With every music game there are bands everyone wants in. Over the years the knowledge has spread about which bands are possible and which aren’t, but with Rocksmith it’s a whole new spectrum of players that are unfamiliar with the reasons why we can’t have a certain band or artist. This article will help to explain speculative reasons why these highly requested bands won’t be on your Rocksmith disc anytime soon.
Also please remember that we still don’t understand how Music Licensing works and if you think you do, you probably don’t.
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin is a band everyone wants in their favourite music game. Jimmy Page has been vehemently opposed to the idea for a few reasons: He doesn’t want to hand the master tapes over. and he generally doesn’t like music games. Of course both those things are slightly “non issues” with Rocksmith, but nonetheless there has been no evidence that Jimmy will change his mind on this anytime soon.
Pink Floyd
While there has never been much open discussion on why exactly Pink Floyd hasn’t appeared in any video game yet, Nick Mason (drummer) wasn’t thrilled about the idea of their music being experienced through plastic guitars. Since 2009 there has been no sign of any progress being made on this. Also you’d have to imagine a pretty hefty price tag to lock in a song like Time or Comfortably Numb.
Metallica
Guitar Hero: Metallica was released in 2009, since then there has been no other Metallica songs released for any other music game. Relicensed, yes, but no new content. As some people may remember in 2010 with the release of Guitar Hero Warriors of Rock all the Metallica songs were relicensed for export into GH5, Band Hero, and Warriors of Rock. This suggests that the exclusivity contract was extended and in my mind, has been confirmed by the appearance of Metallica at various Activision events and recently them being characters in Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD.
The Beatles
Harmonix released The Beatles: Rock Band in 2009. No tracks from the game export, there has been no DLC released for the platform since December of 2009 (or if you are on PS3 April 2010). There will never be another music game that has their music. Fight me.
Guns N’ Roses
Axl Rose and Slash do not get along. Now that we understand that, you should know nothing angers Axl Rose more than Slash’s old band Velvet Revolver. Slither is a track on disc for Rocksmith. There will never be Guns N’ Roses on Rocksmith.
Jimi Hendrix
AC/DC
While things have changed this year, AC/DC’s only Music DLC release was through a separate disc that was exportable. These songs to this day have not appeared via the music store nor did “Let There Be Rock” export from Rock Band 2. Out of all the bands so far, AC/DC is definitely one of the more likely ones to show up in the future.
Green Day
Harmonix released Green Day: Rock Band, in 2010. The game exported completely on launch and recently one of their newest singles “Oh Love” was released for download. Following that, the entire on disc setlist was relicensed for digital download via the music store. It seems unlikely that Green Day’s music will ever appear outside of that platform.
Journey
Despite a wonderful story about meeting members of the band on a flight, Journey’s inclusion in Rocksmith seems very unlikely. Harmonix was unable to export Anyway You Want It, and since then have only had one other appearance of Journey through their music store. Don’t Stop Believing. Problems seem to stem from their original vocalist, Steve Perry being unwilling to co-operate with the other members of the band. If Journey ever does appear in Rocksmith, chances are it will be one of those two songs.
The Who
Another supposed Harmonix Exclusive band, but you never know.
Eagles
Other than their inclusion in Guitar Hero World Tour and the three DLC songs that followed we haven’t seen anything from the Eagles since.
Aerosmith
As far as we know are still under contract with Activision. Last appearance of their music being Cryin in Guitar Hero Warriors of Rock.
Van Halen
I just assume that the general reviews, response, and way Guitar Hero: Van Halen was handled soured the band on music games for the foreseeable future. Also could be still under contact with Activision.
Prince
The man doesn’t like technology. Don’t hold your breath
Bands with Weird Tunings
At this time Rocksmith only supports the following tunings: Standard, Drop D, Eb, and Open G. While this could change in the future the developers have stated that tunings like “Drop C,” for instance, don’t register too well with their software. So sorry Sunn O))) fans, we won’t see them on here anytime soon.
Rocksmith UK
The band that filed an injunction against Ubisoft for stealing their name will never end up on Rocksmith, but it seems as though they will be appearing in a different game.
NOPE
While all these bands unwillingness to participate may discourage and anger you, take solace in the fact that there are many, many other bands that would love to appear on Rocksmith and will be just as enjoyable to play and learn from.
If you’d like a band to appear in Rocksmith be sure to register and fill out the form.
What about Rage Against the Machine?
http://theherofeed.com/3002/oxm-reveals-new-artists-for-rocksmith/
Fingers crossed for Sepultura, Slayer and Rammstein then!!
(Oh, and Deftones)
(and Foo Fighters)
(and Smashing Pumpkins)
(and Coheed and Cambria)
I think Rammstein would be welcome, since they have some pretty good songs in Drop D, but bands like Deftones… It’s unlikely. They have been constantly downtuning since their first records. Stef even plays with an eight-string now (whose tuning almost reaches a standard bass tuning).
I would love if they could get Mastodon (which has lots of awesome songs on Standard D – which I think would be no harder than Drop D to be read by the software) or Opeth (Since they got lots of killer songs on Standard and Drop D) in there. I would totally buy any DLC from these bands right away.
Let’s see some Clutch!!!
Hells Yeah! I’ve been begging for Clutch since before the game released.
Man, Rocksmith UK’s website has got to be one of the most violently terrible things my eyes have ever had the misfortune of looking at.
Also, for Guns N’ Roses, it should also be noted that Slash is “master guitar instructor” for BandFuse, so they might have Slash exclusive now.
Correct, but no offense to Slash but his solo music isn’t high up on the request list from what I’ve observed.
>Lowercase “nope” >classic Elliot.
Also, it’s not “The Eagles”. It’s just Eagles. Not even Activision could get that right.
You hate Elliot?
you can’t spell my name
We’ve always heard that GNR would never come to rock band (the real GNR not that chinese democracy bs). As court documents have stated in the past the GNR Partnership is shared between Axl, Duff and Slash so any approval to have GNR’s music into rock band would need consent from all three members. I don’t know why harmonix can’t include their music in Rock Band. Chinese democracy came to the game and paradise city was licensed to burnout paradise without incident.
I think you just answered your own question
i feel optamistic about future acdc tracks coming to rocksmith.
How about summer of 69 by bryan adam. I hear some going ehhhhhhhh.
But classic and fun to learn.
Any news on confirmed dlc guys
Nickelback next week.
Burn It to the Ground
How You Remind Me
Third song will be revealed next Tuesday
I’m wrong. It’s Bottoms Up, not Burn It to the Ground.
Any chance of rage against the machine? Maybe for Jack White projects.
I have read somewhere that Angus Young doesn’t want fans to listen to just one or two AC/DC songs. He thinks the hole album should be listened to (like there all some kind of concept albums). So, unless rocksmith releases a dirty deeds pack featuring all nine songs, they wont do it.
That was one of the obvious reasons but as you’ll see if you click that link in the AC/DC paragraph, their entire catalogue is available on iTunes, and yes, you can buy singles.
You know guys, this isn’t a thread to request certain DLC.
What about Phish?
I hope so.
Ok, but how about the songs from the bands that are already on Rocksmith? We have Deep Purple. We have Blue Oyster Cult. Where are the Highway Star and Burnin’ For You?
Not in Rocksmith yet?
How about more songs from Radiohead? with all arrangements?
…that would be coooooool
In addition to licensing issues with Metallica, they often fall under the “weird tunings” category as well. In recordings, they’re songs are generally tuned a quarter-step down, halfway between E standard and Eb. Live, they generally play in Eb. We’ve seen Eb in bass (Song 2), but never in guitar. This could also possibly explain why a lot of old hair metal bands (Motley Crue, Def Leppard, etc) haven’t appeared in the game yet despite lots of requests and what seems like relatively little licensing trouble (no obvious exclusivity agreements, etc).
Good point. We already have seen a song that was pitch shifted to match the tuning restrictions Rocksmith has (Mississippi Queen).
It seems I calmed down the YouTube comments by referring to this article. So far, it’s currently the highest comment on the Nickelback video (U.S. Trailer) with 7 thumbs up.
Does anyone know whether or not Foo Fighters will ever appear on Rocksmith?
We might find the answer to that question in a few hours
Taken from http://www.ubi.com/UK/Games/Info.aspx?pId=11147
“… Rocksmith has amassed an amazing library of songs from different music genres allowing players to experience those moments first hand. Whether you like classic rock bands such as The Rolling Stones, The Cure, Lynrd Skynrd or if you’re more into current chart-toppers such as The Strokes, Muse, Radiohead and The Foo Fighters, we have you covered. And with our growing tracklist from metal to indie rock available for download, you will always find a song that suits your mood.!”
Lies! I do not see any Foo Fighters songs!
That will change next week…
Okay…..but lots of other great bands exist: Iron Maiden, Grateful Dead, Frank Zappa, Steely Dan, Dave Mathews Band, Alice In Chains, Black Sabbath, Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, Jefferson Airplane, Moody Blues, Cream, Cheap Trick, Allman Brothers, Deep Purple, The Clash, Oasis, Santana, The Ramones, Bad Religion……! These bands are ALL more appealing than the Black Keys, Queens of the Stone Age, the Killers, etc.
You raise a good point, other music does exist and musical opinions tend to vary!
Appealing? Yes. More appealing than Black Keys and QotSA? Well, everyone’s entitled to their opinions I suppose!
What about Chicago? Hendrix even said that Terry Kath is a better guitarist then him.
Yeah that’s a great story. Chicago is definitely a possible band for Rocksmith though
All we have to do is wait till the copyrights expire for these bands’ songs and by then computers will be able to sort out the different tracks so no master tapes will be necessary.
MT
the bands id like to see are: sonic youth (i know it is unlikely with the weird tunings), the victims (australlian punk band, check out televsion addict great song!), my bloody valentine (songs like only shallow, loomer, sometimes, and feed me with your kiss), dinosaur jr (if they put the whole album “your living all over me” up for dlc, i would buy it in a heart beat), black flag (nervous break down and wasted would be cool!), the clean (really cool UK post punk band, songs like point that thing somewhere else and fish) , scratch acid (cannibal and for crying out loud would be the best!), wipers (D-7 and and return of the rat, classics), and the new band a place to bury strangers (songs like in your heart would be perfect!)
Did I say to make requests?
I’m keeping my fingers crossed here….How about Ozzy osbourne?????
Did I say to make requests?
The one band that beats all others listed in the comments section is Black Sabbath and should be considered just like Led Zeppelin, The Beatles,The Doors, and Pink Floyd.
Black Sabbath is possible.