Music to Game to - 1

If you've ever said to yourself, "Man, I wish I could play that song on Rock Band!" you're in the right place.  This is a regular article dedicated to putting the spotlight on musicians, specific songs, or even genres so far absent from the music game industry (notably Rock Band, Guitar Hero, and their many-numbered sequels.)  I'm absolutely open to suggestions either in comments or messages as well.

For this first week, I want to point out a group that I've always wanted to imitate with plastic video game controllers, though it might not be who you're thinking would be a first pick.  ZZ Top!

To date, the trio has appeared three times in current music games: "Sharp Dressed Man" in Guitar Hero, "La grange" in Guitar Hero III, and "Gimme All Your Lovin'" as DLC in GH:WT.  All of these are covers, however, meaning that these guys have never had an original track on a music game!  This could be because they're stingy with their tracks, like some other groups, but that doesn't seem like them.

More likely is that, since the music is so old, the master recordings are lost or missing, meaning separate tracks can't be isolated for each instrument in a music game.  Game developers have gone around this by having the bands re-record their music or submit a live version, and since ZZ Top is still kicking it today, I have to wonder what's stopping them.

This trio is simply perfect for the music game genre.  Whether singing and playing guitar like Billy Gibbons or playing with four, the appeal of many of their classics can't be denied.  Given how Rock Band DLC has come to a standard of singles, triples, and albums, here are my picks:

In my dreams: Greatest Hits, 1992

A good start: "Sharp Dressed Man," "Gimme All Your Lovin'," "Got Me Under Pressure"

Agree?  Disagree?  Leave a comment!