Harmonix: No Freezepop in RB2, maybe in the DLC

by Mike Schramm { Jul 17th 2008 at 4:00AM }

Bad news for Freezepop fans (like us here at Joystiq) -- the synthpop trio, of which Kasson Crooker, Senior Producer at Rock Band creators Harmonix, is a member, does not have a song in their latest game, Rock Band 2. And that's a shame -- they've had a new song on the disc in every Harmonix game since FreQuency (including Phase, their iPod game), which makes this the first Harmonix game without a new Freezepop tune.

Shocked at this revelation, we confronted Harmonix at the Rock Band event this evening, and they confirmed that yes, there is no Freezepop song on the disc in RB2. The reason given to us was that Freezepop hasn't recorded any new music lately, and that they didn't have anything new to put out. But our source at Harmonix did say to look out for some Freezepop DLC -- they may be planning, we were told, a two or three-song downloadable pack of "sweet and cold and fruity and plastic-y" music.

There's a rub, though: there is a new Freezepop song in the recently released Guitar Hero: On Tour DS game. Guitar Hero, as you may know, was originally created by Harmonix, but since GH3 has been owned by Activision and developed by Neversoft. Are Liz Enthusiasm and her two compadres jumping ship?

Update: Commenter skie reads Liz' livejournal. Apparently the band never got paid for any of their songs in the Harmonix games since Guitar Hero, but they did get paid for the GH:OT appearance. They say they want to open themselves up to as many different fans as possible, and that means showing up in other companies' games.

Tags: e3, e3-2008, freezepop, guitar-hero, harmonix, rock-band, rock-band-2, set-list

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Seroth @ Jul 17th 2008 4:09AM

In before "good riddance."

I like Freezepop. It's a slight shame that they're not on the RB2 disc, but, hey, we still have the songs from RB1! I'd like to see Ready 2 Rokk and Less Talk More Rokk from GH1 and GH2 in RB, also.

MarkHawk @ Jul 17th 2008 4:13AM

There is just so much to be added for this game. Looking forward to it. RB for the win.

What hurts though is knowing bands I like are on GHWT. I just never liked the gameplay for GH that much and WT seems to be more of the same. Oh well. DLC for the win...

Oh and WTF decades? The game is out 3 weeks and already there is a sequel/expansion?!?

Neuromancer @ Jul 17th 2008 11:17AM

Less Talk More Rokk would be incredible for RB2.

Dantarion @ Jul 17th 2008 4:27AM

No Freezepop was in EyeToy:Antigrav either I believe.

Freezepop's music isn't really "rock" anyways. The songs featured in guitar hero and rockband have all been remixes or exceptions to the rest of their music.

Dant~ out!

vid @ Jul 17th 2008 4:37AM

While it hurts me inside to see a Freezepop song in Guitar Hero: On Tour but not in Rock Band 2, I can sort of understand the reasoning of not wanting to put out some of their older songs on the brand spankin' new game. And the fact that they used "You Are Not My Gameboy" for GH: On Tour is downright poetic.

However... for future DLC... here's a few that I'd love to see in Rock Band/Rock Band 2.

Classics:
Bike Thief
Science Genius Girl
Freezepop Forever (Although for accuracy it'd require three vocalists...)

Slower for something different:
Duct Tape My Heart
Emotions and Photons
Plastic Stars

Newer Stuff:
Less Talk More Rokk (Come on, this is a no brainer at this point, right?)
Do You Like My Wang?
Ninja of Love

Please? :)

thewiicast @ Jul 17th 2008 5:10AM

C'Mon Their Cover of the theme for Jem and the Holograms would be awesome in RB2!!!!!

vid @ Jul 17th 2008 6:08AM

Ack! You're right, I don't know how I could have forgotten that one!

Ratfoot @ Jul 17th 2008 6:06AM

Good riddance Guitar Hero can have Freezepop easily the worst band in any game they have ever been in. And yes this is not sarcasm.

ChooChooCharlie @ Jul 17th 2008 11:24AM

Obviously you've never played anything by Vagiant.

Or 29 Fingers by the Konks.

Professor Murda @ Jul 17th 2008 6:17AM

Sean told me at SXSW that the reason The Duke wasn't at the show was because he was working on a "Secret Project Nudge Nudge Wink Wink" which I of course assumed was RB2. It's a shame, but being in a band myself, I can understand the difficulty in balancing work and music.

McWeen @ Jul 17th 2008 8:11AM

I caught them at a local bar a few months back they were surprisingly good live.

DSeaver @ Jul 17th 2008 8:11AM

I just noticed the singer of Freezepop sounds similar to everyone's favorite operating system, GlaDOS

Kizzle @ Jul 17th 2008 8:57AM

Good riddance.

Hey, at least the guy who said "in before good riddance" was right.

dark_inchworm @ Jul 17th 2008 9:13AM

They're talented, but cheesy in a way that doesn't sit well with me. I find them quite annoying.

Definitely won't be mourning their loss.

Odog4ever @ Jul 17th 2008 9:30AM

I loved playing their songs in GH and RB. Can't wait to see them at PAX. Thank god for DLC.

Now its time for me to say how much a band sucks just because I personally don't like music/genre they play. I can't keep my dislike for the music and the band separate. I'm simple like that.

Tony @ Jul 17th 2008 10:27AM

throw your undies on the stage...

juan @ Jul 17th 2008 10:43AM

i am not your gameboy.

cant stand that song on guitar hero on tour.

KeegdnaB @ Jul 17th 2008 10:59AM

:(

seriously...i love them

Neebs @ Jul 17th 2008 11:04AM

I like them, but I'm ok with them not being in RB2 now. Their songs are fun in FreQ and Amp but most of what they do in the other games are silly.

skie @ Jul 17th 2008 11:13AM

Freezepop has commented on the "jumping ship for Guitar Hero" chatter recently:

[begin quote]
"Freezepop is very excited to announce our involvement with the new Guitar Hero: On Tour videogame for the Nintendo DS. Our song “I am not your GameBoy” which originally appeared on our album Fancy Ultra*Fresh seemed a perfect fit for the DS platform so we amp’d it up a bit to play well in the game! Freezepop has now released songs in 8 different games, from a variety of Harmonix titles to other games like DDR, FFR, and Downhill Domination. We are of course truly the most excited to be involved with Harmonix and the amazing music games that they create (we’re sure you can understand the bias ;-) ) but we are also interested in reaching new fans from around the world and want to be open to many different opportunities as they arise. In terms of “selling out” to GH or any other game, we were kindly paid, but have made no more money on GH:OT than we did for Amplitude which was published by Sony way back in 2003. FWIW, we didn’t get paid at all for our tracks in GH1, GH2, and RB1. For us, we just love being involved with videogames. Involving all of you fans and gamers with our music and letting you interact with our songs in the new and innovative ways that these games provide is extremely gratifying for us. See you at PAX!"
[end quote]

Source : http://community.livejournal.com/freezepop4ever/167761.html

Xzyliac @ Jul 17th 2008 11:34AM

That is pretty lame of Freezepop. I personally love Freezepop, and I understand their balancing issues and junk like that, but to move over to friggin' GH? LAME. Of course some of the blame has to be put onto Harmonix too. You can pay AC/DC but you can't pay Freezepop? I mean c'mon doesn't one of those guys work at Harmonix? Double lame. Shame on you both.

Ian R. @ Jul 17th 2008 12:11PM

There is already Freezepop DLC for RB1, Super Sprode, and it will be usable in RB2. Plus you can transfer songs from RB1 into RB2.

Regina @ Jul 17th 2008 3:23PM

Actually, Freezepop wasn't in Karaoke Revolution Vol 2, KR Vol 3, KR Party, or KR Country - these are all HMX developed music games. Science Genius Girl was in KR Vol 1 though, but that was it.

Just thought I'd point that out.

serotoninzero @ Jul 18th 2008 7:29PM

When I saw the tracklist, this depressed me. I love Freezepop. Hope they bring back Get Ready 2 Rock at somepoint. Sprode was originally in Frequency so maybe they'll bring that one back too.

Speaking of... Think ever in a million years Harmonix would develop a new Frequency sequel? Could work well for a XBLA arcade or something. Call it a dream?