Songs That Should Be in Rockband

Rockband is such a great game. It's ability to mix social interactivity (a great plus for cellar dwelling gamers) and music-esque ability has made it a fun game to play and a hit among gamers and casual players alike. Although the track list for the game is extensive and encompasses a broad array of genres, it could still use some more killer songs. Ideally this would be every song ever made ever. But that's really unfeasible and totally not realistic. So here's my list of the songs that I think should be on Rockband, in no particular order.

1) Highway to Hell by AC/DC. Really this should be every song by AC/DC, but the licenses for all those songs would be astronomical. Really that's the reason why a lot of songs on this list aren't in Rockband, because either the band's won't license the songs to the game's producers or they will but only at some exorbitant fee. This song has everything though. A strong guitar riff, crashing drums, and killer vocals. Of course so many AC/DC songs have that same formula with a great guitar riff (see: Back In Black) but this song makes it on to Rockband for the sheer fact that whoever is on vocals gets to belt out "I'm on the hiiiiiiiighway to HELL."

2) Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin. If I need to explain this, then you shouldn't be playing Rockband. Although Zeppelin almost never licenses out their music, (iTunes just got their music a few months ago) it's a crying shame that the greatest rock band isn't even in Rockband. Although not every song they have could be included due to the huge variety of instruments used by the band, there are still plenty of great songs to choose from. Although not my personal favorite Houses of the Holy this one still has it's merits. Great lyrics? Check. Rock-out sections? Check. Mellow melodies? Check. Great f*ckin guitar solo? CHECK. Get the Led out on Rockband? Check.

3) Hot for Teacher by Van Halen. I wanna see the drummer sweat. I know, I know you need a double pedal to do this right, but it still would be so great to see the drummer work his ass off to play this song. Thats not to say that the guitar part is a hum-drum part. And who doesn't want to be Diamond Dave? Hell, I'm doing flying kicks in the air right now. As with the previous bands on this list, there are so many songs to choose from, like Panama or even Pretty Woman (itself a cover of Roy Orbison which would be at least interesting to play). Sadly, I can only choose one song, so I've gotta go with this.

4) In the Air Tonight by Phil Collins. "But Andrew," you might say, "what the hell is with Phil Collins? Isn't that soft wuss-rock?" Probably. But I don't care. That's the great thing about Rockband. It can take on so many genres of music. Even Phil Collins. Yeah, this song is slow. Yeah, this song is sorta repetitive. Yeah, this song probably won't be played by a lot of people. But I'll play. This song is great because it just builds and builds and and finally has a huge payoff. Listen to this song at about 3:40. If those drums don't set you off then you don't have blood flowing in your veins. This song would suck on Guitar Hero. It would be alright on Karaoke Revolution. But the ability to play the drums on Rockband and actually rock out to this song make a necessary to have on the game. [Edit: This video should explain my reasoning. Skip to about 3 minutes in to see what I mean]

5) Welcome to the Jungle by Guns n' Roses. What's strange about this is that this song was being played in leaked demo videos for Rockband. Apparently, there's some sort of rights battle between Activision and Harmonix, the makers of Guitar Hero and Rockband. This song is a blast to play in GH3, and I really wanna see it in Rockband. We've had the opportunity to be Slash, now let us be Mr. Rose.

6) The Metallica Bundle by Metallica. Just get it already Ritchie.

7) Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen. The greatest of all anthem rock songs, Queen's epic song has to be included in Rockband. Everyone sings it anyway and everyone has their own version. Only now to we get to use computerized graphics and cues to tell us how bad we're doing when we're trying to emulate Freddie Mercury. We've always wanted to be like Wayne and Garth in the Gremlin, and not we finally get a chance to do so. This is no short song, but I'm pretty sure it would be one of the most played songs on Rockband just because it's such a fun, enjoyable song to perform.

8) Layla by Derek and the Dominos. I was debating between this song and Cocaine. This song has a much better riff though and I'd love to play it on guitar, real or otherwise. The only problem is the 40-minute piano solo in the middle of the song. I don't really know how this gets done. Maybe a keyboard peripheral? Or perhaps we just get the acoustic version. Either way, there are enough Clapton songs in the Guitar Hero series, so it's time they came to Rockband. Speaking of Clapton...

9) Any song by Jimi Hendrix. Yeah, yeah, yeah. This isn't Guitar Hero. I don't need guitar gods on here. But this isn't your list so I don't care. There aren't many songs by Hendrix or his experience that are heavy on vocals. That may make it a problem to create a song in Rockband. But the world needs more psychedelic rock. Jimi is only too happy to provide it. It's gonna be a lot of fun to play his guitar riffs, and although he doesn't have many lyrics, they're still interesting and a challenge to sing.

10) Feeling This by Blink-182. Blink-182 is actually a good band. Especially in their latter albums. They produced some really good songs, Feeling This being a prime example. The great thing about the band that transports to the game is that there are only three instruments in the band: guitar, bass, and drums. Because of this limitation in instruments, it means that each one comes in with greater strength then if there were several more instruments. That means that all instrument parts in this song are gonna be fun to play and contribute to the overall song. Not to mention that the vocals and lyrics to this song are interesting and diverse.

The thing with a lot of these songs is that it's not so much that the song should be included (it should) but the band is not even on the game. This needs to be fixed pronto. In addition to the songs included here, there are plenty of songs by bands that are already on Rockband that aren't included but should be.