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First Guitar Hero Live Songs Are All Recent Hits

By Daniel George

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Looking back at the first Guitar Hero game, you would find a setlist that contained rock music throughout the generations. Songs would date back from 1967’s “Spanish Castle Magic” by The Jimi Hendrix Experience, all the way up to 2004’s “Take Me Out” by Franz Ferdinand, the latter of which was a song released just a year before Guitar Hero launched. That’s why the differences between that full setlist and the ten revealed Guitar Hero Live songs are so stark; all of them are from recent releases.

Just take a look at all the songs we know are coming to Guitar Hero Live:

  • Ed Sheeran – Sing
  • American Authors – Best Day of My Life
  • Jake Bugg – What Doesn’t Kill You
  • Gary Clark Jr – Don’t Owe You a Thang
  • Band of Skulls – Asleep at the Wheel
  • Of Monsters and Men – Little Talks
  • Alter Bridge – Cry of Achilles
  • Biffy Clyro – Sounds Like Balloons
  • Blitz Kids – Sometimes
  • The War on Drugs – Under the Pressure

With the exception of “Little Talks,” most of these announced Guitar Hero Live songs are from singles or albums released in the last 20 months. Even though the game’s Facebook insists “hundreds of songs will make up the killer song list available to play on Day 1,” the incentive to pre-order Guitar Hero Live is really only shared for those who enjoy 2010’s music only. That, and those who like Skrillex, Carrie Underwood, Fallout Boy and My Chemical Romance, in addition to The Black Keys, The Rolling Stones and Green Day.

The push for promoting modern bands and modern songs may have more to do with the Guitar Hero TV mode, rather than Guitar Hero Live. Playing songs on a guitar neck fret highway in front of hundreds of applicable music videos only makes sense if you have the rights to display said music videos, and it becomes a lot easier to finagle the rights to newer songs than for the long, forgotten tracks of the 70’s and 80’s. At the very least, the spread of genres picked for those first ten songs show range, from the “why is this music very, very popular” of Ed Sheeran, to the nu-metal of Alter Bridge and everything in between.

Guitar Hero Live is scheduled for a release later this year on the PS4, Xbox One, Wii U, PS3, Xbox 360, and mobile devices.

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Looking to write about video games? Join us at GameSided! Contact me to apply or if you have any inquiries/tips: daniel.george@fansided.com.

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