Seminal alternative rock band Pearl Jam are working with Harmonix, MTV Games and online music service Rhapsody to produce what’s being referred to as a “live Pearl Jam game” featuring concert tracks that fans will vote on for inclusion in the game.
Talented Rock Band vocalists might want to start practicing their best Eddie Vedder mumble-warble-sing-speak, because the band is following in the footsteps of The Beatles with their own Rock Band game, due for release next year.
Though the semantics on what exactly this game is are unclear, with the band referring to it as a “project,” “game” and “compilation,” there is plenty we know and plenty interesting about the game’s playlist: it will feature live concert tracks chosen by fans themselves.
Voting has already begun: you just head over to the Pearl Jam site here, where there’s a list of potential in-game tracks. Click on a song, and Rhapsody pulls up a playlist with a dozen or so live versions of that song. The version that gets the most listens will then “be in consideration to make the final set list for the game.”
Songs in the running include Pearl Jam classics like “Jeremy,” “Better Man,” and my personal karaoke favorite, “Even Flow.” The candidate list shouldn’t be considered an official song list for the game, though, since they’ll only “be in consideration” for the final song list. That might also suggest that the game won’t exclusively include live songs.
It’s great that fans are getting their voices heard directly here, but, you know, democracy ain’t easy. The voting might be skewed by the fact that people will generally listen to the first track in a playlist but be too lazy to actually listen to the same song 12 or so times, so the versions at the top of a playlist may just win in the end by default. Then again, Pearl Jam fans are crazy.
