Rock Band Song Export Detailed

All but three of the songs from the original Rock Band are ready to be exported for use in Rock Band 2.

By Jeff Gerstmann | Sept. 4, 2008

This polygonal dude is A) on drugs and B) singing the praises of Rock Band 2.

The patch to enable song exporting in Rock Band--the feature that will let you add songs from the original release into the soon-to-release Rock Band 2--has gone live on the Xbox 360. Along with the update, Harmonix has nailed down the details on pricing and which songs will be available for export.

The patch adds an "export disc" option to the game's extras menu and will allow players to pony up 400 Microsoft points (five bucks to you and me) to export 55 songs.

If you're sharper than I am, you immediately noticed that there are more than 55 songs in the original Rock Band. Yes, some tracks will be unavailable for export. Those tracks are...

Paranoid - Black Sabbath (cover)
Run to the Hills - Iron Maiden (cover)
Enter Sandman - Metallica

In addition to those, owners of the European version of the game won't be able to get Tokio Hotel's Though the Monsoon.

The info goes on to say that the required fee is to compensate the license holders of the music for the "expanded use" of the material. Harmonix has also reiterated that the RB2 disc will contain 84 tracks, and that 20 free downloadable tracks will be available following the game's launch.

Those are three good, fun tracks from the original Rock Band, and they'll certainly be missed. Well, two of them are covers, so that's not that big of a deal. And I have to imagine the Metallica song is missing due to whatever deal Activision signed with the band when it nailed down Guitar Hero: Metallica. So maybe it's not a very noticeable loss at all. How's about you? Does this make you want to make sure your original Rock Band disc is close at all times so you can go back to those songs?

48 Comments

LoneStrangeron Sept. 4, 2008 at 11:20 a.m.

It sure does. You can never have enough songs, and if the updated game modes are as good as they say they are, the old songs are worth another playthrough.

Brad staff on Sept. 4, 2008 at 11:27 a.m.

Losing Run to the Hills is killer for me. That was the best song in the first game in which to flex one's falsetto.

If we could ever get Appetite for Destruction in there, we wouldn't have this problem, would we Harmonix?

Brymon Sept. 4, 2008 at 11:29 a.m.

Enter Sandman and Paranoid will be missed--those are good crowd-pleasing songs. But it's not enough to get me upset or anything, nor will I pull out my disc just to play those songs.

PLWolfon Sept. 4, 2008 at 11:33 a.m.

I agree with Brad, Appetite For Destruction would more than make up for the loss of these three songs. Guess I'll have to hold on to RB1 for now. I loves me some Enter Sandman and Run to the Hills.

heavymtlheadon Sept. 4, 2008 at 11:41 a.m.

Enter Sandman is a real bummer. And yes, Brad, Run to the Hills is a bit of a shame but hopefully this means that Harmonix is working on getting the master track into RB 2.

AnEternalEnigmaon Sept. 4, 2008 at 11:51 a.m.

Wow. I have to say I am pleasantly surprised with this one. Once it came out that all the songs wouldn't be exportable, I was thinking maybe 25-35% of the songs wouldn't make it.

But 55 out of 58 make it? With two of the three exiled being covers? Even though "Enter Sandman" gets sacrificed, I'll take a 94.8% conversion anyday.

j_meyer_13on Sept. 4, 2008 at 11:51 a.m.

Run to the Hills and Enter Sandman are two of my favorite songs in the game, so yeah, this kinda sucks. Definitely gonna have to keep RB1 now...

Milkmanon Sept. 4, 2008 at 12:03 p.m.

Those are the three most popular songs that came on the original Rock Band disc. I don't see the logic here.

holybinson Sept. 4, 2008 at 12:12 p.m.

As a Rock Band addict, those songs aren't really that important. There have been so many good DLC releases that, if you play often anyway, you don't really go back to many of the original songs.

Looking outside of that box, though, I can see how people could want to play at least Metallica at a party - but come on, RB2 comes with so many new songs that I doubt any casual party goers will be missing a mere 3 songs.

Also - the downloadable Metallica songs far outwiegh Enter Sandman in the fun department.

Logan_Aybaraon Sept. 4, 2008 at 12:28 p.m.

Thank god I never have to play Run to the Hills again. After trying for a year, it's still the only song I can't drum through on hard, and it's denying me my 40 achievement points!!!

logsonon Sept. 4, 2008 at 12:48 p.m.

This pretty much solidifies the idea that I won't need my RB1 disc once Amazon ships RB2.

ChrisTiltonon Sept. 4, 2008 at 12:49 p.m.

I have to say I'm going to miss Enter Sandman. That song is so much fun on Expert Guitar and Drums. It's also fun to sing when you've been drinking.

BranDongon Sept. 4, 2008 at 12:53 p.m.

9 cents per song... not bad I guess.. even though we already fucking BOUGHT THEM

KillerFlyon Sept. 4, 2008 at 12:53 p.m.

These are three pretty awesome songs, but I don't care about them anough to need my Rock Band disc once 2 is out.

DukeTogoon Sept. 4, 2008 at 12:54 p.m.

If it means we'll get those two covers as original cuts in the future, then I'll be happy to see them go. In all honesty - and speaking as a fan of all three of those bands - I didn't really play them very much since they were fairly poor covers. As for Metallica, if I had to lose a song, one from the Black album is the first I'd pick to go anyway.

I'm still hoping to see an 80's pack for the injustice of that PS2 only bullshit.

Bartiemuson Sept. 4, 2008 at 1:03 p.m.

so any sign of a nz release ?

FaintDeftoneon Sept. 4, 2008 at 1:04 p.m.

What I want to know is how much space this will take up on my hard drive, seeing that I only have a 20GB. Will we have to re-beat all of them too? I REALLY don't want to have to try and beat Green Grass again on expert guitar.

Zalanthon Sept. 4, 2008 at 1:04 p.m.

I'm gonna miss Monsoon, me and my girlfriend have played the hell outta that. Just a nice fairly relaxed song to play in between the big ones. As for the other three they're all songs I love but I think with the awesome songs in 2 it'll eclipse the loss.

tsigoon Sept. 4, 2008 at 1:12 p.m.

Sure doesn't. Enter Sandman is fun but I could do without it. Fuck Run to the Hills, and Paranoid is the least fun of the four available Sabbath tracks.

AnEternalEnigmaon Sept. 4, 2008 at 1:18 p.m.

The 55 songs take up 1.52GB on an Xbox 360 HDD. The songs MUST be downloaded as one big pack, but once it is completed you can go into your memory and delete the songs you don't want.

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