Everything to Know About the 591 Songs Featured in the Rock Band Catalog
by NickSmith
After getting word that the long rumored The Beatles: Rock Band game would be officially coming later this year we turned our attention to the existing Rock Band music. There have been two versions of the game released in Rock Band and Rock Band 2 as well as track packs full of music and hundreds of songs via DLC.
As of our research, the official tally of playable music in the Rock Band catalog is 591 songs. We wanted to take a look at this list and see what we can tell about the songs they have chosen to include so far. We took time to make graphs to show some of the data compared by genre, decade, source, and more. Some of what we found is a little surprising.
Both Xbox Live and Playstation Network are releasing new music at the same frequency and within days of each other. The Wii has been playing catch up after getting a late start on downloadable content. The developers vow to get the Wii caught up and has been delivering weekly DLC updates of back material as well as some of the new music the other platforms are getting.
Right now, the Wii has 27% of the DLC music as the other two systems. That is 118 songs that have been made available so far.
Most of the music in the catalog are the master recordings from the original artists as they recorded them in the studio. We count 28 songs listed as "cover versions", or by artists other than the original but in their style. We also counted 22 songs that were recorded live by the original artists at performances rather than in the studio.
The graph shows that the music is heavily dominated by rock, not surprising considering the title of the game. There are nearly as many alternative tracks and a decent amount of metal and classic rock.
Almost 40% of the music that is playable is from the last 9 years, which is about the same amount as the music from the 80's and 90's combined.
While we are not willing to remove Kim Kardashian or Megan Fox from the list, we are willing to accept that in the case of Rock Band, the game is very easy on a whole.
How Difficult are the Songs?
The graph above* shows the "easy" songs versus the "hard" songs. We took the difficulty of the tracks and divided them into those two general distinctions. All of the songs that had 0 to 3 stars of difficulty were lumped together as "easy" while all songs with 4 or 5 stars plus the ones labeled "devilish" were classified as "hard".
30 songs of mixed difficulty are being used in the Rock Band competition being held at Harrah's casinos for the opportunity to win $10,000 and the chance to open up for the B-52's. It was unlikely they would be using the "devilish" songs after glancing at the graph below.
When looking at each of the levels of difficulty another pattern emerges. The amount of songs decreases as the difficulty increases. There are several songs that do not even rank one star on the difficulty meter. The songs labeled as 6X on the graph are the ones considered "devilish" and only make up around 3% of the total songs. There is no surprise that the contest features some of the easier songs, otherwise a large bulk of the players would likely be unable to enter.
The official RockBand.com website has a list of all of the songs and more information about the game.
*Thanks for those writing in to tell me I switched the graph data on the easy vs hard, it was late and I missed it.
As of our research, the official tally of playable music in the Rock Band catalog is 591 songs. We wanted to take a look at this list and see what we can tell about the songs they have chosen to include so far. We took time to make graphs to show some of the data compared by genre, decade, source, and more. Some of what we found is a little surprising.
Where is the Music From?
One of the best features of Rock Band has been the compatibility of the purchased music. Both standalone games came packed with music and there have been three volumes of track packs, including one devoted entirely to AC/DC. The bulk of the music however has clearly been made available via download as either singles or full albums.Both Xbox Live and Playstation Network are releasing new music at the same frequency and within days of each other. The Wii has been playing catch up after getting a late start on downloadable content. The developers vow to get the Wii caught up and has been delivering weekly DLC updates of back material as well as some of the new music the other platforms are getting.
Right now, the Wii has 27% of the DLC music as the other two systems. That is 118 songs that have been made available so far.
What Kind of Music is in this Catalog?
There are 17 genres represented in the catalog so far. It is worth pointing out that none of those include any hip-hop music, live band or otherwise. RB has dabbled in other music types like blues and country, along with the several different types of rock and metal music genres. This looks to be changing with at least some music coming from Snoop Dogg at some point down the road.Most of the music in the catalog are the master recordings from the original artists as they recorded them in the studio. We count 28 songs listed as "cover versions", or by artists other than the original but in their style. We also counted 22 songs that were recorded live by the original artists at performances rather than in the studio.
The graph shows that the music is heavily dominated by rock, not surprising considering the title of the game. There are nearly as many alternative tracks and a decent amount of metal and classic rock.
What Decades Feature the Most Music?
RB has music dating back to the 1960's and from each decade since. There is an obvious pattern shown in this graph. Most of the music is from this decade and the least is from the 1960's. The pattern is that each decade has more music than the decade before it.Almost 40% of the music that is playable is from the last 9 years, which is about the same amount as the music from the 80's and 90's combined.
Are There More Easy or Difficult Songs?
When we put together our list of the "22 Hottest Celebrity Women that Play Video Games" we got many comments around the internet that discounted the women that played Guitar Hero or Rock Band. Many claimed that these games do not count as real games, some cited the fact that they are too easy to play.While we are not willing to remove Kim Kardashian or Megan Fox from the list, we are willing to accept that in the case of Rock Band, the game is very easy on a whole.
How Difficult are the Songs?
The graph above* shows the "easy" songs versus the "hard" songs. We took the difficulty of the tracks and divided them into those two general distinctions. All of the songs that had 0 to 3 stars of difficulty were lumped together as "easy" while all songs with 4 or 5 stars plus the ones labeled "devilish" were classified as "hard".30 songs of mixed difficulty are being used in the Rock Band competition being held at Harrah's casinos for the opportunity to win $10,000 and the chance to open up for the B-52's. It was unlikely they would be using the "devilish" songs after glancing at the graph below.
When looking at each of the levels of difficulty another pattern emerges. The amount of songs decreases as the difficulty increases. There are several songs that do not even rank one star on the difficulty meter. The songs labeled as 6X on the graph are the ones considered "devilish" and only make up around 3% of the total songs. There is no surprise that the contest features some of the easier songs, otherwise a large bulk of the players would likely be unable to enter.
The official RockBand.com website has a list of all of the songs and more information about the game.
*Thanks for those writing in to tell me I switched the graph data on the easy vs hard, it was late and I missed it.
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