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1* AmericansHateTingle:
2** ''Rock Band'' does not sell well in Europe, where the general opinion is that it's a ''VideoGame/GuitarHero'' rip-off. Never mind the fact that ''Rock Band'' was made by the creators of ''Guitar Hero'', and that the first ''Rock Band'' game came out a year before ''Guitar Hero World Tour''. Then again, the main problem was that the first ''Rock Band'' game came out a year late in Europe.
3** The game is hardly a hit in Japan either, where ''VideoGame/{{GITADORA}}'' is generally the band simulation game of choice instead. Also, imagine trying to cram a full set of ''Rock Band'' controllers and players into a typical Japanese apartment.
4* AntiClimaxBoss:
5** ''Rock Band'':
6*** The tiering system was adjusted following the first game, and many harder songs have been released over the years as DLC or on-disc tracks. As a result, some of the songs that were once top tier in the original game can feel comparatively easy.
7*** Metallica's "Enter Sandman" is listed as Nightmare tier for drums, but feels downright trivial compared to just about every other on-disc song in the same tier. The disparity in difficulty is especially jarring compared to novice-killers like "Foreplay/Long Time" and "(Don't Fear) The Reaper".
8*** "Flirtin' With Disaster" is Tier 6 on drums, but primarily consists of a standard swing beat and relatively simple triple fills.
9** ''Rock Band 2'':
10*** Music/{{Rush|Band}}'s "The Trees (Vault Edition)" is smack-dab in the middle of Tier 6 on drums, yet is significantly easier than quite a few of the Tier 5 songs.
11*** Music/SystemOfADown's "Chop Suey" is listed as the second hardest song in the game on vocals, but the song's inflections really aren't at all complex. The only thing that might make it difficult is the speed at which the singer sings some of the parts, but that difficulty can easily be overcome by mumbling (which the game does not penalize you for), and once you get past their speed, they really aren't difficult to sing.
12*** Music/TheAllmanBrothersBand's "Ramblin' Man" and Music/SteelyDan's "Bodhisattva", both of which are categorized as Tier 6 on bass, but are much easier than the other songs in that category.
13** ''Lego: Rock Band'':
14*** ''Lego: Rock Band'' uses an inflated tiering system as part of its kid-friendly approach. Many songs are tiered much higher than they would be in a main, numbered title, which can be confusing if you're accustomed to the difficulty of those games. For example, "A-Punk" is Tier 6 on bass in ''Lego'', but only Tier 3 in the main games.
15*** The final Rock Power Challenge is "Crash", a song that has no instruments at Tier 6 and ''two'' instruments rated as Tier 0. Anticlimactic enough?
16** ''Rock Band 3'':
17*** The Tier 6 (non-pro) guitar songs on Rock Band 3 are pretty hard, but not compared to ''Rock Band 2'', and the tier levels were increased, which means that some songs that used to be Tier 6 aren't anymore, further making some of the [=RB3=] Tier 6 songs stick out as being overrated in difficulty.
18*** "[[Music/JamesBrown I Got You (I Feel Good)]]" is a firm Tier 6 song on bass, but has surprisingly few notes on the chart. The only thing that makes it even modestly difficult is that the rhythm is very difficult to play on-time.
19*** "[[Music/{{Roxette}} The Look]]" is categorized as a Tier 6 on bass, but it's a very slow and repetitive song that has nothing that makes it worthy of its tier. Made even more poignant when you notice that Pro bass is only Tier 2 (the largest difficulty drop from standard to Pro in the game), which is much more representative of the song's true difficulty.
20*** "Killing Loneliness" on Expert Guitar is definitely ''not'' Tier 5. It feels more like a Tier 1 song.
21*** "Walk of Life" is ranked at Tier 6 on guitar, as one of the most difficult songs in the game, yet it consists mostly of easy mid-tempo 3-note chords with no quick hand shifting or even a guitar solo. One thing is for sure, it is defiantly not harder than any of the Tier 5, or even Tier 4, songs on the disc. Hell, "Antibodies", a Tier 2 song, is often considered to be a whole other level of difficult over this one. Much like with "The Look" above, the song's true difficulty is better represented by it's Pro tierring (which is Tier 3).
22*** "Power of Love", "Sister Christian", and "Here I Go Again" are pathetically easy for their Tier 5 ranks. Only brief moments in their solos sort of justify their tier, and even then they're not that difficult at all; certainly not deserving of the same tier as [[ThatOneBoss Beast and the Harlot]].
23** ''Rock Band 4'':
24*** "A Passage to Bangkok" for bass. Other than a couple short tricky spots, the song is quite tame compared to the other Tier 6 on-disc bass charts.
25*** "Dream Genie" for vocals. While the instrument tracks are infamous for their relentless difficulty, the singing is relatively sparse and repetitive with many long breaks in between (though the pitches can be hard to pinpoint at first).
26** Other games:
27*** In ''Unplugged'', the Rolling Stones Rock Immortals Challenge (the final setlist in Tour mode, not counting the Endless Setlist) consists of five songs. None of them are above Tier 5 in difficulty, and the last song in the set, "Livin' on a Prayer", is the second-easiest song in the game.
28* ArchivePanic:
29** During the 7th console generation, if one bought the trilogy and exported ''Rock Band'' and ''Rock Band 2'' to ''Rock Band 3'', that's over 200 songs available from the get-go. Then there's the DLC and track packs.
30** ''Rock Band 4'' has over 1,700 legacy DLC tracks available. Those who bought tracks in the previous generation can export most of their songs for free so long as they stay within the same console family (i.e. [=PS4=] or [=PS5=] from [=PS3=] and Xbox One or Xbox Series X|S from Xbox 360) and use the same profile.
31* AscendedMeme:
32** A popular joke on the Rock Band forums is that the game is turning into "[[Music/{{Nirvana}} Dave]] [[Music/FooFighters Grohl]] [[Music/ThemCrookedVultures Band]]". Come ''Rock Band 3'', there's an in-game goal with that name, attained appropriately by playing enough (DLC) songs in which Dave Grohl had a part.
33** "More metal!" is a common cry from fans dissatisfied with the release of DLC from other genres, ''especially'' pop. In January of 2017, Harmonix released a 3-pack of metal songs aptly named "More Metal Pack 01".
34** Similarly, a common criticism of pop DLC from fans, especially in the ''Rock Band 4'' era, is something along the lines of "[[NonIndicativeName This is]] ''[[NonIndicativeName ROCK Band]]'', ''[[NonIndicativeName not]]'' ''[[NonIndicativeName Pop Band]]''!". Flash forward to November 2021, and Harmonix promotes the November 11 DLC as "It’s not Rock Band, it’s Pop Band!".
35* AudienceAlienatingEra: The franchise's "hardcore" fan base often think 2012 is an audience-alienating era for their DownloadableContent. Most of the new releases now come in threes and with only one Pro Guitar/Bass upgrade, and a not insignificant amount of them are from the (often late) Main/TurnOfTheMillennium and Main/TheNew10s which they stereotypically consider "crappy." (Nothing really exciting for them was released minus an Iron Maiden 6-pack and a Slayer pack.) Plus, they are often considered "too easy."
36* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: Like ''Guitar Hero'', the series is a celebration of this trope. From the six or so discs we get around two hundred tracks with the likes of AC/DC, Green Day, Beatles, Soundgarden, Disturbed, Motorhead... go online and pick from the massive track list by artists such as Blink-182, Smashing Pumpkins, Judas Priest, The Who...
37* BreatherLevel:
38** Some of the very difficult DLC track packs have one song that is significantly easier than the rest. The Mayhem Fest pack has "[[Music/MarilynManson Disposable Teens]]", while Megadeth's "Rust in Peace" has "Dawn Patrol", and the Anthrax track pack 1 has "I'm the Man". These three songs has a one out of six on band difficulty, while the next easiest song in each pack is a five or four out of six, respectively.
39** Examples in ''Rock Band 3'' are "The Look" and "I Feel Good" on Bass, And Walk of Life and Something Bigger Something Brighter on guitar.
40* BrokenBase:
41** This is a constant issue for weekly DLC releases. Fans either liked the variety in genres or they trashed it for not catering to what ''they'' wanted; this is especially prominent during the [=RB4=] era, with the release of many [[MusicOfThe2010s 2010s pop songs]], and lesser-known artists and bands after the buyout of Harmonix by Creator/EpicGames, having them working on content for ''VideoGame/{{Fortnite}}''.
42** The Legacy tracks on ''Rock Band 3''. Due to technical and licensing complexities, Harmonix couldn't simply patch the older songs to include harmonies, keys and pro instruments, which meant they re-released certain songs as DLC again with the subtitle "([=RB3=] Version)". This did not go well with the fanbase. Some felt ripped off having to repurchase the same song again just for an instrument they didn't play, others didn't mind and were willing to buy more. Unfortunately, the criticism led to Harmonix no longer creating legacy tracks after the second Queen DLC pack. This problem got better when vocal harmonies and other ''Rock Band 3'' features were added to old [=DLC=] at no additional charge for ''Rock Band 4'' owners, though, as detailed below, other features were removed from the game entirely, and, by extension, not added to the old [=DLC=].
43** Like ''Rock Band Unplugged'', ''Rock Band Blitz'' split many in half just for not being a traditional ''Rock Band'' game. It did not help that all the songs in that game were later released as standalone DLC, causing fans to think it was the downhill of the [=RB=] era and that it was a waste paying for a group of songs they didn't want.
44** ''The Beatles: Rock Band'' angered a few fans because you can't import those songs over to ''Rock Band 2'' or ''3''. Others felt that ''The Beatles'' works better as its own game.
45** ''Green Day: Rock Band'' was also eventually released as standalone DLC. Fans thought it was stupid that Harmonix would charge people for separate songs instead of just buying the game to fully import them over. Some fans just wanted only certain songs from the band, so it worked in their favor.
46** The addition of non-rock songs, featuring tracks by the likes of Music/LadyGaga, Music/BrunoMars, Miley Cyrus, Music/LadyAntebellum, B.o.B., Bonnie Tyler, Music/CobraStarship etc. It's either a complete betrayal of what ''Rock Band'' is about, or a great way of adding more variety and possibilities to the experience.
47** ''Rock Band 3''. Either it expanded on ''Rock Band 2'' tremendously in terms of features and gameplay or it lost the heart and soul of what people loved about the series.
48** ''Rock Band 4''
49*** When the game was announced, most fans were ecstatic until they noticed that the new game would not have keyboard or pro guitar support. Some fans didn't care and were simply happy to have a new title in the works, while some fans were disappointed but understood why Harmonix went "back to basics". Some fans were not pleased ''at all''; however, only a small portion of the overall ''Rock Band'' library has support for keys and pro guitar.
50*** To use Xbox 360 instruments on the Xbox One or Series X|S, a [[http://www.polygon.com/2015/8/24/9197735/rock-band-4-instrument-compatibility-last-gen-xbox-one-adapter-ps4 separate controller adapter]] is required, which increases the price of the Xbox One disc version; gamers who either digitally purchase ''[=RB4=]'' or purchase a physical guitar or band bundle for Xbox One and want to use Xbox 360 instruments as well have to purchase the adapter separately. The adapter is necessary because Microsoft changed the wireless controller connection protocol between the Xbox 360 and Xbox One and Series X|S; also, wired Xbox 360 controllers inexplicably ''will not work'' on the Xbox One or Series X|S despite being hypothetically easier to implement. The MIDI Pro adapter and the Ion drum kit also requires another adapter to be able to use them in ''[=RB4=]''. [=PS4=] and [=PS5=] users with legacy instruments have it easier; since the [=PS3=] instrument controllers already use a USB dongle, no additional hardware adapters are needed.
51*** The new freestyle feature additions for vocals and guitar solos are either a fantastic way of adding your own spin to songs or free pass to a high score and not failing out. Harmonix's Alex Rigopulos himself considers freestyle guitar to be a failed experiment, and it's fallen far out of use for most, if not all, of the community.
52*** ''Rock Band 4'' has also been getting a lot of flack for the amount of pop songs that have been made available. To say fans were upset that Music/OneDirection and Music/JustinBieber now have more tracks available than, say, Music/{{Motorhead}} would be a ''massive'' understatement. With many pop songs being keyboard or synth heavy, the omission of keys becomes more glaring, particularly on many ''[=RB3=]''-era songs. Some fans wonder why the basic (i.e., 5-button) keyboard track couldn't be implemented as a [[TakeAThirdOption third option]] for guitar on appropriate songs and use the keyboard controller as an alternative guitar controller like in ''Rock Band 3''.
53*** As for on-disc songs: "Dream Genie" is love-it-or-hate-it like no other song in on-disc history.
54*** In order to receive the Online Quickplay update released in January 2017, one has to purchase the ''Rivals'' expansion pack for US$30. Early adopters see it as a cash grab for putting a heavily requested feature behind a paywall.
55** "Rock Band Rewind" DLC. For ''Rock Band'' newcomers, it allows them to get songs that were otherwise only available as on-disc exports, which have long expired. However, for returning players who exported previous games during the 7th console generation ''and'' not switch console families, it's less opportunity for brand new content, especially since Harmonix typically only releases two or three songs each week. There also seems to be a strong emphasis on ''Rock Band 2'' for Rewind DLC, since it was [[NoExportForYou never released in Australia]].
56** The re-release of Rock Band Network content as regular DLC. For series newcomers and even returning players, it allows them to get certain [=RBN=] songs that they may have missed the first time around. However, since [=RBN=] songs are classified as user-created content, Harmonix is unable to offer [=RBN=] DLC entitlements to previous owners as they could with core DLC due to technical and licensing issues. Some players are willing to repurchase [=RBN=] songs to be able to play them in ''[=RB4=]'' due to retiring their 7th gen consoles; however, players who invested heavily in [=RBN=] content will inevitably complain about having to spend more money just to play songs they have previously bought. Also, like the above mentioned Rewind DLC, [=RBN=] re-releases present less opportunity for completely new content on the platform.
57** A release of DLC in the summer of 2021, despite being [[TheScrappy a song that became popular on TikTok]], introduced a new gimmick for DLC, [[CoveredUp being the original, and a cover of the same song]], as shown by the addition of "Astronaut in the Ocean", originally by Masked Wolf, and a metal cover by Our Last Night. A sizeable portion of players were upset with this addition due to it being a [=TikTok=] song, and for basically getting the same song twice. Despite both having their own challenges depending on the preference (Masked Wolf's version being tougher on Vocals and Drums, Our Last Night's being tougher on Guitar and Bass, while making the drums even harder). The other side is hopeful in the way that this would allow some other songs to show up in a similar way (e.g., The Kinks/Van Halen with "You Really Got Me", Nine Inch Nails/Johnny Cash with "Hurt", etc.)
58* CultClassic: Even after the demise of instrument controller-based rhythm games in the mainstream, ''Rock Band'' still maintains a devoted fanbase. From the initial end of DLC in April 2013 to ''Rock Band 4's'' announcement in March 2015, fans were clamoring for Harmonix to either release a new game or resume DLC releases on nearly every status posted on the [[http://www.facebook.com/RockBand official Rock Band Facebook page]].
59* ContestedSequel:
60** ''Green Day'' for focusing on a less than universally-liked band and ''Blitz'' for [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks straying from the formula]].
61** ''Rock Band 3'' to a much lesser extent as well, for removing a few features and changing the character animations. Also, despite more character and band customization options than the two preceding games, players are limited to just 10 custom characters and one band per profile.
62** ''Rock Band 4'' gets hit with this compared to its predecessors due its weaker on-disc soundtrack[[note]]Despite some noteworthy additions to the franchise (e.g. Music/TheProtomen, Music/{{U2}}, Music/VanHalen, Music/ElvisPresley), several songs are either by little known [[MusicOfThe2010s 2010s artists]] or {{One Hit Wonder}}s, and songs from the series' returning artists (e.g. Music/AvengedSevenfold, Music/FooFighters, Music/QueensOfTheStoneAge, Music/{{Rush|Band}}, Music/{{Soundgarden}}, Music/TheWho, etc.) are either deep cuts or new material, since most, if not all, of their most well known songs were already released either as on-disc songs in prior games or as DLC[[/note]], shallow character and band customization[[note]]Presently, players can't adjust a character's body shape (e.g. height, weight, muscle tone, etc.); there are a limited number of faces; there is an overall limited selection of clothes; accessories and shoes are not separate items from tops and bottoms respectively; and there are no assets for creating band logos, custom t-shirts, or tattoos[[/note]], the absence of both online play and practice mode at launch[[note]]Practice mode was added in for free in a title update while online play requires the paid ''Rivals'' expansion[[/note]], and the removal of keys and pro guitar. Harmonix stated that several missing features may be added in later updates to the game; however, keys and pro guitar ''won't'' make a return in ''[=RB4=]''.
63* DifficultySpike:
64** Moving from Medium to Hard on guitar or drums is difficult. Guitar charts start including the orange fret, meaning that you have to start moving your hands around instead of having your four fingers sit on green, red, yellow, and blue all the time. On drums, the bass pedal finds itself on the off-beats more often, forcing some extra limb independence out of players, and that's not taking into account the presence of drumrolls and fills with much more notes than one would see in a Medium chart. Moving to Expert is even worse, since the number of notes charted in Hard modes tends to be reduced until a certain standard of reduced difficulty is reached, while Expert is the song in all it's difficult glory. Expect to be murdered by the guitar solos.
65** Moving from Medium to Hard in pro guitar has a difficult curve. Medium mostly has you doing not much more than calm streams of two finger power chords which are easily voiced as 0-2, 7-9, 5-7, whereas Hard starts throwing relentless walls of three finger chords, arpeggios, and even barre chords at you.
66** 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/RushBand 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 NintendoHard ([[Music/{{Metallica}} Battery]] (thrash metal), Shoulder to the Plow ([[GenreMashup southern-fried-stoner-pirate-death metal]]), [[Music/JudasPriest Painkiller]] (speed metal), [[Music/DreamTheater Panic Attack]] (progressive metal), and Visions (death metal) (see a pattern?).
67** For bassists, the first real difficulty spike came on the day that "[[Music/{{Muse}} Hysteria]]" was released as DownloadableContent (or packaged with the game in Europe) as the first song to be released for the platform with a genuinely difficult bass chart.
68** Starting with Rock Band 3 and with all DLC since around June 2010, songs are required to use all buttons/pads on the various instruments at all difficulties if that button/pad is used in expert. It will still be fewer notes for the player to hit, but this helps with the hand position aspects.
69** The introduction of Pro mode will likely find many Expert players dropping back to Easy Pro mode to learn how to actually play a stringed instrument.
70** Remember VideoGame/{{Beatmania}}? Remember how many songs have a very difficult part right at the end? Well, I present you: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffrdLPmrrtY&feature=player_detailpage#t=436s Through The Fire And Flames Expert PRO Guitar ending]]. The end of the song is even harder on basic guitar. Due to the way tapping solos work on pro (no need to strum at all), and the fact that the tapping solo on pro is "anchor 3rd fret and tap 10th and 6th", it's far easier, as on basic, the solo is "miss a note, you're done, you have to strum to start up again", not to mention the fact that it's anchoring the red fret then tapping the orange, blue and yellow frets.
71** Some song/instrument combinations have a large spike from one difficulty level to the next. For example Visions on Hard Guitar is much, much harder than Visions on Medium Guitar.
72** Brainpower by Freezepop on Guitar (Expert). Most of the song is only two different fairly easy riffs - except for one part right after the first chorus. Out of nowhere, there's a [[Music/{{Metallica}} "One"]]-esque mini-solo. Not difficult for highly experienced players since it's only fast and not across weird frets (it's just OBYOBYOBY over and over again), but playing the song for the first time, especially for less experienced players, is hilarious.
73* EvenBetterSequel: ''[=RB2=]'' was already this to ''[=RB1=]'', and ''[=RB3=]'' is this to a lot of people (though not everyone; see BrokenBase above).
74* FanNickname: "Pop Band", whenever a DLC containing Top 40 pop songs is announced.
75* GameBreaker: The "talky" segments of many songs are nearly impossible due to how the game handles audio input -- except on the [=PS2=] version, where just rubbing the microphone is enough to get full score. The sequel handles things this way regardless of version, making it simple to get full combos on talky songs even on Expert.
76** Surprisingly, while nearly all of the talky sections can be mumbled through, SOME talky sections are blatantly hard to pull off on Expert. Painkiller's descending "AAAAAAH" phrases stands out, as they are marked as talky phrases in Rock Band (''VideoGame/GuitarHero Music/VanHalen'' "charts" them as a full-octave slide downward). Screaming "AAAAAAH" isn't enough to get it, you have to do some trickery with your voice to get the game to cooperate.
77** The Super Easy difficulty in ''Lego Rock Band'' turns '''every''' song into a talkie. Say hello to your [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin super easy]] Endless Setlist achievement! Seriously, you can just set the mic in front of a fan and walk away.
78** ''Rock Band 3'' lets you get solo scores while playing in a band, adjusting various things around so that playing in a band can't give you an unfair advantage for your solo score. However, they missed something; if someone fails while someone else is deploying overdrive, overdrive will stop running (the gameplay reason for this is so that person can decide to use the OD to save the person who failed). Through careful manipulation involving two "supporting" bandmates (one that purposely fails at specific spots and another to save himher from failing), one can have more control over their OD deployment and get solo scores that are impossible to get playing alone.
79*** It also appears that the score recorded for the individual instrument is the solo score - and the score used to determine an individual player's stars (which is ALSO recorded) uses the band bonus. 5-starring the entire setlist on Expert on individual instruments suddenly gets a lot easier.
80** The fact that as of Rock Band 3, No Fail Mode can be turned on and your score will still be saved (except on Rock Band 4's Brutal Mode). That makes it so you can have that on and never have to hold overdrive for impossible parts.
81* GatewaySeries:
82** Much like the rival ''VideoGame/GuitarHero'' series, the ''Rock Band'' series has been praised for introducing several classic rock n' roll bands and songs to a younger generation who may have otherwise never heard of them.
83** The ''Rock Band Network'', during its lifetime, allowed underground artists to gain wider mainstream exposure.
84** The series has also encouraged some players to take up real instruments, especially thanks to ''Rock Band 3'''s Pro Mode.
85* GoddamnedBats: Some songs require you to just hit the same note over and over again. Really. Really. Quickly. There's no real skill involved, just you strumming/flailing on the drums faster than you ever thought possible. (You do need skill to actually keep the rhythm while doing this, but for most people, full-comboing these sections is a write-off anyway). Of note is [[Music/{{Evile}} "Thrasher"]] on bass, "[[Music/{{Slayer}} Black Magic]]" on guitar, the latter part of "[[Music/{{Megadeth}} My Last Words]]", and the outro of "[[Music/RushBand The Camera Eye]]" on drums. This was changed in ''Rock Band 4'', where everything above a certain but rather high speed threshold is automatically converted to a slower speed with fill lanes underneath, even on songs made before fill lanes were a thing.
86** However, a DLC track in Rock Band 4, Twilight of the Thunder God, is extremely fast, you’ll get hand cramps just playing it.
87* GoodBadBugs:
88** A randomly appearing glitch in the Xbox 360 version of Rock Band 1 did talky parts for you, allowing vocalists to FC songs that were nigh-impossible without it.
89** Don't like the mystery setlist ''Rock Band 3'''s tour mode gave you? Just back out and choose it again! This can be done over and over until an ideal setlist is dealt.
90** There's a venue with a lot of green lights with a black cross-hatch pattern on them. In this venue, in ''Rock Band 3'', at least in the [=PS3=] version, the bandmates will levitate during a few moves; one of the positions they can be is erroneously several feet off the ground!
91** During ''Rock Band 3'''s career mode, one choice of set is "Custom X Setlist", where you must choose a number of songs from a certain artist, genre, or decade. However, the menu that you select songs from is just the normal song selection menu with filters activated to stop songs that don't fit the category from appearing. There's nothing stopping you from just opening the menu and turning off these filters, allowing you to select songs you weren't supposed to.
92* HarsherInHindsight:
93** ''LEGO Rock Band'', which was designed to have a family-friendly setlist, included "Rooftops" by Music/{{Lostprophets}}...which is a lot more questionable after frontman Ian Watkins' crimes.
94** In ''Rock Band 2'', when playing a Sonic Youth song such as "Teen Age Riot," one of the loading screens that can pop up says, "Proving that inter-band relationships can work, Sonic Youth members Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon have been married since 1984." The two ended up separating in 2011 and ultimately divorced in 2013. Looks like they can't work after all....
95* HilariousInHindsight:
96** In the original ''VideoGame/GuitarHero'', a loading screen tip admonished you not to hold the guitar above your belt because "You're not in The Beatles." Several years later, you got your chance.
97** After Series/TheNakedBrothersBand joined the Music Store, many detractors started countdowns to when either Music/TheJonasBrothers or Series/HannahMontana would follow suit. Well, as of June 2010, Music/MileyCyrus has five songs available for download.
98*** And, you can now play Sucker by Music/TheJonasBrothers on [=RB4=] as well.
99** A long [[http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/16/magazine/16beatles-t.html New York Times article]] prior to The Beatles: Rock Band release claimed that HMX, while developing the Rock Band Network, chose the name "Rock Band: Nickelback" to deflect attention from the project, though later HMX claimed this wasn't really the case. Regardless if this was true, the week after we got the Miley Cyrus, guess which artist made their DLC debut...?
100** The below-mentioned Billy Joel Greatest Hits Pack? The idea originated over 3 months prior to its release in an episode of ''Series/{{The Office|US}}''[[note]]the full joke was about a ''Billy Joel: Rock Band'' game likely in the same vein as ''The Beatles: Rock Band''[[/note]]. A review of the episode said "[[TemptingFate God Forbid that ever happen]]", and in response, [[WordOfGod Billy Joel himself]] gave the thumbs up for his music to be used in ''Rock Band 3''[[note]]prior to this, he hadn't allowed his music to be used in ''any'' video game whatsoever[[/note]].
101** In 2012, Harmonix announced ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueS7rbHqo_k Rock Band Board Game]]'' as an AprilFools joke. Five years later, Harmonix creates a real board game, ''[=DropMix=]'', which uses [=NFC=]-enabled cards to create mixes.
102** One scene from a 2009 episode of WesternAnimation/SouthPark featured the main characters playing "Poker Face" by Music/LadyGaga on Rock Band. At the time, the song wasn't yet released as DLC but fans demanded for a full version of Cartman's cover it was released as part of an actual Lady Gaga DLC pack a few months later, alongside Cartman's cover.
103* ItsEasySoItSucks: One of the foremost complaints about ''The Beatles: Rock Band''. Keep in mind the inherent difficulty in harmonizing with other players on vocals.
104** Curiously, that's also a RealLife criticism on the Beatles themselves. Of course, studying how they managed to ''get to'' those "three chords" they always use shows that the four from Liverpool had quite some grounding in musical theory.
105** Music/GreenDay is also fairly tame, at least compared to some of the metal on the main platform. And ''Lego Rock Band''.
106*** On most instruments, yep, but on drums? Not so much. Also the game got some really evil achievements on the drumming department that require you to get a full combo on some of the most insane drum solos in the game and to hit all the kick pedal notes in Brain Stew/Jaded (aka. a song with a insanely fast hardcore punk beat that is rightfully ranked as tier 6).
107* ItsShortSoItSucks:
108** How most of the songs turn out to be in the [=DS=] Version of ''Lego Rock Band'' and ''Rock Band 3''.
109** Also the Radio edit of Prequel To The Sequel.
110* ItsTheSameNowItSucks: ''Rock Band 4''. While critics praised the game for maintaining backwards compatibility with older instruments and DLC, ''Rock Band 4'' was criticized for not doing enough to differentiate itself from past installments in the same way ''Rock Band 3'' did.
111* MemeticBadass: Judging from ''Rock Band Blitz'', lead designer Brian Chan is one.
112* MemeticMutation:
113** "I thought it was Rock Band, not X Band!"
114** Needz moar metal or Music/{{Rush|Band}} or Music/DreamTheater or {{Music/Muse}} (the last three becoming very common on Scorehero given those three's absence in the ''Rock Band 3'' setlist). It doesn't help that people from Harmonix PR itself have pined for more Muse.
115*** Became an AscendedMeme as of January 5, 2017 with the release of the "More Metal Pack 01" for ''Rock Band 4''.
116*** The meme was revived on September 1, 2022, when a 3-pack of {{Music/Muse}} songs was released, with Harmonix even mentioning the fans' calls for more Muse to be added in their announcement posts.
117** Fake [[Music/{{Aerosmith}} Steven Tyler]], aka the vocalist in the ''Rock Band'' cover of "Train Kept A-Rollin'", was one in the early days, being a strange [[PokeThePoodle Memetic Poodle-Poker]].
118** And of course, "Go play a real instrument!" This is probably said more by fans of the game than anyone else. (The CIA revealed that absolutely no ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare'' fans signed up after playing, BTW)
119* SugarWiki/MostWonderfulSound:
120** Getting a high score in ''Rock Band 3'' makes a nice "fire crackling" sound play in the results screen.
121** Each star earned makes a distinct "[[Film/WaynesWorld shwing!]]" sound.
122** After an update, ''Rock Band 4'' acknowledges whenever you get a full combo.
123* {{Narm}}:
124** When your band's singer's gender and the vocal track's gender's voice don't match (e.g. a metalhead-looking singer belting out "[[VideoGame/{{Portal}} Still Alive]]").
125** Any instance of extended death growls (which are common in metal and are always rendered as talky segments). Since most people can't death growl, this usually becomes a drawn-out monotone.
126--->"[[AC:[[Music/AtTheGates All your fears / unleashed / the face of all your feeeeears!!]]]]"
127** Some people cannot effectively sing the lower growly metal type songs, [[HilarityEnsues so they just straight up sing them.]]
128** The guitarist and bassist doing the backing vocals in "Rock Lobster", if at least one of them is male. Nothing more to say from here.
129*** In any song with other band members singing, really. See also: "The Look," "Total Eclipse of the Heart," "Paradise by the Dashboard Light," "Bohemian Rhapsody," "Clint Eastwood"...
130* Sugarwiki/NoProblemWithLicensedGames: The games centered around The Beatles and Green Day were both praised for making great use of the licenses, both telling the band's histories and incorporating into the gameplay their musical trademarks (vocal harmonies, [[FadingIntoTheNextSong songs that play together]]).
131* OlderThanTheyThink: Many of the songs first appeared in other rhythm games before they appeared in Rock Band.
132** Some are surprised at ''Blitz'''s gameplay, despite that not only was it used for ''VideoGame/{{Frequency|Harmonix}}'' and ''Amplitude'', it was also used for ''Rock Band Unplugged'' and the Nintendo DS ports of ''Lego'' and ''3''.
133* PolishedPort: The Wii version of the original ''Rock Band'' was more or less a port of the [=PS2=] version, using pre-rendered video for songs and a linear career mode. ''Rock Band 2'' for the Wii gets closer to feature parity with the Xbox 360 and [=PS3=] versions, with the character creator, DLC support, and online play. However, some sacrifices were made due to the Wii's underpowered hardware, namely the ability to create custom logos and tattoos was removed, and some customization options are absent.
134* PortingDisaster: The Wii version of ''Rock Band 3''. The game suffers from a lot of glitches, in addition to many limitations due to the system. So you will encounter missing body parts, only loading 3 characters at a time, constant skipping charts on every instrument except Vocals (both online and offline), freezing, and a buzzing glitch for Vocals that requires a hard reset. Then there's also the fact that only 40 of the Rock Band Network tracks have made it over due to the lack of interest in the releases, and only ''Rock Band 2'' and Green Day export over. Word of God never released the January or February 2015 DLC over to Wii, which made this version miss even more new songs.
135* ScrappyMechanic:
136** Probably one of the most controversial features among the more [[StopHavingFunGuys hardcore]] ''Rock Band'' drummers is the drum fills:
137*** To deploy Overdrive, drummers are occasionally given a chance to improvise a short drum fill, finishing with a green cymbal hit to deploy Overdrive. However, if the drummer chooses not to deploy, they'll be given a chance to do so later and later. Therefore, choosing not to deploy Overdrive for a long time allows drummers to essentially take short breaks every few seconds, allowing them to coast through otherwise difficult sections, and the notes overwritten by the drum fills don't count into the total percentage, meaning that different drummers can get 100% on a song with a different amount of notes played in total.
138*** What makes the drum fills doubly annoying for the really hardcore crowd is the "squeezing" bug in the game engine, which allows drummers to play one of the missing notes on the chart, which would otherwise be overridden by the final cymbal hit on the fill. So if a drummer wanted to get the absolute highest score possible, they would essentially have to memorize the entire chart to know what they should hit at that moment.
139*** Thankfully, ''Rock Band 3'' finally rectifies this by allowing players to deploy Overdrive by just hitting the green cymbal, like in Beatles Rock Band. Unfortunately, it's a kick to the nuts when you realize that the activation points do not change and that notes that would be covered up by a fill do not count for or against you. In other words, it's a fill, but with the underlying notes visible.
140** All Instruments Mode. In ''Rock Band 3'', it is actually possible to play with 4 instruments and 3 vocalists all at the same time, even if everyone's playing in pro mode! Hold on though; for any combination that has the guitarist, bassist, and keyboardist playing together, you need to turn on All Instruments Mode. In All Instruments Mode, the vocalist is forced to play on easy, doesn't make any progress, doesn't get overdrive, and isn't scored at all.
141** The tambourine/cowbell fills in solo vocals. There are three ways to do them: first, and most usual, is to beat the mic's head against your other hand (or anything soft), which will end up ruining your palm. Second, is pressing A (Xbox 360)/X (Playstation 2 and 3) on the controller, which shoots down some of the experience. The third (and most awkward) way is to make sharp noises into the microphone (I.E. exhaling fast on the note). While they can be skipped at no penalty to your performance meter, getting gold stars in Rock Band 3 on solo vocals requires the vocalist to do them since they do contribute to score. Fortunately, they do not show up in harmony vocals.
142** Tremolo/Trill/Fill lanes are a point of contention for many fans. While they allow for these passages to be easier to play, some argue that it removes some challenge from the game. Additionally, lanes are notoriously difficult to start or end without under- or over-strumming. Detractors were further irked when a 2017 update to ''Rock Band 4'' added lanes to many legacy tracks. Thankfully, an update releasing in February of 2018 seeks to address this issue and make lanes behave as intended.
143* SelfImposedChallenge: In case [[DoublePlay singing and playing an instrument at the same time]] wasn't challenging enough, some players use modified controllers to play ''all four instruments'' at the same time.
144* SequelDifficultyDrop: ''2'' added No Fail mode, but nothing can be saved while it's on. ''3'' has a stricter crowd meter, but almost everything can be done with No Fail on (most goals now revolve around getting a certain number of stars instead of survival).
145* SequelDifficultySpike
146** ''Rock Band'' has 2 songs that fall into ''Rock Band 2''[='=]s "impossible" tier, 3 if you count the cover of "Run To the Hills" (which doesn't transfer over due to licensing issues, though the original version is now in the Music Store). Rock Band 2 has '''12'''!
147** Vocals got the biggest boost in difficulty in Rock Band 2. Some of the songs that were in the impossible tier for vocals in Rock Band are in the ''fourth tier out of six'' in Rock Band 2. "Foreplay/Long Time", the hardest non-bonus song on vocals in the original Rock Band, was placed right at the bottom of tier five in Rock Band 2, meaning most of the songs in the upper ''two'' tiers of difficulty in Rock Band 2 are harder to sing than Rock Band's hardest non-bonus song.
148** The Rock Band Network is seeing this in a ''tremendous'' way; the amount of songs rated at the maximum tier in at least one category, let alone multiple ones, is staggering. Vocals is usually the exception, as the songs in question are metal tunes with talkie lyrics without regard to pitch measurement.
149*** Chaotrope deserves particular mention, as each song of his released on [=RBN=] is generally harder than his previous releases. The Hourglass Paroxysm, released as two parts due to being longer than 10 minutes, [[DoubleSubversion double-subverts this]]: Part 1 is probably the easiest 5-star anyone will get on a chaotrope song on anything other than Keys, while Part 2 proceeds to give everybody whiplash with 2 of the three guitar solos, both drum solos, and the overall difficulty (which is considered by some to be above that of [[Music/DragonForce Operation Ground And Pound]]).
150** Interestingly, this trope is inverted for the regular DLC store, which has a lower percentage of "Impossible" songs (in terms of band difficulty) than ''Rock Band 1'', even if you don't include "Run to the Hills" in that percentage.
151** Rock Band 3 has an interesting version of this trope. Though all of the instruments are harder individually, the difficult parts are more spread out over the whole setlist, meaning that the general band-difficulty saw a massive drop, even as the individual tracks became harder.
152** There was an unwritten rule in the first two Rock Band games (and all of the Guitar Hero games for that matter) that all guitar and bass parts were limited to the first three frets on Easy and the first four on Medium. However, for Rock Band 3, not only was this rule scrapped, it was inverted: the tracks on each difficulty are now ''required'' to have at least one of every color that is present on the Expert track. In practice, this means that most new songs on Easy now have you using all five frets. Casual gamers were not pleased.
153* ShockingMoments: There's always some among the fanbase when a big time artist makes their debut, or a surprise appearance from smaller indie bands with devoted fanbases.
154** Certainly the biggest example of this would have to be ''The Beatles: Rock Band'', one of the most beloved bands of all time that no one ''ever'' thought would be in a music game getting an entire tribute game.
155** Music/BobDylan and Music/{{ACDC}} making their music game debuts in ''2''.
156** Music/TheBeachBoys and Music/TheDoors (the latter also getting a Greatest Hits DLC pack shortly after release) appearing in ''3'', much to everyone's surprise, along with Music/DavidBowie ''finally'' getting his SignatureSong in the form of "Space Oddity". To a lesser degree, the inclusion of Music/TeganAndSara and "Roundabout" by Music/{{Yes}}.
157** ''4 finally'' gets some Music/{{CAKE}} with "Short Skirt/Long Jacket", along with the surprise inclusion of "Uptown Funk" and, in a move at least as big as getting the Beach Boys, "Suspicious Minds" by the King of Rock himself, Music/ElvisPresley. Music/VanHalen finally appears in ''Rock Band'' for the first time with "Panama" on the disc and a DLC pack being released sometime after release. Music/StVincent and "Rock and Roll, Hoochie Koo" by Rick Derringer are also included. Surprising ''everyone'' indie darlings Lightning Bolt make their debut, adding NoiseRock to the numerous genres ''Rock Band'' includes. Even more surprising is Music/TheProtomen making an appearance with "Light Up the Night". Even better, Music/{{U2}} finally debut with ''two'' on-disc songs, with another eight as DLC not long after release.
158** On the DLC front, the inclusion of two full albums of The Music/JimiHendrix Experience material, a Greatest Hits pack for Music/BillyJoel, a B.B. King song being released, and Music/ArcticMonkeys ''finally'' appearing in early 2015, along with another song from them being included with ''4''.
159*** [[http://www.rockbandaide.com/21299/xbox-com-shows-new-rock-band-4-dlc Also]], Music/WeirdAlYankovic and Music/{{Babymetal}} make their rhythm game debuts as DLC.
160** Again on the DLC front, the surprise inclusion of "[[Music/EltonJohn Goodbye Yellow Brick Road]]" as a DLC track, doubling as a TearJerker due to Harmonix announcing the day after the DLC trailer that DLC releases for ''Rock Band 4'' are coming to an end.
161* SpecialEffectsFailure: This is a flaw ''Guitar Hero'' shares, but the utter lack of guitar straps on characters is starting to become a little ridiculous at this point. Though the magically levitating guitars ''[[{{Narm}} are]]'' [[{{Narm}} funny]].
162** [=RB4=]'s Rockudrama finally lampshades/canonizes this, with one person claiming they'd never seen a band play without guitar straps before.
163* StopHavingFunGuys: [=RB3=]'s Pro Mode is considered to be a serious transition in music gaming.
164** There is some leeway on real chords, allowing mis-fretting on one, and in some cases even two strings without breaking combo. Reasonable enough. Unfortunately, such scenarios also award full points, and there is no limit where the game starts complaining about them, so [=SHFGs=] will take to ''deliberately'' half-assing chords as much as they know they can get away with, by memorizing the exact rules for what the game will forgive.
165** There is the view that people playing with plastic guitars should go out and get a life by learning to play for real, ignoring the fact No Russian doesn't make them cool real terrorists.
166* SurpriseDifficulty:
167** Many people mistake the vocal mode for nothing more than a karaoke sim. What many of them don't realize is that the game ''will'' penalize you for "getting creative" with the pitch at which you sing, and it's even possible to fail miserably on easy mode while playing a song ''you know'' if you don't have a feel for how much you need to match the pitch[[note]]Freestyle Vocals in 4 allow you to get a little creative, but you still must sing within the chord of a given measure[[/note]].
168** Some songs seem easy at first, then out of nowhere they nail you with a really difficult solo section that can easily catch you off guard and screw up an otherwise perfect run. A prime example is Miley Cyrus "Can't Be Tamed", [[TemptingFate you'd expect it to be easy because it's a Miley Cyrus song right?]] WRONG! Her other songs aren't so tough, but this one in particular is a total pain in the ass on Expert guitars, the rhythm sections are a cakewalk, but the solo is just brutal[[note]]It's also surprising because the song itself has no actual guitars to speak of and instead charts synths to guitar. The solo was charted just for the game, and most players won't be expecting to get hit with a tough solo section in a song that has no guitars.[[/note]] it's every bit as difficult, if not moreso then the solo section in "Tornado Of Souls"!
169* ThatOneAttack: Some songs are very easy for most of their duration, save for one guitar solo (or even just one part of the solo) that will make you beg for mercy. Examples include The Outlaws' "Green Grass and High Tides", "[[Music/GunsNRoses There Was a Time]]", "Red Devil" by Music/YngwieMalmsteen's Rising Force, "Can't Be Tamed" by Miley Cyrus, "Surfing with the Alien" by Joe Satriani, "According To You" by Orianthi, "Forever" by In This Moment and "Metal Health" by Quiet Riot.
170** This is also the cause of a lot of BossInMookClothing examples listed. "Afterlife", anyone?
171** "We Built This City" for Guitar. Pathetically easy up until the last seven seconds of the guitar solo that gives "Through the Fire and the Flames" a run for its money.
172* [[ThatOneBoss That One Song]]: ''Rock Band 1'' has [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3js7HVxKeA "Run to the Hills"]] on drums ([[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPXPDJMUtrU and bass]]), [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fa-3pRVhA2I "I Get By"]] on vocals, and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtIxeuZMnYk "Green Grass and High Tides"]] on guitar. And that's just the on-disc songs in the first game! Most downloadable metal songs will give you nightmares, too.
173** In ''Rock Band 2'', That One Song multiplied like rabbits. Player-eating rabbits. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSoFkzSRIcs "Visions"]] isn't near the joke-level that were Through the Fire and the Flames or Jordan (and by joke we mean failing at 1% with a "are you even kidding me?!" expression), but it's definitely tougher than most songs, even DLC.
174*** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_28JQE_ARY "Painkiller"]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kx1zhwHlj4o "Panic Attack"]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WNZvjPpfSM "Battery"]] have {{Meaningful Name}}s, and that's all you need to know. And these are ''not'' DLC.
175*** Still worth mentioning a few things about "Visions": it's not your imagination, that drum snare ''does'' sound like the strum bar of the original VideoGame/GuitarHero 1/2 controller on [=PlayStation=] 2 (the Gibson [=SG=]), flailing away desperately, trying to keep up with the fast pattern. And that low, guttural growl? It's a ''girl''. Somehow, one pictures people at Harmonix brainstorming this kind of stuff with ''player pain'' specifically in mind.
176** ''Rock Band 3'' has its own slew of That One Songs:
177*** The guitar has "Beast and the Harlot", "Freebird", "Crazy Train", and "Rainbow in the Dark", the solos of which are absolutely relentless.
178*** The infamous "Antibodies". On guitar: two minutes of a janky, hopo-ridden riff followed by another two minutes of an equally janky alt-strumming riff. Somehow, Harmonix decided it's only a Tier 2, despite being universally considered harder to FC than some of the game's Tier 6 songs. The bass chart starts out easy enough, then comes in with a riff that's all over the board and stays steady for a few minutes, draining whatever endurance you may have.
179*** Also on bass: "Jerry Was a Race Car Driver", with very awkward chords worked into its riff and no easy part during which you can take a breather.
180*** The drums have [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0reC9-3qaOA&t=4m48s the latter part of "Smoke on the Water"]], which could best be described as crossover hell [[note]]And it's just as difficult (if not more difficult) on [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6KuodrfJmw&t=4m57s Pro Drums.]] ([[FakeDifficulty And this is why some people WANT open Hi-Hat kept on yellow]])[[/note]]; "Roundabout", which enters a very inconsistent paradiddle-based drum beat about half-way in; and "Llama", which is three minutes of one of the hardest drum beats outside of the DLC store.
181*** If you use real e-drums with a high-hat pedal, you can tell the drums to output open high hats as blue (or yellow for lefties)... and it's ''still'' freaking hard.
182*** Keyboards, though generally pretty easy compared to the rest of the instruments, has "Antibodies", which is all over the place right from the beginning, and "Roundabout", the difficulty of which there are no words to describe in 5-key mode, forget about Pro mode.
183*** Vocals has "Bohemian Rhapsody" and "Good Vibrations (Live)", the harmonies of which make it difficult to find a single vocal part to hit and fill that meter, and are quite hard to pull off in a group, and Music/JamesBrown's "I Got You (I Feel Good) (Alternate Studio Version)", which is simply all over the place in terms of pitch.
184** ''Rock Band 4'' features a much lighter setlist with few real standout difficult songs - except, of course, for "Dream Genie", a 6-minute noise rock track. The guitar and bass charts share some incredibly awkward, hopo-centric riffs for most of the song's duration. The drums chart is simply a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xm5nMZ5OnhM non-stop onslaught that must be seen to be believed]].
185** The downloadable content store has quite a few songs to satisfy those who eat tier-6 songs for breakfast. Specifically:
186** Guitar:
187*** Here's a warning for guitarists who want to buy either of the Music/{{Megadeth}} albums ''Peace Sells'' and ''Rust in Peace'' or Music/YngwieMalmsteen's pack: unless you eat up last-tier songs for warmup, ''don't expect to pass even one''. The highlights of each pack include "Devil's Island", "Tornado of Souls", and "Caprici Di Diablo", respectively.
188*** The DLC store also has Music/BlackTide's "Warriors of Time" and Ministry's "The Great Satan".
189*** Do not be fooled by the fact that Music/DreamTheater's "Constant Motion" is rated as a five on guitar: that song will haunt the dreams of any player who tries to beat it on expert guitar.
190*** Music/{{Evile}}'s "Thrasher" was the first song released on the DLC that is harder on guitar than the on-disk songs. Best of luck.
191*** Music/JoeSatriani's songs are right up there with Music/YngwieMalmsteen's songs in terms of guitar difficulty. "Surfing with the Alien" has some of the fastest trills you will ever see, and "Satch Boogie" is currently the third hardest song in Rock Band 3 on guitar.
192*** Venture onto the Rock Band Network and you will find [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZIn8P5NHfw "Death Quota for Purification"]] by The Myriad Burial. Though the [=RBN=] doesn't arrange its songs in order of difficulty, "Death Quota for Purification" is without a doubt one of the hardest songs on guitar on there, if not the hardest. As the uploader of that video said, "So this is what happens when Visions meets Jordan...", though it's more like "Caprici Di Diablo" (which is harder than "Visions") meets "Jordan". Of particular interest is [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZIn8P5NHfw#t=1m57s the run of notes about a minute and a half in]].
193*** Talking about Rock Band Network tracks, one must mention [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnpbwhrNvOk Flight of the Bumblebee]], which would be nigh impossible if it wasn't only 2 minutes long.
194*** And on that note, "Tastes Like Kevin Bacon" by iwrestledabearonce. Even experienced plastic guitarists will fail out repeatedly with the demo alone.
195*** We may have THE ThatOneBoss of any guitar game: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIrSFx8C0B4 "Guitars SUCK"]] by Bumblefoot. Dear god, just ''look at it''; it looks like a custom song from Frets on Fire made by someone who thought "Satch Boogie" was boring... and yet, it's on the Rock Band Network. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPCERhnVf6w Nihilanth]] by Gatling is similarly difficult. Highlight of the song: a two-star on expert with Guitars SUCK yields a score within the top 400. (It's possible to two-star a song and still pass it? Who knew?)
196*** "Satch Boogie" was dethroned as hardest guitar chart in ''Rock Band 3'' by two songs from a very familiar face: [[Music/DragonForce "Through The Fire and Flames" and "Operation Ground and Pound"]], which now make up the hardest and second hardest guitar songs. Both of them have [[ThatOneAttack sextuplets outside of solos]], and the intro to TTFAF is still on guitar. Oh, and TTFAF also has Pro Guitar.
197*** And yes, the ''Rock Band 3'' versions of the songs are much, much harder than their Guitar Hero 3 counterparts, even with the shredboard tapping during solos AND GUITAR FILLS. Although, at least this time you don't have to play any keyboard parts on the guitar, making some parts a bit easier.
198*** Music/{{Chaotrope}}. Anything and everything by him ([[SubvertedTrope except that one really easy song he's pushing through [=RBN=]]]). Out of those released in 2011 (in [=RBN=] 2.0), there is Diachylon (see Solo 1 and '''5C-5D'''), "Thief in the Night part I" (solo G), and "The Fall of Psilanthropy" (the whole freaking song). And apparently, those are the EASY ones, Dystopia has been described by the charter himself as "pushing the limits"
199*** "Scream Aim Fire"'s guitar chart seems to have been charted with the intent of screwing over the guitarist. ''[[VideoGame/GuitarHero Guitar Hero World Tour]]'' [[DamnYouMuscleMemory vets playing the wrong chart notwithstanding]], the three downward slides are charted as a pair of 16th notes - specifically, strummed Yellow into a strummed blue-orange sustained chord, with an orange pull-off at the end. There's also notes right before chords that aren't audibly strummed in the guitar part and some awkwardly placed hammer-ons in the slow part. And then you reach [[ThatOneAttack Solo D...]]
200*** Music/{{Slipknot}}'s "Pulse of the Maggots". Most of the song is fairly manageable short of two streams of fast strumming, but the solos are full of extremely fast sweeps and random strums that are very reminiscent of Slayer's "Black Magic". [[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qH4MJfJ5qik The song was FC'd on 24/07/2019 by GHAddict]] and it's considered one of the greatest, if not the greatest rhythm game accomplishment.
201** Drums:
202*** Start out with Music/TheWho's "Young Man Blues" and Megadeth's (see a pattern yet?) "Good Mourning/Black Friday"; it only gets worse from there.
203*** Ministry's "Cuz U R Next" is affectionately known as "The Painkiller of Rock Band DLC". You'll know why when your foot feels ready to fall off after playing it; it takes the regular Painkiller beat and speeds it up a lot. Ouch.
204*** Were it not for its length of one minute, The Music/RedHotChiliPeppers' "They're Red Hot" would be right up there with the Mayhem Pack songs. Know this: it will be the single most difficult minute of your life.
205*** Take the typical drum beat with a high-hat or cymbal hit on every beat, a kick-pedal hit every other beat, a snare hit on every off beat, and speed that up to almost eight beats a second. You now have the horror that is "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YjQXlMChtw Blinded By Fear]]" by Music/AtTheGates.
206*** The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1XSu3FYBoY#t=3m00s Drum Solo of "If 6 Was 9".]] Expect the crowd to boo you off stage if you try to do it without overdrive. Actually, expect them to boo you out anyway- you can't activate overdrive during a drum solo, so your overdrive will be gone already by the time you reach the really difficult part.
207*** Music/CoheedAndCambria's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzWwmzyct-4 "Guns of Summer"]] may be the hardest song in the game on drums that is difficult because of the dexterity required to play it, rather than the speed required.
208*** With the Mayhem pack, the drums got... well, every single song in the Mayhem pack. Some of the hardest songs from the Mayhem pack are The Black Dahlia Murder's "What A Horrible Night to Have a Curse" (which frequently makes you hit the drums faster with your non-dominant hand than your dominant hand), Behemoth's "Conquer All" (which has some of the fasted kick-pedal hits known to man), and Job For a Cowboy's "Embedded" (which is like "Visions" on crack). The hardest, however, is "This is Exile" by Whitechapel, which incorporates all three of the aforementioned elements at some point and is currently listed as the hardest song in the game on drums.
209*** Most of the songs on the Rock Band Network that have a six for band difficulty got there because their drum tracks are ridiculously difficult. Songs that fit this mold include "Abraxas of Filth", "Where the Light Was Born", "Day of Mourning", "Packet Flier", "Descend Into the Eternal Pits of Possession", "Mordecai", and "Unfurling A Darkened Gospel".
210*** "Through The Fire And Flames". Go ahead and try it on expert. The absurdly fast bass notes will make you fail and cause much pain to your foot, and that's not even getting to how difficult the drum fills are.
211*** "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_M-YssH3YM Everlong]]" and "Teenage Riot" were once the kings of this trope, but compared to the other songs listed here, they're easy (assuming you [[SomeDexterityRequired have the DEX score]] to time on the 16th-note rhythms correctly).
212*** "Bleed" by Meshuggah. So you finally can do quick kick-drum beats? Great, now try omitting two non-consecutive hits every other time. Then try alternating the speed every 3 hits. FOR 8 MINUTES.
213*** Tired of metal and want a refresher? Don't pick Music/{{Blink182}}'s "[[https://youtu.be/iWCO67SWQGw?t=29s The Party Song]]."
214** Vocals:
215*** Dead Kennedys' "Holiday in Cambodia" and Free's "All Right Now".
216*** Music/JamesBrown's "Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine - Pt 1" and "Super Bad Pts 1 and 2" are exactly as difficult to sing as trying to copy the godfather of soul sounds like it would be. Even singing at your natural octave won't help much.
217*** The Jackson 5's "ABC", Need we say more? No, seriously, words can't describe justice.
218*** The hardest song on vocals is currently the Music/RedHotChiliPeppers' "They're Red Hot" . You'll probably be mumbling the first few times you play it, since the words go by so quickly you won't even be able to read them, let alone hit all the notes while enunciating. Do yourself a favor and use the talky parts as an opportunity to inhale.
219*** "Tangled Up In Blue" by Music/BobDylan is rated Impossible despite not being particularly fast or going into extremes of pitch or having any [[IncrediblyLongNote insanely long notes.]] So why is it impossible? Because Dylan's rambling folk cadence means that no two parts of the song are sung in exactly the same way, so unless you know the song very well, you ''will'' get tripped up repeatedly.
220** Bass:
221*** Music/{{Soundgarden}}'s "Jesus Christ Pose" and Megadeth's "Bad Omen" will give bass players a run for their money.
222*** Music/{{Evile}}'s "Thrasher" doesn't require much dexterity in your fret hand, but it has some of the fastest sustained strumming you'll ever see.
223*** "Rude Mood" by Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble, though difficult on all instruments, is particularly unforgiving on bass, and is currently the hardest DLC song from the regular music store to play on bass. The game lists it as easier than "Visions" and "Panic Attack".
224*** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZIn8P5NHfw "Death Quota for Purification"]] by The Myriad Burial is bad enough on guitar, but the basist of The Myriad Burial did the players the favor of copying the most difficult guitar part note for note, making this without a doubt the hardest song in the game on bass. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZIn8P5NHfw#t=1m57s Watch and weep]].
225** Keys:
226*** [[Music/{{Queen}} "I Want It All"]] ([=RB3=] Version). It starts rather easy, which makes you wonder why it's a devil-tier song. Then, right before the fast part, you see [[ThatOneAttack a long series of fast arpeggios]].
227*** Then there's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fndzbtAhEWc Paradise by the Dashboard Light]] by Music/MeatLoaf, which doesn't have as many arpeggios, but is ''[[MarathonLevel almost nine minutes long]]''. Say hello to carpal tunnel syndrome.
228*** A preview for [=RBN=] showcases Amberian Dawn's instrumental song "[=DreamChaser=]". The solo will likely leave you reeling.
229*** Now available on [=RBN=] is "Veil of Illumination" by Andromeda; since [=RBN=] songs can only be at most ten minutes long, this 17-minute song was split into two parts. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVI3IGPemsg The first part]] is definitely very difficult, featuring many long streams of notes. However, it is absolutely nothing compared to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llowzdS5FVs the second part]], which opens with a keyboard solo so insane, it makes "Roundabout" look like a first-tier song. (And the rest of the song, being similar to the first part, is still quite difficult.) The person who charted the part (who also uploaded the video of him playing it) calls it "the hardest Rock Band chart ever", and it's hard to argue with him about that.
230*** "Chameleon Carnival" also deserves a mention for its keyboard solo, which has a lot of retriggered keyboard notes with every other hit charted. The original chart actually had every single hit charted, resulting in inhumanly fast double-tapping that may have been faster than the keyboard could keep up with. This, thankfully, was nerfed for release, although the similar passage in Veil of Illumination Part II's solo got through unmodified. There are also a couple more songs from Andromeda on Rock Band Network, and they're of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrEgmXwwlMk similar difficulty]].
231*** Chaotrope's "Thief in the Night Part I". You know the guitar solo? KEYBOARD DOUBLES THAT PART. And yes, there's Pro Keys (as required by Harmonix).
232*** Almost all songs by Music/BillyJoel are a nightmare on the Keys, but "Prelude/Angry Young Man" tops them all: it opens with a string of middle C's played as fast as humanly possible. Think pressing the same key over and over again is easy? Think again! The rest of the song in no pushover, but the speed of this intro will mean most players will end up failing the song in less than ''ten seconds.''
233** Band:
234*** The "Impossible" band songs in the music store doubled the day the Mayhem Festival pack came out.
235*** The Music/IronMaiden pack deserves special mention not only for being a very difficult pack but also for being one of the few packs whose songs have high band difficulty ratings ''because'' of the difficulty of the vocals (in addition to the other instruments), not in spite of it.
236*** Megadeth's ''Rust In Peace'' album. With the exception of Dawn Patrol, all of the songs on it are incredibly difficult, with many being sixes on all instruments except vocals. And that guitar solo in Tornado of Souls? ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YxTQx6FsFs#t=4m21s (shudder)]]''
237*** "Rude Mood" by Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble is an instrumental that is a six on every instrument. As horrifying as that is, it isn't even that hardest song in the DLC store.
238*** The legendarily difficult DummiedOut song "Trippolette" from the first ''VideoGame/GuitarHero'' is now available for ''Rock Band'' thanks to the Rock Band Network. Your eyes do not deceive you: it is a six on every instrument.
239*** Anything by Chaotrope. All 6 (to date) songs have runs about as fast as Constant Motion's infamous solo, the difference being that the runs in Chaotrope's songs aren't merely descending arpreggios. Oh, and the bass gets some of those runs. And some tremolo sections break the strum limit in Rock Band 2 NTSC.
240*** Did you think that Rock Band Network 2.0 would result in some relatively saner songs? Nope, the only difference now is there are Keyboard parts on the songs, and they frequently double the lead guitar's part. Even during the solos. Oh, and if you think that it's already hard enough dealing with trills that make Music/DragonForce look slow, the artist and charter's comment on [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_uXEFf-FRs This video]] will break you.
241--->'''shinymonkey8 (Chaotrope)''': You think this is pushing the limits? BWAHAHHAHAHAHAHA! You haven't seen my new songs. This is cake on guitar compared to songs like Dystopia.
242* ThatOneDisadvantage: One event that can randomly come up in the World Tour is a critic lambasting your band for "relying too much on overdrive", and challenging you to play a set without any overdrive at all. If you make it, you'll get double the fans and money. The problem is, [[PlotCoupon stars]] are more important to your progress than anything else in this game. With no overdrive, you will get a lower score which is likely to mean less stars (the same at best), not to mention some songs are much harder to even pass when overdrive is taken away.
243** The other event, which is suicidal to take on, is "Biggest Show Ever", which adds an encore, strips away overdrive, and requires you to get 5 stars on every song. get 4 stars on any of the songs in the setlist (INCLUDING the encore, "Ace of Spades") and the fan count changes as if you failed each song in the setlist once. God help you if a ZeroEffortBoss pops up, as those are impossible to 5-star WITH overdrive.
244** In order to 5-star a song with a Bassist, Guitarist, and Drummer in the band, the average score per note must be over 100 (in other words, the BASSIST must have the majority of the notes). This means whether or not you can even clear this challenge is entirely dependent on the distribution of notes and how many of the notes are in any solos. [[UnintentionallyUnwinnable In quite a handful of cases, it's impossible.]]
245* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: The DLC version of "Her Majesty" adds the last note that was missing from the album version. [[http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2009/10/21/finding-closure-in-the-beatles-rock-band/?blog_id=100&post_id=7980 Apparently people didn't like that]].
246** For ''VideoGame/RockBand 3'', [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sk-qt1wiQg the alternate version]] of Music/JamesBrown's ''I Got You (I Feel Good)'' used in the game could very possibly be TheScrappy Song of Rock Band 3 for just that reason.
247* TheyCopiedItSoItSucks: Many non-hardcore fans still don't know that Harmonix made ''Guitar Hero 1 & 2'', and so think that ''Rock Band'' is a shameless knockoff of ''Guitar Hero''. When a [[http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2009/0202/052_3.html "professional" editor at Forbes]] (which is supposed to a be source of ''correcting'' misinformation) was called out on this, he tried to save face and said they [[BlatantLies knew that all along]], but it was no excuse for a lack of innovation (besides adding drums and vocals, changing the highway graphics completely, shifting from mostly covers to mostly masters...)
248* ToughActToFollow:
249** Probably the likeliest reason why ''Music/GreenDay: VideoGame/RockBand'' was met with a relatively lukewarm reception compared to ''Music/TheBeatles: VideoGame/RockBand'', a lovingly crafted tribute to one of the most widely beloved groups in the history of popular music.
250** To some extent, ''Rock Band 4'' compared to ''Rock Band 3''. ''Rock Band 3'' greatly expanded the scope of the franchise, while ''Rock Band 4'' seems to be viewed as a regression, eliminating a good chunk of what [=RB3=] introduced. Because of [=RB4=]'s ContestedSequel status, the game seems more geared towards those who invested heavily in ''Rock Band'' during the previous generation rather than franchise newcomers.
251* UnexpectedCharacter: ''Rock Band 4'' features ''Music/BabyMetal'' of all bands as DLC. Granted, they said in a tweet several months prior to the official announcement that they had gotten several requests for them, but no one thought they would take it seriously.
252* ViewerGenderConfusion:
253** The singer for "Visions".
254** Even more so for "Last Dance" on ''Rock Band 3''. The game will assign a female band member to sing that song (unless one isn't available), but it was actually sung by a male singer in real life.
255* 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.

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