Posts Tagged ‘accomplishments’

RockBand.com forum poster Casto21 managed to pull some interesting stats this morning from the Xbox.com website. Since the site lets you sort Game Add-on content by Best Selling, he was able to pull the top 200 best selling Rock Band DLC tracks/packs released in 2009.  I know, technically the year isn’t finished yet, but this list won’t be changing significantly in the next 30 hours or so.  And supplemented by comments from forum moderator/superstar Apples, you can pull these interesting tidbits out of the list:

• People like free songs (free Lights Resolve track ending up at #6), but not as much as Journey.  A free Journey song would be the most popular thing ever.
• The “Best of” packs by Queen (#65) and Iron Maiden (#95) did pretty well, as well as Pearl Jam’s “Ten” album track pack (#39), unsurprisingly.  People were happy to get Run to the Hills (#46) back in their library.  (Remember?  The cover version from Rock Band 1 was not exportable.)
• Green Day didn’t go over so bad, despite being the new stuff that “nobody wants.”  They had singles landing at #24 and #49, and their first track pack landed at #67.
• Slipknot (#97) and Nirvana (#145) packs are insanely popular despite being very new releases.  Slipknot was another pack that many complained about (“OMG, NEW Slipknot?!”), but the pack sold extremely well.
• If Evanescence is this popular via “traditional” Rock Band DLC releases (#5, #41, and #59), they should really do amazing when they release tracks on the Rock Band Network.
• Despite their experimental musical styling, the Gorillaz landed 2 tracks in the top 30: “Feel Good, Inc.” at #19 and “Clint Eastwood” at #30.
• Apparently, I have sorely underestimated the draw of SpongeBob SquarePants. The first track pack hit #86, and the three singles from it landed at #25, #163, and #170.
• The most recent DLC release to crack the top 200 was Yellowcard’s “Ocean Avenue” at #136.

Check out the full SORTABLE list after the jump…

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Heyo!  James here from the criminally under-updated AltStrum.com.  You’ve probably never heard of me, and if you have it was probably on Twitter.  After reading the Top 20 DLC Tracks of 2009 that Tommy recently posted, I was inspired to put together my own list.  First, a few notes…

This list does not include Beatles: Rock Band or LEGO Rock Band tracks or songs currently exclusive to the various track packs on the market.  Only songs available in the Music Store have been considered.  Keep in mind that when evaluating DLC, I typically enjoy tracks in a full-band party setup, or as a single-player vocal+guitar (voxtar) combo.  I don’t play for score (though I do aim high!) and I admit in advance that there are no doubt much better drum and bass songs available than I have represented below.

20. “Oh, Pretty Woman” – Roy Orbison
EVERYONE knows this song (even your Grandma), and thanks to well-balanced charting this is a great party starter for players of all ages and skill levels.

19. “The Joker” – Steve Miller Band
Strummy, yet with enough variety to keep a guitarist entertained, plus it’s a blast on drums. Also, this classic contains the un-edited lyrics “I’m a joker/I’m a smoker/I’m a mid-night toker!” Eat it ESRB!

18. “Better” – Guns N’ Roses
I know, I know – new GNR sucks! Tell me something I don’t already know! Yet somehow this song, with all of its tempo and style changes, slam-danced with several Buckethead solos, made it into my regular rotation this year.

17. “Smooth Criminal” – Alien Ant Farm
This track is so 2001, and that’s why we love it. One of the most downloaded tracks in the Music Store, Smooth Criminal is a rock cover of Micheal Jackson’s classic 80′s track. Perfect charting, fun vocals, perfect cover.

16. “Bat Country” – Avenged Sevenfold
I don’t typically enjoy Avenged Sevenfold tracks. Maybe it’s the fact that EVERYONE on XBL has their tracks, and as a result, they get selected in pick-up sessions almost as much as Metallica. “Bat Country” however, is nu-metal perfection. Varied charting, great solo. Challenging without being frustrating.

15. “Kryptonite” – 3 Doors Down
Like “Pretty Woman” – EVERYONE knows this song. The charting is as catchy and fun as the tune itself. A great party song for any crowd, and one even experienced players can have fun with over and over again.

14. “Blew” – Nirvana
Gotta be honest, I was not a happy camper when tracks from Bleach, Nirvana’s first and much-lesser known album, were announced before completing the rest of the Nevermind tracklist. Then “Blew” happened, and made me realize that early Nirvana is probably equally if-not-better suited for rhythm gaming. Less chordy than most of its time, and a great solo. If it wasn’t for the BRE at the end, this track might have been Top 10.

13. “Runnin’ Down a Dream” – Tom Petty
Great as a party song, but even better alone on voxtar. Watch out for this one as the first 2/3 of the song will catch you sleepin’, then punish you with a crazy solo loaded with triplets at the end. A Tom Petty classic, impossible to pass up.

12. “Would?” – Alice in Chains
Classic 90′s alternative. Layne Staley. Catchy riffs. Amazing drums. ‘Nuff said.

11. “Supersonic” (Live) – Oasis
The only “live” track on my list, “Supersonic” is also the only live track for play in Rock Band that actually enhances the “rock star” experience for me. The guitars are fuzzed-out, the chart is rectangle perfection, and the mix is flawless. A must-buy for voxtarists.

10. “Dirty Pool” – Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble
This track requires tons of altstrumming, and yet is a blast to play. Nice runs, great blues vibe, and vocals you can really melt into. Probably the most challenging and simultaneously unique pick on this list, chart-wise.

9. “Less Talk More Rokk” – Freezepop
Freezepop’s fan-favorite electro-dance-tar vibe finally carries over from GH2 as Rock Band DLC, and turns out the better for it. Still hard as hell on guitroller, the new disco-tinged electronic-drums are no less painful. Plus, at $1, you can’t go wrong!

8. “Sex on Fire” – Kings of Leon
I have to admit – I love this song. If there is any track on this list that has been put there simply because it’s “my song” – this is it. The charts are great, and the vocals are awesome and practically require you to ham them up. Play this one on voxtar, and during the third chorus when they guitar notes drop out, swing your hip to the side, press your mouth against the bottom of the mic, close your eyes and let it wail… “Yoouuuuuu… Your sex is on fiyaaaaaa.” Epic.

7. “Brother” – Pearl Jam
If you had told me that in a year when Pearl Jam’s breakout album Ten was released as full album DLC, that a little known b-side from a 3-pack that would come months later the best PJ track in the game, I’d have called you crazy. It’s true. Better than “Jeremy,” better than “Black,” this track has everything a guitrolist would want: chords, runs, zig-zags, a challenging but fair solo. Believe it.

6. “Icky Thump” – The White Stripes
I’ll admit it, this track is not for everyone, but its definitely for me. The song’s four solo’s alternate between organ and guitar, giving those of us that can sight-read a whole batch of fresh new patterns to tackle. The vocals are vintage Jack, and the drums are a great entree into expert skins mode.

5. “A Favor House Atlantic” – Coheed and Cambria
I love Coheed. A lack of solo on guitar is the only thing that keeps this track from #1 for me. Still a great time on all instruments, great lyrics, fun drums. If you’re a fan, this track is a treat. HMX! We need more Coheed!

4. “The Diary of Jane” – Breaking Benjamin
What?! Another song without a solo in the top 5? This list sucks! Sorry folks, TDoJ is the most even, enjoyable full band song to be released as DLC this year. Some say it’s too easy. I say if it has a fault, it’s simply too perfect.

3. “Don’t Stop Believing” – Journey
The ultimate party song, Rock Banders have begged for this track since day one, and this year HMX gave it to us. Epic vocals and perfect guitar/bass/drum charting. A song everyone, even your Dad (er, especially your Dad), will know. I’d tell you to go buy it, but you probably already have.

2. “Blue Sky” – The Allman Brothers Band
The most overlooked song in 2009 DLC, “Blue Sky” is also the most selfish. There’s not much here for vocalists, drummers or bassist – but wow is it fun on guitar. The song is just over five minutes long, but contains a continuous three minute solo filled with the most perfect, laid back, country-fied runs in any rythm game track. The guitar chart in this one is one of the many reasons I will never buy another Guitar Hero disc – nobody does it like HMX.

1. “Typical” – Mute Math
It’s hard to quantify why exactly Mute Math’s little-known alterna-pop-rock tune “Typical” earns it’s #1 spot on this list. I hadn’t heard the song before playing it in Rock Band, but I immediately fell in love with it on first play. It’s catchy enough on it’s own, but when you add note perfect charting on all instruments, each with its own nuances and challenge, it somehow makes the song… better. Which, I think in the long run, is what separates a good DLC track from a GREAT DLC TRACK. It amplifies what previously existed as just a catchy song with a catchy video into one of the most fun four minutes and twelve seconds you can have playing a music game.

So that’s the list. I know I overlooked a lot, including probably many of your favorites.  Tell me what I missed, what I got wrong, and what I go oh-so-right.  I’m always up for a good re-play!

James runs the Twitter account @AltStrum, as well as AltStrum.com.  Be sure to check him out! Thanks, James!

As 2009 draws to a close, I think it’s time to look back on the year and evaluate DLC tracks released for Rock Band.  Before we discuss the quality of the songs, the quantity released is pretty remarkable.  This being the final week of 2009, there have been 491 tracks released as DLC for the Rock Band franchise in 2009!  This includes obviously the tracks available online via the Music Store, as well as tracks still only available on the Country Track Pack, Metal Track Pack, and Lego Rock Band.  NOTE: This number does NOT include Beatles tracks, which total another 73 including both the on-disc tracks and DLC (if my count is accurate).  So available for release in 2009, Harmonix charted no less than 564 tracks, which is just over 1.5 tracks PER DAY!  This is amazing, and my hat (if I wore one) is definitely off to those charting and QA’ing the songs at Harmonix.  Well done, lads and lasses!

So let’s talk about the quality of the songs.  I’m not going to include the Beatles’ songs in this list, because I don’t think it’s a fair comparison to include the Beatles with everyone else (based solely on the Dreamscapes, they would occupy nearly all of the Top 10).  Also, I have some favorite songs released as DLC that didn’t make the list based on the playability.  I’m not saying the charts weren’t good, I’m saying that based on the nature of some songs, they just weren’t fun to play in Rock Band, either because an instrument may have been too repetitious, or because I didn’t find it as fun to require the ability to alt-strum to make it through a song.  And finally, since this is one person’s opinion, I would be surprised if even one other person agreed with the songs I selected and the order I put them in, based on his/her own personal preference.

With all that said, let’s take a look at the list…

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Fortune magazine published its list of 40 of business’s hottest rising stars’ under the age of 40 earlier this month.  The full list is pretty diverse, with Internet all-stars leading the way (i.e. Google, Facebook, Twitter, etc.).  Although some people are saying that rhythm gaming may be on its way out, Fortune still choose to recognize Harmonix co-founders Eran Egozy and Alex Rigopulos with the honor of making this list, landing at number 24!  From the story:

The co-founders of Harmonix — the developer of videogame hits Guitar Hero and Rock Band — earned big paydays when they sold to Viacom’s MTV Networks in 2006 for $175 million, plus a $150 million bonus. The two brands (Guitar Hero is now owned by rival Activision) have sold more than $3 billion; Rock Band secured the first digital rights to Beatles songs (take that, Steve Jobs).

College buds: The two met at MIT studying music; Rigopulos is CEO; Egozy, also a clarinetist, is CTO.

You can check out their page in the list here, along with the rest of the list as well.

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!]