Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Still no umlauts in band names

So, today is the official release date for Rock Band, one of the most highly anticipated video games since Super Mario 3. It'll cost a pretty penny, but the addition of drums and vocals should make it more accessible than Guitar Hero and thus more fun.

Here are my thoughts on the track list.

Aerosmith - Train Kept a Rollin' I'm not a big Aerosmith fan. This is mitigated by the fact that "Train" isn't an Aerosmith-penned song. I can just pretend I'm doing the Yardbirds' version. (Or the Motörhead version, for that matter.)
The Beastie Boys - Sabotage As much as I love this song, I'm not sure it's Rock Band material. It's not really a musical tour-de-force. Could be fun for first-timers.
Black Sabbath - Paranoid Another rock classic, not too difficult.
Blue Oyster Cult - Don't Fear the Reaper If you're not excited to play this one you have no soul. I'm going to find myself tempted to sing the harmony on the verses.
Bon Jovi - Wanted Dead or Alive This one should see a lot of would-be vocalists crash and burn, if only from laughter.
Boston - Foreplay/Long Time Can't go wrong with Boston.
The Clash - Should I Stay or Should I Go Not bad. I'd rather see "Rock the Casbah" in this slot, though.
Coheed and Cambria - Welcome Home I'd prefer the BTO song of the same name. Actually, I'd like to see just about any BTO song.
David Bowie - Suffragette City Watch some programmers flail away at this one here.
Deep Purple - Highway Star I'll have to recruit somebody else to recruit that scream in the intro.
Faith No More - Epic This one should be ripe for piss-poor impressions of the Faith No More singer.
Fall Out Boy - Dead on Arrival Blargh.
Foo Fighters - Learn to Fly For a second I thought this was "Learning to Fly" by Pink Floyd and I was really excited. But "Learn To Fly" isn't bad.
Garbage - I Think I'm Paranoid People listen to this?
The Hives - Main Offender I guess this is what you use when you can't get the Sex Pistols.
Hole - Celebrity Skin I've always wanted a video game where I can pretend to be Courtney Love.
Iron Maiden - Run to the Hills Frankly I would have preferred "2 Minutes to Midnight," but there can only be one response to the presence of Iron Maiden. Excellent!
Jet - Are You Gonna Be My Girl Bonus points for singing the lyrics to "Lust for Life." Extra bonus points for singing the lyrics to "Shout Shout (Knock Yourself Out)."
The Killers - When You Were Young No reaction.
KISS - Detroit Rock City I think everyone in the band needs to shout "Get up" and "Get down."
Metallica - Enter Sandman Another song which should feature lame impressions of the lead singer. "AYEEEXIT LAYEEGHT-UH! AYEENTER NAYEEGHT-UH!"
Molly Hatchet - Flirtin' With Disaster I'll have to work on my redneck cred before I take a shot at this one.
Mountain - Mississippi Queen Should be fun for the guitarist, but the singer won't have much to do.
The New Pornographers - The Electric Version Is this what the kids are listening to these days?
Nine Inch Nails - The Hand That Feeds Probably the best NIN song they could've picked.
Nirvana - In Bloom Okay, I guess. "Come As You Are" would've been better.
OK Go - Here It Goes Again Has this song been in an iPod commercial? It sounds like the kind of song they'd use.
The Outlaws - Green Grass and High Tides I hope this isn't the 21 minute version.
Pixies - Wave of Mutilation People say these guys are great, but this song sounds kinda generic to me.
The Police - Next to You I was about to say that "Can't Stand Losing You" would be better, but that's available as downloadable content.
Queens of the Stone Age - Go With the Flow Boooo-ring.
Radiohead - Creep Not bad.
The Ramones - Blitzkrieg Bop Beginners only.
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Dani California Most of RHCP's songs blend together in my mind.
R.E.M. - Orange Crush What, was "What's the Frequency Kenneth?" too expensive?
Rolling Stones - Gimme Shelter Yes, I know they used "Paint it Black" in Guitar Hero 3, but I'd like to see it here instead.
Rush - Tom Sawyer Um, why don't you take the drum part on this one?
The Smashing Pumpkins - Cherub Rock Not bad. Maybe it's too cliche to expect "Bullet with Butterfly Wings."
Soundgarden - Black Hole Sun You know how when you play "More than a Feeling," everyone in the room sings along with the chorus? I think this will be the chorus sing-along in Rock Band.
Stone Temple Pilots - Vasoline Pretty blah.
The Strokes - Reptilia I guess they need a few recent songs in here to draw in the young whippersnappers.
Sweet - Ballroom Blitz Another warmup song, except for the singer - there's some seriously wild screaming in here.
Weezer - Say It Ain't So I don't really like Weezer. That said, I'm sure people will love this one.
The Who - Won't Get Fooled Again What, no keyboards?
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Maps Doesn't really grab me.

Of the announced downloadable songs so far, I like the aforementioned "Can't Stand Losing You," "Roxanne," "Ride the Lightning," "Fortunate Son," "Juke Box Hero" (and it's about damned time they got a song about how cool it is to be a rock star!), "War Pigs," "Brass in Pocket," and Nirvana's Nevermind album.

So... who here has a 360 and room for a lead guitarist?

UPDATE! I was wrong. You can put umlauts in your band name now.

2 comments:

Skeptic Seeker said...

Shit. I only know about half those songs, so I'd have to actually practice... and anyway, I don't have a 360. I weep.

Skeptic Seeker said...

Also, Ballroom Blitz as made famous by Sweet? Really? The surviving members of Sweet didn't need the money?