Whats with the obscure Bowie songs?

[teh_roc]

Could you have choosen more obscure Bowie songs for DLC? I like Bowie, but I for one have NEVER heard of these songs you released. Quite frankly without a preview, I'm not downloading songs I've never heard.

A Bowie pack I would have put out would have been, Ziggy Stardust, China Girl, and I'm Afraid Of Americans. This pack would have covered the decades Bowie has been making music.

[Coldplayer]

You have never heard of HEROES?? That's probably the only Bowie song that I know. Or let's say, know "well". Great song, also the only one I will download from the Bowie songs.

[flrrb]

These aren't obscure at all.
Well, the only one I had never heard of was Queen *****.

I would have rather seen Rock and Roll Suicide. But, hey, ya can't always get what you want.

I was ecstatic that Moonage Daydream was in there. A roommate and I would sing that during college (in the 90s) after many ... libations.

[Transbrak]

moonag daydream and heroes arent obscure, queen ***** maybe a little

[Maggot_Brain]

moonag daydream and heroes arent obscure, queen ***** maybe a little

Great songs, all of them. I like the classic "glam" stuff with Mick Ronson on guitar the best......

[thetrout]

As others have noted, all three are fairly well-known Bowie tunes, and they're all awesome as well. So hooray for DLC!

[Bakkster]

I think a lot of people would have considered Ziggy Stardust an "obscure song" back before GH came out.

[phulcrum1984]

Moonage Daydream and Heroes obscure? Hardly. I'm a boarder line Bodie hater and I almost know both of those songs by heart...

[defmonkey]

Moonage Daydream and Queen ***** I heard for the first time when it was announced for dlc.

...Well I think I've heard Moonage Daydream, but Queen *****, I know I haven't heard of.

For stuff from Bowie, I was hoping for Ziggy Stardust, Rebel Rebel or Fame.

I'm gonna pass on the bowie pack for now. Might pick it up next week with the sabbath pack.

[whofan]

Come on people! Embrace the "obscure". The best tunes by an artist are often not their biggest hits.

Commercial success does not equal a good song. 99.99999% of the time the best work instrumentally does not succeed commercially due to its complexity.

Just look at the two more "obscure" choices in the Bowie pack here: "Queen *****" and "Moonage Daydream". (While I wouldn't have much of an arguement for calling "Moonage Daydream" obscure, it is less known than Heroes).

Both of these songs are more lyrically complex than "Heroes" (You're Squawking Like A Pink Monkey Bird) and requires you to think about what is being sung instead of feeding you the story like "Heroes" does. On top of this, both songs are much more musically complex than "Heroes". Heroes consists of a very consistent backbeat, with a few guitar parts over top (mostly consisting of a chord pattern and the held notes overtop (which, as a bit of trivia, were originally created using a vibrator)). Both "Queen *****" and "Moonage Daydream" have a similar set up, but more variety and complexity to them.

Regardless, I'm incredibly excited that they chose to avoid the Greatest Hits syndrome in releasing DLC (all of the choices are much better than the OPs suggestion of "China Girl" (incredibly simple song) and "I'm Afraid Of Americans"). This gives me hope that many more complex songs will be chosen over the same-old same-old. Don't get me wrong, I won't be complaining if they do release greatest hits from artists, I'm just gald they're not taking that route all the time

[logicalnoise]

they asked bowie what songs he'd be willing to put i the game and he just said, "only the ones where I sing lead vocals" They went from there,

[CableCarrier]

they asked bowie what songs he'd be willing to put i the game and he just said, "only the ones where I sing lead vocals" They went from there,

Isn't that...all of them?

[logicalnoise]

you don't correct bowie.

[riginal]

I only really know Heroes out of the bunch, but my girlfriend knows all three of those songs very well despite never owning a David Bowie album.

As far as previews, just do a search on YouTube. There were gameplay videos of the songs within a couple hours of the DLC posting. The vocals on the two covers are a little off, but shouldn't be a problem when you have a real person singing.

http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=bowie+rock+band

The pack would be purchased if I had any working instruments.

[Bullseye]

Come on people! Embrace the "obscure". The best tunes by an artist are often not their biggest hits.

Commercial success does not equal a good song. 99.99999% of the time the best work instrumentally does not succeed commercially due to its complexity.

Just look at the two more "obscure" choices in the Bowie pack here: "Queen *****" and "Moonage Daydream". (While I wouldn't have much of an arguement for calling "Moonage Daydream" obscure, it is less known than Heroes).

Both of these songs are more lyrically complex than "Heroes" (You're Squawking Like A Pink Monkey Bird) and requires you to think about what is being sung instead of feeding you the story like "Heroes" does. On top of this, both songs are much more musically complex than "Heroes". Heroes consists of a very consistent backbeat, with a few guitar parts over top (mostly consisting of a chord pattern and the held notes overtop (which, as a bit of trivia, were originally created using a vibrator)). Both "Queen *****" and "Moonage Daydream" have a similar set up, but more variety and complexity to them.

Regardless, I'm incredibly excited that they chose to avoid the Greatest Hits syndrome in releasing DLC (all of the choices are much better than the OPs suggestion of "China Girl" (incredibly simple song) and "I'm Afraid Of Americans"). This gives me hope that many more complex songs will be chosen over the same-old same-old. Don't get me wrong, I won't be complaining if they do release greatest hits from artists, I'm just gald they're not taking that route all the time

Says it all.

[Ultrace]

There is a slight pattern so far with some of the 3-pack downloads... One very well known song (Heroes, War Pigs, Synchronicity II, etc.) bookended with 2 lesser-known songs... Some obscure, some just less well-known (yeah, I know, Roxanne is hardly obscure.)

If I had to guess, this would be to let the company bank on the sales of some songs, while allowing people to experience some music they might not have otherwise had a chance at--a musician's viewpoint, not just a pure money-grabbing one. Sure, they could have put Message in a Bottle, Ziggy Stardust, and other bigger songs in the DLC and probably made more money in the short term, but they have a vision and they're sticking with it. So far their choices have been pretty good, so I'm willing to roll with the concept. :)

[Bakkster]

There is a slight pattern so far with some of the 3-pack downloads... One very well known song (Heroes, War Pigs, Synchronicity II, etc.) bookended with 2 lesser-known songs... Some obscure, some just less well-known (yeah, I know, Roxanne is hardly obscure.)

Wait, War Pigs and Syncronicity II are better known than NIB and Roxanne now? :confused:

Honestly, this is pretty much the same way they've done the song selections in the past. Some well known songs that are still interesting to play the whole way through, the rest are less well known but a blast to play.

[Insignificant_Other]

As much as I am in favor of using RB to explore fun-to-play but less well-known music by good artists, I think it is a mistake to take on much of the obscure this early in RB's life. What is going to sell this game is having us early adopters invite people to party with the game, and have people play to and sing along to the songs they all know and love. Then they will be like "I have GOT to get this game!" The install base will grow, and THEN the obscure stuff can start taking more of the DL share.

Sure, the base game comes with a lot of famous songs that will suck people in, but when they find out they can get their favorite stuff for download that could be the thing that tips the scale and gets them to buy (I have a friend who had no intention of buying RB, but after seeing the quality of the first week's DL songs, he started getting that glassy, all-my-resolve-is-slipping-away look in his eyes). If they see the selection of DL material and don't recognize most of it, that could be a turnoff. Just my opinion, of course.

[Bakkster]

I will stick to my guns: I don't think it's as obscure as you think it is. Heroes is definitely a well-known Bowie song. Add My Sharona, Roxanne, Bang a Gong, Fortunate Son, and Joker and the Thief and you have a well known song from pretty much every decade and genre.

I can understand your concern, though. I'll just wait to worry when the next batch of songs is all from Avant Garde prog-rock bands (other than Rush).

[chris3145]

They might not be incredibly obscure songs, but I don't think they are as well known as Changes, Space Oddity, Rebel Rebel, Ziggy Stardust, etc.

Also, Bowie did a lot of different styles of music, so songs of a certain flavor that seem well known to some might not be well known to others who don't listen to that style of music.

I know of Heroes because it's on a Best of Bowie album I own, but Moonage Daydream and Queen ***** are new to me. I'm confident they'll be good songs, because I've liked almost everything I've heard from Bowie.

[obersmith]

Fortunately my wife is a big Bowie fan, so I'm familiar with all three. Actually, Heroes is the one I'm least familiar with. But calling Moonage Daydream "obscure"? I wouldn't call any song off of "The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars" obscure.

[caslaw]

Could you have choosen more obscure Bowie songs for DLC? I like Bowie, but I for one have NEVER heard of these songs you released. Quite frankly without a preview, I'm not downloading songs I've never heard.

A Bowie pack I would have put out would have been, Ziggy Stardust, China Girl, and I'm Afraid Of Americans. This pack would have covered the decades Bowie has been making music.

I am glad that they picked Queen *****, it is one of my favorite Bowie songs. Moonage Daydream is off Bowie's legendary Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars album, Queen ***** is off of Hunky Dory, probably my personal favorite (although The Man Who Sold the World gives it a run for its money). Heroes is a very popular song, right up theere with Fame, Young Americans, etc.

Personally I think they selected a fairly braod range from his catalogue (we would all pick differents songs) and I thank God that they didn't just pick Ziggy Stardust, Let's Dance, etc. This is a balance between songs every rock fan should know, and songs that true Bowie fans would know. Isn't that what you would want from YOUR favorite band? Or would you jsut want the stuff that got radio play?

[caslaw]

Come on people! Embrace the "obscure". The best tunes by an artist are often not their biggest hits.

Commercial success does not equal a good song. 99.99999% of the time the best work instrumentally does not succeed commercially due to its complexity.

Just look at the two more "obscure" choices in the Bowie pack here: "Queen *****" and "Moonage Daydream". (While I wouldn't have much of an arguement for calling "Moonage Daydream" obscure, it is less known than Heroes).

Both of these songs are more lyrically complex than "Heroes" (You're Squawking Like A Pink Monkey Bird) and requires you to think about what is being sung instead of feeding you the story like "Heroes" does. On top of this, both songs are much more musically complex than "Heroes". Heroes consists of a very consistent backbeat, with a few guitar parts over top (mostly consisting of a chord pattern and the held notes overtop (which, as a bit of trivia, were originally created using a vibrator)). Both "Queen *****" and "Moonage Daydream" have a similar set up, but more variety and complexity to them.

Regardless, I'm incredibly excited that they chose to avoid the Greatest Hits syndrome in releasing DLC (all of the choices are much better than the OPs suggestion of "China Girl" (incredibly simple song) and "I'm Afraid Of Americans"). This gives me hope that many more complex songs will be chosen over the same-old same-old. Don't get me wrong, I won't be complaining if they do release greatest hits from artists, I'm just gald they're not taking that route all the time

Amen Brother. The truth shall set you free.

Here's hoping we get a Sugaree, Stella, Fire, or Morning Dew in the Grateful Dead pack!

[joeymg]

I'd (insert hyperbole of choice) for "Starman" and "Station to Station."

The Bowie pack is fantastic. Who the hell doesn't know "Heroes"??!? Ziggy Stardust is a desert island record for me, so it's pretty thrilling to see 2 tracks from it already show up in RB. I'd love to see the rest of it as album DLC.

[bench43]

Could you have choosen more obscure Bowie songs for DLC? I like Bowie, but I for one have NEVER heard of these songs you released. Quite frankly without a preview, I'm not downloading songs I've never heard.

A Bowie pack I would have put out would have been, Ziggy Stardust, China Girl, and I'm Afraid Of Americans. This pack would have covered the decades Bowie has been making music.

what about that whole middle ground where... You're an IDIOT!

[Ultrace]

Wait, War Pigs and Syncronicity II are better known than NIB and Roxanne now? :confused:

Honestly, this is pretty much the same way they've done the song selections in the past. Some well known songs that are still interesting to play the whole way through, the rest are less well known but a blast to play.
Exposure in GH2 and GH 80s has raised awareness of those two songs... Admittedly, Roxanne is probably more well-known than Synchronicity II. But you get my point from your aftercomment.

[mxmarks]

I always appreciated Bowie, but I can honestly credit GH1 with getting me as into (obsessed?) with him as I've become. I now proudly own most of his very extensive catalog. All 3 songs were great (Moonage Daydream was actually a wish of mine before RB announced a track list!)

If I had to pick another Bowie pack, I definatley would like FAME on there. I know its one of the 'hits', but its just such a darn great song. And my awesome music trivia fact of the day is that having FAME in Rock Band would give us a HINT of the Beatles, as Lennon sings the backing vox on the track.

The other 2 tracks would be tough to pick, but I would go with "Reality" (such a great guitar riff) and maybe even "Little Wonder", but the drums may be a tad too unrealistic. Its so easy to pick Bowie classics as almost all of them are great, but I would like to start to see the DLC reflect some other eras in his carrer if we're going to get more Bowie.

[J-Rock]

I would have liked Ziggy Stardust as well (I think the cover in GH is awesome with the guitar solo that isnt usually there). I would have liked better that Moonage Daydream (obscure? you don't know Bowie if you don't know Moonage Daydream) be on the disc than Suffragette City but still it's a good pack.

For the next pack though I want Ziggy Stardust, Modern Love, The Man Who Sold the World, Jean Genie and Rebel Rebel. Well maybe two more packs.

[The_Little_Buster]

Once again (I hate to sound like a broken record, but...) I feel that Moonage Daydream was a poor choice for the master, it really should've been the cover of the group since the outro solo Mick would perform for it live really made the song and gave it the highly regarded appeal as a guitar-oriented song.

I mean seriously compare this: http://youtube.com/watch?v=FVxTB93yRrE

to this: http://youtube.com/watch?v=p79JKclG-oc

It should be no contest on which is the better version.

Anyways for my picks I'd have to go with:

"The Width of A Circle":
http://youtube.com/watch?v=YLtnGUN6bdE
http://youtube.com/watch?v=TpI7RWRX2UA

"Time":
http://youtube.com/watch?v=nMCWPhbYzY0

and "Soul Love" (although the alternate version Stone Love would be even better):
http://youtube.com/watch?v=9TavVQKg0wM

[bklynpnk]

I am suprised more people do not know Queen *****. Heroes is probably my least favorite in the pack. If I was to pick some others I would like to see; life on mars, Lady Stardust would be high on the list, just because they are awesome songs to sing.

[Frederf]

I'm a big Bowie fan and I haven't even heard of Queen ***** or Moonage Daydream before. (Yeah, I'm expecting the 'how can you be a Bowie fan then?' line). Heroes is everywhere though, you can't swing a green/blue eye'd cat without hitting a Heroes cover.

Songs that are more prevalent than QB or MD:

Changes
Fame
Modern Love
Rebel Rebel
Space Oddity
Suffragette City
Ziggy Stardust

Not to say QB or MD are bad choice, but to call them right off the top of the list of Bowie songs is kinda... hard to agree with. Kinda like saying "Bicycle" is more well known as "Killer Queen"

[whofan]

If I had to pick another Bowie pack, I definatley would like FAME on there. I know its one of the 'hits', but its just such a darn great song. And my awesome music trivia fact of the day is that having FAME in Rock Band would give us a HINT of the Beatles, as Lennon sings the backing vox on the track.

Continuing with awesome music trivia of the day... Fame was also co-written by John Lennon.

Now you know, and knowing is half the battle!

GI JOE!!

OKay... sorry about that... you can tell I'm a child of the 80's

[whofan]

I'm a big Bowie fan and I haven't even heard of Queen ***** or Moonage Daydream before. (Yeah, I'm expecting the 'how can you be a Bowie fan then?' line). Heroes is everywhere though, you can't swing a green/blue eye'd cat without hitting a Heroes cover.

Songs that are more prevalent than QB or MD:

Changes
Fame
Modern Love
Rebel Rebel
Space Oddity
Suffragette City
Ziggy Stardust

Not to say QB or MD are bad choice, but to call them right off the top of the list of Bowie songs is kinda... hard to agree with. Kinda like saying "Bicycle" is more well known as "Killer Queen"
How can you be a Bowie fan and not know The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars?

Sorry man, but you MUST run out and grab a copy of this amazing album NOW. GO! Stop reading this and go!

Guaranteed you won't regret getting this album, it is THAT amazing

[mind_in_rewind]

I'm a big Bowie fan and I haven't even heard of Queen ***** or Moonage Daydream before. (Yeah, I'm expecting the 'how can you be a Bowie fan then?' line). Heroes is everywhere though, you can't swing a green/blue eye'd cat without hitting a Heroes cover.

Songs that are more prevalent than QB or MD:

Changes
Fame
Modern Love
Rebel Rebel
Space Oddity
Suffragette City
Ziggy Stardust

Not to say QB or MD are bad choice, but to call them right off the top of the list of Bowie songs is kinda... hard to agree with. Kinda like saying "Bicycle" is more well known as "Killer Queen"How can you be a Bowie fan then? Just kidding.

"Moonage Daydream" is on Ziggy Stardust, therefore it's fair game. Ziggy is arguably the most beloved Bowie Album.

"Queen *****"? I agree. Not a fan.

My top two choices for Bowie DLC (before it was announced) were "Moonage Daydream" and "Life on Mars". Man, "Life on Mars" would be fantastic, and it's popular, too!

[ibender]

I wouldn't call any song off of "The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars" obscure.

yes you are exactly correct sir. my top choice would have been Rock 'n' Roll Suicide.

[GrayInvisible]

I disliked Afraid of Americans. His 70s-early early 80s stuff was the best.

They need to release more Bowie Packs, and even albums. All of Ziggy Stardust, Diamond Dogs, and other albums would fit. In fact, I would like every Bowie Album from 1970-1982. He has a few decent newer songs, but they are not album worthy.

[bklynpnk]

Ziggy would be good but I'm a bigger fan of Hunky Dory *shrug*.

[King_Nuthin]

Queen ***** recently appeared in another EA title, skate.. I dunno if there's a connection but I actually like the song best out of the 3 in the pack. I'd have prefered something other than Heroes myself.

[DesiredFX]

I have a hard time believing anyone would want "China Girl" over any Bowie song from the 70s.

[WingsOfSteel]

Queen ***** is easily the best song for guitar in that pack.

Moonage Daydream is awesome to sing, and I doubt they could have picked a better Bowie song.

Heroes is okay, but I guess I just find it a bit over-played. I'd have prefered Starman or maybe something off of The Man Who Sold the World.

[Bullseye]

Just my observation on the DLC 3 packs. I think these are geared towards those that are fans of the artist. If you're a Bowie fan, you are going to appreciate all three. If you have merely heard of David Bowie because of what you hear on the radio, than here's your opportunity to try out some of his better stuff. As for the Police, if you actually like the band, you will realize that "Can't Stand Losing You" is one of their best (with Synchronicity II and Roxanne being radio favorites). And as far as the DLC albums they are planning, The Who - Who's Next is one of my all time favorites LPs, but hardly full of their best known material. I say kudos to EA/HMX for marketing DLC for music lovers not just quick cash-ins for the flavors of the month.

[jkilby99]

I like Bowie, but I for one have NEVER heard of these songs you released.

If you like Bowie and haven't heard of these songs, you need to hit iTunes or your local music store and pick more of his work. My favorite Bowie album is probably Low, but he is probably the ultimate musical chameleon (someone whose style constantly changes) and every Bowie fan probably has their own favorite album.