Eighteen New Grateful Dead Tracks Adding Mediocrity to Rock Band
By Stephany on Wednesday, September 5th, 2007 at 3:17 PM PST In Electronic Arts, Gamer Life, Games, Microsoft, Sony
As if adding ‘Hole’s’ Billy Corgan written “Celebrity Skin” to Rock Band was not bad enough (anything Courtney Love is just plain bad) – EA announced today that not one, but 18 Grateful Dead tracks will be added to Rock Band as downloadable content. As someone who has been looking forward to this game, I can honestly tell you that when I heard the news, I almost wept. I hate it when the developers of a game grab an icy-cold bucket of water and throw it in your face – sedating the anticipation and awe that you are feeling towards an upcoming game. For a game that is only going to have around 40 song titles to play, and so far, not much in the way of downloadable content, one would sincerely hope that adding eighteen new titles by the same artist would be something fans would really look forward to. If a developer were insane enough to monopolize the amount of tracks with one particular artist, a developer who is in his or her right frame of mind would choose a band that is more popular to “rock” crowds and music aficionados. Oh, let’s say maybe Metallica, Zeppelin, Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, or hell even Rush for crying out loud. But to include EIGHTEEN new tracks, and those tracks be of the Grateful Dead – the masters of mediocre, incense burning, schroom-induced lyrical sewage music is just utterly preposterous. Oh sure, Deadheads everywhere who are interested in Rock Band will be rejoicing in the streets. I can see the swarm of tyedye now dancing along the pavement, waving their arms around in the air, smiling, laughing, throwing the peace sign at passing cars. I can also see me flipping them off.
When the makers of Rock Band announced that they had also added Garbage’s “I Think I’m Paranoid,” The Pixie’s “Wave of Mutilitation”and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ “Maps,” a collective “meh” went through the gaming community with nothing else said. It is a given that no one will be 100% satisifed with all of the tracks on a music simulation game, and the same can be said for extra content – if you do not like a song available for download – just don’t download it. Personally, I was not very happy with many of the songs on GHII (ex: John the Fisherman) but anyone can deal with a few songs they dislike for a great game -but that is supposed to be the cool thing about downloadable content. You can’t make everyone happy, I know that – but will everyone honestly be happy with that many “Dead” songs? Is there really THAT much of a demand for the Grateful Dead? I am praying that they give us loads more to choose from in the future – otherwise the downloadable content will become a running joke.
“Truckin’,” “Uncle John’s Band,” “Touch of Grey,” “Sugar Magnolia,” and “Casey Jones” are just some of the gems that have been added. For the full list of titles that have been announced and the official press release, read on after the jump.
Tracklist Issued Thus Far:
* “Are You Gonna Be My Girl” – Jet
* “Blitzkrieg Bop” – Ramones
* “Brain Power” – Freezepop
* “Celebrity Skin” – Hole
* “Cherub Rock” – Smashing Pumpkins
* “Creep” – Radiohead
* “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” – Blue Öyster Cult
* “Enter Sandman” – Metallica
* “Epic” – Faith No More
* “Gimme Shelter” – Rolling Stones
* “Go with the Flow” – Queens of the Stone Age
* “The Hand That Feeds” – Nine Inch Nails
* “Here It Goes Again” – OK Go
* “Highway Star” – Deep Purple
* “In Bloom” – Nirvana
* “I Think I’m Paranoid” – Garbage
* “Learn To Fly” – Foo Fighters
* “Maps” – Yeah Yeah Yeahs
* “Main Offender” – The Hives
* “Mississippi Queen” – Mountain
* “Paranoid” – Black Sabbath
* “Reptilia” – The Strokes
* “Sabotage” – Beastie Boys
* “Say It Ain’t So” – Weezer
* “Should I Stay Or Should I Go” – The Clash
* “Suffragette City” – David Bowie
* “Tom Sawyer” – Rush
* “Vasoline” – Stone Temple Pilots
* “Wanted Dead or Alive” – Bon Jovi
* “Wave of Mutilation” – The Pixies
* “Won’t Get Fooled Again” – The Who
Downloadable Content Thus Far:
* Who’s Next – The Who – Song by Song basis or the whole album
* Nevermind – Nirvana – Song by Song basis or the whole album
* 18 songs by The Grateful Dead (including “Casey Jones”, “Sugar Magnolia”, “Touch of Grey”, “Truckin’”, and “Uncle John’s Band”)
PRESS RELEASE:
Join Super Group Line-up Coming to Rock Band™
Harmonix and MTV Games Partner with Rhino Entertainment
to bring 18 Classic Grateful Dead Master Recordings to the Rock Band Videogame Platform
New York, NY – September 5, 2007– Harmonix, the leading developer of music-based games, MTV Games, a division of MTV Networks within Viacom (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), and Rhino Entertainment, a division of Warner Music Group (NYSE:WMG), announced a deal that will bring the legendary band Grateful Dead to the highly anticipated music videogame Rock Band. The iconic group is making 18 master recordings from its diverse catalog available as digitally distributed game levels following Rock Band’s release this holiday season. Among the songs available will be the classic Dead tracks “Truckin’,” “Uncle John’s Band,” “Touch of Grey,” “Sugar Magnolia,” and “Casey Jones.”
“Grateful Dead’s unique fusion of rock, folk, bluegrass, blues, and jazz challenged traditional musical boundaries and pushed the limits of creativity to produce a signature sound that is undeniably their own,” stated Paul DeGooyer, MTV’s Senior Vice President of Audio, Home Video and Electronic Games. “With an enormous legion of fans all over the world, Rock Band will give players a chance to interact with the music of these beloved rock pioneers and experience what Grateful Dead did best – jam from the depths of their souls.”
Distributed by Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS), Rock Band is an all-new platform for music fans and gamers to interact with music like never before. The game challenges players to put together a band and tour for fame and fortune – all while learning to master lead/bass guitar, drums and vocals. Built on an unprecedented partnership with artists, record labels and music publishers, the music featured in Rock Band will span the full range of rock music and include original master recordings from the greatest songs and artists of all time.
“Grateful Dead, with their 30 year career and their timeless music, are the perfect addition to Rock Band,” says Mark Pinkus, Rhino’s Senior Vice President of Strategic Marketing, Custom Product & Sync Licensing. “It’s going to be a blast playing along to songs ranging from the Dead’s earliest hit ‘Truckin’’ to their final hit ‘Touch of Grey.’ I’m confident that Rock Band will be instrumental in introducing kids to the magical music of Grateful Dead.”
Grateful Dead’s journey ignited in San Francisco’s Haight and Ashbury district during the psychedelic ‘60s. The band, well known for constantly touring, continued to spread their message of peace and love for another three decades with a devoted community of fans known as Dead Heads, many of whom traveled the country with them. Earlier this year, the Recording Academy awarded Grateful Dead a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award for its contribution to the evolution of rock music.
Grateful Dead is the latest artist to join the vast musical downloadable multi-track master offerings of Rock Band, joining the list of epic artists such as Metallica and The Who’s iconic Who’s Next album, the first full album scheduled for downloadable content, in addition to the dozens of on-disc tracks spanning every genre of rock from alternative to classic to heavy metal.
Rock Band is slated for release on Xbox 360™ video game and entertainment system from Microsoft® and PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system this Holiday 2007 in North America. For more information on Rock Band and Harmonix Music Systems please vi
Well, at least I’m not the only one who thought the newly released track info and the Grateful Dead downloadable content sucks balls.
You didn’t like John the Fisherman?? SACRILEGE!!
John The Fisherman has got to be my absolute favorite track in the entire GHII game. But hey, to each his own.
ummm…video games…get a life -deadhead
ummmmm…ya…keep playing video games while the world goes to hell in a bucket
What are you like 12? The dead were a great band. Eduacate yourself.
You are retarded..the Grateful Dead is one of the greatest bands in history. They represent the counter culture and are one of the most skilled bands that ever played. No one jams like them. Why dont u go listen to blink 182
omg, Grateful Dead is awesome, but I have to agree with other people. I really want to see more hard core rocking going on with these games and it’s not happening. I like the Dead myself, but it’s just not enough.
omg: Blink 182? They suck too. As far as skill goes, I never said they were not “skilled” musicians… their music is just boring as hell.
Considering the game hasn’t even been released yet, I’m laughing my ass off that people are whining about the downloadable content. Oh my god! They added tracks by a group you don’t care for! It must be the end of the world!
Seriously, give it some time. They’ve already got three albums worth of downloadable content lined up hitting three different rock sub-genres and there’s still quite a bit of time before the game is released. If the Dead were the only downloadable content they were going to make available at launch, yeah…I think I would agree that it would be a let down. I love some of the Dead’s music, but it’s not, as someone else put it, the sort of hard rocking content that Rock Band needs. But with Nevermind and Who’s Next in the mix too, it broadens the appeal of the game overall and that can only be a benefit.
I agree with you that devoting 18 tracks to one band is narrowing the games appeal from a merchandising standpoint but it seems that you wouldn’t mind so much if it were a band you liked. I think the line up looks pretty good and as a deadhead, there’s nothing left to do but smile, smile, smile!
18 Grateful Dead songs…. aint that just cute. Honestly, who would expect anything less from a game that MTV has anything to do with? They forgot what rock music was about 10 seconds after the original Headbanger’s Ball got canceled.
What a dumbass. I bet this guy thinks Mandy Moore is an up and comming “artist”.
Heru-Ur: Are you serious? If anything this is the most Anti-MTV move I have ever heard them make. When is last time you saw a dead video on MTV.
It sounds like what they did as add What A Long Strange Trip, it was a double album best of collection with….18 tracks. The Who’s Whos Next was 16 tracks, Nirvana’s Nevermind was 12 tracks.
They have already stated that a Metallica album would be added as well…Harmonix also stated that there would be an album a week downloadable release so surely there will be something for everyone eventually. How does it add mediocrity when its just optional anyway?
Heru, I agree with the Headbanger’s Ball thing. MTV went completely down the tubes when that happened. I honestly haven’t even watched MTV regularly in about 10 years. I think MTV attached themselves to the mainstream completely and will probably never go back to what it once was.
From a business stand point, they are doing the right things, but they also continue to disenfranchise music fans along the way. I’m sure eventually that will catch up with them.
I am still not sure why the Grateful Dead is getting slammed. Anyone who knows this bands work would not conjure up the word mediocrity whether they liked the music or not.
I love the Dead- I think the writer wouldn’t know good music if it crapped on his chest (Vai? Satriani? Why not Malmsteen or Warrant? Not that I don’t love music from all different genres but there IS more music out there then the shredding technical stuff).
…sorry about the ‘crapping on the chest comment’- inappropriate and immature.
I not familiar with the game. As a casual Dead fan, I do know lots of deadheads are techies, so it’s probably not a bad marketing move. Let’s face it, they’re all in it for the $$$$.
I do think the writer is unfair. Music is subjective. Different strokes for different folks.
sheesh u don’t have to download the songs. 2 extra songs than who’s next.
I’m not a fan of grateful dead. but there are non-insane shredding songs in guitar hero 2. and they made it seem like no one likes rush.this guy is a noob. its a biased statement. now id like to see more bands than albums that instead of just the whole album, there should be “packs” too were you select 4-5 songs from any band. but hey I’m not a game designer
I don’t see what everyone is complaining about. It is the writers opinion, and if she does not like the Dead so what? Does this justify you calling her a n00b or a f-ing retard? I am sure that the majority of you would bitch and moan about any band that you did not like, so what is so different about what this writer said and what you would say about, oh I dunno, Judas Priest? There are a couple of good Dead songs out there, but all in all I think MTV will disenfranchise fans if they do not add better content for download. Personally I would luv to see some more Rush and I would be very happy if they added some Rainbow. I also think it would be hilarious to throw in some Hillary Duff or Avril Lavine just to piss a lot of guitar elitists off.
Obviously the person who wrote this poorly written article is more of a Mandy Moore and Ashlee Simpson fan. I can understand that even the retarded need to be employed, and this retards’s employer was just trying to do some community service here. So, all that aside, why doesn’t this guy go back to playing with himself on his PS2 and listen to that great new track he loves by Fergie and stop wasting the worlds time. It’s called the Rock N Roll hall of fame, you donkey loving crap eater, and the Grateful Dead are in it for a reason.
The Bee Gees and Ricky Nelson are also Hall of Famers. Does this mean that they too should be considered great because they were also inducted? Just because you are inducted into the Hall of Fame should not automatically give you license to be considered great. The Grateful Dead may not be as horrendous as she claims, but the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame can be a bit of a joke sometimes. Phil Spector anyone?
Like their music or not the Dead is awesome. I can’t wait to see some of you “experts” try to play Jerry Garcia’s licks, the drummers’ parts and Phil Lesh’s bass.
As for the Rock Hall…to echo uarenotsmart…”eduacate” yourself. Phil Spector’s recent scandal (and earlier misconduct) has nothing to do with the incredible contribution he made to the music world. Ever hear of the Wall of Sound? I would suggest taking a trip to Cleveland and spending a day or even two at the Rock Hall. You will get an edumacation on Rock Music.
Finally, on behalf of good-hearted deadheads everywhere…please know that omg’s slurs are not typical of most deadheads.
“Sometimes you can get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right.”….Robert Hunter/Jerry Garcia
hey,
if you dont like the dead get over it. can you name another band who did what they did or have the amount of dedicated fans that would do anything for the them? i think not. so get over your anti dead campaign and get sone friends b/c honestly deadheads are the best and only friends anyone should ever need. and if you try to counter with some “oh look at the pot head deadhead” or something to that affect go *EDITED FOR CONTENT* yourself b/c maybe your problem is you need so smoke a fat blunt and chill out for a minute before you go all ballistic over a video game production company deciding to honor one of histories most influencial bands.
peace to the deadhead nation
Yeah well, DeadHead, I am sure you would have something to say if it was the Bee Gees or even better The Backstreet Boys. Oh, and BTW, two of my best friends are Dead Heads and they laughed when they read this, then made fun of me for a band that I like that they don’t. So see, if you were a true Dead Head, you would live and let live instead of getting hateful and profane over it. Sounds like you need to take your own advice and “chill”.