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The DLC Wishlist for Rock Band 2

by Zack Rovinsky September 9th 2008 5:10 PM CDT1 Comments

I have bought waaaaay too much Rock Band downloadable content. 112 songs and counting, actually. The thing is, I'm not exactly looking to slow down anytime soon. If they keep coming out with good songs, I'll keep buying without remorse or regret. I have written up a list featuring another thirty somewhat songs I want to see make after-release appearances on Rock Band 2, so consider this list a step-by-step guide to milking me for all I'm worth.


But that doesn't mean I can just put whatever I want all willy-nilly. There must be rules for, without rules, I'm no better than the average yahoo on the Rock Band forums, packing his list with 15 My Chemical Romance songs and the entire setlist from Guitar Hero II. So, here's my rules, a testament to the mild obsessive-compulsive disorder that makes me spend hours fiddling with create-a-player modes, great at Viva Pinata, and want to keep writing this article until I have a nice list of 30.

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Rules:
1. No band with full album/best of releases (Judas Priest, The Cars. Pixies, Rush, Foo Fighters, Jane’s Addiction, The Who, Stevie Ray Vaughan, No Doubt, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Megadeath).
2. No Guitar Hero World Tour songs.
3. No repeats from past Guitar Hero Games.
4. One song per band.
5. Rock Band 2 disc bands a plus.
6. No Stairway.

And here's the format I'll be using. It's a bit OCD.

Song:
Band:
Appears On (Year):
Best On: Instrument
Favorite Line:

Now, the list:

"Uncle Salty"
Aerosmith
Toys In The Attic (1975)
Best On: Guitar
Best Line: “Hers is the cunning for men who come a runnin’”
Yes, I know this is already in Guitar Hero but hear me out... Child Molestation. That's right, this song is about child molestation. Who doesn't want to sing about that?


"Heart In A Cage"
The Strokes
First Impressions Of Earth (2006)
Best On: Guitar
Best Line: "Well I don't feel better when I'm fucking around"
I’m still amazed The Strokes haven’t seen any DLC love. Albert Hammond Jr.’s winding main riff would haunt people’s dreams. And the short but sweet falling-down-a-mountain solo would be a blast to play

"Time"
Pink Floyd
The Dark Side Of The Moon (1973)
Best On: Guitar & Drums
Best Line: "No one told you when to run. You missed the starting gun"
Part of Pink Floyd’s masterpiece Dark Side Of The Moon, this one has a treat for both drummers and guitarists. It kicks off with a rototom solo that drummers will love and guitarists get a classic David Gilmour guitar solo.

"Manic Depression"
The Jimi Hendrix Experience
Are You Experienced (1967)
Best On: Drums
Best Line: "Feeling, sweet feeling, drops from my finger's fenders"
Yes, I know the name up there is Jimi Hendrix, but this catchy number sports a bouncy Mitch Mitchell drum pattern that’s sure to please your percussionist.

"Incinerate"
Sonic Youth
Rather Ripped (2006)
Best On: Drums
Best Line: "The firefighters are so nice, I remember you so cold as ice"
As anyone who downloaded Kool Thing knows, Lee Renaldo is a severely underrated drummer. Beneath this comparatively tame SY track is a very tricky drum part.

"Wonderboy"
Tenacious D
Tenacious D (2001)
Best On: Vocals
Best Line: "How 'bout the power to kill a yak from 200 yards away... with mind bullets!"
Of all the joke groups to come around the D have consistently put out the best actual music and this one is a highlight. The guitar is solid as are the drums (both thanks to Dave Grohl) but your vocalist will have the most fun, hammily belting out the tale of Wonderboy and Young Nasty Man.

"Jesus Of Suburbia"
Green Day
American Idiot (2004)
Best On: Full Band
Best Line: "Get my television fix, sitting on my crucifix"
Believe it or not American Idiot is a rock opera and it shows most on this track a long tale of Green Day’s classic suburban angst told in multiple sections. It’s practically six songs in one.

"I've Seen All Good People"
Yes
The Yes Album (1971)
Best On: Full Band
Best Line: “Move me onto any black square. Use me any time you want”
A big proggy masterpiece complete with multiple sections, funky instrument workouts, and lyrics that compare love to chess. What's not to like?

"Hell's Bells"
AC/DC
Back In Black (1980)
Best On: Full Band
Best Line: "If you're into evil you're a friend of mine"
Other AC/DC songs may be more popular, but this one’s churning attack makes for a great full band track. It can also double as entrance music if you ever become a Major League closer or professional wrestler.


"White Room"
Cream
Wheels Of Fire (1968)
Best On: Guitar
Best Line: "Lie with you where the shadows run from themselves"
A favorite from Cream, the original supergroup, it flows through tight play and lyrics before capping it all with a classic, psychedelic Clapton solo.

"The Saints Are Coming"
The Skids
Scared To Dance (1979)
Best On: Full Band
Best Line: “When the night watchman lets in the thief, what’s wrong now?”
You may have heard this recently as a Green Day-U2 collaboration to raise money for victims of hurricane Katrina, but the Skids’ original is still the best. The driving-rain riff and lyrics about, you guessed it, a massive storm, are delivered with a punk intensity that Green2 couldn’t match.

"Seven Nation Army"
The White Stripes
Elephant (2003)
Best On: Guitar
Best Line: “Everyone knows about it, from the Queen of England to the hounds of hell”
I know there’s no bass but that’s a problem that’s been worked around before (See: Maps). It’s just too hard to pass up on one of the best songs of the decade.

"Bat Country"
Avenged Sevenfold
City Of Evil (2005)
Best On: Full Band
Best Line: “No one can save me and you know I don’t want the attention”
With this album, these guys were announced as saviors of metal with plenty of tattoos and silly nicknames to match. They’ve since become a caricature of themselves but this song’s still good.

"Your Little Hoodrat Friend"
The Hold Steady
Separation Sunday (2005)
Best On: Vocals
Best Line: “She’s got blue-black ink and it’s scratched into her lower back. Says ‘damn right I’ll rise again’ yeah damn right you’ll rise again”
These guys have successfully laid claim to the title “America’s Greatest Bar Band” with soaring organ-backed guitar hooks and storytelling lyrics. This is my personal favorite.

"Touch Of Grey"
The Grateful Dead
In The Dark (1987)
Best On: Guitar & Vocals
Best Line: “Still can’t read at seventeen. The words he knows are all obscene but it’s all right”
It’s 1987 and the Dead are more than a few years past their heyday. Then, without warning they score a hit with this upbeat ditty. What few realized was that the sing itself had a darker message that even the silver lining around a bad situation has a touch of grey.

"Jeremy"
Pearl Jam
Ten (1991)
Best On: Vocals
Best Line: “And the boy was something that mommy wouldn’t wear”
Eddie Vedder is surprisingly coherent and understandable on this ode to a really messed up kid. Your singer should have fun with Eddie’s long, oscillating wails that fill the bridge.


"Waiting Room"
Fugazi
13 Songs (1989)
Best On: Bass
Best Line: “Everybody’s always down…because they can’t get up”
If this band has all the integrity they’re supposed to this song will never make it on to any game. That doesn’t mean I can’t fantasise about the awesome bassline in tis landmark post-punk song.

"Heroin"
The Velvet Underground
The Velvet Underground And Nico (1967)
Best On: Vocals
Best Line: “I’m gonna try for the kingdom if I can. ‘Cause it makes me feel like I’m a man”
Anyone can write a song about doing heroin, but only someone as genious as Lou Reed wan write a step by step description on how it makes you feel. This song is all over the place, in a good way.


"Ice Cold Ice"
Hüsker Dü
Warehouse: Songs And Stories (1987)
Best On: Bass
Best Line: “See the blank expressions, waiting for progression. They’re standing still in place and time, no one’s moving”
Warehouse, the last album by the band that helped turn punk into alternative, has been described as sounding like “a band that’s breaking up” and this song exemplifies that. Don’t be sad, beneath that melancholy is a Hysteria-like bassline that will be a workout for your resident 4-stringer.

"Everyone Else Has Had More Sex Than Me"
TISM
The White Albun (2004)
Best On: Vocals
Best Line: “He would rather die than not get to fuck”
Hey, remember that old flash video of the bunny with the one on it singing about how he hasn’t had enough sex. This is that song. Done by Aussie joke-rockers TISM (this is serious mum) previously known for such hits as “The Ballad Of John Bonham’s Coke Roadie” and “I’m Interested In Apathy”. This one’s guaranteed to be a hit at parties.

"Dancing Days"
Led Zeppelin
Houses Of The Holy (1973)
Best On: Full Band
Best Line: “I saw a lion he was standing alone with a tadpole in a jar”
I may be alone in holding up this lesser-known Zep track but I like it because it’s tight, catchy, and is sure to compel your singer to dance around like he’s on acid.

"Humor Me"
Pere Ubu
The Modern Dance (1978)
Best On: Vocals & Guitar
Best Line: “It’s just a joke mon!”
Many years before kids at your school started wearing checkered shoes these underground legends from Cleveland were experimenting with ska beats and use of the word “mon”. They also threw in a great guitar solo just for kicks.

"Whipping Post"
The Allman Brothers Band
The Allman Brothers Band (1969)
Best On: Vocals & Guitar
Best Line: “Now she’s with one of my good time buddies. They’re drinking in some cross-town bar”
If your singer is looking for a song to really let loose on this is it. The passion is palpable as Greg Allman wails about a woman who screwed him over. Guitarists will also have fun with a bluesy, equally passionate Duane Allman workout.

"California Über Alles”
Dead Kennedys
Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables (1980)
Best On: Full Band
Best Line: “Mellow out or you will pay”
This song stands as a testament to how important Ronald Regan was to punk taking off in America. Before Regan’s America took hold the DKs had to rail against California governor Jerry Brown. Decent gov, didn’t really like the hippies, not exactly the poster-child of the evil, bloodsucking establishment. The targets might have gotten better but this is still a great hardcore punk song.

“Transdermal Celebration”
Ween
Quebec (2003)
Best On: Guitar
Best Line: “But the mutants that I see shine their beauty onto me I wish you could see them”
A surprisingly normal song by the weirdest band operating today. With a great guitar hook and some funky lyrics it’s hard to dislike this one.

“Remember Me”
British Sea Power
The Decline Of British Sea Power (2003)
Best On: Full Band
Best Line: “Did you notice when you began to disappear”
These up and coming indie darlings are known for their high-powered songs and equally high-powered live shows. This ode to britian’s fallen soldiers is no exception with a slow building opening that hits a peak and doesn’t let up.

“Marquee Moon”
Television
Marquee Moon (1977)
Best On: Guitar
Best Line: “Look here junior don’t you be so happy, And for heave’s sake don’t you be so sad.”


“Sultans Of Swing”
Dire Straits
Dire Straits (1977)
Best On: Guitar
Best Line: “They don’t give a damn about any trumpet playin’ band. It ain’t what they call Rock & Roll”
Before they hit their peak by 80’sfying their sound, Mark Knopfler and gang were blues rock purists putting out this ballad to a bar band. Meanwhile Knopfler picks circles around the verses and his contemporaries on his six-string.

"Stop"
Against Me!
New Wave (2007)
Best On: Full Band
Best Line: "All of our lives dedicated to shoving it right back in their fucking face"
These Jacksonvillians bear the standard for political, fired-up punk like hasn’t been made since the Clash broke up. Even though they’re not on a label they definitely have not sold out. Instead they kicked out a number about doing what you fucking want that’s surprisingly danceable.

“The Good Life”
Weezer
Pinkerton (1996)
Best On: Vocals
Best Line: “I’m a pig, I’m a dog. Scuze me if I drool”
By far the angriest song River’s Cuomo ever wrote, this one spits back at all the fickle fame that came their way after Weezer’s breakout Blue Album. Maybe that’s why no one liked this album at the time.

“Guns Of Brixton”
The Clash
London Calling (1979)
Best On: Bass & Drums
Best Line: “When the law break in
how you gonna go?
Shot down on the pavement
or waiting on death row?”
The Clash always loved mixing in some reggae and hip hop into their punk and this one, penned and sung by bassist Paul Simonin, has a funky afro-beat your rythem section will love.

“Bastards Of Young”
The Replacements
Tim (1985)
Best On: Guitar
Best Line: “The ones who love us best are the ones we'll lay to rest,
And visit their graves on holidays at best”
The Replacements always marched to their own beat, and this track, with it’s slight country ho-down twinge is a classic of the 80’s young alternative scene. With a triumphant guitar wail and better lyrics about alienation than any guyliner-wearing whiner could hope to match nowadays.


“Zombie”
The Cranberries
No Need To Argue (1994)
Best On: Vocals
Best Line: “It’s the same old thing since 1916
in your head in your head
they’re still fighting”
I’m sure you see by now you can see that I like songs with odd subject matter. So, here’s a song about the IRA! Sing it and you might just learn something about the violence in Northern Ireland.


“While My Guitar Gently Weeps”
The Beatles
The Beatles (The White Album) (1968)
Best On: Guitar
Best Line: “I look at the floor and I see it needs sweeping
Still my guitar gently weeps.”
In case you haven’t heard the old story behind this song here goes: Eric Clapton was recruited to play the guitar part on this song and was uncredited on the album jacket. Clapton later stole George Harrison’s wife, though, so many music historians consider them even.

“Run Thru”
My Morning Jacket
It Still Moves (2003)
Best On: Guitar
Best Line: "Oh shit, run!"
I literally just found out that this song is about running scared through the ghetto. The country rock surrounding it is very unsuspecting.