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Dec17 Comments
Harmonix have broken the ’1000 track ceiling’ as expected and shows no signs of slowing down, with announcements still coming at their regular weekly pace despite this blogger’s slight absence. They made the record breaking announcement last week as they were announcing the final DLC tracks that would be considered part of the first thousand songs. How many songs do you have ?Tracks available on 11/24/09:
“Girl Band Three Pack”
- Kelly Clarkson – “Miss Independent”
- P!nk – “Who Knew”
- The Go-Go’s – “Our Lips Are Sealed”
“Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers 6-pack”
- Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers – “A Thing About You (live)”
- Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers – “American Girl (live)”
- Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers – “Even the Losers (live)”
- Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers – “Here Comes My Girl (live)”
- Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers – “Mary Jane’s Last Dance (live)”
- Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers – “Refugee (live)”
It’s always nice to see more female-fronted bands get attention, and Ms. Clarkson and P!nk are both making their Rock Band debut with these songs. The Go-Go’s appeared on last year’s Rock Band 2 disc with their hit “We Got The Beat” (my leg gets tired thinking about that song on expert). “Our Lips are Sealed” is an excellent choice for casual and party gamers, the song is instantly recognizable and was a huge hit in the 80′s.
Tom Petty also makes a second appearance in the game with the “Heartbreakers 6 pack”. Petty originally appeared on August 27 with his hit “Runnin Down a Dream”, and these additional tracks are a great representation of the core sound of the band. Catchy rhythyms, simple beats, and drug-reference laden lyrics are staples of any good Tom Petty song. All of these tracks are from a live performance, so I warn you to seek them out first on YouTube to acertain whether or not you can tolerate the differences.
Personally I have written off ‘live’ tracks ever since Guitar Hero 5 included a live version of Rush’s greatest hit “Spirit of the Radio” (take a look at the mess that is the expert+ charts). Not only are live tracks usually played at higher speeds, they are often in a different key, contain modes or changes that are not present in the ‘single’ or ‘radio play’ version of the music that most people would be familiar with. They also frequently contain shouts to the crowd (“Hello Cleveland!”), comments between band members (“Go, Angus, Go”) and generally take an additional 3 minutes to end the song, courtesy of a ‘Big Finish’ ending. When the band is prog-rock legends, Rush, the song goes from awesome to ‘f***ng impossible *****’. Buyer beware on live tracks!
Tracks availble on 12/1/09:
“Night Ranger Triple Play”
- Night Ranger – “(You Can Still) Rock in America”
- Night Ranger – “Don’t Tell Me You Love Me”
- Night Ranger – “You’re Gonna Hear It From Me”
“Mr. Grohl Goes to Washington”
- Nirvana – “Come As You Are (Live from MTV Unplugged)”
- Nirvana – “Lithium (Live at Reading)”
- Nirvana – “Smells Like Teen Spirit”
Quintessential 80′s rockers Night Ranger makes their debut with a 3 pack containing three of their four biggest singles, including the tremendous hit “Don’t Tell Me You Love Me”. Notably absent is their most famous track which I’m predicting will be one of the 188 tracks on the Rock Band 3 disc. Can you believe that Wikipedia still lists this band as ‘active?’
In other news, Harmonix has announced that the next game will not be the Who, rather it will be called “Grohl Band”. Believable isn’t it? Here we have our monthly Grohl update early, in the form of some live Nirvana tracks, and one elusive mega-hit. “Smells like Teen Spirit” has long been sought after in Rock Band, has been rumored many times, was consipcuously absent from the “Nevermind” pack. After the Guitar Hero / Avatar debacle I thought we’d seen the last of Nirvana’s contributions to the music gaming genre, but thankfully with last month’s release of the “Bleach” 3-pack and this second “Nevermind” pack it seems like there is no end coming for Nirvana DLC. As for the other tracks, same complaints as above, the live versions are inferior to the original recordings, however the track “Come as You Are” is from the infamous MTV Unplugged performance, which as far as live performances go is a very tame and safe one. The song is stretched out by a full 60 seconds so if you are a fan of their music, this is a very good track to purchase. If you are sick of DG, just get Teen Spirit for the crazy vocals and call it a day. If that doesn’t grab you, then you can always “Yankovich” the song when it’s your turn to sing (and I bet you thought you were the only one who did that).
Next week’s DLC prediction: Flight of the Conchords 3-Pack, singles from 30 Seconds to Mars and a selection from the “Glee” soundtrack (seriously…yuck).
7 responses to “12/1/09 RB:DLC – 1000 DLC Roundup”
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Does the 1,000 song mark include The Beatles and Lego? Of the 919 (according to dlcquickplay.com) songs available to Rock Band 2, I have 375. Plus, I have the 45 from Beatles which gets me up to 420.
I’m in my new house and getting my internet connection (plus a new 54″ plasma) setup tomorrow. Chances are, I will soon be back on the DLC train.
As for songs I plan to pick up soon:
Nirvana 02
Girl Band Three Pack
The White Stripes 01
What’s My Age Again? Blink-182
Singles 2009-10-06
Alice In Chains 01
Breaking Benjamin 01
Gasoline Audioslave
Bat Country Avenged Sevenfold
Talking Heads 01That will add another 28 to my count.
Minor correction on P!nk. She showed up with “So What” on Lego, which is technically considered DLC for RB2.
My fingers are crossed for more “30 Seconds” next week. Thanks to RB DLC, these guys have gone from “who are they?” on my radar to “Can’t get enough of these guys”.
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It’s Pink’s first DLC appearance for Rock Band. She was already included in Lego Rock Band, so technically she can already be found in Rock Band… oops, just saw Shawn’s comment, sorry.
I agree for the most part about live tracks, but there are always exceptions to the rule. I know a very good live track that will be on the RBN when it goes live by The Gufs that should be pretty well received.
I’m guessing Snoop Dogg next week (he has a new album coming out on the 8th, and Harmonix confirmed a LONG time ago that he would be in Rock Band at some point), and either a Pantera or Korn pack, as well (both were promised a pack before the end of 2009).
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Snoop, Pantera, or Korn will immediately end my DLC hiatus. *drools*
Plus, anything Tommy says, I now take as gospel. I used to think I was the “All things Rock Band” man, but you sir have taken that throne and dominate. Speaking of dominate, I’d love to see some Pantera’s Domination as DLC.
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Good catch with P!nk, have to admit I’ve still not picked up my copy of L:RB yet. Despite the mediocre reviews and the complaints about the mixed track list, I’m still excited simply because of most of the DLC I’ve collected will appear in the game.. kind of like a ‘reward’ of sorts for collecting them.
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Simon,
One other bonus for getting L:RB…the achievements are easy to get. For the gamerscore whores (me included) it a quick update on your score.
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Oh c’mon… Thanks, I’m flattered, but my predictions are just that. I could (and have been known to be) WAAAAAY off! But I’m DYING for some Pantera DLC. I like Korn, but I can’t picture it being done well in Rock Band (i.e. heavily censored). Snoop Dogg could be AMAZING… or really bad. Fingers crossed!
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Mrs. MyGGGo and I were playing some Lego:RB last night ans she was disappointed that I didn’t have here favorite Tom Petty song, American Girl. So, I just picked up the Tom Petty 01 pack this morning as a late v-day gift for her.
Shawn December 2nd, 2009 at 04:37