Rush Playing “Tom Sawyer” on Rock Band

by Scott Beale on July 25, 2008 · 25 comments

Here’s a video of the band Rush attempting to play their song “Tom Sawyer” on Rock Band while backstage prior to their appearance on The Colbert Report. They ended up scoring 31% on “expert mode”.

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filed under Music

{ 25 comments… read them below or add one }

1 catcubed July 25, 2008 at 11:50 am

Failing never sounded so good. “…Is what you say about society!” Tap tap tap, tap tap tap, tap tap tap, tap ta-tap tap tap

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2 francis July 25, 2008 at 12:21 pm

LOL I play bass and Drums, and I have to say that I think it's almost harder to play than the real stuff, or else my skills are confusing me on rock band

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3 Doc July 25, 2008 at 12:35 pm

So, when exactly did William Shatner take Alex Lifeson's place in Rush?

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4 reechard July 25, 2008 at 12:37 pm

I don't know if it says more about the game, the controllers or Rush (or the song)

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5 pete July 25, 2008 at 2:05 pm

30 seconds is how long the Comedy Central guy thought they'd be able to keep it up. But they didn't actually fail until a minute into the song, which is pretty damn good for no prior practice and doing it on expert mode.

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6 Scott Beale July 25, 2008 at 2:43 pm

Thanks, I didn't catch that. I've updated the post.

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7 richpalmer July 25, 2008 at 3:55 pm

I love it. Now, the question is, can a Rock Band “expert” pick up Rush's tools of trade and perform said song better? Highly unlikely.

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8 Todd Bradley July 25, 2008 at 3:57 pm

They may have scored a measly 31%, but these guys look like they're having about 0% fun. I've never seen anybody looking less interested in playing any video game.

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9 Cthulhu July 25, 2008 at 6:18 pm

Probably because that's a watered-down version of what they've been doing every night for the last 30 years or so. I guess they're probably sick and tired of playing Tom Sawyer.

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10 Brad Goodman July 25, 2008 at 7:06 pm

If you watch carefuly you'll notice that the reason they failed was that Neil's drums “fell apart”. He stopped playing, then the camera showed him pulling the drum set back over to himself. It was right after that that the screen (if you noticed) said “Player 3 failed” – depicting the drummer.

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11 metalmorphasis July 25, 2008 at 8:39 pm

Catch the spit!

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12 bob July 25, 2008 at 9:08 pm

Now that's funny!! Laughed my a$$ off!

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13 metalmorphasis July 27, 2008 at 1:04 pm

What are you talking about? That is William Shatner..
And Geddy Lee is the Klingon. This is the short of the upcoming new Star Trek.

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14 metalmorphasis July 27, 2008 at 1:09 pm

!

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15 1ric2 July 27, 2008 at 7:46 pm

But can the losers who waste their time and money on this crap (when they should be outside getting excercise) play Tom Sawyer on a real instrument? Try learning one. You know….the kind you hear on the radio all day long? You will never hear Guitar hero on the radio…….ha ha ha what losers……..

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16 Nathan Snell July 28, 2008 at 9:49 am

The only thing I'd be curious on is what %age the singer (his name escapes me) got. Neil Pert is playing a dumbed down drumset from what he's used to, not to mention not playing crossover style. Obviously, the guitars aren't accurate. This is no surprise.

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17 peepee July 28, 2008 at 9:00 pm

ok

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18 peepee July 28, 2008 at 9:02 pm

I too also heard about the new Star Trek movie thats coming. Its going to be called “In Search of Doc” and the main theme they will play is “Roll the Bones”.
By the way Neil Pert will play a Vulcan!

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19 kim July 28, 2008 at 9:24 pm

Just goes to prove my theory that Guitar Hero and Rock band games are harder to play if you know how to play a real instrument.

Little things like triplets being replaced with two notes screws up the musician that knows there is supposed to be three notes and tries to play three.

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20 drummernamedpat July 29, 2008 at 5:14 am

The game is run off of visuals for the instruments, but most musicians learn to play by ear so you have to “unlearn what you have learned.” I play the drums and I hate the drums on those games, but since I can't play guitar, I do alright on them. Glad to see the same is true for Rush!

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21 lame-o August 2, 2008 at 10:44 pm

So much harder than real drums. To boot, the time I played it the drums (as Rock Band interpreted them, mind) were off of the beat that I knew from playing for years.

Doesn't surprise me at all. The game is hard and flawed. :D Still fun though.

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22 Tenth Speed Writer August 3, 2008 at 1:06 pm

It's true: Actually being able to play saps your rock band skills.

I used to be able to play pretty much anything on GH2 & 3 on expert no problem. I stopped for a few months while I was learning bass, went back, and found I couldn't play for crap.

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23 Namagem August 3, 2008 at 10:59 pm

You know, a lot of people do. In fact, guitar hero inspired me to pick up a real guitar with out any of you pricks' comments. You are talking to thousands of people at the same time, so don't make ANY generalizations for your own good.
Plenty of people do play games like rockband and get exercise, and likewise, a lot of guitarists play real guitar and are just as overweight.
People who have the spare money will buy it. People who can't afford it, won't. Me, I've never personally played rockband. I'm just too poor.

The real losers are you people who think they have to justify their choice of playing real instruments by spamming website comments with hate. It's a game. Get over it. Get over yourself.

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24 sandswipe August 13, 2008 at 8:54 am

The drums are only off beat if the calibration is wrong, so it’s pretty easy to fix.

I think they were pissed that the cover was so bad. That’s probably why we got a master for Closer To the Heart.

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25 guest August 22, 2008 at 10:20 am

Waaaaaah!

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