"The Beatles: Rock Band" Beats "Guitar Hero 5" in September Sales

As album sales soften and the industry turns to alternate ways to get music to fans, the battle between the big music video games has become increasingly heated, and new sales figures indicate The Beatles: Rock Band has a bit of an edge on Guitar Hero 5. According to Billboard, The Beatles: Rock Band sold 595,000 copies following its September 9th release, while GH5 moved 499,000 units since it hit stores on September 1st. In all, both games help fuel a revenue increase of 72 percent for music video games compared to September 2008.

Check out rock-star game avatars, from the Fab Four to Van Halen.

Guitar Hero 5 kept pace with the opening month sales of its predecessor Guitar Hero: World Tour, which sold 534,000 copies last year, Billboard reports. However, the Beatles helped push MTV Games to new highs, as TB:RB more than doubled the 238,000 units of Rock Band 2 that were purchased in its first month. The Beatles: Rock Band, which was only outsold by Halo 3 and Madden '10 last month, came in second in overall revenue due to its higher price tag and all the add-on replica instruments that were available either separately or as a deluxe package.

As Rolling Stone reported yesterday, The Beatles: Rock Band is set to get a bump starting today when the remaining tracks from Abbey Road become available for download. Additionally, next month the rest of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band will become available, followed by Rubber Soul in December. LEGO Rock Band, DJ Hero, Band Hero and Guitar Hero: Van Halen should also help boost revenues as all due by year's end.

Related Stories:
• "The Beatles: Rock Band" Adding Entire "Abbey Road" This Week
• Photos: The Beatles Through the Years
• Behind the Beatles' Breakup

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Song Stories

“Smells Like Teen Spirit”

Nirvana | 1991

"Smells Like Teen Spirit," named after a brand of deodorant marketed to girls, was Kurt Cobain's attempt to "write the ultimate pop song," he said, using the soft-loud dynamic of his favorite band, the Pixies. Cobain "had that dichotomy of punk rage and alienation," the song’s producer, Butch Vig, told Rolling Stone, "but also this vulnerable pop sensibility. In 'Teen Spirit,' a lot of that vulnerability is in the tone of his voice." Sadly, by the time of Nirvana's last U.S. tour, in late '93, Cobain was tortured by the obligation to play "Teen Spirit" every night. "There are many other songs that I have written that are as good, if not better," he claimed.

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