Last week, we started a recurring post where we randomly giveaway one Xbox 360 DLC code for a Rock Band pack (as well as one 160 MSP code as a consolation prize). As we stated last week, we’ll try to giveaway a different DLC pack each Friday until our stash runs out. We started with Billy Joel, and this week we move on to giving out a code for the Celebrating Nirvana pack, originally released last September. The songs included are…

• Nirvana – Heart-Shaped Box
• Nirvana – Rape Me
• Nirvana – All Apologies
• Nirvana – You Know You’re Right

If this is something that you want to try and win, entry is going to be a bit harder than last week. To enter, post a comment below of a “random fact” about Nirvana, its members, or anyone associated with the band. Standard rules apply: one entry per household only, Xbox 360 only, codes are redeemable worldwide (as far as I know). Please include a valid email address in the appropriate field (or Twitter account if you don’t want to take off your tin foil hat) with each entry so we can contact the winners.

We’ll let this run through the weekend so everyone has a chance to enter and randomly choose a winner sometime on Monday afternoon (Central time). And since we ALSO have a number of 160 MSP codes, we’ll randomly give out a “consolation gift” to one random entrant, as well!

Good luck! And thanks to Harmonix for providing us with codes to giveaway!

OK, c’mon Harmonix. You’re making me look like a fool, continually predicting that we would see either Bush or Huey Lewis and the News as forthcoming DLC for the past several weeks now. We saw @HMXHenry’s cryptic tweet that we should be seeing something special around Valentine’s Day again, so I don’t think that means Bush or Huey Lewis, so I’m betting once again that we will see one of them this week. And next week’s winner is…

• Bush – Everything Zen
• Bush – Comedown
• Bush – Machinehead *

* Denotes Pro-Guitar/Bass chart availability for $.99.

[Official announcement]

I’m a big fan of the motoring program called Top Gear. I recently watched an interview with non-other than Alice Cooper, so I thought I would feature his most iconic song for this week’s Thursday Throwback pick, School’s Out (Live).

Alice Cooper is famous for his horror-movie style concerts, which has spanned over four decades of music. He has released over 25 albums between his band and his solo career, with over 50 million sales worldwide. Because of this success, the band has been included in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. While the original version of School’s Out was released in 1972 on his fifth album of the same name, this live version featured in Rock Band comes from the 2005 compilation album, Classicks. In May 2009, this song, along with five other Alice Cooper hits, was added to the Rock Band library. The song was also featured on Guitar Hero 3 (and again as DLC for Guitar Hero 5).

Although not as good as the studio version, this live version still features his usual difficult solos and catchy lyrics. The song’s devil-tiered guitar features that iconic riff, and will assault your fingers during the solos. 2-tier bass is quite lively, with frequent changes to keep things from getting stale. I would recommend to play the 4-tier drums in Pro mode, as there are some unique and interesting charts during the song’s choruses. And finally we come to the 2-tier vocals, which is quite different to the studio version, probably due to Cooper’s age and his improvisations during the intro and other parts.

Here’s a playthrough video:

Is there any new features you would to be added to future articles? What do you think of the pick and song? Sound off below!

Do you like video games, movies and TV shows? Then I would appreciate it if you would have a look at my growing fansite, The Tribute Pages which features loads of tributes of video games, TV shows and movies. Thank you!

Unless otherwise noted, all songs are $1.99.

• Chaotrope – Diachylon *
• Jerry Naylor – Real Wild Child
• Suicide Silence – Slaves to Substance
• Rainbowdragoneyes – Heavy Weather – The Storm ov The Undead *
• an Unkindness – Foundation *

* Denotes $.99 track pricing.

ROCK BAND NETWORK PS3 2/7 PLAYLIST

[Official announcement]

Unless otherwise noted, all songs are 160 MSP ($1.99). Songs not linked below were not available on RockBand.com at time of publishing.

• Anarchy Club – Für Immer Verloren *
• Halcyon Way – Building the Towers (2x Bass Pedal) *
• Halcyon Way – The System (2x Bass Pedal) *
• Jonathan Coulton – Good Morning Tucson
• Rishloo – Feathergun in the Garden of the Sun *
• Winter Crescent – Battle of Egos Intro *

* Denotes 80 MSP ($.99) track pricing.

ROCK BAND NETWORK XBOX 360 2/2 PLAYLIST

[Official announcement]

As many of the readers on the site may remember, we brought you news last July that Rock Band fan Benji noticed a familiar name crawl across the screen when Stephen Colbert was simultaneously lampooning AND engaging in the new political action committees (PACs). Now it looks like the details of the campaign that has since raised over a million dollars and is seriously competing with real political candidates running for president, and the largest single donation comes from someone we are all familiar with.

Most people who donated to the Colbert SuperPAC gave less than $200, and only one person gave over $5,000. That person was Harmonix CEO Alex Rigopulos, who donated $9,600. Could this donation be a nice “thank you” for allowing Charlene (I’m Right Behind You) to be released as DLC in Rock Band? We’re not sure, but that’s the theory we’re going with.

UPDATE: On last night’s episode of The Colbert Report, Alex was personally thanked by Stephen Colbert on the show, and he’s getting a special gift for his big donation. We’ve embedded the clip from the show below (starts at ~2:30).

[Full details; Thanks to Mark for the head's up!]