GH5 tracks, game details emerge

By Robert Purchese Published 22 July, 2009

Rare songs and revamped mechanics.

Activision is trimming the fat from Guitar Hero 5, snipping multiple instrument career modes in favour of one giant lobby.

Here instruments and players can be swapped on the fly, and individual difficulty can be bossed by one person - avoiding menu faffing.

Furthermore Activision will unlock all songs from the outset, and instead use new characters, outfits, instruments and venues as progression incentives.

There are six stars on offer for performances, with the last awarded for specific song challenges, such as hitting as many notes as possible while strumming upwards.

Gone is the shared Rock Band meter, as each member now plays for themselves. Fail out and a revival meter appears for remaining band members to fill, but the more times this pops-up the harder revival becomes.

Star Power is no longer communal either, although once personal meters are filled they spill over into other band members' vials. The last new addition are Band Moments, which up an overall band score-multiplier when all members nail a highlighted section simultaneously. This multiplier does go to 11.

Activision also revealed a further 24 tracks for Guitar Hero 5. Among the more familiar faces are a live recording of "The Spirit of Radio" by Rush, AFI's unreleased single "Medicate" and game-exclusive Public Enemy/Zakk Wylde collaboration "Bring the Noise 20XX".

All announced songs are below, courtesy of IGN.

Plus, we have a brand new and exclusive Guitar Hero 5 trailer that shows off some of the game's new tricks.

Guitar Hero 5 is due out in September on PS2, PS3, Wii and Xbox 360.

  • AFI - "Medicate"
  • A Perfect Circle - "Judith"
  • Billy Idol - "Dancing With Myself"
  • Brand New - "Sowing Season (Yeah)"
  • Bush - "Comedown"
  • The Derek Trucks Band - "Younk Funk"
  • Duran Duran - "Hungry Like The Wolf"
  • Eagles Of Death Metal - "Wannabe In L.A."
  • Gorillaz - "Feel Good Inc."
  • Gov't Mule - "Streamline Woman"
  • Grand Funk Railroad - "We're An American Band"
  • Iron Maiden - "2 Minutes To Midnight"
  • King Crimson - "21st Century Schizoid Man"
  • No Doubt - "Ex-Girlfriend"
  • Peter Frampton - "Do You Feel Like We Do? (Live)"
  • Public Enemy Featuring Zakk Wylde - "Bring the Noise 20XX"
  • Rush - "The Spirit Of Radio (Live)"
  • Scars On Broadway - "They Say"
  • Smashing Pumpkins - "Bullet With Butterfly Wings"
  • Spacehog - "In The Meantime"
  • Sunny Day Real Estate - "Seven"
  • T. Rex - "20th Century Boy"
  • Weezer - "Why Bother?"
  • Wild Cherry - "Play That Funky Music"
  • Attack! Attack! UK - "You And Me"
  • Band Of Horses - "Cigarettes, Wedding Bands"
  • Beastie Boys - "Gratitude"
  • Beck - "Gamma Ray"
  • Billy Squier - "Lonely Is The Night"
  • Blur - "Song 2"
  • Bob Dylan - "All Along The Watchtower"
  • Bon Jovi - "You Give Love A Bad Name"
  • The Bronx - "Six Days A Week"
  • Children Of Bodom - "Done With Everything, Die For Nothing"
  • Coldplay - "In My Place"
  • Darker My Love - "Blue Day"
  • Darkest Hour - "Demon(s)"
  • David Bowie - "Fame"
  • Deep Purple - "Woman From Tokyo ('99 Remix)"
  • The Duke Spirit - "Send A Little Love Token"
  • Elliott Smith - "L.A."
  • Elton John - "Saturday Night's Alright (For Fighting)"
  • Face To Face - "Disconnected"
  • Garbage - "Only Happy When It Rains"
  • Iggy Pop - "Lust For Life (Live)"
  • Jeff Beck - "Scatterbrain (Live)"
  • John Mellencamp - "Hurts So Good"
  • Kaiser Chiefs - "Never Miss A Beat"
  • Kings Of Leon - "Sex On Fire"
  • Kiss - "Shout It Out Loud"
  • Love and Rockets - "Mirror People"
  • My Morning Jacket - "One Big Holiday"
  • Nirvana - "Lithium (Live)"
  • The Police - "So Lonely"
  • Queens Of The Stone Age - "Make It Wit Chu"
  • Rammstein - "Du Hast"
  • The Rolling Stones - "Sympathy For The Devil"
  • Rose Hill Drive - "Sneak Out"
  • Santana - "No One To Depend On (Live)"
  • Screaming Trees - "Nearly Lost You"
  • Sonic Youth - "Incinerate"
  • Sublime - "What I Got"
  • The Sword - "Maiden, Mother & Crone"
  • Thin Lizzy - "Jailbreak"
  • Thrice - "Deadbolt"
  • Tom Petty - "Runnin' Down A Dream"
  • Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - "American Girl"
  • Vampire Weekend - "A-Punk"
  • The White Stripes - "Blue Orchid"
  • Wolfmother - "Back Round"
Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (25) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • MyAfroAndMe #1 3 years ago

    This sounds guff. No band mechanics. Why doesn't everyone just play on their own then? Part of the fun of RB is feeling together as a band and helping out those who've mucked bits up. That song list is also poor. Most people with Rock Band 2 will now have 200 plus songs tailored to their tastes through dlc yet Activision actually expect people to buy this shit over and over again.

  • DFawkes #2 3 years ago

    There seems to be less rock stuff than ever, but the stuff I do like is really good. Good enough to purhcase this at least :)

    I also like the sound of the gameplay tweaks. Considering you can't really do anything major, they're mostly welcome, and possibly borrowed from Rock Band, but it's all good. There are probably some songs not announced too, DLC to consider, and hidden gems I haven't yet heard but will grow to love.

  • Domovoi #3 3 years ago

    That sounds like a pretty mediocre list of tracks.

  • jaxon58 #4 3 years ago

    Don't expect much in the way of DLC. They've shown with GH:WT that they haven't got a clue how best to go about it.

  • Gnort #5 3 years ago

    There are about 4 songs in there that I'd really like to play, but there's no way I'm buying an entire, full priced game to get at them. Activision really need to move to the Rock Band system of DLC and disc based song packs, or they're going to lose out on a lot of repeat business from existing customers.

  • spammage #6 3 years ago

    Is anyone else less than fired up about this?

  • andywilkie35 #7 3 years ago

    Brand New - Sowing Season (Yeah)

    This game will be purchased for that song alone.

  • dsmx #8 3 years ago

    Dear god that's a terrible track list.

    Why have all along the watch tower and not have the jimi hendrix version?

  • Lankysi #9 3 years ago

    I'm not a huge rock fan myself so there's only certain tracks I'd like. I've bought GH2, 3 and WT but that's where it'll stop now!

    I'd rather they just release a definitive version of the code that they're happy with then release separate songs as DLC for us to pick n choose!

  • Toothball #10 3 years ago

    I'm not so enthusiastic about all the Live versions of tracks that are appearing in both this and Rock Band. I guess it makes sense to a degree since you're supposedly playing to a crowd, but I prefer the studio versions for playing as the sound on those tends to be better produced making it easier to listen out for your part among all the others.

  • kangarootoo #11 3 years ago

    Hmmm. Not much of a list imo. Music is subjective stuff though.


    Does anyone know if DLC is going to be cross compatible from GHWT to GH5? That is one of the main issues I would have thought. RB have always got this right, and GH have always got it wrong.

  • DrPhil #12 3 years ago

    That's a pretty poor track list

  • Toothball #13 3 years ago

    Oh! I just read the track list. They nearly had me with Eagles of Death Metal. There's definitely other tracks I'd like to play in there, but I value the mechanics of a rhythm action gave over the track list as I tend to enjoy whatever music is on offer if I'm enjoying the game.

  • LazyDan #14 3 years ago

    Coldplay - In My Place?!

    Wtf is that wet, dreary flannel doing in a hard rock/metal track list? Is the challenge to stay awake all the way to the end?!

  • rudedudejude #15 3 years ago

    @dsmx Because a Jimi Hendrix GH is currently in development, featuring all songs from throughout his career, similar to the Metallica edition.

  • figgis #16 3 years ago

    Toothball the Eagle Of Death Metal are available as a track pack for GH:WT now.

  • Tuffty #17 3 years ago

    Eagles Of Death Metal is a great inclusion, long overdue, but Wannabe In LA? Personally would have gone for Speaking In Tongues.

    And boo Activision for not being able to play the EODM DLC on GH:Metallica.

  • Gartt #18 3 years ago

    Pretty poor track list to be honest. But bonus points for more Sublime.

  • Jez360 #19 3 years ago

    Wait I thought Band Band was for pop acts and more mainstream stuff but Guitar Hero seems to have tonnes of that as well... I think they're going to struggle to establish Band Hero as a separate brand.

  • Rubarack #20 3 years ago

    Most of the best stuff is taken from Rock Bands DLC, I'll rent it and play a couple of the tracks a bit but Rock Band's method is far superior.

  • Sonic_D #21 3 years ago

    I'm not too sure on this one, I'll prolly buy it eventually, but for every good track there is a duffer. Compared to RB the tracks just don't cut it.

    Having said that I bought GH: Smash Hits (it was going for £25 on Amazon) and I am actually enjoying it. The charts are good, the masters sound good and the game mechanics are better than GH:WT.

    But given it had Play With Me and Freebird on it I could not resist.
    Edited by 1 at 22/07/09 @ 16:53

  • Kafkaesque #22 3 years ago

    @MyAfroAndMe "This sounds guff. No band mechanics. Why doesn't everyone just play on their own then? Part of the fun of RB is feeling together as a band and helping out those who've mucked bits up.

    From the article you're commenting on - "Gone is the shared Rock Band meter, as each member now plays for themselves. Fail out and a revival meter appears for remaining band members to fill, but the more times this pops-up the harder revival becomes." I.e. GH has introduced a version of the save mechanic from RB. Get your facts straight before you start throwing your RB fanboy toys out of the pram.

    Usual affair this, I'm sure the vast majority will be fun to play, and some tracks I'm looking forward to playing (21st Century Schizoid Man, What I Got, Du Hast, Bring The Noise!), and some really baffling ones - like LazyDan says, why that particularly bad track from Coldplay, an already bad band? They seem to be trying to appeal to older players with the inclusion of so much older stuff.

    Biggest selling point to me really is the change of the online band mechanics. Many's the night when someone's come online and wanted to play but because of restrictions on who can play what instrument they've not been able to join in. Thing of the past now, triple drummer sessions ahoy! Now if they'd only patch GHWT onwards with that....
    Edited by 2 at 22/07/09 @ 17:18

  • sanctusmortis #23 3 years ago

    A Perfect Circle - "Judith"
    Scars On Broadway - "They Say"
    Smashing Pumpkins - "Bullet With Butterfly Wings"
    Garbage - "Only Happy When It Rains"
    Rammstein - "Du Hast"

    Well, fuck. Ah well, here's hoping they hit RB DLC.

  • Kuronos23 #24 3 years ago

    @sanctusmortis

    They Say is already available for Rock Band dlc. I'm with you on the others though.

  • Feanor #25 3 years ago

    I have GH:WT on the Wi and bought 5 extra songs for it. But I don't think I'll ever buy another GH game again unless they do Guitar Hero: Smashing Pumpkins.