Rock Band DLC to hit 1000 tracks by holiday with help of Queen, Nirvana & Elton John

[DP ServBot]

Aside from announcing the first three Beatles albums to be released as DLC for upcoming tear-jerker The Beatles: Rock Band, MTV Games and Harmonix today revealed intentions to bring the Rock Band DLC count to 1,000 songs by this holiday. At the current rate Harmonix is releasing songs for the franchise -- without factoring in the Rock Band Network -- that's roughly 500 songs per year.

Additionally, the companies have revealed a number of the artists that will be contributing to the holiday goal, including Queen, Nirvana, Tom Petty, Elton John, Iggy Pop, The White Stripes, Pantera, Talking Heads, Korn, and The Raconteurs, as well as the ever elusive "and more." You can always find out what new tracks are coming to Rock Band as DLC (and what's on the way) by using our Rock Band Weekly feature.
Gallery: Rock Band 2

Rock Band DLC to hit 1000 tracks by holiday with help of Queen, Nirvana & Elton John originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 19 Aug 2009 20:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.



Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

More...

[PapaStu]

I approved this soley for Perkar. The man must own almost all of them.

[Dangerboy]

Too bad it's not an alternate Universe. 1000 new DCL for Rock Revolution would have killed him - achievement wise.

[CelticJobber]

For the new Nirvana DLC I hope they put some "In Utero" or "Unplugged" Nirvana tracks instead of the rest of Nevermind. Also glad to see we're finally getting some Pantera tracks.

[Cobra Commander]

I haven't bought any Nirvana strictly because they haven't released Teen Spirit or Lithium. WTF is up with that anyway?
Anyway, as excited as I am about Tom Petty and Queen and Iggy, I'm actually more excited about the mouthwatering Sub Pop catalogue.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

Still no They Might Be Giants.

The FIRST band to commercially release an album exclusively in MP3 download format, technological rock pioneers ... you'd think they'd be a perfect fit for Rock Band.

[PapaStu]

TMBG stuff is more about the singing than the 'playing' so thats why I don't think its made it into Rock Band. Their use of synth's and other non RB instruments probably doesn't help much either. How am I going to play Particle Man (ACCORDIAN SOLO!!!) and Istanbul or Constantapole?

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

TMBG stuff is more about the singing than the 'playing' so thats why I don't think its made it into Rock Band. Their use of synth's and other non RB instruments probably doesn't help much either. How am I going to play Particle Man (ACCORDIAN SOLO!!!) and Istanbul or Constantapole?

Understandable apprehension about TMBG, but any TMBG fan knows that the past 10+ years of their work has been full-band (lead & rhythm guitars, real drums, etc.) and has had a very straightforward rock vibe (or at least enough songs per album to fit the bill).

Also, there are plenty of songs on Rock Band that have synth or other instruments mapped to the guitar where unavoidable.

[Borman]

Remember, there is the new Rock Band Network thing coming, so bands that may not have been able to have the tracks done 'professionally' by Harmonix themselves now have another option.

[PapaStu]

Understandable apprehension about TMBG, but any TMBG fan knows that the past 10+ years of their work has been full-band (lead & rhythm guitars, real drums, etc.) and has had a very straightforward rock vibe (or at least enough songs per album to fit the bill).

True, but a big portion of their last 7 years of material has also been their Childrens music. No!, Here Come the ABC's, Here Come the 123's and Here Comes Science. Those really wouldn't go over all that well in the RB store me thinks.

Their band stuff hasn't gotten nearly the love or recognition for their non childrens music since they've done the move. Not that Harmonix doesn't find lesser known bands (yes TMBG are known, but not to listeners of most mainstream music right now) and throw them into their games. I'd have never heard of Freeze Pop w/o their Frequency introduction, and there are a big bunch of one off bands in both RB and RB2.

Their innovation with the net and technology could work in their favor should they choose to use the Music Development kit that is in the works that would allow bands to get their music put into RB on their own, w/o having to go through Harmonix ect.

[GrandAmChandler]

/me is still waiting for Dire Straits.

[Nebagram]

Yay Queen. Now just release a laaaaaaaaarge Feeder track pack and I'll never need to buy another rhythm game.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

Well, TMBG or no, I'm very satisfied with the recent Iron Maiden track pack. Harmonix has delivered the goods on many levels in Rock Band. Looking forward to the upcoming dev tools and the flood of music that may bring.

[Nirvana]

Sliver by Nirvana is a must.

But more Nirvana is always a good thing

[garagesaleking!!]

while rock band has added many goods songs to the dl library, i still feel they need more variety, they often release songs each week from the same artists again and again, some of the songs are not even good ones from a certain artists. I saw that they released an eve 6 song this past week, thats awesome, but i would rather have 2 or 3 eve 6 songs than tons of songs from spinal tap or guns n roses.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

while rock band has added many goods songs to the dl library, i still feel they need more variety, they often release songs each week from the same artists again and again, some of the songs are not even good ones from a certain artists. I saw that they released an eve 6 song this past week, thats awesome, but i would rather have 2 or 3 eve 6 songs than tons of songs from spinal tap or guns n roses.

While I'm sure they generally have things planned out/scheduled very far in advance, it's tough from a business standpoint to argue against lots of releases from high-profile artists like Guns N' Roses in favor of "variety" simply because the high-profile stuff will sell.

The Spinal Tap releases were close together but reflect the recent anniversary of the band and the subsequent release of a new album.

I think the forthcoming band dev kit and "store" will keep things healthy in terms of a more interesting variety of content.

[Cobra Commander]

while rock band has added many goods songs to the dl library, i still feel they need more variety, they often release songs each week from the same artists again and again, some of the songs are not even good ones from a certain artists. I saw that they released an eve 6 song this past week, thats awesome, but i would rather have 2 or 3 eve 6 songs than tons of songs from spinal tap or guns n roses.

I don't know, they just released Blind Melon, Janis, Dropkick Murphys, Gorillaz and Foo Fighters. Next week is Tom Petty, Billy Idol and Fleetwod Mac.
If that ain't variety, I don't know what is.