The long-awaited Rock Band Network - which offers downloadable tracks for Rock Band 2 that are authored by third parties and then peer-reviewed - launched today with about 105 songs. The service is Xbox 360 only, at least for now, though the best tracks are expected to be offered to PlayStation 3 and Wii owners via the usual weekly Rock Band Store releases some time after they've cleared 30 days of Xbox 360 exclusivity.
At this time, you have to launch Rock Band 2 and accept a patch to the game to access the Rock Band Network store, where songs are typically $1-2 each.
The separate Rock Band Store app did not offer anything but the usual weekly releases, though we expect it will be patched eventually to support RBN. Also, the original Rock Band and Lego Rock Band do not support either downloading RBN tracks or playing any that you have purchased (which is a real shame, because our 7-year-old, Pikachu Fan, would love to drum on Creepy Doll as part of his Lego Rock Band campaign!).
Note that there are free demos for each song in addition to audio previews. We found the RBN store cumbersome to browse, but if you view by decade you'll find the majority of songs in the '00s.
Hit the jump for the very long list of launch tracks:
- "Battles and Brotherhood" by 3 Inches of Blood
- "Top Back" by Alias Unknown
- "He Sleeps in a Grove" and "River of Tuoni" by Amberian Dawn
- "Race The Hourglass" by Audio Fiction
- "Sick" by Bif Naked
- "Tongue Twister Typo" by Blackmarket
- "Still There" by Bojibian
- "Trippolette" by Andrew Buch
- "We Are the Best" by C&O
- "Tadpole Search and Rescue" by Chaunce DeLeon and The Fountain of Choof
- "The Complexity of Light" by Children of Nova
- "Give" by The Cold Goodnight
- "If Not Now When" by Color Theory
- "Creepy Doll," "Ikea" and "The Future Soon" by Jonathan Coulton
- "Talk About" by Dear and the Headlights
- "Day of Mourning" by Despised Icon
- "Moonboy" by The Dirty Love Band
- "The Heist" by DnA's Evolution
- "If Trucks Drank Beer" by Error 404 feat. CJ Watson
- "You Got That" by The Everybody
- "Angel Lust," "Horses in Heaven," "Running for the Razors" and "Sestri Levante" by Fake Shark-Real Zombie!
- "Liverpool Judies" by The Fisticuffs
- "Burn it Down" by Five Finger Death Punch
- "Drunken Lullabies (Live)" and "Requiem for a Dying Song" by Flogging Molly
- "Watch It All Go Down" by Foreword
- "Far Away from Heaven" by Free Spirit
- "End Quote," "It's Not You, It's Everyone" and "Red Sky At Morn" by Full-Source
- "Icarus' Song" by Furly
- "Inside Out" and "Turn Yourself Around" by Nick Gallant
- "Arigato" by Gandhi
- "In Memories" and "Signs" by Giant Target
- "Hyperbole" and "Sleep On" by Glass Hammer
- "Can I Stay" by Stephanie Hatfield and Hot Mess
- "Parhelia" by Heaven Ablaze
- "Fortune" and "Mississippi Kite" by Kristin Hersh
- "Sequestered in Memphis" by The Hold Steady
- "It's Good" by The Humans
- "Mechanical Love" by In This Moment
- "California" by The Kimberly Trip
- "A Drug Against War" and "Juke Joint Jezebel" by KMFDM
- "Survive" by Lacuna Coil
- "Rip'er" by Lead the Dead
- "No Direction" by Longwave
- "Cease and Desist," "Don't Let Me Down (Slowly)," "Dove Nets," "Homosuperior," "How We'd Look On Paper," "Love During Wartime," "Megatron," "Talk Them Down," "Teeth, Face, Outerspace," "Tricky Girl" and "What's Your Favorite Dinosaur?" by The Main Drag
- "Whatever Is Wrong With You" by Marillion
- "Persistence of Vision" by Matter in the Medium
- "Goth Girls" by MC Frontalot
- "Fade Away" by Of Last Resort
- "Heimdalsgate Like a Promethean Curse" by Of Montreal
- "Nancy Drew" by Pink Flag
- "Buried Cold" by Rose of Jericho
- "Paper Valentines" by James William Roy
- "Lemon Juice," "The Buddy Disease" and "You're My Everything" by Scratching The Itch
- "Lady in a Blue Dress" by Senses Fail
- "Australia" by The Shins
- "Crushed Beyond Dust" by Skeletonwitch
- "Stand for Something" by Skindred
- "Children of December" and "Even Rats" by The Slip
- "Grumpytown" and "VP of Booty Reports" by Speck
- "Limousine" by Stars of Boulevard
- "Backyard Buildyard" by Steve and Lindley Band
- "Kick Some Ass '09" an "Little Black Backpack '09" by Stroke 9
- "Disengage" by Suicide Silence
- "Sissyfuss" by Surprise Me Mr. Davis
- "Not My Fault" and "Superhero!" by Ultra Saturday
- "For the Love of God (Live)," "Get the Hell Out of Here" and "The Attitude Song" by Steve Vai
- "Fight Back" by Ron Wasserman
- "Liquid Smog (StompBox Remix)" by WaveGroup Feat. Becca Neun
- "Another California Song" and "Ox" by Zack Wilson
- "Rx" by Wounded Soul
- "Lilith in Libra" and "No Heroes" by You Shriek
