

Note: Videos may contain authoring issues that have been fixed, and are for preview purposes only.

C3 releases for October 18, 2013:

(Mostly) New! “Weird Al” Yankovic Pack C01

“Weird Al” Yankovic – “Albuquerque” M (Gigakoops, drummerockband, and pksage)

(Gigakoops, drummerockband, and pksage) “Weird Al” Yankovic – “Amish Paradise” (TrojanNemo)

(TrojanNemo) “Weird Al” Yankovic – “Another One Rides the Bus” (drummerockband)

(drummerockband) “Weird Al” Yankovic – “Dare to Be Stupid” (Nyxyxylyth)

(Nyxyxylyth) “Weird Al” Yankovic – “Eat It” (drummerockband c/o Neversoft)

(drummerockband c/o Neversoft) “Weird Al” Yankovic – “Gump” (drummerockband c/o Harmonix)

(drummerockband c/o Harmonix) “Weird Al” Yankovic – “Hardware Store” (Orange Harrison)

(Orange Harrison) “Weird Al” Yankovic – “I’ll Sue Ya” K (drummerockband)

(drummerockband) “Weird Al” Yankovic – “Polka Power!” K (pksage)

(pksage) “Weird Al” Yankovic – “Pretty Fly for a Rabbi” (pksage c/o Harmonix)

(pksage c/o Harmonix) “Weird Al” Yankovic – “Trigger Happy” (Orange Harrison)

(Orange Harrison) “Weird Al” Yankovic – “White & Nerdy” K (drummerockband)

A red X denotes Pro Guitar/Pro Bass, a blue M denotes full multitracks, and a blue K denotes a “karaoke” multitrack (separated vocals).

Finally, the time is upon us. Millions — nay, billions — have waited long years for this moment. The excited anticipation of all mankind settles on our collective subconscious, lending the entire planet an air of tense readiness. Businesses close. Governments grind to a halt. A great disturbance in the Force, as countless minds prepare themselves for October 18, the single most important day in the history of the human race.

The clock strikes 10:00 AM. A cold wind blows, carrying with it the hint of an accordion and a bunch of fart noises. It is time.

—

I may have exaggerated a little bit with some of that, but it’s true — the day is finally upon us! “Weird Al” Yankovic makes his explosive debut into Rock Band 3 this week with a 12-pack of songs spanning almost his entire prolific career. Al’s self-titled debut album was released in 1983, and he remains a beloved icon of pop culture thirty years later. Also, October 23 is his birthday! Happy birthday, buddy!

This pack is a collaboration between no fewer than six C3 authors. Many of us have been Weird Al fans for as long as we can remember, and this pack been carefully crafted over several months of hard work, arguments, anguish, frustration, drama, reconciliation, and love. (At least three of those descriptors mostly apply to “Albuquerque”.) We’re nerds authoring nerd music FOR n-…ormal people, and we hope you’ll enjoy this pack as much as we enjoyed finishing it. Incidentally, it happens to be a perfect balance of six original songs or style parodies and six direct parodies! How symmetrical of us.

With all of that out of the way, let’s set the clock back to 1983. Cue the cheesy clocks-rushing-backwards visual…

1983 – “Weird Al” Yankovic

“Another One Rides the Bus” – drummerockband is perhaps the biggest Weird Al fanatic we’ve got, and personally made sure our pack spanned as many Weird Al milestones as possible. Case in point: “Another One Rides the Bus”, one of the defining songs of the very start of Weird Al’s career. The lo-fi, raspy recording sets this song apart from every other Weird Al song you’re probably familiar with, but it’s a piece of history. And hey, it’s Queen! With an accordion!

1984 – “Weird Al” Yankovic in 3-D

“Eat It” – Weird Al’s first album was decently accepted by the public at large, but they had no idea what was about to hit them. In 3-D, and specifically “Eat It”, properly cemented Weird Al’s status as A Thing in the music industry. drummerockband stepped in again to make this piece of history also a piece of our pack. Super bonus points if, as the vocalist, you put your hands up to the mic during the intro and make those suction fart noises. You know what I mean. (Some charts have been adapted from “Beat It”.)

1985 – Dare to Be Stupid

“Dare to Be Stupid” – A lot of bands burn out around the third album, but Weird Al was just getting started. Dare to Be Stupid‘s title track was eventually featured in the 1986 animated Transformers movie, and Nyxyxylyth has now gotten it featured in Rock Band. Devo famously loved the song; one of the many Weird Al urban legends states that Devo’s lead singer called it “the best Devo song ever recorded”.

1992 – Off the Deep End

“Trigger Happy” – After the somewhat disappointing 1986 and 1988 releases of Polka Party! and Even Worse, Weird Al kicked off the ’90s with another Platinum-certified album. Off the Deep End really nailed that kind of weird transition period between the ’80s and ’90s, but forget about that for a second — Orange Harrison wants to remind you that it parodied the ’60s just fine too. “Trigger Happy” is a spot-on style parody of The Beach Boys, and it’s probably the closest thing we’ve got to a “deep cut” in this pack. Get your skilled vocalist friends together and try to FC the harmonies on Expert without shooting one another!

1996 – Bad Hair Day

“Amish Paradise” – Now we’re starting to get into the Weird Al albums that a lot of the 20-somethings in the crowd will remember from their youth. “Amish Paradise” is a must-have for any Weird Al pack, so TrojanNemo dusted off his old version of the song and updated it to C3 standards. The song, which hit the Billboard charts, famously made Coolio really mad. Al’s record label told him they were cool, but, like — drama! — oh my god, they like totally WEREN’T cool! Ohmigod. Anyway, Coolio got over it, and now he and Al go out drinking and weasel-stomping weekly. True story. (FtV updates on this track: New audio, pitch corrections to Pro Keys, lots of small- to medium-sized changes to all other instruments and vocals)

Now we’re starting to get into the Weird Al albums that a lot of the 20-somethings in the crowd will remember from their youth. “Amish Paradise” is a must-have for any Weird Al pack, so dusted off his old version of the song and updated it to C3 standards. The song, which hit the Billboard charts, famously made Coolio really mad. Al’s record label told him they were cool, but, like — drama! — oh my god, they like totally WEREN’T cool! Ohmigod. Anyway, Coolio got over it, and now he and Al go out drinking and weasel-stomping weekly. True story. “Gump” – I’m not a smart man, but I know what “Gump” is. drummerockband does too! This song was released as the second single from Bad Hair Day and, along with “Jurassic Park”, paved the way for “The Saga Begins”, the best Weird Al song that is not featured in our pack. Aww, now I’ve gone and made everyone sad. Just don’t think about that super sad monologue Forrest Gump delivers to Jenny’s grave. Or the intro to Up. Or “Jurassic Bark”. Okay, okay, I’ll stop! Jeez. (Some charts have been adapted from “Lump”.)

1999 – Running with Scissors

“Pretty Fly for a Rabbi” – Running with Scissors arguably has some of Weird Al’s most memorable and unique songs, and (like Bad Hair Day) is the de facto Weird Al album for lots of 20-somethings. “Pretty Fly for a Rabbi” might not be one of those unique songs, but it’s still a blast to play! pksage (yeah, I know it’s me, let’s pretend that third-person voice isn’t awkward) learned a lot of Yiddish while authoring this song. Feh! (Some charts have been adapted from “Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)”.)

Running with Scissors arguably has some of Weird Al’s most memorable and unique songs, and (like Bad Hair Day) is the de facto Weird Al album for lots of 20-somethings. “Pretty Fly for a Rabbi” might not be one of those unique songs, but it’s still a blast to play! (yeah, I know it’s me, let’s pretend that third-person voice isn’t awkward) learned a lot of Yiddish while authoring this song. Feh! (Some charts have been adapted from “Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)”.) “Polka Power!” – Now we’re talking. The polka medleys featured on almost every one of Weird Al’s studio albums are a critical part of his identity. Did you know that Weird Al is renowned not just for his parodies, but also for his skill as an accordionist? You will after playing the intro to pksage ‘s Pro Keys chart for this song. “Polka Power!” is a medley of 14 different ’90s anthems and one-hit wonders, and is basically a bite-sized summary of Weird Al in a single song.

– Now we’re talking. The polka medleys featured on almost every one of Weird Al’s studio albums are a critical part of his identity. Did you know that Weird Al is renowned not just for his parodies, but also for his skill as an accordionist? You will after playing the intro to ‘s Pro Keys chart for this song. “Polka Power!” is a medley of 14 different ’90s anthems and one-hit wonders, and is basically a bite-sized summary of Weird Al in a single song. “Albuquerque” – Here it is, ladies and gentlemen. The song that you will play once for the novelty and then never ever touch again. Weird Al’s 12-minute long epic of sauerkraut, weasels, and snorkels is now in Rock Band, with guitar and bass charts by Gigakoops, drum chart by drummerockband, and vocals from pksage. Remember: If anyone asks if you want help with that sofa, just say yes.

2003 – Poodle Hat

“Hardware Store” – Poodle Hat may not have sold particularly well, but Orange Harrison reminds you that it won a Grammy, you freaking philistines. “Hardware Store” is another Rock Band legend waiting to happen. Even outside of “that one part”, the vocals chart is blisteringly fast and difficult. Are you enough of a hardware enthusiast to tackle it? (FtV updates on this track: Entirely new vocals chart)

2006 – Straight Outta Lynwood

“White & Nerdy” – And here we are, the modern day. Uh, kind of. (Nothing happened to be authored from Alpocalypse. Sorry.) “White & Nerdy”, authored by drummerockband , is Weird Al’s highest-charting song to date and is already a karaoke bar staple. But it’s got stuff going on in Keys, too! I don’t need to write any more copy, you know this song.

– And here we are, the modern day. Uh, kind of. (Nothing happened to be authored from Alpocalypse. Sorry.) “White & Nerdy”, authored by , is Weird Al’s highest-charting song to date and is already a karaoke bar staple. But it’s got stuff going on in Keys, too! I don’t need to write any more copy, you know this song. “I’ll Sue Ya” – This may not have been a single from Lynwood, but it’s definitely a good fit for Rock Band. This Rage Against the Machine style parody, also authored by drummerockband in his pre-C3 days, closes out our pack with…well, not a bang. Let’s say an angry white boy pipe bomb of some kind. (FtV updates on this track: Karaoke stems, lots of new metadata and animations, and changes to vocals and guitar)

Even this momentous occasion is not JUST about Weird Al. espher, GreenPanda12, thomeval, and MarsPhoenix are here this week with a fresh batch of Rock Band Harmonies Project upgrades! This week’s set includes The Police 01 (with a keys upgrade to Roxanne), The Offspring 01 (clearly to coincide with “Pretty Fly for a Rabbi”), Neon Trees 01, the awesome RBN sleeper hit “Torture”, and many others! Check the full list at the end of this post, and to download these new upgrades, visit the RBHP site.

But wait! THERE’S MORE! Have we mentioned lately that a huge number of our customs are available for Wii and Phase Shift? C3 forum member StackOverflow0x has been diligently processing our back catalog for Wii compatibility, and bluzer and TylerFG have been doing the same for Phase Shift. If these platforms are totally your thing, check out the rightmost default columns in our song database. Most new releases will be added within a few days of the Xbox 360 release, and more back catalog songs are being added weekly! (If your only Rock Band platform is PS3, bad news — no one’s publicly figured out how to load custom user content into RB3 on the PS3. If you know a modder who might be interested, go yell at them until they make it happen.)

Are you upset that we didn’t do “The Saga Begins”, “Fat”, “I Love Rocky Road”, “I Lost on Jeopardy”, “UHF”, “The Night Santa Went Crazy”, “Perform This Way”, “Like a Surgeon”, “Everything You Know is Wrong”, or “Your Horoscope for Today”? Join us and author them yourself! More details are available on our forums.

See you next Friday!

New! “Weird Al” Yankovic Pack C01

Additional authoring credit: TrojanNemo (stem separation)

Additional authoring credit: Nightmare Lyre (drums revamp)

Additional authoring credit: Nightmare Lyre (guitar solo)

Additional authoring credit: Orange Harrison (stem separation)

Additional authoring credit: TrojanNemo (stem separation)

Additional authoring credit: Orange Harrison (stem separation)

Rock Band Harmonies Project – October 18, 2013

Download these upgrades at the RBHP site.

Rock Band Harmony Upgrades

Death of the Cool – “Can’t Let Go” (espher)

Rock Band DLC 2007 Harmony Upgrades

The Police – “Can’t Stand Losing You” (espher)

The Police – “Roxanne” (espher)

The Police – “Synchronicity II” (espher)

Rock Band DLC 2008 Harmony Upgrades

Hot Hot Heat – “Bandages” (espher)

Kasabian – “Shoot the Runner” (GreenPanda12)

The Offspring – “Gone Away” (thomeval)

The Offspring – “Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)” (thomeval)

The Offspring – “Self Esteem” (thomeval)

The Stone Roses – “Love Spreads” (espher)

Rock Band DLC 2010 Harmony Upgrades

Neon Trees – “1983” (GreenPanda12)

Neon Trees – “Animal” (GreenPanda12)

Neon Trees – “Sins of My Youth” (GreenPanda12)

Rock Band 2 – 20 Free DLC Upgrades

Authority Zero – “No Regrets” (espher)

The Chevelles – “Get It On” (espher)

Dealership – “Database Corrupted” (GreenPanda12)

Hollywood Undead – “Young” (espher)

Rock Band Network Harmony Upgrades

State of Shock – “Money Honey” (espher)

Rival Sons – “Torture” (espher)

Rock Band Network Pro Drum Upgrades

All That Remains – “Hold On” (GreenPanda12)

All That Remains – “The Waiting One” (GreenPanda12)

Anarbor – “Let the Games Begin” (GreenPanda12)

Cate Sparks – “Angels We Heard on High” (GreenPanda12)

Fake Shark-Real Zombie – “Horses in Heaven” (GreenPanda12)

Fake Shark-Real Zombie – “Sestri Levante” (GreenPanda12)

Family Force 5 – “Radiator” (GreenPanda12)

Free Electric State – “Six is One” (GreenPanda12)

Jonathan Coulton – “Ikea” (GreenPanda12)

Jonathan Coulton – “Mandlebrot Set” (GreenPanda12)

Jonathan Coulton – “Shop Vac” (GreenPanda12)

Marillion – “Whatever is Wrong with You” (GreenPanda12)

Robby Suave – “Everyone I Know is an Alcoholic” (GreenPanda12)

Safari So Good – “Delaware Are You I Don’t Know Alaska” (GreenPanda12)

Suicide Silence – “Disengage” (GreenPanda12)

The Fire Violets – “Dead to the World” (GreenPanda12)

The Riptides – “Dial M for Murder” (GreenPanda12)

The Shins – “Phantom Limb” (GreenPanda12)

Ultra Saturday – “Not My Fault” (GreenPanda12)

Widespread Panic – “Chilly Water (Live)” (GreenPanda12)

Rock Band Keys/Pro Keys Upgrades

The Police – “Roxanne” (MarsPhoenix)

Rock Band Optional Upgrades

Pleymo – “New Wave” (espher) – Variant: Misheard Lyircs