New Guns n' Roses Song Premiering on "Rock Band 2"

A brand new Guns n' Roses song will make its debut via Rock Band 2, the sequel to the hit video game that allows players to contribute their own guitar, bass, drums and vocals to hit rock songs. "Shackler's Revenge," a new track from Chinese Democracy (though not included with the recently leaked supposedly finished tracks), will get its world premiere via the game, also suggesting that an autumn release for Chinese Democracy is inevitable. Rock Band 2, developed by Harmonix and distributed by MTV Games, will also feature songs from Rush and AC/DC, and according to a track list leaked last week may also include songs from Elvis Costello and Bob Dylan.

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Song Stories

“Piano Man”

Billy Joel | 1973

Billy Joel’s first hit, “Piano Man,” was – ironically – an autobiographical lament about how his first album wasn’t a hit. When Cold Spring Harbor didn’t take off, Joel briefly became a lounge pianist in Los Angeles, and this song, about that experience, expressed his frustrations and fears at the time: “And they sit at the bar and put bread in my jar/And say, ‘Man, what are you doing here?’” “It was all right,” Joel said later, about the gig. “I got free drinks and union scale, which was the first steady money I’d made in a long time.”

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