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More Guitar Hero 80s Tracks Announced 143

Posted by Zonk from the rock-it-with-big-hair dept.
Activision has released information on eight more tracks from the upcoming Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s. In addition the previously announced songs, the company has now confirmed that the following glam and metal ballads will be available: "'Hold On Loosely' (as made famous by .38 Special), 'No One Like You' (as made famous by Scorpions), 'Only a Lad' (as made famous by Oingo Boingo), 'Radar Love' (as made famous by White Lion), 'Ballroom Blitz' (as made famous by Krokus), 'The Warrior' (by Scandal), 'What I Like About You' (as made famous by The Romantics), and 'Wrath Child' (as made famous by Iron Maiden)." Would have liked "Dead Man's Party" or "Weird Science" better from Boingo, but you can't have everything.
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More Guitar Hero 80s Tracks Announced More

More Guitar Hero 80s Tracks Announced

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  • Huh? (Score:2)

    by Otter ( 3800 )
    'Radar Love' (as made famous by White Lion), 'Ballroom Blitz' (as made famous by Krokus)

    That's an odd choice of 'as made famous by's, although I confess I can't remember who Ballroom Blitz was actually made famous by. And where's Sister Christian?!?!? And Photograph?

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by deftcoder ( 1090261 )
      Could they have picked a worse Iron Maiden song?

      Number of the Beast? Wasted Years? THE EVIL THAT MEN DO?

      C'mon, seriously.

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by Knara ( 9377 )
        There's a lot of songs... a LOT of Iron Maiden songs that are easier than Wrathchild. Granted, it's not the hardest song either, but it's guitar-heavy and has a lot of interesting rhythms. Plus I bet the licensing cost on it was low.
      • Would have loved "2 minutes to midnight" myself. And where's Motley Crue or GnR?

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by ari_j ( 90255 )
        No way! Rime of the Ancient Mariner. Thirteen minutes and thirty-nine seconds of Samuel Taylor Coleridge goodness. Plus, it will help stave off the ADD that video games tend to be involved in.

    • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      They're saving the Def Leppard songs for Drum Hero.

      • Re:Huh? (Score:5, Funny)

        by brouski ( 827510 ) on Tuesday June 12, 2007 @08:27PM (#19484923)

        They're saving the Def Leppard songs for Drum Hero.

        Meh, I could do those with one hand tied behind my back.

      • No, no. In keeping with the "made famous by" theme of the 80's edition of Guitar Hero, they've decided to go with the fabulous Def Leppard cover of that Smashing Pumpkins song from a few years back. I forget which one it was. "Bullet With Butterfly Wings?" "1979?" "Cherub Rock?"

        Oh, now I remember...

        "Disarm."

    • Re:Huh? (Score:5, Informative)

      by wowbagger ( 69688 ) on Tuesday June 12, 2007 @06:43PM (#19483969) Homepage Journal
      Yes, considering that "Radar Love" was composed by Golden Earring — in fact I'd never heard anybody ELSE do Radar Love — and "Ballroom Blitz" was composed by Sweet, and again, until "Wayne's World" I had never heard anybody BUT Sweet perform "Ballroom Blitz".
      • Well, it shouldn't be much of a surprise that you'd get semi-popular 80s covers of both of those songs in Guitar Hero 80s. Maybe you'll get lucky and get the originals in Guitar Hero 70s.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Knara ( 9377 )

        The Krokus one was fairly well circulated, though I'm slowly beginning to believe that Krokus never did an original song...

        I'm kind of perplexed by the White Lion selection, though. They had at least 3 popular singles, so why pick a cover?

        • There seem to be an awful lot of "made famous by"s there. And even though I was there in the 80's I don't recall any of those songs, so I question how famous they really are. I'm guessing what we have here is a creative way to license songs associated with big name 80's bands very cheaply by not dealing directly with said big-name 80's bands or their labels.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by xero314 ( 722674 )

            And even though I was there in the 80's I don't recall any of those songs
            By "there" I assume you mean "born in" or "really stoned" since there is more than one #1 Main Stream Rock song listed, and most of them were top 10 MSR at some point.
          • How the hell could anyone live through the 1980s (except maybe as an infant) and not know the lines "We've got a thing that's called radar love?"

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by Knara ( 9377 )
            Well, I can't speak to why you've never heard of the songs, but if you look at the previous Guitar Hero game song lists (in-game, at that), you'll see that aside from the bonus/original/boring tracks (and I think 1 track in GH2), they're all "As Made Famous By" credits.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by jZnat ( 793348 ) *
            The "as made famous by" tracks just mean they used their bands to do a cover rather than the original band playing it (e.g., Primus was in GH2).

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Belgand ( 14099 )
        If you're doing well-known covers (and not just to get around the fact that Van Halen won't license you an original track) from the 80s I'd think Joan Jett's "Crimson and Clover" cover would have been on the list.
      • The Damned also did a (bad) cover of Ballroom Blitz.

    • 'Radar Love' (as made famous by White Lion), 'Ballroom Blitz' (as made famous by Krokus)

      That's an odd choice of 'as made famous by's, although I confess I can't remember who Ballroom Blitz was actually made famous by.

      "The Sweet?"
    • I can't remember who Ballroom Blitz was actually made famous by.

      Sweet. Desolation Boulivard. Excellent old album that I bough on vinyl new. "Jesus I'm old!"
    • Why don't they offer some of the same 80's tracks with new unlockable alternate lyrics?

      You could have Weird Al's "Eat it" over Michael Jackson's "Beat it", or Genesis' "Land of Confusion" with the Disturbed version as an unloackable.

  • Radar love (Score:4, Insightful)

    by steeph ( 85070 ) on Tuesday June 12, 2007 @06:43PM (#19483967)
    Radar Love by White Lion? I guess that should have been Golden Earring.
    • I agree. Golden Earring made this famous. What is this White Lion BS?

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by josteos ( 455905 )
        The White Lion version is the one that still gets airplay, and its the one I heard first and still like the best. I've got the Golden Earing CD with the Radar Love track, and I tell you.... I'd rather hear the White Lions. Why? The radio station I used to rock out to played White Lion's "Radar Love" followed by White Zombies "Thunderkiss 65" as a combo.

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by jchennav ( 195368 )
      People might be more familiar with the White Lion cover of "Radar Love".

      This is not the first time that a song in a Guitar Hero game is based on a cover version:

      "I Love Rock 'N' Roll" is based on the Joan Jett & the Blackhearts cover of a song by The Arrows.
      "Higher Ground" is based on the Red Hot Chili Peppers cover of a Stevie Wonder song.
      "Crossroads" is based on the Cream cover of two Robert Johnson songs.
      "You Really Got Me" is based on the Van Halen cover of a song by the Kinks.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by xero314 ( 722674 )

        This is not the first time that a song in a Guitar Hero game is based on a cover version:

        Though it is the first, or maybe second, time that the cover version in question was less popular than the original. I say second because I happen to be a Kinks fan, though I might be willing to admit that the VH version was more popular. I think if you took a random poll you would find more people that said Radar Love was performed by Golden Earring than by White Lion, but I doubt the equivalent would happen for the other songs.

        On the other hand, if it weren't for White Lion we wouldn't be getting to

  • Don't Forget (Score:3, Informative)

    by PateraSilk ( 668445 ) <tedol AT isostandardstudio DOT com> on Tuesday June 12, 2007 @06:46PM (#19484021) Homepage
    "I Think We're Alone Now" by Tiffany and "Venus" by Bananarama.

  • Weird Science? Dead Man's Party? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by moderatorrater ( 1095745 ) on Tuesday June 12, 2007 @06:47PM (#19484029)
    No, Insanity or Stay by Oingo Boingo. You know, the ones not based on movie plots.

    • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

      by Tol Dantom ( 1114605 )
      Actually, I think songs which pretty much represented an entire movie in theme and complexity (and vice versa) really capture the zeitgeist of the 80s... For instance, once you saw something strange in the neighborhood and realized who you were going to call, the exposition(/development of the plot) was about over.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Luyseyal ( 3154 )
      Agreed. And I cannot STAND Dead Man's Party. That song sucks and it's like 20 minutes long. Or at least it seems like it.

      $0.02USD,
      -l

  • I was going to buy a PS2 for this... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by theantipop ( 803016 ) on Tuesday June 12, 2007 @06:50PM (#19484053)
    But the distinct lack of really great songs as well as tons of "As made famous by..." really put me off. I suppose I can wait for GH3 for the Wii and hope the track list stays as top notch as the songs released already.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Knara ( 9377 )
      Just FYI, with rare exception the first 2 GH releases have all been "As Made Famous By..." tracks. Yes, there were the "original" tracks, but I personally didn't have much interest in them. At any rate, 99% have been covers anyway, so unsure why you'd be surprised that these are also covers.
      • Well yea, and the horrrrrible "As made famous by"s in GH1 & 2 made some great songs really hard to enjoy. Seriously, if it's not Ozzy, Cobain, de la Roca or Weiland the song is just going to sound foreign.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by xero314 ( 722674 )

          ...Ozzy, Cobain, de la Roca or Weiland...

          Ah yes name the songs where the cover was better than the original, with the possible exception of Killing in the Name, but that had nothing to do with the singing. Come on, this is almost as bad as the complaints about the Megadeth covers not sounding like Mustaine as if that is a bad thing. Ozzy, was never much of a singer, like him or not, de la Roca has one tone at one volume, Weiland, while an interesting front man and the best of the 4 mentioned, not exactly hard to cover well, and as for Cobain...

          • These are some of the people with the most recognizable voices in the last 25 years of music. They are also some of the worst offenders of bad covers in GH. Don't know how this makes them easy to cover. Regardless, the fact that you don't like them doesn't detract from my point.

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by xero314 ( 722674 )
              You claimed the "As made famous by" songs were "horrrrrible" when what you meant was that they were not an exact duplicate of the originals. As it turns out at least a few of them were arguably better then the original. I think that does "detract from [your] point." I don't know what is worse, that you claim they have recognizable voice, or that you are wrong. Scott Weiland's voice is as generic as it gets, and Cobain's voice has been copied by so many up and comers, including some Asperger's inflicted A

    • Re:I was going to buy a PS2 for this... (Score:5, Funny)

      by xenocide2 ( 231786 ) on Tuesday June 12, 2007 @07:00PM (#19484149) Homepage

      But the distinct lack of really great songs as well as tons of "As made famous by..." really put me off.
      I think you just summed up the 80s for me.

      • But the distinct lack of really great songs as well as tons of "As made famous by..." really put me off.
        I think you just summed up the 80s for me.
        Ha! Take that you overrated decade, you! :D

    • Re:I was going to buy a PS2 for this... (Score:5, Informative)

      by asuffield ( 111848 ) <asuffield@suffields.me.uk> on Wednesday June 13, 2007 @01:47AM (#19487297)

      But the distinct lack of really great songs as well as tons of "As made famous by..." really put me off.


      The developers have commented on this before - apparently, they initially tried using the original versions of the songs (it's actually cheaper - licensing doesn't cost any more, and you don't have to pay a band), but they ran into a major problem:

      It just wasn't fun

      It turns out that most songs are not centred around the guitarist. While they may have some good riffs and solos in them, a lot of the song becomes quite boring to play, as the guitars take a back seat to the vocals. Also, the timing is often quite uneven, which makes it excruciatingly difficult for somebody to match on the controller - real bands kind of wing it, but GH doesn't work that way, you have to play the right notes at the time they appear in the score. So, in order to make the game fun to play, they recorded specialised versions of all the songs on the primary set lists, suitably rearranged with the guitars in the lead, and rehearsed to be note-perfect.

  • Help me place this Slashvertisement... (Score:3, Funny)

    by xxxJonBoyxxx ( 565205 ) on Tuesday June 12, 2007 @06:51PM (#19484063)
    Help me place this Slashvertisement in the AIDA marketing model. Is this dribbling of useless information intended to raise Awareness, Interest or Desire?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Knara ( 9377 )
      I dunno, since somehow, magically, I already knew all these songs were on there... SlashDelay again. Or maybe it's just ZonkDelay
  • Maybe I'm just culturally behind the times or whatever, but I don't feel like the majority of Guitar Hero tracks are all at awesome. It probably has something to do with the licensing of content, but I'd say I had rarely or never heard of half the tracks in the GH series.
    • I haven't heard of most of the music in GH, but when you consider the totality of all music it's not hard to understand. I don't know half the music any of my friends listen to, and I don't think they know half the music I listen to. There is a lot of music out there, especially if you avoid the radio.

    • I'd say I had rarely or never heard of half the tracks in the GH series.
      God forbid you should learn something new!
      • God forbid you should learn something new!


        Wow. You've really opened my eyes.

  • Meh. (Score:2, Insightful)

    by morari ( 1080535 )
    More tracks from what is probably the worst decade of popular music. Guitar Hero III looked to be shaping up fairly well as far as the tunes go, however.
    • Ouch! Them's fightin' words boy!

      Forget emacs vs. vi or windows vs. linux. If you really want to start a flame war slam on peoples music. Like the '90s were much of an improvement ... grunge, gangsta rap and Britney Spears. Oooh. Yeah baby. Hit me one more time.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by morari ( 1080535 )
        Though I won't hold the 90s up as a pillar of great musical acts either, I'd take grunge over hair metal any day. ;)
      • GP's point stands. Except for punk, 80s music was a disaster. The 90s still had a fair few gems at the surface like Nine Inch Nails, Pearl Jam, Nirvana (but not their copycats), Garbage, Oasis, and No Doubt. But for the most part, guitar-based rock died in the 70s. The kind of crap that's being included in this version of Guitar Hero is godawful, except perhaps for The Police.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by gfxguy ( 98788 )
          Aaahh... NIN, one of my favorites back when... first single 1988, Pretty Hate Machine was 1989.

          The 80s had a lot of good music, it just had a lot of crap that got really popular and made the whole decade look bad. Sounds a lot like... well... just about every decade.

          I guess there's at least two sides to every decade, and the commercially popular one is usually the most well known and worst side that we remember.
      • Oh, but BTW...I'd say the 2000s are shaping up to be even worse than the 80s. Seven years in and the only decent new group I can think of is Tegan and Sara. Even after perusing the WP list [wikipedia.org]...there's the White Stripes, I guess. And some occasionally decent "indie rock", but not a single standout that I can see.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by xero314 ( 722674 )
          Please don't take a list that features Tool as a band of the 2000s as even semi respectable. Though I didn't have to get past the B's to find a number or very respectable bands on that list. But then again I like my music to have some talent and energy behind it.

          • Though I didn't have to get past the B's to find a number or very respectable bands on that list.
            Examples? I admit to being mostly out of touch with anything that isn't thrown at me by a friend. I mean, you can always find great stuff being done on the fringes, regardless of the time period. But I'm mostly interested in the quality of bands who have achieved a fair bit of success (ie, the state of popular music).

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by xero314 ( 722674 )
              Just in the As and Bs of that List I would suggest Audio Slave, Breaking Benjamin and Buck Cherry. All three of them get main stream rock airplay, and contain either talented musicians, good music or both. Sure there is better stuff if you look a little underground, but you wanted good bands that have been successful. If I went to the Fs I could name 3 more of the top of my head, like Fair to Midland, Finger Eleven and Flyleaf, all three of which have been gaining popularity over the last 2 years.

              Again t

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by KlomDark ( 6370 )
          Haven't heard Infected Mushroom or Nevermore, have ya?

  • Van Halen? Bon Jovi?! GNR?!?! (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Alzheimers ( 467217 ) on Tuesday June 12, 2007 @08:24PM (#19484893)
    Where's the Van Halen?

    Where's the Bon Jovi?!

    Where's the GUNS AND ROSES?!?!

    (me wonders if Harmonix are really music fans)

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by k_187 ( 61692 )
      Is harmonix really doing this one? or is it activision?
    • I bought guitar hero two a month or so ago and its become pretty obvious that theyre making an effort to license "budget" songs. Theres an aerosmith song on there Ive never even heard of. There are songs from bands on there that make you go 'huh why this?' They are continuing this tradition with the 80s series. Pretty sad, I'd rather have less songs that are bad ass guitar songs instead of 6 or 8 singles i can recognize and bunch of filler. Hopefully, some enterpising developer will move in with somethi

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Squozen ( 301710 )
        Actually that Aerosmith song is taken from what is widely considered their best album. The fact that you haven't heard anything they released before their mid-80s relaunch isn't Harmonix's fault. Blame Clear Channel.
        • Actually the aerosmith I do like is from the 70s. What I dont like are these non-singles like 'last child' that no one seems to know about being put in the game. No other player I know has heard of it or can sing along to it. They managed to get aerosmith but couldnt pay the fees for a more popular song. This isn't a music geeks game, its a mass produced goofy game. Hell, if licensing for every song on that album was the same why not go with back in the saddle? It really hurts the game to be this chea

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by Squozen ( 301710 )
            The Back in the Saddle riff is played on a 6-string bass, there's no guitar riff to play! Personally I wish they'd chosen Combination.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by gfxguy ( 98788 )
        "What I like about you" is the first jamming song I learned on "real" guitar. Can't wait for it in the game!
  • Of course, they'd have to include a cardboard guitar controller...
  • Would be the Top Gun theme. Tell me that thing isn't all guitar...
    • Okay, I like Harold Faltermyer as much as the next guy, but I'm going to have to say that it's not exactly what I think of for Guitar Hero. Next thing I know there's going to be a keyboard hero and you're going to want Axel F!
  • Anyone else in favor of an all Bowie GH?
  • I let out a yelp of glee when I saw that Oingo Boingo was going to be included. Sure, if they were going to pick any '80s era Boingo, there's plenty of other great tracks (hell, if they were going to take anything from that album, I'd rather have "Imposter"), but they're still one of my favorite bands, and just having one of their songs on there makes me happy. At least I'll have an excuse to yell "HE LIKED TO BURN THINGS!" without looking like a total idiot...
  • Needs more Strong Bad. He was playing clubs in the 80s, I'm sure!

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