[Lorebane24]

A fee of my players are finding stuff in the world to get into, and one of them was curious about rock bands in shadowrun.  I told then that Maria Mercurial is a cyberpunk Joan Jet, and Concrete Dreams is Rolling Stones meets Rush meets Nightwish.  How do you guys see the bands and their styles?

[Marcus]

I think a good sampling of classic 80's bands is key. Certainly great big hair, wild face paint, outlandish costumes. Combined with all the outrageous future tech you could throw in there. So add in custom illusion effects, holographic tech, the ability to basically have a concert anywhere and at any time, and wirelessly functional super strata casters, combined with droned amps and speaker.

To me its the idea of the 80;s that you just the right single away from taking over the world. All you need is to just find that right combination of power cords and you and your mates can do anything!

Just imagine Adept guitarist ripping skill 13 guitar solos, combined up the vocal power of magically enhanced perfect massively blonde elven main singer, and then techno awesome of Cyber-enhanced Key-tar playing rigger with drones doing the finest of laser light displays. It's Glorious beyond my ability to describe.

[Reaver]

I think a good sampling of classic 80's bands is key. Certainly great big hair, wild face paint, outlandish costumes. Combined with all the outrageous future tech you could throw in there. So add in custom illusion effects, holographic tech, the ability to basically have a concert anywhere and at any time, and wirelessly functional super strata casters, combined with droned amps and speaker.

To me its the idea of the 80;s that you just the right single away from taking over the world. All you need is to just find that right combination of power cords and you and your mates can do anything!

Just imagine Adept guitarist ripping skill 13 guitar solos, combined up the vocal power of magically enhanced perfect massively blonde elven main singer, and then techno awesome of Cyber-enhanced Key-tar playing rigger with drones doing the finest of laser light displays. It's Glorious beyond my ability to describe.

Seen "Bright" yet? Then you've heard 3 seconds of Orkspoiatation Rock
(and THAT was a love song!)

But seriously, can you imagine the bass of a Troll death metal singer? Or the stylings of a elven violinist?

[Stainless Steel Devil Rat]

In my headcanon ME-109 is an Iron Maiden revival band.   Of course ME-109 is from 1st edition sources in the early 2050s... so by the late 2070s they're in turn probably out of fashion too.  Maybe ready for a revival band revival band

[farothel]

in the 4th edition sourcebook Attitude there is a section on the music industry with some descriptions of bands (p44 and up).

[Marcus]

But seriously, can you imagine the bass of a Troll death metal singer? Or the stylings of a elven violinist?

I can and they are AWESOME!!!

Well that settles one thing, my next Neo-Tokyo character is certainly going to be part of band.

[Lorebane24]

What about a musician who is one of the four-armed meta variants (can never remember their name) who focuses on long, solo instumental pieces (like Avishai Cohen does) but uses no recorded tracks - their four arms and a Geddy Lee-like knack for handling multiple instruments lets them produce live pieces that sound like they're being played by a full band.

[Osentalka]

JetBlack, the vampire rocker from On the Run is usually portrayed as a typical high cheek boned angsty goth, but I prefer to think of him looking like Jet Black of The Stranglers.

http://www.soundcheck-live.co.uk/news/the-stranglers-to-tour-uk-in-support-of-album-black-and-white/

Third figure, left to right.

In fact I've always held the notion that they genuinely are the same person.

[Mr. Black]

In a world where most people spend their lives in some sort of AR, many bands wouldn’t even have instruments. They would use AR versions of them. They may never leave their couches/garages, just “telecommute” to their gigs. Heck, many may find actual live bands off-putting. Too loud (you can adjust the volume in AR), too personal (“They were sweaty and smelly, and jumping up and down aggressively-Should I run?”)

Through AR, the concept of bands may disappear. Imagine a world where Guitar Hero meets League of Legends. Thousands of people “competing” in battles of the bands, all while sitting on their couch. And the top competitions watched by millions of fans/enthusiasts. With millions of nuyen in prize money and endorsement deals, are your players ready to “swat” a contestant for a big payday? That contestant could be anywhere in the world, so just finding them will be a big job. Then you may have to fly halfway across the world to find them. Whether you kick down his door, or just jam his signal is up to them and their Mr. Johnson.

Instead of live gigs, the bigger bands may do special “holo drop performances”. They send a truck to some cool or meaningful location (a beach in Ibiza, a spot in the desert, a corner in a distressed neighborhood in Manhattan), the truck sets up a holo projector, and the band does a one-off performance. Perhaps some shadowrunners are needed for security, or are hired to disrupt the gig...

Bands would also rise and fall in popularity much quicker. In a 24-hour news/entertainment cycle world, a song may hit the heights during the morning work commute, only to be replaced by dinner time (or even lunch!) Longer term fame may only exist through the “balkanization” of music. With music available electronically, any genre is available to the entire planet with the touch of an AR button. Into elf poser grunge neo-metal? You and the other couple thousand fans can listen/download to your hearts content, instantly and exclusively. This could help runners. Is your extraction target into Dutch glam dragonic chants? Check out who is streaming that live in the facility you just infiltrated and follow the music to its source, and your payday...