On Performance Arts

I find that, when one is attempting to move house, everything else kind of gets kicked to the wayside as stress levels mount and all you can think about is how much crap you've accumulated over your lifetime. Seriously. How much stuff could I possibly need? And yet I appear to have kept items that I probably will never find a use for (including a very old Soda Stream, and a 180cm diameter table - would you like a very large table that possibly originally functioned in a Chinese restaurant? You'll have to organise pick up, but you can have it...)

Besides the blog, there have been a couple of other things that have been neglected since I started this whole "moving" process. One of the biggest, for me, and possibly for the rest of the group as well, was the ritualistic playing of Rock Band. Seriously - I didn't realise just how much I'd missed bashing away at a plastic guitar, and blasting out off-key lyrics to a song I only half know, until I picked it up again the other day. Since we last played, there have been a couple of songs added to the library that I quite enjoy (recently including Fleetwood Mac, which I am over the moon about) however it struck me that there are some songs that just feel like they're...missing.

People who play Rock Band as habitually as myself, and the rest of my little gang, would be well aware of the thoughts that enter your head as you listen to music that you know from the game - mostly involving "air-playing" with pretend Rock Band instruments, and moving your fingers in a pattern long ingrained into muscle memory. There is, however, a second class of though that occurs when you listen to music that is not included in the game - music of grand proportions, with spectacular guitar parts, blasting bass, smashing drums, kick-arse keyboard, or powerful vocals. Everybody who plays has had the thought. "This song should be in Rock Band." Everybody who plays has had the thought, but how many people actually do anything about it?

To this end, I have taken it upon myself to compile a short list of songs that I am entitling "Tiger's Pack", about which I will petition Harmonix themselves, as well as the recording artists (or as close as I can get to them) as possible. I shall endeavour to get these songs in the game, either as "Official Releases" or as "Rock Band Network" tracks, and then...then...if I am successful...I shall play them. And lo, it shall seriously rock my socks off. So today I thought I'd give you a small look at "Tiger's Pack", and give you the opportunity to perhaps add your own songs to it to...We could create the One Hundred Hundreds pack!!

Song #1

Title: Invincible

As Sung By: Muse

I want this song in Rock Band because it just makes me feel so good about myself - it's great to sing along to, and I can see if being great fun for the rest of the instruments as well - if not quite challenging for some of them! It's got great lyrical content, it has a brilliant vibe to it in terms of overall feel...and...well...it rocks.

Song #2

Title: You'll Be In My Heart

As Sung By: Phil Collins

This song, although from a Disney film (or perhaps because it is from a Disney film...) is really really powerful. There are some songs that I listen to on my PC, with friends around, where everybody sings along, and this is definitely one of them. It has a great drum part, you could probably do the strings on the keyboard, and you could get a really good harmony going with the singers.

Song #3

Title: Threshold

As Sung By: Sex Bob-Omb

The second my friends and I saw Scott Pilgrim, we knew that the Sex Bob-Omb songs had to be added to Rock-Band. Unfortunately, Beck is really really hard to contact, so I've settled for Bryan Lee O'Malley instead (okay, settled sounds really harsh there - it's just that I don't think he has any rights to the music...) This is probably the song I'm holding out for the most. Seriously guys. I'm in lesbians with this song.

Song #4

Title: Not A Love Song

As Sung By: Uh Huh Her

A great drum beat, biting lyrics, and a great combination of guitar riff and synthesizer. Rock Band is missing out on Synth-Pop and, given that it has Spongebob Arsing Squarepants on its tracklist, I really think they could afford to add some for us.

  

Song #5

Title: Oh My God

As Sung By: Kaiser Chiefs

 There are already some Kaiser Chiefs songs on Rock Band, but my favourite song of theirs of all time would have to be this one. It would be an excellent song for keyboard, the vocal part provides a good opportunity for some harmony, and it's just basically a really fun song to sing. Come on Kaiser Chiefs - make me happy.

Song #6

Title: The Distance

As Sung By: CAKE

 Listen to that bass-line. How could you not want a song like this in RockBand, really? I mean, there are other CAKE songs that rock pretty damned hard, but if I can only pick one then it would definitely have to be "The Distance" - I mean, I'd like their version of "Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps" but it's hardly appropriate for RockBand, given that it's mostly trumpet...And "The Distance" is so fun to sing, and the bass...oh the bass...

Song #7
Title: Starlight
As Sung By: The Superman Lovers

I'm finding it difficult to describe why I want these songs in new and interesting ways, but I'm pretty sure that this line from the email I sent to The Supermen Lovers sums it up nicely: "I'm writing because RockBand has a distinct lack of awesome house tracks that contain brilliant baselines, sweet drum-tracks, brilliant vocals, and almost pornographic guitar riffs.
Of course, there is one song that could quite easily satisfy this gap - "Starlight"."