60’s

Title: Purple Haze
artist: The Jimi Hendrix Experience
Year: 1967

If you are experienced, as in long in the teeth, then you probably have fond memories of this jam. A driving, distorted guitar riff in an odd key instead of a traditional bass creates the most recognizable cacophonies in rock history. Be prepared for the snickers from the groupies as your lead singer rambles on about purple things and kissing guys.

Title: Ramble On
Artist: Led Zeppelin
Year: 1969

There’s simply no better way to kill two birds with one stone than by putting Zep’s Ramble On in EA’s Rock Band. Not only will game geeks be able to fake 60’s rockstardom with plastic toys, but they’ll also impress their fantasy RPG friends with LotR lore. Combine Rock Band and Ramble On, throw in some low lying smoke effects and a Gandalf cape, and you have the all of the makings of a nerd rock opera.


70’s

Title: Free Bird
Artist: Lynyrd Skynyrd
Year: 1973

This quintessential encore shout-out simply must make the Rock Band library. There’s no better formula for a truly classic rock song than “in slow, out fast”, and Free Bird is the shining, Southern example of this technique. Just when you’re ready to fall asleep, guitars go to battle in a rock war for the ages; let’s hope Rock Band supports two axes so that this battle can virtually commence.

Title: I Wanna Be Sedated
Artist: The Ramones
Year: 1978

Combine the lengths of In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida, Stairway to Heaven and Free Bird, and you would have the total of every Ramones song ever recorded. The Ramones were short and to the point, as they proved with this song about Joey Ramone’s hospital experience after a frightening accident. This is a great one for the drinking game version of Rock Band, as the inebriated performers will only have to deal with a few chords, simple drum beats and a bam, bam, bah, bah or fifty.

80’s

Title: Back in Black
Artist: AC/DC
Year: 1980

Yeah, their stuff was a bit repetitive, but isolate a single AC/DC song from the rest of their catalog and it’s easy to see why they are rock and roll personified. Even without Bon Scott at the helm, Back in Black is that one AC/DC song that truly deserves to represent rock music in a time capsule. Prove to me that there’s better guitar riff anywhere and TXB Guitar Hero guru Andy Eddy will wear Angus Young’s schoolboy outfit to E3 2007.

Title: One
Artist: Metallica
Year: 1988

Rock Band’s drum peripheral better have a double bass, for without it the most rockingest rock song ever devised will go un-worshipped. Novella-inspired lyrics, [the aforementioned] slow-to-fast tempo, speed metal blended with harmonies; One simply does rock music justice. Oh yeah, please be respectful of your parents and remove the coffee table from the make-shift mosh pit.



90’s

Title: Smells Like Teen Spirit
Artist: Nirvana
Year: 1991

Could this be the song that mainstreamed alternative rock? Event though the Pixies are probably wincing a bit, it seems like Smells Like Teen Spirit was that catalyst for the return of rock. A simple mixture of soft interludes with obnoxiously loud and distorted passages should prove to a challenge to replicate for any virtual cover artists playing Rock Band. Unfortunately, music didn’t see the raw power and allure of a band like Nirvana until, er, the Foo Fighters came along years later.

Title: Give it Away
Artist: Red Hot Chili Peppers
Year: 1991

Still rocking it, and with critical acclaim, the Red Hot Chili Peppers are the anomaly of the 90’s MTV-era pop upheaval. They rock, but they know they got soul, which comes across in every one of Kiedis’ melodies, Frusciante’s wah-wah’s, or Flea’s string slaps. Speaking of Flea, there’s no better (mainstream) way to feature the bass peripheral in Rock Band than to load up Give it Away. It will be a hard bass line to play, but it may be even tougher finding the stuffed-animal pants to complete the experience…


00’s

Title: Seven Nation Army
Artist: The White Stripes
Year: 2003

The Doors created a musicality that seemed impossible with only three members. The White Stripes? Well, they create music that is impossible with only Two members. We call shenanigans, or at least we call them a super-dynamic wife/husband, er, brother/sister, er, step mom/illegitimate child, whatever duo that defies the odds. Seven Nation Army is one of those Stripes’ songs that would make one think that there was at least a quartet of musicians to thank. Good luck trying to keep up, even if your four man army from Wichita thinks they’ve got this opera mastered.

Title: Rockstar
Artist: Nickelback
Year: 2005

You may dislike them for their musical prowess. You may loathe that every radio station seems to be playing one of their songs. Heck, you may despise them simply for being Canadian. But you can’t argue with 20+ million records being sold and counting. The Creed of the aught years nailed it on the head with their 2005 ditty Rockstar, which explains what drives these fellas to be famous. Ahhh..perfect for Rock Band. Rockstars are what we all “wanna’ be” says Nickelback, which makes sense with the popularity of the Guitar Hero franchise. We’d hold off on the 24 hour body guard and velvet rope for your porch though.



For the last year and a half, the Guitar Hero franchise has been exclusively a PlayStation 2 owner’s playground, but that all changes today with the release of Guitar Hero II for Xbox 360. If you’ve been eagerly anticipating it hitting your local game store, then tonight GHII is gonna rock you tonight.

竟然有Bag！！！！