More Rock Band Obsessiveness

Just another Friday, entailing a bit of writing on the novel and starting up more articles for GameAxis, ’cause it’s that time of the month again. Nothing else to talk about except for the fact that Harmonix has now released the full set of songs that will appear on Rock Band. Without further ado, here they are. As usual, anything not in bold denotes a cover, while anything in bold is an original master track.

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”

That’s a pretty decent ration. Out of 45 songs, only seven are covers.

Here’s the final list for That Other Music Game. Same deal.

Tier 1:
Foghat – Slow Ride
Poison – Talk Dirty to Me
Pat Benatar – Hit Me With Your Best Shot
Social Distortion – Story of My Life

Encore: Kiss – Rock and Roll All Nite
Co-op Encore: Beastie Boys – Sabotage

Tier 2:
Mountain – Mississippi Queen
Alice Cooper – School’s Out
Cream – Sunshine of Your Life
Heart – Barracuda

Boss: Tom Morello – Guitar Battle
Encore: Rage Against the Machine – Bulls on Parade
Co-op Encore: The Strokes – Reptilia

Tier 3:
The Killers – When You Were Young
AFI – Miss Murder
The Who – The Seeker
Priestess – Lay Down

Encore: Rolling Stones – Paint It Black
Co-op Encore: Red Hot Chili Peppers – Suck My Kiss

Tier 4:
Black Sabbath – Paranoid
The Sex Pistols – Anarchy in the UK
Sonic Youth – Kool Thing
Weezer – My Name Is Jonas

Encore: Pearl Jam – Evenflow
Co-op Encore: Blue Oyster Cult – Cities on Flame with Rock and Roll

Tier 5:
The Dead Kennedy’s – Holiday in Cambodia
Scorpions – Rock You Like a Hurricane
Aerosmith – Same Old Song and Dance
ZZ Top – La Grange

Boss: Slash – Guitar Battle
Encore: Guns N Roses – Welcome to the Jungle
Co-op Encore: Bloc Party – Hellicopter

Tier 6:
Santana – Black Magic Woman
Smashing Pumpkins – Cherub Rock
White Zombie – Black Sunshine
Tenacious D – The Metal

Encore: Stevie Ray Vaughn – Pride and Joy
Co-op Encore: Matchbook Romance – Monsters

Tier 7:
Slipknot – Before I Forget
Disturbed – Stricken
Queens of the Stone Age – 3′s and 7′s
Muse – Knights of Cydonia

Encore: Living Colour – Cult of Personality

Tier 8:
Slayer – Raining Blood
Eric Johnson – Cliffs of Dover
Iron Maiden – Number of the Beast
Metallica – One

Boss: Lou – Guitar Battle
Encore: The Devil Went Down to Georgia

Now we’re looking at a total of 46 songs, with 20 covers and 26 original master tracks. Also, there’s that weird thing there that says co-op encore. This is where you have to start wondering whether or not Neversoft and Activision were on drugs. Co-op encore appears to be exactly what it sounds like; a song that is only playable with someone else. Bizarrely, however, the game has been shipped with co-op quick play strictly ONLINE. Activision/Neversoft somehow figured no one would want to do this with someone at home, and in the wake of the screaming that followed once this news got out, they’re working on a patch that gamers can download to their console that will allow for offline co-op. So far this only applies to the Xbox 360, there’s no word on whether or not a patch will be available for the PS3, Wii, or even what that state of this is like for the PS2. Well done, Activision, goo
d to see you continue your peerless support of this franchise…

This news has pretty much committed me. Steps are now being taken to ensure Rock Band arrives at the doorstep of the In-Laws.

And just to give That Other Music Game a little coverage, here’s a sample of Hit Me With Your Best shot originally by Pat Benatar, with a… how shall I put this… augmented Judy Nails strumming away.