Preparing “If Not Now When” for Rock Band got me thinking. What if instead of forcing the game to work with an old song, I wrote a new song to fit the game? I’d make a clear lead synth part for the “guitar,” spread non-vocal material across five notes, and introduce variations throughout the song to maintain the fun factor. But why stop there? Why not name the song after the game? Well, I suppose any song called “Rock Band” would have to be an actual rock song, so that won’t work. But what if the song was about about a keyboardist dropping out of a rock band to go electronic?
Here’s a first draft of the lyrics, along with a little piano sketch up through the first chorus so you can see where the words go (it starts with an instrumental lead, so don’t let that throw you off). What do you think, beyond the obvious fact that it’s completely out of character for me? My guess is it won’t work for the album, but could it work as a one-off hard-rocking synth anthem premiering inside the game? For now, you’ll have to use your imagination on the “hard-rocking” part.
Rock Band
©2010 Brian Hazard (ASCAP)
It’s hard to miss the place I’m going
You can hear the noise from a mile away
Hey I could use a hand unloading
But you can’t believe I showed up late again
“Where have you been?”
Patch in the board
Pull up some faders
Play some cheesy strings and some sound effects
Make too much noise
Piss off the neighbors
Cop a famous riff and call it a new song
We’re busy Mom
CHORUS:
Who wants to be in a rock band
When you got synthesizers
Take your human interaction and I
I’ll take my wires
Tune up your guitars
Practice your classic rock
I don’t need to jerk around
I got perfection in a box
Who wants a rock band
Whoa, a rock band
Why do we call this a rehearsal
When we’ve never played once outside your garage?
I didn’t join a sewing circle
You can kick me out but you can’t keep me in
‘Cause in the end
CHORUS EXTENDED AT THE END:
Who wants a rock band
When you got drum machines
Where the hell d’you find a drummer who can’t
Can’t find the beat
Yeah electronic
Is where it’s really at
Grunge was big back in the 90’s
But it’s never coming back.
{ 18 comments… read them below or add one }
Brilliant idea… and it’s looking good too!
You’ve GOT to do it!
But, wouldn’t you hope that a song from your current album might increase sales of that album?
So two fellow songwriters agree – that’s encouraging!
Adam, I’m not sure I follow. Are you saying “Rock Band” should go on the next album? Or that I should put songs from The Thought Chapter on Rock Band? Because “If Not Now When” is going up either way, and I’m talking to an authoring company right now about doing “We’re Not Getting Any Younger” and “If It’s My Time to Go.”
I’ve just learned that the authoring guidelines forbid the use of trademarked names in the name of the song. I suppose I could call it “RB” for the purposes of the game, but it’s certainly a big loss from a promotional standpoint.
I have no doubt that with the popularity of Rock Band and Guitar Hero, just about every band is thinking about those games when designing their songs. In a way I think that is pretty awesome, and I think your draft song is very cool both as an idea and as a draft! I love it when video games influence reality. Now where is my health pack lying on the ground so I can avoid ever going to the doctor and mend all my wounds instantly?
I was thinking that you also could just do a Rock Band mix of one of your other songs but this idea works too.
Cool…I like it…and I love the lyrics!
Alright then, I guess it’s a go! If it catches on, maybe it’ll make the album. If not, or if it’s just too different, it won’t. Thanks for the feedback!
I definitely think this is a cool idea. I like the lyrics too.
I like the changes you made in the lyrics. I hope you cause a little controversy too from guitar players!
My opinion is this is a bad idea.
But, I like the thought process behind it.
What I think would be very cool is to take a song off your next album, the one you are working on now, and release it on Rock Band first. A “Rock Band Exclusive”, kind of like “iTunes Exclusive.” The only place you can hear it is on Rock Band until the album comes out.
Monty
Thanks for being contrary Monty!
Which part is the bad idea? The song itself, my doing it, or the promotional aspect? I was planning to make this song an exclusive in the way you describe, but another song could work too.
I do worry that if it flops, I’ll have wasted 40 hours I could’ve spent on my album. If the song matched the rest of the album thematically, there wouldn’t be any question.
Maybe I can get Freezepop to do it. I hear they’re recording a new album. That would be a win-win.
The part I think is a bad idea is writing a song to fit the game, and to call it “Rock Band.” Even though you can’t do that because of the rules. Rock Band is cool and all, but in my opinion, a song should never be written for it. I mean, I guess the idea doesn’t really make sense in my mind. Does this mean the song is going to have a lot of notes, more technically challenging, so it will be tough to play? Fast tempos? If so, I would rather see Color Theory write a classical piano piece like Mozart, challenging Mozart for technical difficulty and melody, rather than Rock Band. Then, port the song to Rock Band and it would be plenty tough.
I guess I could see you writing a song about Rock Band if you REALLY loved it. Like the heavy metal bands that used to write songs about video games and such. But, I just didn’t think you were that big of a Rock Band fan so my impression was that it is a promotional idea. If that’s the case, it would be much more fun to release a future album track on Rock Band or release a “b-side” to Rock Band, so, it’s a Rock Band only track….
Monty
Myself and a group of friends have the mildly embarrassing distinction of having completed the Endless Setlist on expert, so it’s fair to say I’m a legit fan of the game. I wouldn’t be able to author the track if I weren’t.
The idea is to make a song that’s fun to play on virtual instruments, not a technical challenge. I could always pull out one of the fugues I composed in college for that! (but with Bach in the public domain, why settle?)
I think the song stands on its own. It doesn’t refer to video games at all, and doesn’t require any knowledge of the game to understand. I’d record it in a heartbeat if it matched my other work stylistically. In other words, making it work for the game isn’t an artistic compromise – but putting it on my album might be. That’s why I figured I’d premiere it in-game and go from there, but I’m stretched really thin with this album deadline, and I just got three new mastering jobs this morning. So if I end up doing it, it’s not going to be anytime soon.
OK. I’m still a bit confused however.
What does it mean to write a song that’s fun to play on virtual instruments? What qualities would this song have?
For me, the songs I like to play the most on Rock Band are the songs I like the most. If it’s a great song to listen to, it’s a great song to play.
Monty
That’s not my experience at all. Some songs are great to listen to, but mind-numbing or frustrating to play. Beyond the song itself, a lot depends on the authoring. You have to find the right balance between new material and repetition, across all instruments. Unison sections need to make sense. The level of challenge shouldn’t vary too much from section to section. For example, the bass on “If Not Now When” is drop-dead easy in the verses, but tricky in the choruses. That’s not ideal. These aren’t things I normally think about when arranging a track, but they might just make for a better song outside of the game as well.
Just heard from Liz today. Freezepop prefers to write their own material, which I can totally understand, because I do too! This one is going on the back burner for now.