Rock Band

Overview

Rock Band is a 2007 rhythm game developed by Harmonix, published by MTV Games and distributed by Electronic Arts. It is the first game in the Rock Band series. The Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions came out in North America on November 20, 2007. Harmonix had made the first two Guitar Hero games, and after that series moved to another studio it came up with Rock Band as a new game built around a whole band instead of one guitar.

Up to four players perform popular rock songs with controllers modelled on musical instruments: lead guitar, bass guitar and drums, plus singing through a USB microphone. Players are scored on how well they match scrolling notes, or on how closely they match the pitch of the singer. The Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions can be played with others on the same console or online. The disc has 58 songs, and over 2,000 downloadable songs were eventually released for the two consoles.

Notes scroll down up to three tracks for lead guitar, drums and bass, with a vocals display across the top of the screen. All players earn points toward one band score, but each player has their own Overdrive and score multiplier. Each player can pick Easy, Medium, Hard or Expert. A player who falls to the bottom of the band meter fails out and their instrument is muted, but another player can rescue them with Overdrive, up to twice per song.

Band World Tour is the main multiplayer mode. On Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, two to four local players create a band, characters and a logo, then play gigs in 41 venues across 17 cities. They start in small venues at home and unlock vans, buses and jets. Instead of fixed song lists, each venue has its own set of challenges, such as single songs, multi-song sets and mystery setlists. Band World Tour is played locally, and online players use Band Quickplay.

Development began around February 2006 and took about 20 months. Harmonix built new hardware for the drums first, since it already had experience with guitar controllers. The game was announced on April 1, 2007 and was one of the highlights of E3 that year. The Xbox 360 version uses a wired guitar in its bundle, because Harmonix chose not to pay Microsoft's licence fee for wireless technology. The release date was moved from November 23, 2007 to November 20.

At launch the game came in a bundle with the instruments and was also sold on its own. Individual instruments followed, starting with the drum kit on February 12, 2008 and a wireless guitar on April 8, 2008. Many players reported hardware faults on early instruments, including bass drum pedals that snapped and unresponsive strum bars, and Harmonix said it would replace faulty peripherals under a 60 day warranty. Rock Band came to Europe on Xbox 360 first, on May 23, 2008.

Reviews were excellent and critics' scores average 92 out of 100 on Xbox 360. Critics liked the group play, the depth of Band World Tour and the new drum controller. Common complaints were about the feel of the Stratocaster guitar and weaker solo modes. By October 9, 2008 the game had sold four million units and made 600 million US dollars worldwide, and over 100 million songs had been downloaded from the music store by May 2011.

Official trailer

Rock Band E3 Trailer, Electronic Arts. Watch on YouTube

Screenshots

Game details

Genres

Rhythm game

Developer

Harmonix

Publisher

MTV Games (distributed by Electronic Arts)

Series

Rock Band

Designers

Greg LoPiccolo, Rob Kay, Dan Teasdale

Writers

Helen McWilliams

Producers

Michael Verrette

Directors

Josh Randall

Modes

Single player

Yes

Local multiplayer

4

Online multiplayer

4

Release dates

Editions

Check out the store

Disc IDs

The serial printed on the disc and the case. It tells you which region a copy is from.

Achievements

Achievements50 (1,000G)

Total

50

Gamerscore

1000

100% time

75 to 150 hours

Online servers running

No

Online note

TrueAchievements lists 4 online-only achievements in its walkthrough and tags 6 as online. Epic switched off online services for Rock Band 1 to 3 on 24 January 2023.

Needs

Guitar controller, Drum kit, Microphone, Standard controller

Gamerscore, base game

1000

Grind

• Some Expert play, including with a second person locally

• Breakthrough Act Unlocked a Big Club in Solo Tour on Easy, Medium, Hard or Expert 10G 77.18% of players
• Hot Artist Unlocked a Theater in Solo Tour on Easy, Medium, Hard or Expert 10G 68.73% of players
• Top Artist Unlocked an Arena in Solo Tour on Medium, Hard or Expert 10G 56.75% of players
• String Shredder Finished Guitar Solo Tour on Easy 20G 44.98% of players
• Fret Ripper Finished Guitar Solo Tour on Medium 30G 40.14% of players
• Axe Assassin Finished Guitar Solo Tour on Hard 40G 22.94% of players
• Lord of the Strings Finished Guitar Solo Tour on Expert 50G 10.05% of players
• Rhythm Rocker Finished Drum Solo Tour on Easy 20G 24.29% of players
• Groove Technician Finished Drum Solo Tour on Medium 30G 16.95% of players
• Heavy Hitter Finished Drum Solo Tour on Hard 40G 6.55% of players
• AN-I-MAL!!! Finished Drum Solo Tour on Expert 50G 3.5% of players
• Howler Finished Vocal Solo Tour on Easy 20G 11.98% of players
• Screamer Finished Vocal Solo Tour on Medium 30G 8.96% of players
• Crooner Finished Vocal Solo Tour on Hard 40G 5.7% of players
• Virtuoso Finished Vocal Solo Tour on Expert 50G 3.89% of players
• Got Wheels Unlocked the Van in Band World Tour 20G 63.87% of players
• Open Road Unlocked the Bus in Band World Tour 20G 51.53% of players
• Jet Setter Unlocked the Jet in Band World Tour 20G 34.27% of players
• One Million Fans Reached 1 million fans in Band World Tour 10G 7.66% of players
• Hall of Fame Inductee Finished the Hall of Fame Induction in Band World Tour 100G 14.71% of players
• Vinyl Artist Finished the Endless Setlist in Band World Tour on Medium 10G 5.75% of players
• Gold Artist Finished the Endless Setlist in Band World Tour on Hard 20G 4.11% of players
• Platinum Artist Finished the Endless Setlist in Band World Tour on Expert 25G 3.12% of players
• Big In London Finished the last remaining gig in London (Band World Tour) 10G 4.86% of players
• Big In Paris Finished the last remaining gig in Paris (Band World Tour) 10G 5.7% of players
• Big In Amsterdam Finished the last remaining gig in Amsterdam (Band World Tour) 10G 3.79% of players
• Big In Berlin Finished the last remaining gig in Berlin (Band World Tour) 10G 3.09% of players
• Big In Stockholm Finished the last remaining gig in Stockholm (Band World Tour) 10G 5.7% of players
• Big In Rome Finished the last remaining gig in Rome (Band World Tour) 10G 3.7% of players
• Big In Boston Finished the last remaining gig in Boston (Band World Tour) 10G 4.52% of players
• Big In NYC Finished the last remaining gig in New York (Band World Tour) 10G 3.06% of players
• Big In Chicago Finished the last remaining gig in Chicago (Band World Tour) 10G 4.89% of players
• Big In LA Finished the last remaining gig in Los Angeles (Band World Tour) 10G 4.73% of players
• Big In Seattle Finished the last remaining gig in Seattle (Band World Tour) 10G 6.67% of players
• Big In San Francisco Finished the last remaining gig in San Francisco (Band World Tour) 10G 4.69% of players
• Big In Japan Finished the last remaining gig in Tokyo (Band World Tour) 10G 2.8% of players
• Big In Sydney Finished the last remaining gig in Sydney (Band World Tour) 10G 3.43% of players
• Big In Reykjavik Finished the last remaining gig in Reykjavik (Band World Tour) 10G 3.51% of players
• Big In Rio de Janeiro Finished the last remaining gig in Rio de Janeiro (Band World Tour) 10G 2.87% of players
• Big In Moscow Finished the last remaining gig in Moscow (Band World Tour) 10G 3.8% of players
• Tug of War Champ Won 20 Tug of War ranked matches 30G Needs online 5.73% of players
• Tug of War Streak Won 5 Tug of War ranked matches in a row 20G Needs online 8.09% of players
• Score Duel Champ Won 20 Score Duel ranked matches 30G Needs online 6.42% of players
• Score Duel Streak Won 5 Score Duel ranked matches in a row 20G Needs online 8.57% of players
• Killer Performance Five Starred a song on Easy, Medium, Hard or Expert 10G 98.18% of players
• Flawless Groove Scored 100% notes hit as bassist, up-strums only, on Expert 10G 14.8% of players
• Flawless Drumming Scored 100% notes hit as a drummer on Expert 10G 9.26% of players
• Flawless Fretwork Scored 100% notes hit as a guitarist on Expert 10G 20.24% of players
• Flawless Singing Scored a 100% rating as a vocalist on Expert 10G 5.67% of players
• Riding on Coattails Played with a "Platinum Artist" 5G 14.85% of players

DLC

Rock Band had songs for sale every week for years, with 15 on sale at launch and over 1,480 by the end. Songs bought before the Xbox 360 Store closed on 29 July 2024 can be downloaded again, but new purchases are not possible.

Items

Name	Adds	Obtainable today	Date	Price
Downloadable songs, song packs and albums	Songs playable in every mode, including Band World Tour, and compatible with Rock Band 2	no
Disc export to Rock Band 2	A title update that lets 55 of the 58 songs on this disc be used in Rock Band 2	no	2008-09-04	400 Microsoft Points (US$4.99)
In-game music store update	Added a music store with preview and sorting options, an updated microphone and faster downloads	no	2008-03-21

Playable today

Online

Epic Games ended online services for Rock Band on January 24, 2023, including online multiplayer and the music store. Local play and songs already on the console still work.

Services

Service	Status	Shutdown date
Rock Band online services (multiplayer, leaderboards, music store)	ended	2023-01-24

Reception

Aggregates

Outlet	Platform	Score	Scale	Reviews
Metacritic	Xbox 360	92	100	72

Critics

Outlet	Score	Scale
Electronic Gaming Monthly	27.5	30
GamePro	19.5	20
Game Informer	9.25	10
GameSpot	9	10
GameTrailers	9.3	10
IGN	9.4	10
Official Xbox Magazine	9.5	10

Staff and cast

Staff

Role	Name
Director	Josh Randall
Producer	Michael Verrette
Designer	Greg LoPiccolo
Designer	Rob Kay
Designer	Dan Teasdale
Programmer	Eran Egozy
Programmer	James Flemming
Artist	Ryan Lesser
Writer	Helen McWilliams

Notes for collectors

• The disc has 58 songs, 51 of them master recordings. 55 of the 58 can be exported to Rock Band 2. Enter Sandman, Run to the Hills and Paranoid cannot.
• The Xbox 360 bundle has a wired guitar, while the PlayStation 3 bundle has a wireless one. Harmonix chose the wired guitar to avoid Microsoft's wireless licence fee, which would have put the two bundles at different prices.
• Early bundles had instrument faults, mainly snapping bass drum pedals and unresponsive strum bars. A class action over the pedals was filed against Harmonix, MTV Games, Viacom and Electronic Arts.
• The Stratocaster guitar controller does not work with Guitar Hero II or III, but most Guitar Hero guitars work with Rock Band.
• Four achievements need ranked Tug of War or Score Duel wins, which are online only. Online services ended in 2023, so those four are hard to earn now.

Credits

Publisher

MTV Games (distributed by Electronic Arts)

Developer

Harmonix

Director

Josh Randall

Released

2007-11-20

Age rating

T (Teen)

Region

US

Time to beat

about 8.5 hours