Sizing Up Rock Band 3's Setlist
So with the 'leaked' setlist for "Rock Band 3" being pretty much confirmed in Harmonix's coy little video and me being a big RB lover, let's do a rundown, shall we?
For simplicity's sake I've included a handy color-coding chart to visualize my specific reactions!
Song - FUCK YEAR
Song - Hey, nice to see this one
Song - Good, but... why THAT one?
Song - Meh
Song - Flatline interest
Song - Zwhuh?
Song - :P
Amy Winehouse - Rehab (1)
At The Drive-In - One Armed Scissor
B-52's, The - Rock Lobster
Beach Boys - Good Vibrations (Live)
Big Country - In A Big Country
Blondie - Heart Of Glass (2)
Bob Marley & The Wailers - Get Up, Stand Up
Bronx, The - False Alarm
Chicago - 25 or 6 to 4
Cure, The - Just Like Heaven
David Bowie - Space Oddity (3)
Deep Purple - Smoke On The Water
Def Leppard - Foolin'
Devo - Whip It
Dio - Rainbow In The Dark
Dire Straits - Walk Of Life
Doors, The - Break On Through (To The Other Side) (4)
Dover - King George
Echo And The Bunnymen - Killing Moon
Elton John - Saturday Night's Alright (For Fighting) (5)
Faith No More - Midlife Crisis
Filter - Hey Man, Nice Shot
Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots Pt. 1
Foreigner - Cold As Ice
Golden Earring - Radar Love
HIM - Killing Loneliness
Huey Lewis And The News - The Power Of Love
Hypernova - Viva La Resistance
Ida Maria - Oh My God
INXS - Need You Tonight
James Brown - I Got You (I Feel Good) (6)
Jane's Addiction - Been Caught Stealing
Jimi Hendrix Experience, The - Crosstown Traffic
Joan Jett And The Blackhearts - I Love Rock 'N Roll
John Lennon - Imagine (7)
Juanes - Me Enamora
Lynyrd Skynyrd - Free Bird
Maná - Oye Mi Amor
Marilyn Manson - The Beautiful People
Metric - Combat Baby
Muffs, The - Outer Space
Night Ranger - Sister Christian
Ozzy Osbourne - Crazy Train
Paramore - Misery Business
Phish - Llama
Phoenix - Lasso
Police, The - Don't Stand So Close To Me
Poni Hoax - Antibodies
Pretty Girls Make Graves - Something Bigger, Something Brighter
Primus - Jerry Was A Race Car Driver
Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody
Queens Of The Stone Age - No One Knows
Rammstein - Du Hast
Ramones - I Wanna Be Sedated
Raveonettes - Last Dance
Rilo Kiley - Portions For Foxes
Riverboat Gamblers - Don't Bury Me... I'm Still Not Dead
Roxette - The Look
Slipknot - Before I Forget
Smash Mouth - Walkin' On The Sun
Smiths, The - Stop Me If You've Heard This One Before
Sounds, The - Living In America
Spacehog - In The Meantime
Steve Miller Band - Fly Like An Eagle
Stone Temple Pilots - Plush
Swingin' Utters - This Bastard's Life
T. Rex - 20th Century Boy
Tears For Fears - Everybody Wants To Rule The World
Tegan And Sara - The Con
Them Crooked Vultures - Dead End Friends
Tokio Hotel - Humanoid
Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers - I Need To Know *
Vines, The - Get Free
War - Low Rider
Warren Zevon - Werewolves Of London
White Stripes, The - The Hardest Button To Button
Whitesnake - Here I Go Again
Who, The - I Can See For Miles
Yes - Roundabout
(1) Okay, WHAT. Now, I do like this song and I do like Amy Winehouse (feel free to consider me officially discredited at that if you really must), but the simple fact is that Amy Winehouse has no place in Rock Band. Hell, she's not even rock so much as pop or blues/jazz. What, were they not gonna put her in Karaoke Star or Sing It or what?
(2) Nice to see some Blondie and Joan Jett, but I have to wonder why we keep ONLY using them when Janis Joplin and Linda Rondstadt and Janis Ian and Reiner Maria and Imogen Heap and even fucking Madonna haven't even been touched yet.
(3) As long as we FINALLY get fucking "Golden Years" as DLC then yes, I emphatically approve of this song.
(4) Again, as long as we get "Touch Me" (which owing to it's fucking killer organ solo and RB3 adding the Keyboard, REALLY NEEDS TO BE HERE), perfectly okay with this.
(5) ...So...so we finally have the Keyboard. And a large number of these songs are full band + keyboard oriented. And the ONE ELTON JOHN SONG THEY HAVE ON HERE (i.e. a guy who's vast career is centered AROUND THE PIANO) is the one that doesn't even emphasize it. Like seriously, no "I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues" or "Your Song" or "Honky Cat" or "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" or even "Crocodile Rock?" I mean, REALLY?
.
(6) Absolutely no complaints about us finally FINALLY getting some fucking Motown. Now I'm just hoping this leads to broader Motown DLC (Smokey Robinson? Marvin Gaye? Aretha Franklin? The Supremes? FUCK YES PLEASE)
(7) Okay, kinda the same problem as (1). Good song, but... why is it here? Seriously, of all Lennon's solo stuff this is about the least Rock Band-y song they could've picked.
So yeah, a handful of real standouts aside, this is unfortunately looking like not just the weakest overall RB setlist but also one that's taking the least advantage of its new instruments and gameplay improvements. And while it would probably be a worthwhile package based solely around an all-Queen setlist alone, we're still getting plenty of indie/foreign-language music which not enough people will know to justify the purchase OR won't actually be able to sing it (which is kind of the whole point of the 'band' format in the first place).
And that's ignoring the fact that we still haven't gotten to see anything from bands that would be perfect for Rock Band, such as:
-The Eagles
-The Band
-Los Lonely Boys
-Styx
-REO Speedwagon
-Flight of the Conchords (hey, if we can get the theme from "Portal" on here all bets are officially off)
-Billy Joel (SERIOUSLY, on a ROCK BAND with KEYBOARDS, WHY IS HE NOT ON HERE)
-U2 (not the modern stuff necessarily, but regardless of how you feel about Bono, U2 from 1980-1990 is pretty much pure gold)
-A BOB MARLEY SONG THAT WOULD FIT THIS SETUP BETTER THAN "GET UP STAND UP"
-Paul McCartney
-LED ZEPPELIN (Okay not gonna happen but still)
Granted, it will be compatible with ALL the previous songs both on disc and DLC (save a handful from RB1) along with interface/gameplay tweaks, and it IS making a tremendous effort to actually turn gamers into musicians, so I guess it's got some merit, and there's always the "replay favorite" factor that comes from playing songs you don't know over and over and over again.
For simplicity's sake I've included a handy color-coding chart to visualize my specific reactions!
Song - FUCK YEAR
Song - Hey, nice to see this one
Song - Good, but... why THAT one?
Song - Meh
Song - Flatline interest
Song - Zwhuh?
Song - :P
Amy Winehouse - Rehab (1)
At The Drive-In - One Armed Scissor
B-52's, The - Rock Lobster
Beach Boys - Good Vibrations (Live)
Big Country - In A Big Country
Blondie - Heart Of Glass (2)
Bob Marley & The Wailers - Get Up, Stand Up
Bronx, The - False Alarm
Chicago - 25 or 6 to 4
Cure, The - Just Like Heaven
David Bowie - Space Oddity (3)
Deep Purple - Smoke On The Water
Def Leppard - Foolin'
Devo - Whip It
Dio - Rainbow In The Dark
Dire Straits - Walk Of Life
Doors, The - Break On Through (To The Other Side) (4)
Dover - King George
Echo And The Bunnymen - Killing Moon
Elton John - Saturday Night's Alright (For Fighting) (5)
Faith No More - Midlife Crisis
Filter - Hey Man, Nice Shot
Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots Pt. 1
Foreigner - Cold As Ice
Golden Earring - Radar Love
HIM - Killing Loneliness
Huey Lewis And The News - The Power Of Love
Hypernova - Viva La Resistance
Ida Maria - Oh My God
INXS - Need You Tonight
James Brown - I Got You (I Feel Good) (6)
Jane's Addiction - Been Caught Stealing
Jimi Hendrix Experience, The - Crosstown Traffic
Joan Jett And The Blackhearts - I Love Rock 'N Roll
John Lennon - Imagine (7)
Juanes - Me Enamora
Lynyrd Skynyrd - Free Bird
Maná - Oye Mi Amor
Marilyn Manson - The Beautiful People
Metric - Combat Baby
Muffs, The - Outer Space
Night Ranger - Sister Christian
Ozzy Osbourne - Crazy Train
Paramore - Misery Business
Phish - Llama
Phoenix - Lasso
Police, The - Don't Stand So Close To Me
Poni Hoax - Antibodies
Pretty Girls Make Graves - Something Bigger, Something Brighter
Primus - Jerry Was A Race Car Driver
Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody
Queens Of The Stone Age - No One Knows
Rammstein - Du Hast
Ramones - I Wanna Be Sedated
Raveonettes - Last Dance
Rilo Kiley - Portions For Foxes
Riverboat Gamblers - Don't Bury Me... I'm Still Not Dead
Roxette - The Look
Slipknot - Before I Forget
Smash Mouth - Walkin' On The Sun
Smiths, The - Stop Me If You've Heard This One Before
Sounds, The - Living In America
Spacehog - In The Meantime
Steve Miller Band - Fly Like An Eagle
Stone Temple Pilots - Plush
Swingin' Utters - This Bastard's Life
T. Rex - 20th Century Boy
Tears For Fears - Everybody Wants To Rule The World
Tegan And Sara - The Con
Them Crooked Vultures - Dead End Friends
Tokio Hotel - Humanoid
Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers - I Need To Know *
Vines, The - Get Free
War - Low Rider
Warren Zevon - Werewolves Of London
White Stripes, The - The Hardest Button To Button
Whitesnake - Here I Go Again
Who, The - I Can See For Miles
Yes - Roundabout
(1) Okay, WHAT. Now, I do like this song and I do like Amy Winehouse (feel free to consider me officially discredited at that if you really must), but the simple fact is that Amy Winehouse has no place in Rock Band. Hell, she's not even rock so much as pop or blues/jazz. What, were they not gonna put her in Karaoke Star or Sing It or what?
(2) Nice to see some Blondie and Joan Jett, but I have to wonder why we keep ONLY using them when Janis Joplin and Linda Rondstadt and Janis Ian and Reiner Maria and Imogen Heap and even fucking Madonna haven't even been touched yet.
(3) As long as we FINALLY get fucking "Golden Years" as DLC then yes, I emphatically approve of this song.
(4) Again, as long as we get "Touch Me" (which owing to it's fucking killer organ solo and RB3 adding the Keyboard, REALLY NEEDS TO BE HERE), perfectly okay with this.
(5) ...So...so we finally have the Keyboard. And a large number of these songs are full band + keyboard oriented. And the ONE ELTON JOHN SONG THEY HAVE ON HERE (i.e. a guy who's vast career is centered AROUND THE PIANO) is the one that doesn't even emphasize it. Like seriously, no "I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues" or "Your Song" or "Honky Cat" or "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" or even "Crocodile Rock?" I mean, REALLY?
.
(6) Absolutely no complaints about us finally FINALLY getting some fucking Motown. Now I'm just hoping this leads to broader Motown DLC (Smokey Robinson? Marvin Gaye? Aretha Franklin? The Supremes? FUCK YES PLEASE)
(7) Okay, kinda the same problem as (1). Good song, but... why is it here? Seriously, of all Lennon's solo stuff this is about the least Rock Band-y song they could've picked.
So yeah, a handful of real standouts aside, this is unfortunately looking like not just the weakest overall RB setlist but also one that's taking the least advantage of its new instruments and gameplay improvements. And while it would probably be a worthwhile package based solely around an all-Queen setlist alone, we're still getting plenty of indie/foreign-language music which not enough people will know to justify the purchase OR won't actually be able to sing it (which is kind of the whole point of the 'band' format in the first place).
And that's ignoring the fact that we still haven't gotten to see anything from bands that would be perfect for Rock Band, such as:
-The Eagles
-The Band
-Los Lonely Boys
-Styx
-REO Speedwagon
-Flight of the Conchords (hey, if we can get the theme from "Portal" on here all bets are officially off)
-Billy Joel (SERIOUSLY, on a ROCK BAND with KEYBOARDS, WHY IS HE NOT ON HERE)
-U2 (not the modern stuff necessarily, but regardless of how you feel about Bono, U2 from 1980-1990 is pretty much pure gold)
-A BOB MARLEY SONG THAT WOULD FIT THIS SETUP BETTER THAN "GET UP STAND UP"
-Paul McCartney
-LED ZEPPELIN (Okay not gonna happen but still)
Granted, it will be compatible with ALL the previous songs both on disc and DLC (save a handful from RB1) along with interface/gameplay tweaks, and it IS making a tremendous effort to actually turn gamers into musicians, so I guess it's got some merit, and there's always the "replay favorite" factor that comes from playing songs you don't know over and over and over again.