Well, Harmonix announced the goal a few months back, and a lot of us were skeptical, but today is a glorious day for Rock Band.  After actually going through the exercise, now that this week’s DLC songs have been released, we now have 1,000 unique tracks available to play on the Rock Band franchise!*  Expect to see a press release from Harmonix soon Here’s the official Harmonix announcement released today, but when you take a step back and take a look at this, it’s really an impressive feat.  It’s no doubt that they’ve streamlined the process for charting songs, but now matter how you look at it, 1,000 songs is A LOT!

*There are a few caveats.  Depending on your point of view, one could see this number as slightly inflated.

• The 1,000 tracks in Rock Band include songs (currently) only available on the Country and Metal Track Packs, which are exportable (assuming you have an Xbox 360 or PS3).
• It also includes the three tracks NOT exportable from Rock Band 1 (Enter Sandman, Run to the Hills, and Paranoid).
• It also includes songs that were released both as covers and later by the original artist (Limelight, Tom Sawyer, and Number of the Beast), and songs with studio and live versions (Alive, Let There Be Rock).

So if you want to get very technical, you could argue that at this point, there are only 992 unique songs available to play on Rock Band 2 (This is assuming you are playing on a Xbox 360 or Sony PS3, as the Wii lacks the ability to export ANY tracks from Rock Band 1).  And just an FYI, the 1,000 tracks DO NOT include tracks from the Beatles: Rock Band.

Here’s a couple stats that I’ve uncovered about the first 1,000 songs in Rock Band (feel free to audit):

• To date, 60 MILLION tracks have been downloaded from the Rock Band music store!
• 105 consecutive weeks of Rock Band DLC offerings
• Tracks featuring Dave Grohl: 44
  • 25 Foo Fighters, 12 Nirvana, 4 Tenacious D, 1 Queens of the Stone Age, 1 Nine Inch Nails, 1 Them Crooked Vultures
• Tracks by Pearl Jam: 26
  • Tracks by The Jam: 2
• Tracks with the world GIRL in the title: 20
  • Tracks with the word BOY in the title: 8
• Tracks with the word PAIN in the title: 4
  • Tracks with the word PLEASURE in the title: 2 (Not counting Bang Camaro’s “Pleasure (Pleasure)” twice)
• Artist names containing the word ZOMBIE: 3
  • Track names containing the word ZOMBIE: 0
• Tracks with the phrase ROCK ‘N’ ROLL in the title: 7
  • Tracks with the word FUNK in the title: 3
• Tracks with the word TOP in the title: 0
  • Tracks with the word BOTTOM in the title: 2
  • …that are specifically referencing butts: 2
• Tracks with titles who are names of people: 20
  • Alex Chilton, Andres, Baba O’Riley, Buddy Holly, Casey Jones, Charlene, Claudette, Clint Eastwood, Geraldine, Grace, Henrietta, Jeremy, Lenny, Manu Chao, Polly, Roxanne, Ruby, Tom Sawyer, Valerie, Wilson
• Tracks with titles in a foreign language: 7
  • Bodhisattva, Caprici di Diablo, El Scorcho, Hay Poco Rock & Roll, Hier Kommt Alex, Perfekte Welle, Tutto e Possible
• Tracks containing the word BLACK: 10
  • Tracks containing the word WHITE: 5
  • Tracks containing the word GREY: 1
• Tracks referencing food: 4
  • Chop Suey, Cheeseburger in Paradise, Cups and Cakes, Pork and Beans
  • Tracks containing the word HUNGRY: 1
• Tracks containing the word LOVE: 20
  • Tracks containing the word SEX: 7
• Tracks containing the word DEVIL/DIABLO: 4
  • …which are by Yngwie Malmsteen: 2

• Tracks that have the same title: 5
  • Gone, Jailbreak, Testify, Burn, Can’t Let Go

• Tracks released in 2007: 90
• Tracks released in 2008: 443
• Tracks released (to date) in 2009: 467

• Most tracks released in a single month with a major title release: 131 (September 2009)
• Most tracks released in a single month without a major title release: 74 (November 2008)

• Most populous genre: Rock (189)
• Least populous genre: Funk (3)

• Tracks released first as DLC: 782
• Tracks released first on major game releases: 187
• Tracks released first on track packs: 37

[Special thanks to PKSage.com for letting me use his list as reference!]

12 Responses to “1,000 Songs in Rock Band!”