Sleater-Kinney'''s former guitarist sat down with Brad (not his real name), a PR executive from Electronic Arts, and some friends to test drive the video game Rock Band. Carrie Brownstein actually attempted to work on Rock Band as a consultant, but her ideas were rejected because she was unable to put rock on ''"the pedestal''" it deserves. Nonetheless, the NPR music blogger was still game, so to speak, to give the virtual version of what she had experienced in real life for ten years a go for an article in Slate:
She thought long and hard about this game that has been haunting her "like a bad ringtone" and the differences between Rock Band and actual band were weighed in terms of setting up gear, touring (''"you save on gas''"), band relations, the experience of playing live. What did she find?
''"Rock Band isn't about music or about being in a band, it's about pretending. But instead of pretending alone, as you might in karaoke or Guitar Hero, you pretend with other people. Rock Band is Guitar Hero for people with more than one friend. It's a theater group set to music, and just as nerdy.''"
While she does think Rock Band is better than American Idol or ''"any of the other flimsy truths masquerading as music,''" the flesh and blood guitarist ultimately concluded:
''"And, really, if you are going to play the game with a group of friends for more than a night, shouldn't you just form a real band?''" [Slate]