Hassle Night

"No Hassle Night" turned out to be a hassle tonight as it took quite a few tries to pass the crazy drum intro... :) Phoenix eventually passed it by treating the red notes as a fast roll. We can add that song to the list of "maxed out" songs (now totalling 5, including "Saucy Jack" which we also played tonight, plus "Thank You Boys", "Cups and Cakes" and "Doll").

After playing the classic song "Godzilla", we ended up playing another 23 with the optimal line-up. These were all songs where our score was below 400K (titles from letters G to T). Next week there is no new DLC so we'll finish the "below 400K" songs and then start the "below 500K" ones.

After the main set, we played another 8 songs with the Trapper on Bass and some instrument swaps. We still managed to increase 3 of those songs past 400K. It was neat that the Trapper still assumed his duties as Pathmaster while playing Bass.

Our career score is now up 12M to 958M. If only the PS3 leaderboards could finally update (broken since the last patch), we could see our new total at the "All Songs" Leaderboards.

Highlights:
- Stars breakdown for the 24 songs (not counting the last 8): Gold stars (10), 5 stars (10), 4 stars (4, for "Parasite (Live)", "Life is Beautiful", "Sick, Sick, Sick" and "That's How I Escaped My Certain Fate")
- Bongoo was the "Top Performer" for the most songs (14), followed by Sylvie (11), Raikan (8), Trapper (2) and Phoenix (1)
- Sylvie had the most FCs (7), followed by Raikan and Bongoo (3 each)
- Sylvie uses the "Wah-Wah" effect on Bass and it gets pretty funny during songs like "Sick, Sick, Sick"
- The crazy long Big Rock Ending of "Iron Maiden (Live)" is a workout as it goes to more than 100K points... and then we miss it! :) It's pretty tough on drums...

"Go go Godzilla", and other fine tunes

This week we'll play Blue Öyster Cult's "Godzilla", the only new DLC track released last week. The other songs were part of the previously released Metal Track Pack, which we've already played.

That means that we'll have more time to increase scores below a certain threshold. We'll start by playing songs with scores below 400K after "Green Grass and High Tides" (where we stopped last week). This will help us move up the "All Songs" Leaderboards.

Here is my top 3 DLC from last week (includes the previously exclusive Metal Track Pack songs I played last September):

3. "Bulls on Parade", by Rage Against the Machine: Not the most difficult of songs, but it's definitely a rockin' track from an amazing group. Brings back a bit of Guitar Hero 3 nostalgia.

2. "Levitate", by I Mother Earth: This song is quite complex on all instruments and comes from a great Canadian alternative rock band (now defunct). What makes this song extra special is the nice flow of the drum chart.

1. "Godzilla", by Blue Öyster Cult: An amazing song to play on guitar with its great vibe and numerous challenging solos. It's nice to play this old classic again, as it was part of the original Guitar Hero. This time it sounds even better as it is a master track.

Honorable mention. "Killed by Death '08", by Motörhead: This classic metal group always brings some high-energy chops and this re-recording is no exception. While the song drags on near the end, it has a few interesting guitar solos.

Closer to 1 billion points

We once again played 24 songs this week, including the 9 new DLC tracks from last week. We gained 17M points (929M to 946M points), so it looks like we'll finally join the 1 billion point club in February. You can see the current list of billion point bands at the "All Songs" Leaderboards.

There were some interesting ties for "Top Performer", including a full band FC of "Doll", a 4-way tie at 99% for "Jammin' Me (Live)", plus a triple FC for "The Waiting (Live)".

We finished all songs below 400K up to letter 'G' (last song played was "Green Grass and High Tides"). There are now two more DLC tracks that are maxed out (won't get above 400K), "Cups and Cakes" and "Doll" (joining "Thank You Boys" from last week).

"Godzilla" is the only new DLC track for our next 2 sessions as Harmonix is releasing all previously exclusive Track Pack songs as DLC (from the Metal and Country packs which we already played). That means that'll be improving on a lot of old scores, perhaps improving all scores below 500K.

Highlights:
- Stars breakdown for the 24 songs: Gold stars (13), 5 stars (11)
- Bongoo was the "Top Performer" for the most songs (14), followed by Phoenix and Sylvie (10 each) and Raikan (3)
- Bongoo had the most FCs (8), followed by Sylvie (4), Phoenix (3) and Raikan (1)
- Our first music video was for "Down with the Sickness", and even after playing "Green Grass and High Tides", it's still our song with the most points (2.44M)
- After seeing some hilarious Youtube videos of the PC mini-game "Sumotori Dreams", we download it on our break... check it out, it's worth it! :)

Fun Phoenix drum charts for Phoenix

This week we'll play last week's new DLC (9 songs), plus improve on our worst songs by score (except the ones like "Thank You Boys" where we're already maxed). This will help us move up the "All Songs" Leaderboards.

Here is my top 3 DLC from last week:

3. "Nightwatchman (Live)", by Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers: The 2nd Tom Petty Live DLC 6-pack has some pretty good songs (ex: "Century City", "A Woman in Love (It's Not Me)"), but overall I prefer the 1st 6-pack we got 2 months ago. Out of the new songs "Nightwatchman" stands out for having a really fun guitar chart, easily the best guitar chart this week.

2. "Lisztomania", by Phoenix: The drum charts for this band are quite interesting and unique. While the band's sound won't be to everyone's liking, if you want to have a decent challenge and add some variety to your collection, don't hesitate to pick these up. The vocals on this track are quite difficult as there are sections with lots of pitch changes and no breaks.

1. "1901", by Phoenix: Easily the best DLC this week. The song has a driving funky rhythm and is fun on all instruments. It's interesting that this band comes from the same region of France as electronica pioneers Daft Punk. Another outstanding drum chart, worthy of the name Phoenix... :)

Honorable mention. "Blue Jeans", by Silvertide: This is a somewhat "commercial" rock song (not usually a good thing), but the great charts on all instruments (especially on drums) make it stand out vs. the other Tom Petty songs.

14-song Gold streak

This week we played 24 songs, including last week's DLC plus every song with a score below 300K. Our total score is now 929M, up from 907M, helping us climb the "All Songs" Leaderboards.

The pathmaster (Trapper) had some neat paths for us right from the start (improvised, but effective), leading to a 14-song Gold star streak, including all 5 new Alice in Chains songs. It was "Saucy Jack"'s tricky drum chart that finally broke the streak. All in all, we ended up getting 21 of 24 Gold stars for the night. Sylvie and Phoenix both had great sessions: her numerous FCs and his endurance on a few tough drum songs allowed us to squeeze a few more Gold stars.

To finish every song with a score below 300K, we also played 2 of the game's instrumentals, plus one song with some at Medium or Hard difficulty ("They're Red Hot"). These are not counted in the stats for the 24 songs. The only song where we could not get more than 300K is "Thank You Boys" by Jane's Addiction. This groovy jazz tune is really short, plus it doesn't help that it only has one vocal phrase.

Highlights:
- Stars breakdown for the 24 songs: Gold stars (21), 5 stars (3, for "Saucy Jack", "Shhh..." and "ABC")
- Sylvie was the "Top Performer" for the most songs (16), followed by Bongoo (11), Raikan (5) and Phoenix (4)
- Sylvie had the most FCs (9), followed by Bongoo (5) and Raikan (4)
- The Trapper also acted as roadie when Phoenix dropped his drum sticks, just in time for us to hit the next unison bonus... :)