Rock Band 2 to feature the late Bo Diddley's guitar

40 Comments by Griffin McElroy Jun 8th 2008 11:00PM
Filed under: Rhythm

Rock and Roll legend Bo Diddley passed away from heart failure Monday at the age of 79. Widely acknowledged as the forefather of the mid-century rock revolution, Diddley was a musical genius, responsible for inspiring numerous other rock gods of his era. In one obituary for Diddley, it was announced that his recognizable "cigar-box shaped" guitar would be featured in the "impending" Rock Band 2. Unfortunately, we imagine they're talking about an unlockable guitar actually inside the game, and not about any kind of bundled peripheral.

Whether Harmonix planned for this to be a tribute to the blues luminary is unclear -- regardless, we'll be chomping at the bit to get Diddley's rectangular axe into the hands of our imaginary six-string virtuosos whenever the sequel to our third-best game of 2007 hits store shelves.

Tags: bo-diddley, bodiddley, cigar-box, diddley, guitar, harmonix, obituary, rock-band, rock-band-2

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(Page 1) Reader Comments

Ignatius: Jun 8th 2008; 11:02PM

Good thing I've got two Stratocasters then...

Co: Jun 9th 2008; 9:54AM

Bo Diddley reppin that 352 baby!! R.I.P.

Markez (MKWii 4339-2878-5120): Jun 8th 2008; 11:11PM

Hopefully not as a peripheral, good gad.

Hopefully none of his music will be in it either.

Hopefully nothing about Bo Diddly will be in it at all.

Oh crap.

David: Jun 9th 2008; 12:21AM

You fucking piece of shit, go crawl back under your rock you fucking piece of bastard fucking shite.

Jhongerkong: Jun 9th 2008; 1:10AM

Have to agree with David on this one. If you hate him, then GTFO of a comment section about the guy. Jeez, some people...

Eli Gundry: Jun 9th 2008; 9:49AM

I think the original Who Do You Love would be amazing on Rock Band.

Fatass of Sarcasmness: Jun 9th 2008; 11:03AM

I disagree with you, Markez, but holy shit, David, there was no fucking excuse for that man. Take a chill pill.

Jhongerkong: Jun 8th 2008; 11:15PM

Bo Didley = the shit (in a good way)

Its nice to see Harmonix paying tribute to him

87th: Jun 8th 2008; 11:15PM

They really ought to add "Bo Diddley" by "Bo Diddley" from the album, "Bo Diddley". It's a fantastic Rock 'n' Roll number, and one of the reasons I was lead to believe that Bo was the greatest blues musician there has ever been.

ChooChooCharlie (MK 0430-8740-2222): Jun 8th 2008; 11:38PM

In general, I despise the blues, but I'll say this: that man could play.

Huey2k2: Jun 9th 2008; 12:07AM

Without the blues rock and roll and many other genres that exist today wouldn't have been created.

the blues and jazz are two of the main reasons that a lot of modern genres of music exist, give them some respect.

ChooChooCharlie (MK 0430-8740-2222): Jun 9th 2008; 12:12AM

I'm not denying that fact, but that doesn't mean I have to enjoy that style of music.

DemonGSides: Jun 9th 2008; 12:12AM

He just did, what more do you want?

Phi Nguyen: Jun 8th 2008; 11:50PM

Hail Sinfonia. He will be missed.

kevin: Jun 9th 2008; 12:07AM

Wow I feel dumb, thought it would be some special edition peripheral... cause that would be sweet. Cool either way.

BrokenMonkey: Jun 9th 2008; 12:12AM

Yeah, I was sad when I read that he had died. I didn't know that he lived just outside of Gainesville until I read in out school newspaper that he had passed away in Archer.

Scott: Jun 9th 2008; 12:30AM

Why is there a rock band 2 being discussed anyway?
Wasn't the whole idea for it to be a long lasting DLC fueled game?
Perhaps its not as successful?

Fill me in people

Seanross: Jun 9th 2008; 1:17AM

Because they have to compete with GH4.. do people really think you'll still be playing Rock Band when GH4 and 5 are out?

Shaun: Jun 9th 2008; 1:45AM

I was thinking the same thing Scott, and am glad that someone else pointed that out. I was starting think that I remembered it wrong.

They kept on selling Rock Band as a "console" that would have an extended life via DLC, and claimed that they would not focus on a sequel for awhile.

What a load of garbage... although I can't say that I am surprised.

T: Jun 9th 2008; 8:21AM

Anybody who believed EA when they said they wouldn't release a sequel for a highly successful game hasn't been paying attention to EA's releases for the last decade or so.

C'mon people. I called this one the moment they started making those claims. It's EA and it's a hugely successful game. Why in God's name WOULDN'T they make a sequel?

They've already stated they'll work to make DLC compatible with this version as well, which if they hold true will be more than sufficient. As they'll continue to release RB DLC and you can further expand your collection by purchasing the RB2 disc.

Mullinsmcd: Jun 9th 2008; 9:06AM

My prediction is that its just going to be another disc full of 60 or so songs with competing features like band world tour, create your own music, and band vs band play. Same peripherals, same basic idea. Im hoping for other things like a more advanced way of keeping your scores in freeplay mode.

As far as DLC goes... I hope that its forwards compatible but if they can make a disc hot-swap feature that would be just as good with me.

Even if EA pushes back on them to make this new game, I have faith that Harmonix will do everything they can to not screw over their fans (unlike activision).

Odog4ever: Jun 9th 2008; 10:22AM

@Scott

Harmonix has not issued a release date for Rock Band 2 yet. A lot of the info on Rock Band 2 was "leaked" and not official news. People are jumping to conclusions, thinking it's going to be released this year when GH4 is.

Rock Band 2 is going to need enough feature updates to warrant a full disc sequel. They can't just issue 4GB worth of "patches and updates" That's valuable hardware space that can be hold more DLC songs. If the RB2 comes out it 2009 is that really two soon? Since when is a 2 year development cycle too soon? It's not like they have to do a total revamp of the series like Guitar Hero.

Anyway every year at E3 the gaming community waxes poetic about games that aren't coming out for 2-3 years sometimes so how is talking about RB2 so weird?

Thomas: Jun 9th 2008; 12:40AM

I wish that Rock Band or Guitar Hero would include some blues music... at least for DLC. If it wasn't for Bo Diddley there would be no Rock and Roll, so Honor him, honor his music, and other blues artist as well.

FSK405K: Jun 9th 2008; 12:56AM

How about more Stevie Ray Vaughan...we can all agree on that.

ManicBomber: Jun 9th 2008; 12:57AM

When is this myth of blues inventing rock going to die? I mean is history such a taboo subject to most people that they can't do a simple amount of homework to see how ridiculous that notion is?

mr mobius: Jun 9th 2008; 1:17AM

Why not just get a blues edition of Guitar Hero or a blues album DLC for Rock Band (ie an album worth of a mix of blues and jazz artists).

tcc3: Jun 9th 2008; 6:56AM

Maybe you're the one that needs to do research. Your ignorance does Papa Smurf a disservice.

Anticrawl: Jun 9th 2008; 2:35AM

Only way I'd ever buy the MTV Rock Band is if it had Tom Morello's "Arm the Homeless" guitar.

#28: Jun 9th 2008; 4:21AM

So this is really the first we hear of Rock Band 2....? Bo Diddley's gonna be in it? Um... All right then Harmonix.

T: Jun 9th 2008; 8:22AM

His guitar. No confirmation on music.

And really, if that is the case...it's what? One song out of 60 or so?

#28: Jun 10th 2008; 3:36AM

I'm just saying, they haven't released ANY other info about the game. But we do know that Bo Diddley's in it. An odd choice.

moominsean: Jun 9th 2008; 8:56AM

not sure if it's a tribute or merely a marketing ploy.

cduran01: Jun 9th 2008; 9:21AM

Do I see a DIY Bo Diddley one in the future?

cduran01: Jun 9th 2008; 9:21AM

Do I see a DIY Bo Diddley one in the future?

Fokwok: Jun 9th 2008; 10:05AM

Will RB 1 dlc be playable on RB 2

john: Aug 2nd 2008; 4:25AM

lol yes and they say they will have at least 500 songs by next year!wow man lol

Etchasketchist: Jun 9th 2008; 1:29PM

Finally, Harmonix acknowledges that African Americans have a little something to do with Rock and Roll music. Took 'em long enough. If it's just a bunch of unlockable polygons and not an actual song, I'll be disappointed. The number of black musicians represented in Rock Band's song list and all of it's DLC is still a big fat zero.

Mike: Jun 9th 2008; 2:33PM

I'd like to see Rock Band two come out with new features and 50 or so new songs, but make it work like the Singstar games, where I can swap my RB1 disc in, and play the songs with the new game. It needs to be able to utilize the DLC from the first as well.

lockheede: Jun 10th 2008; 1:55AM

Maybe there will be an option to load the new disc's songs right to your drive?

Johnny Lasley: Jun 14th 2008; 1:36AM

The Rolling Stones owe their careers and a good portion of their catalogue to Bo Diddley. Although he's considered "rock", Bo Diddley style of guitar is the forerunner of funk - probably a bit too complicated for gameplay - and harkens back to the diddly bow.

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