"The Who: Rock Band" On the Way? Daltrey Drops a Hint

The Who may be the next band to receive their own branded Rock Band video game. Singer Roger Daltrey let the following tidbit slip in an interview with MassLive: "The game, yeah, yeah, they're going to be doing a Who one next year. There is one planned. [The idea] is fabulous. Anything that gets non-musical people interested in music is wonderful." So far, only the Beatles have their own Rock Band title; Guitar Hero has games pegged to acts including Aerosmith and Metallica.

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A Rock Band spokeperson told video game blog Kotaku, "We're working closely with the Who on what's next, but don't have anything new to announce at this time."

Given the cinematic and conceptual nature of the Who and Pete Townshend, Rock Band seems like a better fit for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame band than Guitar Hero. Whereas GH has created lifelike avatars and restored famed venues for their artist-based games like GH: Metallica or GH: Van Halen, MTV Games upped the ante with The Beatles: Rock Band, crafting entire dreamscapes to accompany the music and offering replicas of the Fab Four's instruments, an approach that would work well with the Who's concept albums like Tommy and Quadrophenia.

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Unlike the Beatles, however, the Who have already offered up a number of their songs for preexisting Rock Band games: RB featured "Won't Get Fooled Again," RB2 had "Pinball Wizard" and July 2008 saw the The Best of the Who bring a dozen of the band's hits to Rock Band as downloadable content.

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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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