Rock Band is a 2007 music video game developed by Harmonix and distributed by MTV Games and Electronic Arts. The game is available for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, and Wii game consoles. Rock Band is based on Harmonix's previous success with the Guitar Hero series of video games in which players used a guitar-shaped controller to simulate playing rock music. Rock Band expands on the concept by adding a drum and microphone peripheral, allowing up to four players to participate in the game, playing lead and bass guitar, drums, and vocals. The gameplay in Rock Band is comparable to that in Guitar Hero along with elements from Harmonix's Karaoke Revolution.
Rock Band for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 2 and 3 shipped with 58 songs on disc, while the Wii version, released at a later date, contained 5 additional songs that were released as downloadable content for the game. The European version of the game also includes 9 additional songs that have since been released as downloadable content for other regions. The player can expand their music library on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions by purchasing new songs offered on a weekly basis through the consoles' respective store systems. A full list of downloadable songs is available. For the PlayStation 2 and Wii versions of Rock Band, Harmonix has created Rock Band Track Packs that contain a selection of the downloadable content already offered.
With Rock Band 2 and Rock Band 3, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 players can export a majority of songs from the Rock Band soundtrack to their console's storage device by purchasing a "transfer license". Additionally, certain songs rated as "Family Friendly" by Harmonix are playable in Lego Rock Band. "Enter Sandman", "Monsoon", "Paranoid" and "Run to the Hills" cannot be exported to any other game in the series. The original recording of "Run to the Hills" was made available as a downloadable single and also in Iron Maiden Pack 01 on June 9, 2009. While initially not exportable to Rock Band 3, "Black Hole Sun" and "Dani California" were made available via a patch released on November 8, 2011. On the European version, "Hier Kommt Alex" and "Rock 'n' Roll Star" can be exported to Rock Band 2 but not Rock Band 3. Exports of the Rock Band soundtrack (with the above exclusions) into Rock Band 4, for those that have already exported them into Rock Band 2 or 3, was enabled in January 2016.
Main setlist
Players can play Rock Band alone through a Career mode for lead guitar, drums, and vocals, earning in-game money for their character to purchase new outfits and instruments. Each of the 45 songs has a different difficulty ranking for each instrument part, as well as a total band difficulty. There are a total of nine difficulties, or tiers. In career mode each song in a tier must be successfully completed to move onto the next and unlock the songs in that tier. This tier system is also used for rating the difficulty of the song (the "Band" tier) and its separate instrumental parts for downloadable content even though the songs are not used to unlock new songs in career mode. Once songs are unlocked, they may be played in any mode, including Quickplay, and multiplayer (competitive and co-operative modes) off- or online. Each instrument part in each song can be played at one of four difficulty levels, which include Easy, Medium, Hard, and Expert.
Song titles listed in bold utilize master recordings.
Song title Artist Year Genre Exportable Family Friendly Rewind DLC"Are You Gonna Be My Girl"Jet 2003 Rock "Ballroom Blitz (Cover)"Sweet 1973 Glam "Black Hole Sun"Soundgarden 1994 Grunge "Blitzkrieg Bop"Ramones 1976 Punk "Celebrity Skin"Hole 1998 Pop/Rock "Cherub Rock"Smashing Pumpkins 1993 Alternative "Creep"Radiohead 1992 Alternative "Dani California"Red Hot Chili Peppers 2006 Alternative "Dead on Arrival"Fall Out Boy 2003 Pop/Rock "Detroit Rock City"Kiss 1976 Classic Rock "Don't Fear The Reaper(Don't Fear) The Reaper"Blue Öyster Cult 1976 Classic Rock "Electric Version"New PornographersThe New Pornographers 2003 Indie Rock "Enter Sandman"Metallica 1991 Metal "Epic"Faith No More 1989 Rock "Flirtin' with Disaster"Molly Hatchet 1979 Southern Rock "Foreplay/Long Time"Boston 1977 Classic Rock "Gimme Shelter"Rolling StonesThe Rolling Stones 1969 Classic Rock "Go with the Flow"Queens of the Stone Age 2002 Alternative "Green Grass and High Tides (Cover)" 1975 Southern Rock "Here It Goes Again"OK Go 2005 Pop/Rock "Highway Star"Deep Purple 1972 Classic Rock "I Think I'm Paranoid"Garbage 1998 Alternative "In Bloom"Nirvana 1991 Grunge "Learn to Fly"Foo Fighters 1999 Alternative "Main Offender"HivesThe Hives 2000 Punk "Maps"Yeah Yeah Yeahs 2003 Indie Rock "Mississippi Queen (Cover)"Mountain 1970 Southern Rock "Next to You"PoliceThe Police 1978 Rock "Orange Crush"R.E.M. 1988 Alternative "Paranoid (Cover)"Black Sabbath 1970 Metal "Reptilia"StrokesThe Strokes 2003 Rock "Run to the Hills (Cover)"Iron Maiden 1982 Metal Studio version available as regular DLC."Sabotage"Beastie Boys 1994 Rock "Say It Ain't So"Weezer 1994 Alternative "Should I Stay or Should I Go"ClashThe Clash 1982 Punk "Suffragette City"David Bowie 1972 Glam "The Hand That Feeds"Nine Inch Nails 2005 Rock "Tom Sawyer (Cover)"Rush 1981 Progressive Studio version available as regular DLC."Train Kept A-Rollin' (Cover)"Aerosmith 1974 Rock "Vasoline"Stone Temple Pilots 1994 Alternative "Wanted Dead or Alive"Bon Jovi 1986 Rock "Wave of Mutilation"Pixies 1989 Alternative "Welcome Home"Coheed and Cambria 2005 Progressive "When You Were Young"KillersThe Killers 2006 Alternative "Won't Get Fooled Again"WhoThe Who 1971 Classic Rock
Bonus songs
A total of 13 bonus songs can also be unlocked through the game's Career mode. The bonus setlist consists of bands formed by Harmonix employees as well as local bands from near Harmonix's headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts, or from Boston. The exceptions are Flyleaf, Crooked X, and Mother Hips. "Timmy and the Lords of the Underworld" comes from the titular fictional band featured in the comedy show South Park.
Song title Artist Decade Genre Family Friendly Rewind DLC"29 Fingers"KonksThe Konks 2000s Rock "Blood Doll"Anarchy Club 2000s Metal "Brainpower"Freezepop 2000s Pop/Rock "Can't Let Go"Death of the Cool 2000s Rock "Day Late, Dollar Short"The Acro-Brats 2000s Rock "I Get By"Honest Bob and the Factory to Dealer Incentives 2000s Indie Rock "I'm So Sick"Flyleaf 2000s Nu-Metal "Nightmare"Crooked X 2000s Rock "Outside"Tribe 1990s Rock "Pleasure (Pleasure)"Bang Camaro 2000s Rock "Seven"Vagiant 2000s Punk "Time We Had"Mother HipsThe Mother Hips 2000s Rock "Timmy and the Lords of the Underworld"Timmy and the Lords of the Underworld 2000s Rock
Wii version
The Wii version of Rock Band features 5 additional songs originally released as downloadable content on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game. Song title Artist Decade Genre Family Friendly"Dirty Little Secret" All American RejectsThe All-American Rejects 2000s Emo "Don't Look Back in Anger" Oasis 1990s Rock "Roam" B-52's The B-52's 1980s Pop/Rock "Rockaway Beach" Ramones 1970s Punk "Roxanne" PoliceThe Police 1970s Pop/Rock
European version
The European versions of Rock Band features nine additional songs not available on the North American disc. These bonus songs include English, German, and French vocals. These songs were released as downloadable content in the North American market on May 20, 2008. The European Wii version contains 14 additional songs compared to the launch versions due to containing both sets of extra songs.
Song title Artist Language Decade Genre Exportable Family Friendly "Beetlebum (Cover)" Blur English 1990s Alternative "Countdown to Insanity" H-Blockx English 2000s Rock "Hier Kommt Alex" Toten HosenDie Toten Hosen German 1980s Punk "Hysteria" Muse English 2000s Alternative "Manu Chao" WampasLes Wampas French 2000s Punk "Monsoon" Tokio Hotel English 2000s Glam "New Wave" Pleymo French 2000s Metal "Perfekte Welle" Juli German 2000s Rock "Rock 'n' Roll Star" Oasis English 1990s Rock
References