Have you ever been rock blocked? Have you ever rock blocked someone else? If you don’t know the answer to that question please see the definition below.


Rock Block: To interfere with someone who is playing Rock Band very loudly.




I came up with the term “rock blocked” one night after my neighbors came over and asked me to turn down the volume while I was playing Rock Band. This was right after the game had come out and I had been playing it for about a week. You see I quickly learned that the only way to play Rock Band is to play it as loudly as possible. Now I don’t own some crappy sound system. I own a 750Watt Yamaha Amplifier with 9.1 surround sound and Polk Audio speakers, so when I am rocking out I am truly rocking out. I mean the idea of the game is to feel like you are in a Rock Band. I can’t feel like I’m in a rock band if the volume is not loud.


My Video and Sound System


Unfortunately I think I have a poor gauge for what is loud and what is not. When my neighbor came over and asked me to turn it down, the game was sitting at the song select screen. Those of you who own the game know that volume of the game during this screen is not very loud. Well I had the volume up so loud that even while on this screen I couldn’t hear a word of what my neighbor said when I opened the door. Yes it was then I came to understand that when I rock out playing Rock Band, I rock loudly!!! It was also then that I realized I had been “rock blocked” for the first time. That was not to be the last and only time I would be rock blocked though.

About a month later my neighbors rock blocked me again, this time by calling the cops on me while I was playing Rock Band. It was on a Saturday night, and four of my friends had come over to progress our band, Accidental Burrito, through World Tour mode. The police showed up at about 1AM in the morning and were very shocked. They were expecting to find some huge party going on. Instead it was 2 girls and 2 guys playing a video game with plastic instruments. They just laughed and asked us to turn it down. I honestly think they wanted to come in and play the game, but they were on duty. We would have rocked out with the cops. I don’t believe in rock discrimination.



Ever since then I have had to be careful as to not piss off my neighbors. If I want to play the game I am constantly checking if they are home or not. If they are I just don’t bother playing, because I don’t want to play with the volume turned down. If they are not home however, I strap on my guitar, turn the volume all the way up, and ROCK OUT !!!