on pro bass in the game due to extremely awkward hand movements required in the verse. However, there is absolutely no need to strum any notes in the verse; the entire verse can be tapped. This is not hinted at in-game at all.

* HandWave: Harmonix's explanation for why genres other than rock (the aforementioned country and funk) are in the game: "Rock Band" refers to the instrumental setup of the band, not the genre of music it plays.

* RickRoll: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQmC8Bl-6TY Behold! The most request song in Rock Band history!]] [[spoiler: No joke actually. You can thank Website/FourChan for spamming the song in the request box.]]

After a failed crowdfunding attempt to get a proper PC version of ''Rock Band 4'', Harmonix released ''Rock Band VR'' exclusively for the UsefulNotes/OculusRift on March 23, 2017. VR is a guitar game only and introduces new mechanics based on guitar chording; however, the classic 5-button guitar gameplay is still present. VR's soundtrack is a mix of new songs and songs from previous entries in the franchise.

** ''Lego Rock Band'' takes ThePowerOfRock and runs with it. Bonus levels let you destroy a skyscraper, cut down trees while being chased by a Securi T-Rex, and summon stormy skies simply by rocking hard. It's a {{Lego}} world, after all...

** The fact that the argument even needs to made says [[FanDumb something about some people]].
*** [[MoneyDearBoy That's not the reason for the hand-waving]]. Even so, Concrete Jungle would be so nice to play. Fingers crossed.
** Sadly, this doesn't work for the Lady Gaga pack. You can easily tell the instrumental is NOT set up for anything remotely close to a Bass-Rhythm-Lead(s)-Drums instrument grouping.
*** That one can just be attributed to RuleOfCool and/or [[RuleOfFunny funny]]. RuleOfFun also works.

* SuspiciouslyAproposMusic: In a meta example, the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAtJpk92ryk Story of Rock Band]] video, which features Harmonix staff playing "American Pie" in the background, first mentions ''The Beatles: Rock Band'' just as "helter skelter" comes up in the lyrics ("Helter Skelter" being the name of a Beatles song).

** Tremolo picking is absolutely ridiculous. For some reason, when strumming gets really fast, the game has a chance of dropping notes, making songs with fast strumming (Green Grass and High Tides, East Jesus Nowhere, My Last Words, Crawl, Lazy Eye (basically anything with ~13+ notes per second strumming)) much more difficult than they should be. Add the dropped strums to the fact that you need to strum exactly the right number of notes, and it's a recipe for throwing the guitar against the wall.
** Rock Band 3, however, should alleviate some (but not all) of the above with subtle changes to how some trills (see Crazy Train), drum rolls (Lasso), and tremolo strumming parts (25 or 6 to 4). Even unmarked tremolo picking (Green Grass And High Tides) gets a fix, due to fixing the aforementioned bug of dropping notes. You get a bonus for doing them perfectly, but being slightly off shouldn't kill you anymore. Unfortunately, with the exception of unmarked tremolo picking, the changes are not retroactive since they require certain notes not used in pre-[=RB3=] charts.

* DifficultyByRegion: For a reason that no one has been able to figure out, fast strumming parts are easier to hit in the [=PAL=] version of the game than in the [=NTSC=] version. As a result, pretty much any song with 13+ notes per second strumming has never been Full Comboed by someone playing the [=NTSC=] version of the game.
** This was finally fixed with the retroactive tweaks to tremolo strumming in ''Rock Band 3'', and taken further in ''Rock Band 4'', where any long repetitive strum or trill is charted with a fill lane, even on songs made before the feature was introduced.

* AntiFrustrationFeatures: If you tire of ''Rock Band 2's'' EasyModeMockery in World Tour mode, you can unlock all the songs by playing the Challenge Mode on Easy.

*** Unfortunately, Pro Drums will undo this swap if you have the yellow cymbal notes turned on, since it uses the "Disco Flip" flag. Fortunately, the part is still playable: toms alternating blue-yellow with the snare on red isn't too terribly hard to do, and Guitar Hero 5 vets that are used to playing with the RB drums will have little difficulty hitting the part on stock drums.
*** In ''Lego Rock Band''. outside of the Rock Challenges, you only lose studs if the crowd meter is empty, rather than failing. You can even recover the studs by playing well afterwards.
** ''Rock Band 3'' mitigates the pain of tremolo strumming in older songs by allowing the timing windows to overlap, meaning that you no longer need metronome-like precision to sustain a combo during, say, Waking the Demon. Since ''Rock Band 3'', fast strums and two-note tremolos are charted at a slower speed with fill-lanes underneath, allowing for some freedom in how quickly they are played, and charts made before ''Rock Band 3'' were upgraded with these for the jump to 8th-generation consoles for ''Rock Band 4''.
*** And speaking of Rock Band 3, failing a song by letting the crowd meter fall to zero is no longer a game-ending disaster - you can keep going even after you fail, but you just won't get any points for your performance. Or you can just turn no-fail on and you'll still be scored.
** The pro modes (except for drums) in ''Rock Band 3'' have a bit of error allowance for them:

** Trying to go for the Endless Setlist in ''3''? Worry not, as the game lets you see your score after each song in a setlist for as long as you want until you hit the green button to start the next one. No more annoyance with the BladderOfSteel!
*** Similarly, any song you're playing will rewind itself a bit after you exit the Pause menu, which means you can continue without [[SeriousBusiness disrupting your score]] and [[RageQuit flipping out]].

* AudienceParticipationSong: On most of the on-disc songs, as well as a few DLC (such as the Best of The Who pack, George Thorogood's seminal "Bad to the Bone", and The Cult's "She Sells Sanctuary", as well as others), there's an additional audio track of a crowd singing along with key parts of the song.
** But only if you're doing well. Screw up even once (or a couple of times, depending on who's playing with you), and they'll [[StopHavingFunGuys stop singing]], (even though you're still doing really well), but Improving your performance and you'll hear it again.

*** In ''Rock Band 4'', Harmonix brought back audience participation [[UpToEleven in spades!]] Well, more then ''3'' anyway. The most recognizable songs (like "Brown-Eyed Girl" and "Somebody Told Me") have the crowd sing along, especially in the former; if you play one of the instruments that can hit the 4x combo meter before the vocals, they'll sing along to the entire song!
* BitingTheHandHumor: Several of the songs in ''Rock Band 2'', rather than being done by professional bands, were by [[{{Nepotism}} bands made of Harmonix employees.]] Hilariously, two songs (Music/AnarchyClub's "Get Clean" and Breaking Wheel's "Shoulder To the Plow"), are about how much the lead singer ''hates his job''. Harmonix has a good sense of humour.
** Well, "Get Clean" is more about [[CompletelyMissingThePoint the singer being a Jew in a concentration camp.]] [[CaptainObvious The jobs they were forced to do were unpleasant.]]

* BonusBoss: All of the [[ThatOneBoss really difficult]] DLC songs count.

** Who decided that "New" by Music/NoDoubt should be a four on drums? It features the same drum beat as [[ThatOneBoss "Run to the Hills"]] (which is a six on drums), and it's even a bit ''faster'' by comparison, yet it only is a four on drums. Harmonix probably hinted that this is under-tiered by the fact that the song is a three on guitar and vocals and a zero on bass, but a ''four'' on general band difficulty, even though the individual instrument difficulties only average out to a two-and-a-half.

** Poni Hoax's "Antibodies" starts off reasonable, but then near the end of the song the charts begin to progressively get unexpectedly difficult. The guitar chart is absolutely filled with frustratingly awkward strumming and quasi-random chord progressions[[note]]Which is just plain FakeDifficulty because of how dead notes are charted in 5-lane mode - your fingers move a lot less in Pro Mode than on 5-lane mode, even if you play every note perfectly[[/note]] (which are quite hard for a tier 2, and will get your fretting pinky begging for mercy) and the drum chart (tier 3) goes a little beyond the disco-influenced patterns it had earlier.
*** In full-band play, things get much more problematic, as for the first half of the song, the keyboards have a [[BlatantLies nice and simple note run]] with a few chords while everyone else has (relatively) easy parts and worry about the keyboardist failing out during the verses. Then, after the second chorus, the keyboardist is the entire band's lifeline as the out-of-nowhere jump in difficulty attacks the guitarist, bassist, and drummer while the vocalist(s) has [[ScrappyMechanic clap notes and therefore couldn't do anything even if they had overdrive]]. Remind me again why the song as a whole isn't Impossible-Tier?
*** Actually, in [=RB3=], Vocalist are now given the ability to activate overdrive during clap notes. However, they probably would've already burned their 3 bars of overdrive on the two singing phrases before the claps instead of saving it to revive someone...

*** Maybe the same guy who gave Whip It (which is really tough on Expert) Tier-3.

* {{Bowdlerise}}: Being a T-rated game, swears such as "F**k" and "S**t" are muted from the vocal track (and removed from the vocal chart). The themes, on the other hand, [[Radar/RockBand can be pushed pretty far]].
** Of course, they make sure that there's no penalty for singing during "empty" sections. If the swear is in the right place, [[ThisIsForEmphasisBitch you can launch overdrive from it]].
* BraggingRightsReward: Some songs like "Run to the Hills", "[[ThatOneBoss Visions]]", and most of the songs in the Mayhem Pack are difficult throughout their entirety, with no easy spots to gain overdrive from. As such, it takes less skill to simply survive those songs than it does to survive them ''and'' earn some overdrive on the way through. What this means is that you won't have the luxury of overdrive to help you beat these songs until you are good enough that you don't need it to beat the song.
* BrickJoke: In ''Lego Rock Band'', [[spoiler: at one point one of your roadies is carried off by an [[Music/PinkFloyd inflatable pig]]. This sets up a special gig once you reach the Moon stage, when he comes back... still attached to the inflatable pig.]]
** [[spoiler:Which was actually foreshadowed in one of the "LEGO Legend" loading screens: "The Inflatable Pig holds the record for longest distance traveled into space by an inflatable pig."]]

* BulkBuyOnly: [[Music/OzzyOsbourne "Bark At The Moon" and "Mama, I'm Coming Home"]] are only available as part of an 8-song pack. The former is notable, as it was the final boss of the very first VideoGame/GuitarHero, made by the same company.

* BulletHell: Some difficult songs on the guitar, drums, or bass will feel like an inversion of this trope, since you're catching them instead of avoiding them. Though many difficult songs will still have a relative pattern to their notes that can be mastered with practice, some songs have notes all over the place that don't seem to follow any reasonable pattern (they usually do, as BulletHell is supposed to, but getting used to that pattern is not easy). Of note is the guitar solo in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wtPdpPKrWA "Don't Tell Me You Love Me"]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7yhIT3LCog#t=4m38s this part]] of the solo in "Blackened", [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35Ea9LPwHAY this part]] of "Death Quota for Purification", the drum fills of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VNtCInpPZM "Day of Mourning"]], the drum fills in the intro of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=reH2KjzeNMY "Young Man Blues"]], much of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzWwmzyct-4 "Guns of Summer"]] on drums, and on the, erm, "easier" side of things, the entirety of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1NgbcsGDHU "Rude Mood"]] on bass and the chorus of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jdnc6Axd2U "Science Genius Girl"]] on drums.

*** The entire solo for [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAdqcl6Lktk&t=2m40s Baptized By Fire]]. GOOD GOD, even with abuse of the Shredboard Hammeron-pulloff rules[[note]]A quirk in the HOPO system allows you to pull off to orange or any higher fret when using the shredboard[[/note]] it's still harder than Constant Motion.

*** Taken UpToEleven with the other Dragonforce song that was released the same day, "Operation Ground And Pound". [[http://youtu.be/4SCyDeBJaO0?t=5m21s It makes Through The Fire and Flames seem like Slow Ride in comparison on guitar]].

* ButtonMashing: How Big Rock Endings are charted for guitar and drums.
** [[SubvertedTrope But there is a catch though, the bonus will only count after you hit the notes that come after the BRE]], because if you miss as much as one note the bonus is wasted and you will hear the ChirpingCrickets.

* CentipedesDilemma: Possible everywhere, but probably the hardest hit are drum charts with weird rhythms, such as Use It, and A Jagged Gorgeous Winter. "Hey, I'm nailing this, it's not as hard as it looks, I mean, it just looks hard because of this weird bass pedal here... uh... and then there's this weird snare here... and... uh... how I was I doing this again?"

* ColorCodedForYourConvenience: The color-coded gems. The color orange is trouble on everything; it represents the furthest fret on strings, the bass pedal on drums, and harmonies on vocals, which are often less well-known and harder to hear than the lead.

* ContinuityNod: Have previous main games exported, Track Packs downloaded, and any form of DLC when you fire up ''Rock Band 3''? Congratulations, you get access to custom challenges in the Career mode, tailored to ''each'' of the applicable instruments. Some of them even duplicating previous games' achievements, such as ''Lego Rock Band'' being represented under the Guitar challenges with its infamous [[NintendoHard "Get 100% on the solo of 'The Final Countdown'."]]

* DamnYouMuscleMemory: Sight-reading Music/{{Megadeth}}'s ''Peace Sells... But Who's Buying?'' album on Rock Band 2 on Guitar-Expert. You will end up conditioning yourself to use overdrive the second blue comes down the highway. Then you'll hit "Bad Omen"'s second solo and full-combo it. And then you'll hit "Bad Omen"'s ''[[ThatOneAttack Third Solo]]'' and fail because you wasted your overdrive on the laughably easy second solo.

*** When doing non-Pro keyboard, though, the 5 leftmost keys can be used instead of the colored ones for lefties.

** The infamous Solo 2 (also known as the [[VideoGame/GuitarHero Surf Solo]]) in "[[ThatOneBoss Satch Boogie]]" is another place where you can use this technique to great effect by holding down the green button on the upper fretboard using your other hand to hit the other notes on the bottom fretboard. You may need to cross your arms so you can use your regular fret hand (your more dextrous hand) on the bottom fretboard, where you will be hitting the majority of the notes, but the song has a long sustained note ([[ThisIsGonnaSuck as the final note of a Overdrive phrase no less]]) before Solo 2, giving you time to do just that and also start the section with a full overdrive gauge.

** The drums in Rock Band 2 suffer from a general difficult spike in the Impossible tier. The first few songs ("[[Music/{{Motorhead}} Ace of Spades]]", "[[Music/{{Mastodon}} Colony of Birchmen]]", "[[Music/{{Rush}} The Trees]]", etc.) are fairly easy for impossible songs, but then the difficulty shoots up significantly with "[[Music/FooFighters Everlong]]" and "[[Music/{{Megadeth}} Peace Sells]]". ''But'' then it gets '''even worse''', with FIVE songs that all qualify as ThatOneBoss ([[Music/{{Metallica}} Battery]] (thrash metal), Shoulder to the Plow ([[NeoclassicalPunkZydecoRockabilly southern-fried-stoner-pirate-death metal]]), [[Music/JudasPriest Painkiller]] (speed metal), [[Music/DreamTheater Panic Attack]] (progressive metal), and Visions (death metal) (see a pattern?).

* ExpansionPack / MissionPackSequel: The Track Packs, which are largely intended for players without access to online who want to play a sampling of the songs available for downloadable purchase. These can be turned into {{Old Save Bonus}}es with an included code.

*** Which, let's face facts, qualifies as a crowning moment of awesome.

*** There are no such points during a Drum Solo in Rock Band 2. Subverted here since all the (marked) drum solos are actually noticeably easy except for the opening one in [[ThatOneBoss Painkiller]], where outside of battle of the bands, you will not have overdrive there to begin with. This particular kind of FakeDifficulty is played straight, however, with [[Music/JimiHendrix The Jimi Hendrix Experience's]] "If 6 Were 9," a DLC song which has an exceedingly difficult drum solo whose challenging part doesn't start until a good way into the solo, long after your overdrive would have run out if you activated it before the solo started.

** You are penalized more for missing a Kick Bass note or a snare note than any other note (including when the hi-hat and snare are flipped like Run to the Hills and Everlong). "Miss" includes [[CaptainObvious actually missing the note]] in addition to playing a non-existent note. (incidentally enough, knowledge of this actually makes [[ThatOneBoss/{{Rhythm}} Visions]] [[SubvertedTrope a lot easier to manage]].)

* FunnyBackgroundEvent: In addressing [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CFxdTCMxlI an accidental leak]] during an interview (which would probably be the closest thing to a MeaningfulBackgroundEvent you could possibly get when it comes to leaking the setlist to a music game), [[http://vimeo.com/14293335 Harmonix took time out and dismissed all "rumors" about any supposed "leak."]] ''([[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments Awesomely.]])''

** Pro Mode, on any instrument, especially on Expert. Pro Mode requires drummers to differentiate between cymbals and toms, keyboardists have to use the entire two-octave range on the keyboard, and guitarists and bassists have to essentially play a real-live guitar to the tune of the song. Just playing anything in the first place more or less demands players to practice well in advance, and even on Warmup tier songs keyboardists are running the risk of getting instant carpal tunnel syndrome. Being able to actually pull it off, though, is [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome beyond satisfying]], and the muscle memory carries over to real-life instruments, so if you can play these songs on Pro Expert, you can pretty much play them for real.

* {{Irony}}: Rock Band 2 features a song called "Feel the Pain", which is a pretty easy song and won't make you feel any pain at all. Then there's "[[ThatOneBoss Painkiller]]", which is certain to make your entire band ache (even your vocalist), yet shares the name of a type of drug designed to get rid of pain.

* LarynxDissonance: Happens whenever the on-screen singer's gender doesn't match that of the original artist, generally with [[HilarityEnsues hilarious results]]. There's also [[ThatOneBoss Visions]], where the vocals consist of low, guttural growling, but by default the game will assign a female singer for the song...because the ''original singer'' also happens to be female.

** [[LastLousyPoint Last Lousy Achievement[=/=]Trophy]]: It's the Final Countdown! Specifically, the achievement in ''Lego Rock Band'' that expects you to 100% the guitar solo of The Final Countdown on Expert). The other games have tough achievements (like the BladderOfSteel), but in terms of pure skill, this is the one that stands out compared to the rest of the trophies in that game.
*** And if you imported LEGO Rock Band into [=RB3=], it's reincarnated as one of the many goals.

* MercyRewarded: Songs with complex drum beats can sometimes be made easier by you not hitting all of the notes, instead dropping some from your pattern. Due to how the game weighs red notes and kick bass on drums, this typically involves hitting Red and Orange and the occasional cymbal hit. Your score will obviously suffer, since your combo will be broken frequently, but this can make a song that you just can't beat easy enough to beat, and any score is better than no score. Usually this is only something you can do for a small amount of time as a break, as your rock meter will slowly fall as you do this, but [[ThatOneBoss "Blinded by Fear"]] can be beaten with intelligent use of overdrive without ever needing to hit every yellow or blue note, instead hitting every other one. This got nerfed big-time in Rock Band 3, where making a mistake (outside of Pro Guitar/Bass) does just a smidgen more damage to you... and each correctly-hit note adds less to your health meter than in Rock Band 2.

** And for all instruments (Pre-Rock Band 3), let it be known that (snare and bass kick weighting notwithstanding) you can miss one out of every three notes during overdrive and not fail out, which is how overdrive bluffing works. [[SubvertedTrope This doesn't help much on]] [[ThatOneAttack Constant Motion's Solo D or Satch Boogie's Surf Solo.]]

* MultiPlatform: For the best results you'd better own an Xbox 360 or [=PS3=] if you want the most complete experience. [[MissionPackSequel Exports to the regular series]], adds too the fun of the game.

*** Due to license agreements with Sony, the [=PS3=] keyboard bundle for [=RB3=] is not available in the NA region. Similarly, the Mustang Guitar won't be available for [=PS3=] owners until late November (The Wii one will be available before the [=PS3=] one). The X360 Pro guitar? Already available from some retailers. The Xbox 360 owners just get all the luck with regards to Rock Band. Also, the Wii version of the game lacks the ability to put custom art on... well, anything. You can pick one of a large number of preset images for band logos and tattoos, and makeup and facepaint are removed altogether.
* MissionPackSequel: Just about every disc release for the series can be considered one, especially in light of all the improvements Rock Band 3 adds to the platform. In fact, Harmonix deliberately chose to break their annual release cycle so they could perfect everything for Rock Band 3.

*** [[PortingDisaster Unless you're on the Wii.]] [=RB2=] was the first time Wii owners got the chance to make custom characters or even select which premade character to play as; download individual DLC tracks of their choice which would then be incorporated into the general track library; make setlists; or have any choice in what venue to perform in.

** During the 56-second organ interlude of [[Music/TheWho Won't Get Fooled Again]], none of the band members onstage actually play anything. If you look carefully, occasionally your bass player will [[LampshadeHanging check his]] [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments watch]].

* PowerUpLetdown \ DummiedOut \ MissingSecret \ UrbanLegendOfZelda: "Awesomeness Detection" in ''[=RB2=]'' has now been officially confirmed by the lead designers to [[spoiler:do absolutely nothing]]. Previously, speculation ran rampant on what it was supposed to do, ranging from narrowing the timing window down to nothing to sending hidden data to Harmonix.
** It's back in the third game's Modifiers menu.
** A more legitimate PowerUpLetdown would be Keys On Guitar mode. "Hooray", you think, after finally unlocking Keys On Guitar, "Now I can play the keyboard parts without having to buy the keyboard peripheral!" Sadly, the keyboard notecharts are frequently too complex to comfortably play on a guitar controller, and your playing doesn't count towards any of the game's keyboard-specific goals (well, technically, they do count, but they don't register as completed until you go back and play at least one song on an actual keyboard).

*** If you can do this as a band (especially on Pro mode), go on tour as a real gig, and pick up your crowning moment of awesome on the way.

* [[SticksToTheBack Sticks To The Front]]: Due to guitar straps being tricky to render, they're missing in all the games.

** When Harmonix was developing the Rock Band Network, they code-named it "Rock Band: Music/{{Nickelback}}" specifically to divert press attention (both have the same acronym: RBN). [[FunnyAneurysmMoment It became less funny]] when [[http://www.rockband.com/forums/showthread.php?t=194216 they actually put Nickelback in the DLC store]].

* [[ViewersAreGeniuses Players Are Geniuses]]: Rock Band 3 has no tutorial except for pro guitar, probably because most people just dive in anyway. It does have trainers for drums, pro keys, and pro guitar, and practice mode for all instruments.

* WhatDoYouMeanitsNotForKids: Most of the outfits are either harmless or mildly sexy or badass looking. A few choices however are straight up BDSM clothing that would not be out of place in something really...well, not for kids.
* WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs: Freezepop's "Brainpower". The original song already sounded borderline psychedelic to begin with, but Freezepop's addition of the guitar for Rock Band's version of "Brainpower" [[UpToEleven cranked the song's trippiness all the way up to a positively ludicrous level that it had previously lacked]], giving it the edge that it needed in order to become [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome epic-sounding and awesome]]. The same song is claimed in-universe to be named as it is because the writer was drunk at the time.

Spin-off ''Music/TheBeatles: Rock Band'' was released on September 9, 2009, followed by another one based on Music/GreenDay on June 8, 2010. The latter game can be exported to the main platform. Both games are [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin exactly what they say on the cover]], with no real gameplay change from ''Rock Band 2'' aside from the addition of vocal harmonies, bringing the total number of people that can play the game at once to six. It should be noted that ''The Beatles: Rock Band'' is not considered part of the main ''Rock Band'' family, and unlike all the other titles in the series, does not export or play ''Rock Band'' downloadable content, and vice-versa. It does, however, have its own downloadable content. There is also ''[[VideoGame/LegoAdaptationGame Lego]] Rock Band'', which adds new songs (obviously) and also (on the [=PS3=] and 360 versions, at least) the same downloadable content that the main ''Rock Band'' games allow for, assuming they have been rated "Family Friendly" (See also: LighterAndSofter).

* VideoGame/LegoAdaptationGame: ''Lego Rock Band''.

In August 2012, ''VideoGame/RockBandBlitz'' was released for Xbox Live Arcade and UsefulNotes/PlayStationNetwork, which serves as another SpiritualSuccessor to past Harmonix game ''Frequency'' (much like ''Unplugged'' and the DS version of ''Rock Band 3''), except with 25 new songs[[note]]23 songs were new to the series while 2 were unexportable songs from ''Rock Band 2''[[/note]], and compatibility with ''all'' current DLC.

After a failed crowdfunding attempt to get a proper PC port of ''Rock Band 4'', Harmonix released ''Rock Band VR'' exclusively for the UsefulNotes/OculusRift on March 23, 2017. VR is currently a guitar game only and introduces new mechanics based on guitar chording; however, the classic 5-button guitar gameplay is still present. VR's soundtrack is a mix of new songs and songs from previous entries in the franchise.

* ArchivePanic: There are ''thousands'' upon thousands of DLC songs out there. Good luck getting all the songs you want.

* FunnyBackgroundEvent: In addressing [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CFxdTCMxlI an accidental leak]] during an interview (which would probably be the closest thing to a MeaningfulBackgroundEvent you could possibly get when it comes to leaking the setlist to a music game), [[http://vimeo.com/14293335 Harmonix took time out and dismissed all "rumors" about any supposed "leak."]] ''([[CrowningMomentOfFunny Awesomely.]])''

** Pro Mode, on any instrument, especially on Expert. Pro Mode requires drummers to differentiate between cymbals and toms, keyboardists have to use the entire two-octave range on the keyboard, and guitarists and bassists have to essentially play a real-live guitar to the tune of the song. Just playing anything in the first place more or less demands players to practice well in advance, and even on Warmup tier songs keyboardists are running the risk of getting instant carpal tunnel syndrome. Being able to actually pull it off, though, is [[MomentOfAwesome beyond satisfying]], and the muscle memory carries over to real-life instruments, so if you can play these songs on Pro Expert, you can pretty much play them for real.

** During the 56-second organ interlude of [[Music/TheWho Won't Get Fooled Again]], none of the band members onstage actually play anything. If you look carefully, occasionally your bass player will [[LampshadeHanging check his]] [[CrowningMomentOfFunny watch]].

* WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs: Freezepop's "Brainpower". The original song already sounded borderline psychedelic to begin with, but Freezepop's addition of the guitar for Rock Band's version of "Brainpower" [[UpToEleven cranked the song's trippiness all the way up to a positively ludicrous level that it had previously lacked]], giving it the edge that it needed in order to become [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome epic-sounding and awesome]]. The same song is claimed in-universe to be named as it is because the writer was drunk at the time.

* AfterBossRecovery:
** While playing setlists, your rock meter resets to its default position at five-sixths of the way full when a new songs starts, no matter where it was at the end of the last song.
** Outside of Battle of the Bands, your overdrive also empties itself between songs.

** Particularly simple (if repetitive) Expert bass lines include the aforementioned "So Whatcha Want", "Hot Stuff" by Scott Attrill and "Stigmata" by Ministry.

* DynamicDifficulty: In the Brutal Mode of ''Rock Band Rivals'' (an expansion for ''4''), having more health causes the gems to go invisible sooner. At full health, they only have time to blink into view before going invisible, especially if a strong hyperspeed modifier is running.

** ''Rock Band 4'' allows for players to download any already-owned export packs to their new console ([=PS4=] or [=XB1=]) without additional cost, and also has a ''Rock Band 3'' export for sale which fortunately includes all 83 songs on the disc this time around. Moreover, all exported packs and last-generation [=DLC=] has been upgraded with harmony vocals and fill-lanes where applicable. However, only the original ''Rock Band'' and ''Rock Band 3'' packs are available for sale for those who didn't already buy the packs beforehand.

** In 2014 some Series/TheNakedBrothersBand songs were released as DLC. The show itself ended in 2009, by the way.

* IncrediblyLongNote: "[[Music/FallOutBoy Dead On Arrival]]", "[[Music/JudasPriest Painkiller]]" and "[[Music/AvengedSevenfold Beast and the Harlot]]" have one, and those are just on-disc ([=RB1=], 2 and 3 respectively). When it comes to DLC, you have "[[Music/PaulAndStorm Opening Band]]," where you have to hold one note for ''twenty-two seconds''. Have fun, singers!

** This form was averted with TheWhiteStripes tracks - although they don't have a bassist, the rhythm guitar was charted to the bass line (similar charting practices have happened with songs by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, who also don't have a bassist). However, one song from the second pack (Fell in Love With A Girl) doesn't have a bass line charted, so now all four instruments have at least one song without it.

* IncrediblyLongNote: "[[Music/FallOutBoy Dead On Arrival]]", "[[Music/JudasPriest Painkiller]]" and "[[Music/AvengedSevenfold Beast and the Harlot]]" have one, and those are just on-disc ([=RB1=], 2 and 3 respectively). When it comes to DLC, you have "[[PaulAndStorm Opening Band]]," where you have to hold one note for ''twenty-two seconds''. Have fun, singers!

** The vocalist checks their watch during the long "helloooooooooo" at the end of "[[PaulAndStorm Opening Band]]".

** When Harmonix was developing the Rock Band Network, they code-named it "Rock Band: {{Nickelback}}" specifically to divert press attention (both have the same acronym: RBN). [[FunnyAneurysmMoment It became less funny]] when [[http://www.rockband.com/forums/showthread.php?t=194216 they actually put Nickelback in the DLC store]].