Grateful Dead Truck On To Rock Band

Harmonix, MTV Games and Rhino Entertainment have announced a deal that will bring the Grateful Dead to the songlist of Harmonix's anticipated Rock Band. According to a joint statement from the companies, the iconic group is making 18 master recordings from its diverse catalog available as digitally distributed game levels following Rock Band's release this holiday season. Among the songs available will be the classic Dead tracks "Truckin'," "Uncle John's Band," "Touch of Grey," "Sugar Magnolia," and "Casey Jones." Grateful Dead is the latest artist to join the growing downloadable musical offerings of Rock Band, joining the list of other big name artists such as Metallica and The Who's iconic Who's Next album, the first full album scheduled for downloadable content. Harmonix recently announced a variety of popular rock tracks for the game at the 2007 Leipzig Games Convention. "Grateful Dead's unique fusion of rock, folk, bluegrass, blues, and jazz challenged traditional musical boundaries and pushed the limits of creativity to produce a signature sound that is undeniably their own," stated Paul DeGooyer, MTV's SVP of audio, home video and electronic games. "With an enormous legion of fans all over the world, Rock Band will give players a chance to interact with the music of these beloved rock pioneers and experience what Grateful Dead did best - jam from the depths of their souls."