Rock it Out! Blog » Rock Band

Why Green Day’s older material isn’t on Rock Band

admin — Thu, 13 May 2010 15:25:25 +0000

With Green Day’s Rock Band game coming to shelves this summer, many die hard fans are wondering why the band’s older material was left off the game in favor of songs from newer albums like American Idiot and 21st Century Breakdown.

Drummer Tré Cool spoke to Gameinformer about why tracks from their albums Kerplunk! and 1,039 Smoothed Out Slappy Hour didn’t make the cut.

“We wanted to get stuff from 39/Smooth and Kerplunk! on there, too, but the tapes are really old. I don’t know if you know about analog tapes, but to transfer them you need to play them. They are kind of stuck together right now.

“You have to “bake” them, and then you have one chance to run it over the machine to transfer it to make stems. Once it hits the head, it comes off the other side shredded. We’re making sure we have the right dudes to do it. We’re actually booking it; there’s one place in Burbank that still does it. We’re going to bite the bullet and shred our old tapes and put it to digital.”

So even though the songs won’t be on the game by the time it comes out on June 8th, it’s possible they may be released as downloadable material. As to when that’ll happen, Cool can only say, “Whenever’s clever, baby.”

RiO!B episode -April 12, 2010

admin — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 21:16:38 +0000

Robert Pattinson is not Kurt Cobain

Roger Waters taking The Wall on tour

Green Day: Rock Band tracklist revealed

Green Day: Rock Band tracklist revealed

admin — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 15:19:10 +0000

The newest installment of the Rock Band franchise, Green Day: Rock Band, is set to make its way to your game console this summer.

The game, which is in stores on June 8, features 47 songs from the some of the band’s biggest albums including Dookie, Nimrod, American Idiot and Insomniac.

The game also features three different venues that represent different times in Green Day’s career. A warehouse to symbolize Green Day’s early years, Milton Keynes, which is a U.K. concert made famous in Green Day’s 2005 film Bullet In A Bible and Oakland’s Fox Theater where the band played an intimate concert when they premiered their album 21st Century Breakdown.

“Seeing ourselves through the lens of this videogame has been mind blowing,” said Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong. “From the soundtrack setlist and venues to the unlockable video footage and photos, Green Day: Rock Band undeniably manages to capture the best moments and work of our insane careers. We can’t wait for our fans to experience it.”

The game will be available for Xbox 360, PS3 and the Wii. You can also pair the six songs from 21st Century Breakdown made available through download to play the entire album.

Green Day: Rock Band tracklist
Dookie
“Burnout”
“She”
“Having a Blast”
“Sassafrass Roots”
“Chump”
“When I Come Around”
“Longview”
“Coming Clean”
“Welcome to Paradise”
“Emenius Sleepus”
“Pulling Teeth”
“In the End”
“Basket Case”
“F.O.D.”

American Idiot
“American Idiot”
“She’s a Rebel”
“Jesus of Suburbia”
“Extraordinary Girl”
“Holiday”
“Letterbomb”
“Boulevard of Broken Dreams”
“Wake Me Up When September Ends”
“Are We the Waiting?
“Homecoming”
“St. Jimmy”
“Whatsername”
“Give Me Novocaine”

Warning
“Minority”
“Warning”

Nimrod
“Hitchin’ a Ride”
“Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)”
“Nice Guys Finish Last”

Insomniac
“Brain Stew” / “Jaded”
“Geek Stink Breath”

21st Century Breakdown
“Song of the Century”
“¿Viva La Gloria? (Little Girl)”
“21st Century Breakdown”
“Restless Heart Syndrome”
“Before the Lobotomy”
“Horseshoes and Handgrenades”
“Last Night on Earth”
“The Static Age”
“Peacemaker”
“American Eulogy”
“Murder City”
“See the Light”

Jimi Hendrix FINALLY coming to Rock Band

admin — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 22:25:28 +0000

The glorification of the 40th anniversary of Jimi Hendrix’s death goes to a new level as it’s been announced that the guitar god’s music will finally be available to play on Rock Band.

The pretty people over at Beatcrave have reported that Hendrix’s entire catalog will be available for download starting March 30th. The first album you’ll be able to download first will be Axis: Bold As Love and the single “Valleys Of Neptune”.

The albums Electric Ladyland and Are You Experienced will also be made available for players to download soon. Janie Hendrix, Jimi’s stepsister and CEO of Experience Hendrix, talked about why Jimi’s music finally made to Rock Band.

“Much like Jimi’s music, we feel that Rock Band represents an amazing, innovative medium for music discovery and interaction that can have a profound affect on those who experience it,” Hendrix said. “We are extremely pleased to be able to have Jimi Hendrix’s genius musical legacy continue to live on and touch people the world over through Rock Band.”

Rock Band is also planning on including a Jimi Hendrix playable avatar and is possibly planning to go through with Jimi Hendrix: Rock Band.

Green Day: Rock Band release date confirmed

admin — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 04:08:54 +0000

So we just reported that Rock Band 3 would make its way to stores by this winter which is news that should make any plastic guitar enthusiast happy. But Harmonix and MTV Games decided to steal a bit of their own thunder by announcing the release date of Green Day: Rock Band.

The game will be in stores this summer on June 8th for the Xbox 360, PS3 and the Nintendo Wii. The game will include 47 songs from the band for you to fake rock out to. There will also be special features you can unlock like interviews and performances.

Personally I don’t know if this was the best move by the Rock Band franchise. After a huge hit with The Beatles: Rock Band, you would think they would try to make their next specialized game with another major band like the Rolling Stones or Led Zeppelin. But, with Green Day just winning a grammy for 21st Century Breakdown and getting their own Broadway musical, all the hype is currently around them.

Head on over here to see actual gameplay (via Alternative Press).

RiO!B episode – Feb. 18, 2010

admin — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 20:41:08 +0000

Jimi Hendrix: Rock Band a no go

Mike Portnoy drumming for Avenged Sevenfold

New Black Rebel Motorcycle Club

Johnny Rotten recording with Pink Floyd?

RiO!B episode – Feb. 17, 2010

admin — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 19:52:30 +0000

Deftones announce new album info

Jimi Hendrix: Rock Band coming out this year

Sasquatch and Lollapalooza festival updates

Big shout out to Michael Roffman from Consequence of Sound for guest hosting this episode!

Jimi Hendrix: Rock Band out later this year

admin — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 21:01:12 +0000

The ultimate guitar god himself, Jimi Hendrix, will soon be immortalized in video game form when his own Rock Band game comes out later this year.

Billboard.com reports that Hendrix’s sister, Janie, let the information slip in an interview with the L.A. Times that a Rock Band game featuring the music of her brother would be in stores before the end of the year.

“At the time the deal was completed,” the article read. “Sony vowed to make his music ‘available through every type of media’ — including a new edition of ‘Rock Band’ that Janie Hendrix says should appear before the end of this year.”

It looks to be a massive year for Rock Band considering that they’re already planning on releasing Rock Band: Green Day this year as well. Harmonix and MTV Games did not respond to any press requests about this story but it does make sense considering that this is the 40th anniversary of Hendrix’s death.

With a new album, Valleys of Neptune, out this March and an iPod touch bearing his image coming out later this year, it seems that now would be the time for children and adults alike to rock out on plastic guitars to the classic songs of Jimi Hendrix.

UPDATE: Apparently some things are just too good to be true. A bunch of you sent this link from Kotaku.com where it was confirmed by a rep from Harmonix that there will be no Jimi Hendrix version of Rock Band made. Thanks for taking the initiative and doing research on this story and breaking my heart in the end, guys. Really appreciated…dammit.

RiO!B episode – Dec. 14, 2009

admin — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 19:25:32 +0000

John Frusciante quits RHCP?

Green Day: Rock Band in 2010

Flight of the Conchords is canceled

Green Day: Rock Band in 2010

admin — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 20:12:50 +0000

Green Day: Rock Band – Exclusive Debut Trailer | SpikeTV | SPIKE.com

We all know that The Beatles were the first band to have a Rock Band game focus exclusively on them. Afterwards, all the rumors began as to who would get the next focused game. The Who? Queen? Rolling Stones? Well we now have our answer: Green Day.

Yes, the Bay-Area punks revealed the trailer for the game at the Spike TV VGA awards and you can check it out up top. Green Day, along with Harmonix and Warner Bros./Reprise Records, are teaming up to put the game together for a 2010 release.

“We’ve worked with the Rock Band team in the past year to enable our fans to play tracks from 21st Century Breakdown, and we’re excited to now be working on a game, spanning our entire career,” said Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong. “We want people to fire this up, choose their favorite Green Day tracks, and play along with us as Rock Band avatars so they can feel what it’s like to perform on stage as Green Day.”

Although after checking out the trailer (and I know it’s an early trailer) the game doesn’t look like it’ll be as involved as The Beatles: Rock Band. I’m pretty sure it’ll still sell a ton of copies but I don’t think the same hype will surround Green Day as it did for the boys of Liverpool.

But if you want to give the game a “test run”, on December 15th of this year, Rock Band will release a 21st Century Breakdown game extension pack which will allow you to download three new songs from Green Day’s 2009 album including “Christian’s Inferno”, “Last of the American Girls” and “¡Viva La Gloria!”.

No official release date or tracks have been released for Green Day: Rock Band but if you’ve ever dreamed of playing three chord guitar on a digital platform then your prayers have been answered.