Monday night was a good night, we got our xbox360 back from the Microsoft repair center. Around the end of January I received the dreaded Red Ring of Death and was really bummed when I had to send it back to MS. The previous 3 months before it died the wife and I had playedRockband for at least 2 or 3 songs every other day or so. We slowly both became consistently good at it. I had already played Guitar Hero 2 and 3 was proficient enough to "get past" the expert mode guitar on most of the songs on Rock Band so I decided to try my hand at the drums. I had played drums some in high school at a warehouse behind a friends house but never on a consistent basis and to be honest I really could never hold a beat worth a shit for an extended period of time. If you added in a bass player I could keep it pretty steady, but never to the point where I felt as comfortable playing drums as I did guitar. So I decided I should try out the drums and build myself up slowly. To be honest, playing the guitar on Rock Band is extremely fun, but it really doesn't get anywhere near the skill of playing a real guitar. The hand eye coordination is a big variable in both, but that is about the extent of it. The drums I have found are slightly different. I started out on Easy finished all songs, went to medium, progressed through all songs, and have been attempting hard on solo mode and I have pretty much wrapped up all on hard mode with the exception of a few songs (Green Grass & High Tides, etc).Lindz had always been doing great vocals, so we decided to start an entirely new band with her on vocals and myself on drums about 2 months before we had to get the 360 fixed. We had been playing about fairly constantly up until the red ring. Fortunately, we got back the 360 on Monday and dove back into "returning to stage" with band on Tuesday night.

Since we had not had the 360 for a couple of weeks, MS/Harmonix had released a bunch of download-able songs (DLC) for it. I had some points and first picked up the NIN pack (I was salivating to attempt March of the Pigs on Drums) and Roam (B-52s), El Scorcho (Weezer) and another STP song (Interstate I think? I forget which) and set to playing. We aced 5 stars on Hard with Roam and the STP song, then attempted El Scorcho (the half Japanese girls didn't do it to us) but the wife didn't have the lyrics down so we kicked out on that one. Then attempted March of The Pigs which I failed within the first min or so drumming on hard mode.

So we tour on.

Rockband isn't a game per se, it should be viewed as a platform. Harmonix/MTV planned the game brilliantly and it is ripe for the money making. I could even see them selling the actual Rockband instruments at a loss in a few months as more people pick up XBL just because I think they are going to make so much money on the DLC.

Regardless, me an the wife were talking about what songs are perfect for the platform so we decided to each come up with our own Top 10 Songs We Would like to see on Rockband. Neither list is done in a particular order (ie #9 is just as good as #1), and I posted the imeem songlists of each underneath in case you are not familiar with the song, and/or just want some musak to listen to at work.




So without further ado:


My Top 10:

1. Black Dog - Led Zeppelin 

    Come on You knew Zep would be here, I bet you just didn't know which song. Besides the "moaning", I really like the appeal that screaming 'A big legged woman ain't got no soul' into a microphone has.

2. Like a Vibration - The Whigs

    This just has such a killer hook at the beginning of their latest album that I catch myself singing it when i don't even realize it.

3. Gypsy Eyes - Jimi Hendrix Experience

    So I was tore between adding Axis Bold as Love and Gypsy Eyes to the list. I wanted to only have one song per artist. The drumming at the beginning of Gypsy Eyes won it out. I was thinking Axis had an advantage as a lot of the color imagery in the song played with the whole "play by color" theme of Rock Band. But Gypsy takes the position.

4. Whipping Post - The Allman Brothers

    Hello Mr. Bass Player. No One forgets about you and your 'blue groove'.

5. Jellybelly - The Smashing Pumpkins

    There are soooo many pumpkins songs I wanted to put on here, Today, Where Boys Fear To Tread, Everlasting Gaze. This game was built for people in my demographic that grew up wearing out Gish and Siamese Dream.Jellybelly won out because I think it   encompasses a lot of different aspects of what a good pumpkin song was. Great vocals, steady drumming, biting guitar.

6. Solsbury Hill - Peter Gabriel

    Guitar good, drums good, people seem to know the lyrics to songs like this even when they don't think they do. Peter Gabriel is a genius in my book, and Sledgehammer has to many horns, so I went withSolsbury.

7. Slippery People - Talking Heads

    This song is what got me thinking about a list like this. I love singing to this song, and this is a very FUN song to play I would think on any instrument.

8. Stockholm Syndrome - Muse

    Another band, like Pumpkins, whose songs this game is built for. There were tons of songs from them I could have chose, this is just my favorite personally.

9. Two Step - Dave Matthews Band

    This would be one of those longer songs (think Foreplay/Longtime - Boston) but it would be a blast to play. I personally have heard so many variations of it I don't know which one I like best. I think this one (from Red Rocks) is my favorite.

10. Day Tripper - The Beatles

    Guitar Intro get everyone pumped to play. Great Song.


Playlist:

   

 
(If you log into Imeem and press the "Stand Alone Player" you can hear the full versions of the songs instead of just the 30 second slice.) 
   
 
So here is what Lindz wrote:



The Wife's Top 10:

Note - my decisions were based on a singer's perspective

1. I Write Sins not Tragedies - Panic! at the Disco

    I love this song! It would be a great singer's song, almost operatic; besides, I love emphasizing the word whore!

2. Today - Smashing Pumpkins

    I have to have a SP song on this list. Today is my favorite, and the guitar and drums would be fun to play to.

3. Starlight - Muse

    All of Muse's songs would be great to play, but I love Starlight. I use to sing it to my daughter everyday while I was pregnant.

4. Come as You Are - Nirvana

    This list would not be complete without a Nirvana song, especially for people our age. It is one of a few where Kurt doesn't scream, and it would be great for drums too.

5. Pour Some Sugar On Me - Def Leppard

    You have to have a big hair band on the list, and I like Def Leppard. You would also expect the drums to be a little easier.

6. Far Behind - CandleBox

    Not a well know band, but this is one of my favorite songs of all times. I used to play this song over and over again and sing every word.

7. All Along the Watchtower (DMB version)

    This would be a great guitar song. It is the only song that I can play on guitar (few notes) thanks to Eric.

8. Seether - Veruca Salt

    I had to add a female rock song. This has great vocals, guitar, and drums.

9. Come on Eileen - Dexy's Midnight Runner

    I love 80's music, and this is my favorite 80's song. They would have to replace the violin with a guitar, but it would be so fun to play.

10. Stay Away - Alice in Chains
    The lead singer has a neat voice. I think it would be challenging to try and sing, but I would enjoy it.
 
 

 

 

 

UPDATE:  So There are tons of blog authors who I read that I know play Rock Band so I decided why not make this a mem?  Most of the people we play with in our bands (The Cyanettes/The Fluffy Camels/Bangers & Mash) don't have a blog (or either don't update it on a regular basis) so I figured I would tag 3 people whom I know play.  Tipa, Cuppy, and Blackguard.  So guys/gals, if you are reading this, post yours on your respective net homes and pass this on.  I would love to write a spider to crawl all this one day and aggregate the results somehow, so if you do your Top 10 and decide to pass it on please ask for a linkback to this blog or just have the people you pass it on to link to "Top10RockBandWishlist" as a Technorati tag so I have a centralized place to go back and aggregate the results.

 

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