Watching the Clock Move Backwards

Today is a horribly long day. I'm got little pressing work to do and I'm also desperate to get out of here which always makes for a sloooow workday so i'm trying to busy myself by playing Gemcraft and trying to advance a level or 3. I'm doubly excited today because not only am I going to see The Dark Knight this evening but I have a date with the Manixes and Rock Band afterwards. I'm about to gnaw my leg off in anticipation.

As you may or may not know, Rock Band is, as Mothra so eloquently put it, "the greatest thing ever." I can't properly express my love for the game or the ways in which they have created the perfect group experience but let's just say it dominates my every waking moment. Even after hour upon hour of playing it, I never tire and the additional songs they offer online help to keep the fresh songs coming so you don't get stuck playing "In Bloom" over and over again until you never, ever want to hear it for the rest of your life.

Rock Band's dark overlords, Harmonix, recently announced the full track list for Rock Band 2 and it's stellar. The makers of Guitar Hero III are also debuting their next installment soon but for some reason, I'm just not as thrilled about their game. Harmonix just seems like a smarter game developer and I've never quite been able to pinpoint why I feel that way but this interview nicely explains the differences and shows why they are the better company.

So here are the 10 tracks I'm most excited to play once Rock Band 2 debuts followed by my least favorite songs to play on the original Rock Band. For both lists, I'm only including songs by nationally known bands that come with the game and not bonus songs by Harmonix employees or any of the songs available online.

The most excitingest tracks on Rock Band 2:
"Any Way You Want It" - Journey
"Bad Reputation" - Joan Jett
"Battery" - Metallica
"Chop Suey!" - System of a Down
"Drain You" - Nirvana
"Livin' on a Prayer" - Bon Jovi
"Rebel Girl" - Bikini Kill
"Teen Age Riot" - Sonic Youth
"Uncontrollable Urge" - Devo
"White Wedding Pt. I" - Billy Idol

The fact that Bikini Kill is even on this game gives them bonus points but all of these will be amazing to play with a room full of people. The wide range of styles and odd choices like Devo are what make me love Rock Band like a third child.

The least fun songs to play on Rock Band:
"Ballroom Blitz" -Sweet
"Cherub Rock" - Smashing Pumpkins
"Dani California" - Red Hot Chili Peppers
"Epic" - Faith No More
"Go with the Flow" - Queens of the Stone Age
"I Think I'm Paranoid" - Garbage
"Learn to Fly" - Foo Fighters
"The Hand That Feeds" - Nine Inch Nails
"Train Kept A-Rollin'" - Aerosmith
"Vasoline" - Stone Temple Pilots

Most of these are either dull, monotonous or just plain lousy. The Aerosmith tune always elicits loud groans of disapproval whenever it comes up on a mystery setlist and "Vasoline" is mind-numbingly repretitive and simply awful. The less said about "Dani California" the better.

Come on 5 o'clock!