Thursday Throwback: “The Who Super Bowl S-mashup”
For this week’s article, I thought I would feature a different kind of song from the Rock Band platform. As you know, we have some really long songs available in the game. The first Rock Band title’s longest track, Green Grass and High Tides, was nearly ten minutes long, and the recently released Do You Feel Like We Do (Live) is over a staggering 13 minutes long! (See a list of the longest rock band songs here.)
However, one of the longest songs in the platform isn’t really a song as such, its a “mash up,” or a combination of a number of different songs. Originally played at the Super Bowl XLIV halftime show, The Who’s Super Bowl S-mashup features 15 songs by The Who in a nearly thirteen minute long medley. If, for some reason, you’re not familiar with The Who, the medley will give you a brief introduction to the band and highlight some of their biggest hits, which are also all available individually to play in Rock Band.
So what’s the song like to play? Well, this is Rock Band, and this is The Who, so what do you think its going to be like? The Guitar rocks some iconic riffs, Bass has lots of variety (even within the same song), Drums attempt to channel the late Keith Moon, and surprisingly Roger Daltrey manages to land some of the notes he used to hit back in the 70s. Not bad for 65!
And the best part? Its only the standard price of 2 dollars!
Here’s a playthrough of the song (in two parts because it is a big track)!
Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy reading the future posts in this series. Any tracks you would like to see featured? Give us a shout below, along with your thoughts on this pick.
I would appreciate it if you would have a look at my growing fansite, The Tribute Pages and also have a look at the Rock Band 3 page! Thanks!
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Last I checked, this mashup only had 5 songs in it, not 15.
crashb648 Reply:
October 21st, 2011 at 4:22 am
Sorry about that, a bit of a mix up with the mash up there…
I see the confusion. In the page you linked to, it says that this mashup joins the 15 songs by the Who in the Rock Band DLC library. (Uping the number of songs in the library to 16 at this point)
The five songs that are actually in this mashup are: Pinball Wizard, Baba O’Riley, Who Are You, See Me Hear Me, and Won’t Get Fooled Again
I had forgotten how truly awful The Who were at the Super Bowl. This is a pretty good reminder.
Dustinator Reply:
October 20th, 2011 at 6:27 pm
I disagree with your opinion
I bought this song the moment I heard em play live at the Superbowl. They were pretty good, y’know, since they’re my grandparents age now
crashb648 Reply:
October 21st, 2011 at 4:18 am
Well, thats what you usually get when the songs are performed at least a decade apart. Considering their ages now, I think they are doing pretty well.
However, i do particually agree with you – the track isnt as good as the originals.
“15 songs?” Baaaaahahahahahahaha!
“And the best part? Its only the standard price of 2 dollars!”
Apostrophe needed.
crashb648 Reply:
October 21st, 2011 at 4:19 am
Ooooops my bad
Thank you mr Spellchecker!
This is by no means a bad song, but out of the five (not 15, got it mixed up with the available songs by The Who for RB) songs featured in there, we already have two on-disc and two as DLC, and the See Me Hear Me part is probably the shortest of the five.
Still fun, as long as you allow for the fact that Roger Daltrey isn’t quite as young as he used to be, and neither are his vocal cords.
crashb648 Reply:
October 21st, 2011 at 4:20 am
The thing is, I’ve only semi recently joined the Rock Band DLC club, so having 5 of their greatest hits in one song was a no brainer to me. It’s good to get a taste of who for cheap, even as you say, if Roger’s vocals aren’t up to his younger standards.
I actually got to see Roger Daltrey in concert last Sunday night so good timing on this. He’s touring doing the entire Tommy album without stopping. He’s got some serious allergy issues and went through 2 years of throat surgery/rehab. So that’s why he sounds like he does on this track.
Still was an amazing show. Highly recommended.
crashb648 Reply:
October 21st, 2011 at 4:22 am
Wow! So he had problems with his throat and still managed to sing like that? I’m impressed!
Who is Roger Daltrey? Sorry, couldn’t resist… Did you now? That must of been a good night
Landon Reply:
October 21st, 2011 at 11:32 am
Daltrey = lead singer of the Who. He’s about 66. After doing the entire album he talked a bit and did some hits like Behind Blue Eyes, Young Man Blues, Who Are You…and no we didn’t know. He even did a Johnny Cash medley because his doctor told him he had to sing some low stuff to counteract all the high pitched stuff the Who’s known for.
He tried getting through a couple of last songs…and his voice just gave out and he literally said “fuck it, I can’t go anymore.” The crowd still gave him a standing O.