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November 27, 2007

David Bowie DLC

David Bowie—“Moonage Daydream”
“I’ll be a rock and rolling bitch for you,” Bowie announced at the start of this tune; thus fuelling his sexually ambiguous image in the early 70’s. Of course, it was the character Ziggy Stardust talking, not Bowie himself, but at the time it was hard to tell the difference.

David Bowie—“Queen Bitch”

Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
This one sure got peoples’ attention when it came out on Bowie’s breakthrough album, “Hunky Dory.” The back cover showed Bowie looking fetching in a cocktail dress. And in this song, David hits a person of indeterminate gender with his purse. All of which created a wide mystique around Bowie as the first gay rock star. In fact, Bowie’s always been pretty much heterosexual (and as legend has it, very actively heterosexual, at least until his marriage). But he knows a good concept when he sees one, and this song was the bridge between Bowie’s folkie past and the flamboyance of his Ziggy Stardust era. Bowie was seeing New York for the first time, and this tune shows his fascination with the subcultures that his hero Lou Reed was writing about. One of the only rock’n’roll songs on Hunky Dory, it sports the layered electric and acoustic guitars that became an early Bowie trademark. Give a cheer for the late, great Mick Ronson who played the electric.

David Bowie—“Heroes”
The late 70s “Berlin era” was one of the more intriguing parts of David Bowie’s history: Taking a break from his rock-star circles, he holed up in Germany, produced two albums for the drug-addled Iggy Pop and reportedly did copious amounts of cocaine himself (a fictionalized version of this tale turned up in the movie “Velvet Goldmine”). Yet Bowie was hardly too wasted to work, and his albums from this period are his most radical. Working with art-rockers Brian Eno and Robert Fripp, Bowie got into icy soundscapes, free-associative lyrics and lengthy instrumental passages.

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“I Want My, I Want My DLC!”
The songs in Rock Band are only the beginning. Each week we’ll be rolling out more downloadable songs, essential tracks (and sometimes whole albums) from every era of rock history. Check the Rock Band website to find out what’s new.

Tracks will usually sell for $1.99 each; with three-pack specials costing $5.49. (On the Xbox 360, that’s 160 Microsoft Points per track and 440 per three-pack). Occasional special or discounted tracks may cost a dollar more or less.

Downloadable content for the Xbox 360 is available through the XBOX LIVE marketplace. Downloads for the PLAYSTATION 3 version of Rock Band are available through the PLAYSTATION Network Store. In each case, the songs are downloaded onto your hard drive.

If you’re playing solo, you can start rocking right away. For head-to-head or multiplayer online, all players will need to download the song.