Green Day : Rock Band – The Missing Features

The next version of the Rock Band franchise is due out in the beginning of June, and this time they are focusing on the punk rock group, Green Day. Now we fully support this choice of bands, and think it will be a fairly strong seller, but feel they are leaving some key stuff out of the game. So here are some of our suggestions of what should have been included in Green Day Rock Band.

Venues

Woodstock  ’94
In 1994,  Green Day played through a pelting of mud at the rain soaked event.  About halfway through their song ‘Paper Lanterns‘, Billie Joe started flinging mud back at the crowd in what started out as good fun.  However, it ends with Billie Joe taunting the crowd and calling them idiots, which leads to the band stopping their set and the crowd rushing the stage. In the fracas, a bouncer mistook bassist Mike Dirnt for a fan and tackled him and punched him in the face.  Several missing teeth and millions of people watching live on television further catapulted the band into the mainstream.

The developers of Rock Band apparently had too hard of a time recreating the daytime concert setting to include it in the game.  I think a mud-slinging mini game could have been awesome, either aiming for members of the band, the crowd, or trying to protect Mike by keeping the bouncer at bay with the mud.

924 Gilman St.

924 Gilman St.

The legendary DIY punk rock venue in the Bay area started in 1986 and still exists today, keeping true to their roots of promoting only bands that are not affiliated with major labels and sticking to their all-ages, no alcohol, drugs or violence credo.  Green Day were a mainstay at the club in their early days and the venue is also known as an early proving ground for bands like Rancid, NOFX and AFI.

In the game, The Warehouse venue represents the bands early days of playing places like Gilman and other house parties and D.I.Y. shows, but including Gilman would have been a nice nod, especially since the club is now in danger of shutting down thanks to a massive recent rent hike.  It is rumored that the song ‘Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)‘ is aimed at Gilman, due to the fact that they weren’t allowed to play there anymore once they signed to a major label, although they jumped up and played unbeknownst to management at a show in 2001.

Cover Songs

Billie Joe Mercury

Green Day are known for loving their covers both on record and especially live. They’ve covered everything from the Ramones to Black Sabbath to Monty Python, but these are the staples that would’ve been awesome as playable in-game tracks.

  • We Are The Champions by Queen, with Billie Joe’s fake Freddie Mercury mustache
  • Knowledge originally by Operation Ivy off 1,039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours, a live show mainstay
  • ‘Shout’ by the Isley Brothers, another live crowd-participation favorite
  • Highway to Hell by AC/DC, which we know Rock Band already has the rights to

Missing Album Cuts

There are quite a few really good songs, especially from their first two albums and that aren’t in the game.  If you’re not familiar with them, go download these now.

  • 2,000 Light Years Away off Kerplunk
  • ‘Paper Lanterns’ off 1,039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours
  • ‘All By Myself the hidden track on Dookie must be included if they are going to say the ‘whole’ album is in the game
  • Walking Contradiction from Insomniac, famous for the car-crashing, building-demolishing video
  • ‘Waiting’ from Warning, which sounds like a punk version of  ‘Downtown‘ by Petula Clark, was a minor rock radio hit
  • King For A Day off Nimrod, a ska-punk ode to cross-dressing, is often played live with a horn section (Rock Band Trumpet anyone?)

Side Projects

'The Network'

Green Day have a penchant for being in several fake bands and side projects, which sometimes even open for Green Day.  Could have been cool to unlock them as playable characters and maybe a song each from Foxboro Hot Tubs, The Network or Pinhead Gunpowder.

And Finally…

How about a little unlockable action that would allow us to play as the Simpsons Movie version of Green Day, performing The Simpsons theme song on a sinking barge?

Content sponsored by Walmart Gamecenter and Axe Twist. Check out the Green Day Rock Band page over at Gamecenter for an exclusive video about this exciting new game.