Rock Band: What's in the box?
Thought you were done with music games after you mastered Guitar Hero III in a day? Not so fast.
Published: October 30, 2007
Guitar Hero is all of the rage these days, but judging by just unveiled track listing for Rock Band, that may not be the case much longer. There's only a certain amount of times you can take hearing a song before it gets boring -- well, unless the song in question is "Free Bird". The game boasts several innovations to the genre such as online play, but when it all comes down to it, the crown jewel of a music game is going to be the music.
Pushing nearly 60 songs, with most of them being master copies, Rock Band is aiming to give Guitar Hero a run for its money in terms of replay value. Paul DeGooyer, one of the head honchos over at MTV seems thrilled with the way things turned out. "The overwhelmingly positive response from artists, music publishers and record labels made the final selection process challenging, but extremely exciting." But how well does the music translate into an experience that gamers want to partake in? Artists in certain genres are a dime a dozen, while other genres face intense scrutiny by hipsters looking to protect their indie cred. What's a corporate giant to do?
Fear not! Paul made it known that "Our goal with Rock Band was to give players the chance to experience an amazing cross section of music from the last four decades, and our final list of tracks includes everything from emerging bands to iconic artists". Below is the track listing for Rock Band, slated to hit shelves on November 20 on the Playstation 3, and on December 18 if you're more of a Playstation 2 kind of guy. With a focus on original master recordings of songs and an ambitious goal of tossing Guitar Hero, known for predominately featuring cover recordings, from the throne, we're eager to see how things pan out.
1960s
Rolling Stones "Gimme Shelter"
1970s
Aerosmith "Train Kept a Rollin'"*
The Who "Won't Get Fooled Again"
Boston "Foreplay/Long Time"
Mountain "Mississippi Queen"*
The Police "Next to You"
David Bowie "Suffragette City"
Black Sabbath "Paranoid"*
Blue Oyster Cult "Don't Fear the Reaper"
The Ramones "Blitzkrieg Bop"
Deep Purple "Highway Star"
KISS "Detroit Rock City"
Molly Hatchet "Flirtin' With Disaster"
The Outlaws "Green Grass & High Tides"*
Sweet "Ballroom Blitz"*
1980s
Rush "Tom Sawyer"*
Bon Jovi "Wanted Dead or Alive"
The Clash "Should I Stay or Should I Go"
Faith No More "Epic"
R.E.M. "Orange Crush"
Iron Maiden "Run to the Hills"*
1990s
Foo Fighters "Learn to Fly"
Metallica "Enter Sandman"
Nirvana "In Bloom"
Stone Temple Pilots "Vasoline"
Weezer "Say It Ain't So"
Smashing Pumpkins "Cherub Rock"
Radiohead "Creep"
Beastie Boys "Sabotage"
Hole "Celebrity Skin"
Garbage "I Think I'm Paranoid"
Soundgarden "Black Hole Sun"
2000s
The Hives "Main Offender"
Queens of the Stone Age "Go With the Flow"
The Strokes "Reptilia"
Jet "Are You Gonna Be My Girl"
OK Go "Here It Goes Again"
Nine Inch Nails "The Hand That Feeds"
Pixies "Wave of Mutilation"
Yeah Yeah Yeahs "Maps"
Red Hot Chili Peppers "Dani California"
Coheed & Cambria "Welcome Home"
Fallout Boy "Dead on Arrival"
The Killers "When You Were Young"
New Pornographers "Electric Version"
* Indicates a cover song, all others songs are original master recordings
Pushing nearly 60 songs, with most of them being master copies, Rock Band is aiming to give Guitar Hero a run for its money in terms of replay value. Paul DeGooyer, one of the head honchos over at MTV seems thrilled with the way things turned out. "The overwhelmingly positive response from artists, music publishers and record labels made the final selection process challenging, but extremely exciting." But how well does the music translate into an experience that gamers want to partake in? Artists in certain genres are a dime a dozen, while other genres face intense scrutiny by hipsters looking to protect their indie cred. What's a corporate giant to do?
Fear not! Paul made it known that "Our goal with Rock Band was to give players the chance to experience an amazing cross section of music from the last four decades, and our final list of tracks includes everything from emerging bands to iconic artists". Below is the track listing for Rock Band, slated to hit shelves on November 20 on the Playstation 3, and on December 18 if you're more of a Playstation 2 kind of guy. With a focus on original master recordings of songs and an ambitious goal of tossing Guitar Hero, known for predominately featuring cover recordings, from the throne, we're eager to see how things pan out.
1960s
Rolling Stones "Gimme Shelter"
1970s
Aerosmith "Train Kept a Rollin'"*
The Who "Won't Get Fooled Again"
Boston "Foreplay/Long Time"
Mountain "Mississippi Queen"*
The Police "Next to You"
David Bowie "Suffragette City"
Black Sabbath "Paranoid"*
Blue Oyster Cult "Don't Fear the Reaper"
The Ramones "Blitzkrieg Bop"
Deep Purple "Highway Star"
KISS "Detroit Rock City"
Molly Hatchet "Flirtin' With Disaster"
The Outlaws "Green Grass & High Tides"*
Sweet "Ballroom Blitz"*
1980s
Rush "Tom Sawyer"*
Bon Jovi "Wanted Dead or Alive"
The Clash "Should I Stay or Should I Go"
Faith No More "Epic"
R.E.M. "Orange Crush"
Iron Maiden "Run to the Hills"*
1990s
Foo Fighters "Learn to Fly"
Metallica "Enter Sandman"
Nirvana "In Bloom"
Stone Temple Pilots "Vasoline"
Weezer "Say It Ain't So"
Smashing Pumpkins "Cherub Rock"
Radiohead "Creep"
Beastie Boys "Sabotage"
Hole "Celebrity Skin"
Garbage "I Think I'm Paranoid"
Soundgarden "Black Hole Sun"
2000s
The Hives "Main Offender"
Queens of the Stone Age "Go With the Flow"
The Strokes "Reptilia"
Jet "Are You Gonna Be My Girl"
OK Go "Here It Goes Again"
Nine Inch Nails "The Hand That Feeds"
Pixies "Wave of Mutilation"
Yeah Yeah Yeahs "Maps"
Red Hot Chili Peppers "Dani California"
Coheed & Cambria "Welcome Home"
Fallout Boy "Dead on Arrival"
The Killers "When You Were Young"
New Pornographers "Electric Version"
* Indicates a cover song, all others songs are original master recordings