I played rock band for the first time last week, after drinks with friends from copywriting class. Our hostess had inherited the apartment nearby from her grandparents, which in the words of her gentleman friend made her "chinatown royalty." True to form, the long and narrow railroad bore finely-tiled ceilings and elegantly dark-wood doors. The chinatown bus departs, literally, from the curb at her doorstep.
I have been reluctant to play rock band or guitar hero, much in the way a tennis player might resist stepping up to the nintendo wii. I found it utterly entertaining, because it's just like playing music only you don't have to try very hard - it's been redesigned for maximum goof-off with your friends satisfaction. You can sing and laugh and screw off or you can put the utmost effort into it - the song plods along all the same. You play for points so there's a bit of an incentive but it doesn't really matter. Personally I find the whole setup very appealling, because I am a big dork. At some level in social situations I occasionally run out of things to say, and I want to start playing with the stereo, because I am specifically a dork about music (surprise). That's in part why I started djing, so I could obsess about records and not have to be burdened with small talk. I don't necessarily want to run out of things to say but sometimes events take their own course. Making the group activity be playing music together in an informal low-pressure setting is thus an ideal way to re-socialize semi-awkward music dorks like myself.
If I were in charge of putting the songs on rock band I would put this song by waylon jennings, because sometimes it's my personal anthem.
