As a musician getting slightly annoyed by music n00bs drooling over the chance to Rock, I was going to go with the stance that quite possibly, I need to lighten up and there is hardly anything wrong with a game getting people cooperating in ways other than simulations of organised tribal warfare or vehicular gymnastics.

Until the idea was mentioned that getting to expert level on the drum kit actually gives you some sort of actual real-life drumming skill. It doesn't. It might give you a sense of rythm that you didn't know you had (deep down, you either do or you don't -- trust me on this one). It might train your ears to listen to music in a more granular way. It might give you a whole lot of other things with regards to music that musicians (after a LOT of hard and tedious practice) take for granted.

It does NOT give you actual drumming skill that you would not have to unlearn first before getting ahead again.

To wit: without proper technique you will most likely develop a style to move your whole arm to manipulate the stick (no, please hold your very obvious jokes), which is quite a tiring thing to do for longer periods of time, such as a few songs in a row. Especially if you need to up the tempo, variations and whatnot. The thing to do, however, is to do it all from the wrist, with a lot of attention to the fingers that hold the back end of the stick. I play both drums and guitar and find that the latter is more tiring because of the pressure I need to put on strings with my left hand.

I'll stick to this: Rock Band will teach you as much drumming as Zelda on the Wii will teach you fencing.

[end of grumble]

btw: despite my purist grumblings, I do applaud Harmonix for tapping a market that obviously has lots of value. Large market potential and earning my respect, gratitude or general warm feeling have run on different tracks before.

More drummer jokes, then:

What do you call a drummer between girlfriends? Homeless.

What makes a drummer play softer? A piece of sheet music.

What makes a drummer stop playing? Actual notes on the paper.

What did the drummer get on his IQ test? Drool.

How can you tell if the is stage is level? The drool comes from both sides of the drummer's mouth.

I went to a whole drummers' convention recently. So many drummers, so little time.

What do you call a drummer with original ideas? Unemployed.

Why are Viola jokes so short? So drummers can remember them.

What's the difference between a savings bond and a drummer? Someday the bond will mature and make some money.

Did you hear about the time the bass player locked his keys in the car? It took two hours to get the drummer out.

What's the difference between a drum machine and a drummer? You only have to punch the information into the drum machine once.

A drummer, tired from being ridiculed by his peers, decides to learn how to play some "real" musical instruments. He goes to a music store, walks in, approaches the store clerk, and says "I'll take that red trumpet over there and that accordian." The store clerk looks at him a bit funny, and replies "OK, you can have the fire extinguisher but the radiator's got to stay".

Mommy, mommy, I want to be a drummer when I grow up! Sorry son, you can't do both.

How can you tell when there is a drummer at your door? The knocking speeds up, and he doesn't know when to come in

What do Ginger Baker and canteen coffee have in common? They both suck without Cream.

What's the last thing a drummer says in a band? "Hey guys, why don't we try one of my songs?"

At the Orchestra one day, a tuba player wanted to torture the drummer behind him, so he hid one of the drummer's sticks. After looking around for a few minutes, with a frantic, wide-eyed expression, the drummer fell to his knees, flung his arms wide, and screamed to heaven: "Finally! The miracle, after all these years! I'm a Conductor!"

Why do guitarists put drumsticks on the dashboard of their car? So they can park in the handicapped spot.

How is a drum solo like a hard sneeze? You can tell it's coming, but you can't do anything about it and when it happens, it brings tears to your eyes.

Did you hear about the drummer who graduated from University? Me neither

How can you tell a drummer is walking behind you? You can hear his knuckles dragging on the ground.

Why do drummers have lots of kids? They're terrible at the rhythm method.

(for the next joke, be aware that Buddy Rich was not the nicest guy in the world)

A musician who used to play with Buddy comes back from Europe looking for a gig. He phones Buddy’s place and Buddy’s wife tells him that she is sorry but Buddy had died. Ten minutes later he phones again. Once again she tells him that she is sorry but Buddy had died. Ten minutes later he phones again and asks the same question. She gets angry and again tells him that Buddy has died. Angrily, she asks him why he keeps phoning. The musician answers, “I just like hearing you say that.”

And my favourite (probably due to the fact it's more derogatory to bassists than drummers) joke is last. My drum teacher once took a full ten minutes telling the joke while we were walking out of the building at the end of the day.

A man goes to an exotic tropical island for a holiday. As the boat nears the island, he notices the constant sound of drumming coming from the shore. As he gets off the boat, he asks the first native he sees how long the drumming will go on. The native looks about nervously and says "very bad when the drumming stops."
At the end of the day, the drumming is still going and is starting to get on his nerves. So, he asks another native when the drumming will stop. The native looks as if he's just been reminded of something very unpleasant. "Very bad when the drumming stops," he says, and hurries off.

After a couple of days with little sleep, our traveller is finally fed up, grabs the nearest native, slams him up against a tree, and shouts "What happens when the drumming stops?!!"

"Bass solo."