White Stripes Joining Rock Band

13 Comments Posted November 6, 2009 - By Stephen Johnson

White Stripes Joining Rock Band

Rockers and/or rollers get ready: The White Stripes are headed to Rock Band and Rock Band 2 next week.

The duo, known for primitive drum lines, fuzzed out blues riffs and its lack of a bass player, is dropping the following tracks on listeners/gamers:

Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground
Girl, You Have No Faith in Medicine
Icky Thump

For (slightly) more traditional music, there's also The Damned (goth-punks from before you were born) bringing their song "Smash It Up (Part II)" to the games and Kasabian is offering "Club Foot" as well. The tracks will be available on the Xbox 360 and Wii on November 10 and the PlayStation 3 on November 12.

I'm going to download The White Stripes' tracks because I'm curious how Rock Band can possibly make them fun. While Jack White is an interesting guitarist and a great songwriter, Meg White's drumming is among the simplest ever recorded, and there is no bass... so how's it all going to work? In other words, how do you take music made by two artists and make it fun for four fans to play?

I like The White Stripes, but a lot of people don't. They tend to polarize. For example, The White Stripes opened for G4 producer Frank Meyer's band The Streetwalkin' Cheetahs back in the day. This was before The Stripes "sold out," when they were playing at the height of their indie glory, and Frank says he was "not impressed." What do you think? Are you a Stripes fan?

Tags: Music, PlayStation 3, Videogames, Wii, Xbox 360

Comments

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Displaying 1–13 of 13

mosespippy

I enjoy The White Stripes (I was at one of their last shows), but doesn't this make Jack White a hypocrite? He and Jimmy Page went off on music games back in the summer. http://www.nme.com/news/the-wh ite-stripes/45521

Posted: November 6, 2009 3:11 PM | Reply | Report

+7 thumbs up thumbs down

0 Replies
jaimex8

Jack White is one of my favorite guitarists by far but he comes off as a huge hypocrite! Didn't he go on the record with Jimmy Page saying that games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band are a terrible way for people to experience music, and that it's, "a little sad" that this is how kids are exposed to music. Well here he is giving the rights to his music to the very thing he "hates". I just don't know what to think about his character anymore?

Posted: November 6, 2009 3:17 PM | Reply | Report

+6 thumbs up thumbs down

6 Replies
Wozman23

I won't be picking up The White Stripes stuff because I like to stay awake while playing the drums. Although I'm pretty good at Rock Band, I know I'm not a real drummer, but I'm pretty sure I could fill Meg's slot (That was in not intended to be sexual).

Posted: November 6, 2009 4:57 PM | Reply | Report

+4 thumbs up thumbs down

0 Replies
steveo3242391

hypocrite...

Posted: November 6, 2009 5:24 PM | Reply | Report

+3 thumbs up thumbs down

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steveo3242391

and money....

Posted: November 6, 2009 5:24 PM | Reply | Report

+2 thumbs up thumbs down

0 Replies
Yuki_Nagato

The choice of songs could have been better, honestly. Ball and Biscuit would have been insanely fun to play. That's not to say I'm not going to buy songs from my favorite musician, that is, once I get around to sending my Xbox in and getting back.

Posted: November 6, 2009 5:56 PM | Reply | Report

+2 thumbs up thumbs down

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jbw

I'm a fan. But the choice of songs is not what I would have picked.

Posted: November 6, 2009 6:25 PM | Reply | Report

+2 thumbs up thumbs down

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Spardyman

Best. Hipster. Band. Ever.

Posted: November 6, 2009 8:35 PM | Reply | Report

+1 thumbs up thumbs down

1 Reply
Empyu

I just wanted to take this moment to point out a really annoying trend.

It's very likely that this is a decision by the record label and not Jack White. But what if it really is White's choice? Why should he be labeled a hypocrite just because he changed his mind? You can't go around criticizing a person's opinions, then call him a hypocrite when he changes his mind.

If someone sticks to his opinion he's considered stubborn, but if he's open to change he's considered a hypocrite. That's why so many debate devolve into nastiness.

Posted: November 7, 2009 9:16 AM | Reply | Report

+1 thumbs up thumbs down

2 Replies
MindCarrot

I could say something about Jack White saying he didnt like music games but lets be honest. icky thump is a great song right?

Posted: November 7, 2009 9:30 AM | Reply | Report

+1 thumbs up thumbs down

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Pilgot_th_Mighty

Ya if they join Rock Band it gives further hope that Zepplin will come to Rock Band.

Posted: November 7, 2009 9:54 AM | Reply | Report

0 thumbs up thumbs down

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napkinshower

sold out??? wha..?

and ya there a great band. not much on the drumms but yes very great idea!... not a big fan of the song choices though. there are other songs theyve done that really exemplify their awesomeness lol. like hmm...well my favorites deathletter. but then again thats a cover so. you could really duplicate the bass on songs such as 7nation army

Posted: November 7, 2009 9:01 PM | Reply | Report

+1 thumbs up thumbs down

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GMSepiroth

There will probably be NO bass part. That wont be so bad. There are a bunch of songs on RB now that have NO vocal part and there is one Nirvana song that has FOUR notes on drums (even on expert) so it won't be the first songs with less than four parts.

Posted: November 8, 2009 10:04 PM | Reply | Report

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