Weird Al - Pick a three pack

[samjjones]

Well, it's different when the person I'm (and many others are) voicing their opinion to is 100% tuning us out. It just surprises me why anyone would think these songs would be best suited. Yes, CNR is kinda funny after you listen to it a bunch, but as far as playability goes...?

And then there is the sheer contrast between that and, say "Why Does This Always Happen To Me", "Virus Alert", and many other Weird Al songs that are not only hilarious, but sound really good, AND have multiple instrument solos in them.

Like, how can you not include anything like that? Certain Weird Al songs were practically built for Rock Band, and none of them were included.

All due respect...you're one of tens of thousands of Rock Band players in this community. This initiative "has" to engage/appeal to the masses. It won't work by appealing to the few...unless the few is Alex R. or somebody else with deep pockets. TAG has apparently been thinking about this for a few years now. I'm sure they've given it a great deal of thought, and consulted with people smarter than any of us.

There could be other stuff at play. Perhaps the other songs you prefer have unusable/missing masters. Perhaps there's other licensing stuff going on. We don't know, and quite frankly, it would be irresponsible to make all of that stuff public knowledge.

Again, not saying you're wrong in terms of song choice, but let the project manager manage the project for a bit before s-canning it. I'm pretty sure we all want this to work and be wildly successful. Even HMX, who can't say that publicly.

[RM-225]

I did some more research...

I always figured that Weird Al was very much in control of the publishing rights to his music; and in the case of his originals, he mostly is. His songs are published through Ear Booker Music at BMI, which he created at the beginning of his career, with his 80's output being co-published by Sony/ATV Melody. If we're able to get songs as early as "Nature Trail to Hell" and as late as "CNR", I think Noble and the guys at ThatAuthoringGroup will be okay on the legal front.

On a side note (as I feared), "Talk Soup" (a favorite original of mine) is licensed through E! because of the history of said song. Darn it.

[Edify1]

Dude!!!!!!!! I haven't really been keeping up with the forums, but are you actually bringing "Weird Al" to the RBN, or is this more of a "what songs would you want if we can get 'Weird Al' in RBN?" kind of thread? If you're actually bringing "Weird Al" to Rock Band I will love you forever.

I would like every single song he's ever recorded.

But if I can only choose two from this list, I would choose Germs and When I Was Your Age (I only voted for When I Was Your Age in the poll because I couldn't vote for two).

[Edify1]

TAG, seriously, you never answered my question.

Why these songs?

If you had said "Hey, guys, these are the albums that we MAY be able to get songs from, choose your favorites that aren't parodies or covers," you would have gotten much different results.

CNR and Germs would definitely not have made it to the list, and other songs from those same albums would have, because you can hear that CNR and Germs would have terrible playability.

And when you reach a milestone like getting Weird Al on Rock Band, you don't want to dink around and choose these arbitrary songs without any reasoning other than "gee, they sound good and I think people will like them"

I say unless you have a legitimate reason for choosing these songs over songs from the same albums, you open up the voting a little more than this...

DISCLAIMER: (since I have to do this literally every time I say anything that isn't 100% "oh, I love you so much") I am very grateful that TAG is taking the effort to try to get this done. I am obviously very interested and excited, otherwise I wouldn't even post in this thread. I am trying to encourage more open-mindedness in the song choosing, assuming that we have more than 4 song choices (which, legally, I'm almost 100% we do). So don't think I'm trying to start a fight, because I'm not. I'm trying to make this experience as good as possible, and we certainly can't do that with song choices like these.

For the most part I agree with your sentiment, although I think When I Was Your Age would be perfect for Rock Band. Why Does This Always Happen to Me? would be great because of its prominent keys part and keyboard solo. I also think Frank's 2000" TV would be a great choice for Rock Band.

[atalkingfish]

Forgive us for not disclosing the ins and outs of the licensing process. There are a lot of considerations that frankly you don't have a clue about. Noble has put a lot of work into this and you've been nothing but disrespectful.

I asked why these songs were our only option, and didn't get an answer. I have a really hard time believing that these are our only options...

And I haven't said anything "disrespectful". You show me one thing that was "disrespectful". I specifically made a point to say "I am glad that TAG is doing this, and I am excited, etc" because people like you over react at the simplest piece of criticism.

[atalkingfish]

All due respect...you're one of tens of thousands of Rock Band players in this community. This initiative "has" to engage/appeal to the masses. It won't work by appealing to the few...unless the few is Alex R. or somebody else with deep pockets. TAG has apparently been thinking about this for a few years now. I'm sure they've given it a great deal of thought, and consulted with people smarter than any of us.

There could be other stuff at play. Perhaps the other songs you prefer have unusable/missing masters. Perhaps there's other licensing stuff going on. We don't know, and quite frankly, it would be irresponsible to make all of that stuff public knowledge.

Again, not saying you're wrong in terms of song choice, but let the project manager manage the project for a bit before s-canning it. I'm pretty sure we all want this to work and be wildly successful. Even HMX, who can't say that publicly.

It's a plain and simple fact that Germs and CNR would be absolutely terrible for Rock Band. It's hardly subjective at all. Not very many notes, very repetitive, some missing instruments, talky parts, etc. I just have a hard time believing they're our only choices.

And if they're going to make a thread asking us what we want, and limiting us to these, then they should expect some "wtf" reactions from people because this is such a limited array of choices.

[Catch-22]

I asked why these songs were our only option, and didn't get an answer. I have a really hard time believing that these are our only options...

And I haven't said anything "disrespectful". You show me one thing that was "disrespectful". I specifically made a point to say "I am glad that TAG is doing this, and I am excited, etc" because people like you over react at the simplest piece of criticism.

"shoving three songs down our throat"

[atalkingfish]

"shoving three songs down our throat"

I'm sure I said (or meant) *four

but that's hardly disrespectful, and it is, in fact, the truth. We have these four songs to choose from, with no explanation as to why. And I don't even want an explanation, if TAG comes out and says "these are literally our only four choices", that'd make me happy. The only other possibility is that some random guy chose songs he liked out of the available albums, which would really peeve me, since they would be so terrible for Rock Band.

[Catch-22]

but that's hardly disrespectful

No it is. It's needless hyperbole and frankly not true. Don't like them don't buy them, don't vote, don't support, end of story.

[atalkingfish]

No it is. It's needless hyperbole and frankly not true. Don't like them don't buy them, don't vote, don't support, end of story.

....I am supporting, I am voting.

As an avid Weird Al fan, I am very interested in having his music (especially his originals) in the game. I just think that, unless these songs are literally the only four choices we have, which I highly doubt, TAG could be making some better decisions.

I don't know how the process works, but this can't be our only option.

And, Catch-22, if you want me to be more respectful, I would suggest you do the same. I am in no way insulting or dissing TAG, I just think that more thought should — if possible — be put into the song selection, considering that half of the posts on this thread are people expressing their interest in a select 3 or 4 songs that are originals, with no word as to whether they're even being considered (or if they're even possible)