After 271 consecutive weeks, Harmonix is pulling the plug on Rock Band DLC updates, and to celebrate "the day the music died," they are fittingly releasing Don McLean's epic folk song "American Pie."

After 4,000 tracks from 1,400 different artists, the feat is an astounding achievement no other development team could possibly match anytime soon. To Harmonix, Rock Band was a "5 year labor of love," and this video is the best way to close out the end of their run. They are requesting any memories of Rock Band in the comments section.

I played a bit of Rock Band in college with my friends, but I never went out and purchased my own plastic instruments. Obviously there is no space for mountains of extra large controllers in a Japanese apartment, and group rock sessions don't really please the neighbors when your walls are paper thin.

My best memories actually come from my mother. Her brother picked up Rock Band while I was on a holiday vacation home one year, and seeing as how she didn't want to sing or play the guitar, she took up the drums just to have fun with the family. Before the end of that vacation, she had perfected every song on the Expert difficulty setting and was out to buy up every version released, from Rock Band all the way to the Beatles Edition.

So secretly, my mother is the greatest drummer in the world, and she found her calling a bit later in life.

American Pie is the longest song out there which anyone can sing with their eyes shut. It's a tough 8 minutes 33 seconds long, but the vocalist should have no problem nailing every lyric. It'll be available for $1.99 through the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 Rock Band store.

Use a chess clock to keep track of move and play times
Tick tock

Use a chess clock to keep track of move and play times

These chess clocks feature dual clocks for players to control their own timers, and loud alarms so everyone knows when time is up. These clocks can be used for other 2-person games, like checkers, that may benefit from a game timer.