40 Fun Facts About Lego Rock Band

Which rock singer voices the tutorials in Lego Rock Band and appears as a shirtless minifigure?

Iggy Pop also has a song on the setlist, The Passenger, which he first released on the 1977 album Lust for Life.

Which singer's Let's Dance video inspired a venue in Lego Rock Band, where he is a minifigure?

David Bowie made Let's Dance the title track of his 1983 album and hired a then-unknown Stevie Ray Vaughan to add its bluesy guitar.

Which member of Queen insisted that his Lego Rock Band minifigure reproduce his real hairstyle?

Brian May, the group's guitarist, required the developers to match his hair style on his Lego caricature.

Which musician wrote the Ghostbusters theme, a US number one playable in Lego Rock Band?

Ray Parker Jr. wrote it for the 1984 film, and Huey Lewis later received a settlement after claiming the melody copied one of his hits.

Counting Crows wrote Accidentally in Love, a Lego Rock Band track, to open which animated film?

Shrek 2 opens with the song, which went on to earn an Oscar nomination for Best Original Song.

Rascal Flatts covered Life Is a Highway, a Lego Rock Band track, for which Pixar film's soundtrack?

Cars used the country trio's version in 2006, fifteen years after Canadian rocker Tom Cochrane released the original.

Europe, the band behind The Final Countdown in Lego Rock Band, comes from which country?

Sweden produced the band, whose singer Joey Tempest based the 1986 hit on a keyboard riff he had written years before.

Which singer joined Mark Ronson on a hit cover of Valerie, a Zutons song in Lego Rock Band?

Amy Winehouse sang on the Ronson version, which reached number two on the UK Singles Chart in 2007.

What does a struggling band lose in Lego Rock Band, where a song can never be failed outright?

Studs are the points of the Lego games, and poor playing drains ones already earned, though they can be won back before the song ends.

Which pianist scored his first US number one with Crocodile Rock, a song in Lego Rock Band?

Elton John plays the Farfisa organ riff that drives the song, a nostalgic look back at early rock and roll.

Which English band appears as minifigures in Lego Rock Band, where their hit Song 2 is playable?

Blur's Song 2 was one of only five tracks confirmed when the game was officially announced in April 2009.

Which spoof metal band has minifigures in Lego Rock Band and supplies the song Short and Sweet?

Spinal Tap recorded it for the 2009 album Back from the Dead, with guest guitar solos from John Mayer, Steve Vai and Phil Collen.

Which difficulty setting, unique to Lego Rock Band, ignores which fret a guitarist is holding?

Super Easy reuses the simplest note charts but also ignores drum pads and vocal pitch, so young players only need to keep the rhythm.

Which handheld's version of Lego Rock Band has one player switch between all four instruments?

Nintendo DS players keep four band members happy by hopping between their note tracks, a system borrowed from Rock Band Unplugged.

Which band's Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic can be cut by Lego Rock Band's Short Song Mode?

The Police track is one of those with a long intro or outro, which the mode trims so that younger players stay interested.

Lego Rock Band was nominated for which prize at the 13th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards?

Family Game of the Year went instead to a Beatles edition of the same series, in a field that also included Guitar Hero 5.

Which animation method used in earlier Rock Band games did TT Fusion drop for Lego Rock Band?

Motion capture gave way to hand-set key frames, which let the animators give the minifigures bigger, more exaggerated moves.

Which Queen anthem in Lego Rock Band did Freddie Mercury write with audience participation in mind?

We Are the Champions arrived in 1977 on the album News of the World and became an anthem for victories at sporting events.

Which American rocker wrote Free Fallin', a Lego Rock Band track, in two days with Jeff Lynne?

Tom Petty opened his first solo album, Full Moon Fever, with the song, and it became his highest-charting single.

Which Canadian singer recorded Summer of '69, a Lego Rock Band track from his album Reckless?

Bryan Adams wrote the song with his longtime collaborator Jim Vallance, and it reached number five in the US in 1985.

Which band's You Give Love a Bad Name, a Lego Rock Band track, is from the album Slippery When Wet?

Bon Jovi wrote it with songwriter Desmond Child, and in November 1986 it became the group's first US number one.

Which band's Breakout, a Lego Rock Band track, comes from the album There Is Nothing Left to Lose?

Foo Fighters made a video for it that tied in with the comedy film Me, Myself & Irene, where the song also appears.

Which band's Lego Rock Band track Aliens Exist grew from guitarist Tom DeLonge's interest in UFOs?

Blink-182 put it on the 1999 album Enema of the State, and DeLonge's company later helped release military footage of unidentified aircraft.

Which Motown group had its first number one with I Want You Back, a song in Lego Rock Band?

The Jackson 5 released it as their debut single on the label in 1969, and it has since sold over six million copies worldwide.

Which guitarist wrote Fire, a Lego Rock Band track often called a duet with drummer Mitch Mitchell?

Jimi Hendrix recorded it with the Experience in early 1967 and made it a regular part of his concerts.

Which singer based So What, a Lego Rock Band track, on her split from motocross rider Carey Hart?

Pink took the song to number one in the US, her first chart-topper there as a solo artist.

Which English band's Ruby, a Lego Rock Band track, was the lead single from Yours Truly, Angry Mob?

Kaiser Chiefs scored their first UK number one with it in February 2007, and it ended the year as Britain's tenth-biggest seller.

Which band played A-Punk, a Lego Rock Band track, for its network television debut on the Late Show?

Vampire Weekend's song also turns up in Guitar Hero 5, Just Dance 2 and the comedy film Step Brothers.

Which band behind Walking on Sunshine, a Lego Rock Band song, later won the Eurovision Song Contest?

Katrina and the Waves won the 1997 contest in Dublin with Love Shine a Light, twelve years after this sunny hit charted.

Which group's Two Princes, a Lego Rock Band track, came from the album Pocket Full of Kryptonite?

Spin Doctors earned a Grammy nomination for the song, which VH1 ranked among the best of the 1990s and Blender among the worst ever.

Carl Douglas topped the British and American charts with which disco song in Lego Rock Band?

Kung Fu Fighting sold about eleven million copies worldwide, and British TV polls have named it the top one-hit wonder.

Which English band's Ride a White Swan, a Lego Rock Band song, was written by founder Marc Bolan?

T. Rex made it the first single under the group's new name, and one critic says it accidentally started glam rock mania.

Which band's Tick Tick Boom, a Lego Rock Band track, is also heard in the films Jumper and Taken?

The Hives opened The Black and White Album with the 2007 single, which also reached Madden NFL 08 and Forza Motorsport 3.

Which American band's Dig, a Lego Rock Band track, was a single from the album Light Grenades?

Incubus reached number four on the US Modern Rock chart with the song, yet it only just scraped into the Hot 100 at number 94.

Which Scottish singer wrote Suddenly I See, a Lego Rock Band track inspired by Patti Smith?

KT Tunstall won an Ivor Novello Award for the song in 2006, and it remains her highest-charting single in the UK.

Real Wild Child, Everlife's cover in Lego Rock Band, began as a rock and roll song in which country?

Australia's Johnny O'Keefe was the first to record it, as Wild One, and Everlife's cover came from the animated film The Wild.

Which British band's Naïve, a Lego Rock Band track, came from the debut album Inside In/Inside Out?

The Kooks reached number five in the UK with it in 2006, and the song was later heard in the film 17 Again.

Which band's Check Yes Juliet, a triple-platinum single in the US, is playable in Lego Rock Band?

We the Kings released it in 2008 as the second single from their debut album, and it peaked at number 70 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Which British band's Crash, a Lego Rock Band track, was remixed for the Dumb & Dumber soundtrack?

The Primitives reached number five in the UK with the 1988 original, but none of the band played on the film remix's added parts.

Which band released Swing, Swing, a song in Lego Rock Band, as its debut single?

The All-American Rejects reached number eight on the US Modern Rock chart with it, and number 13 in the UK.