Black Sabbath, ELO, Bowie and Fat Joe: here’s a playlist of all the songs removed from the GTA 4 soundtrack

Rockstar Games has swung the axe at the GTA 4 soundtrack, chopping down 30-plus songs as licenses expire.

One of them is The Smashing Pumpkins’ 1979 so it’s not all bad news. And a lot of the tracks are from Russian pop station Vladivostok FM, which was more about creating atmosphere than getting heads nodding. Although Ruslana’s Wild Dances still fucking slaps, son.

But still, a stack of songs that can only be described as 100 percent BANGERZ have been shit-canned because someone didn’t want to give Papoose his royalties.

So out go metal pioneers Black Sabbath, angry thrash-punks Cro-Mags, the sublime ELO, Terror Squad founder and star of Scary Movie 3 Fat Joe and Five-Percenters Brand Nubian, among others. There’s no justice.

We decided to make a quick playlist of the songs that have been sacked off, because we care, and it’s Friday so any distraction is welcome.

Here it is, or at least the one’s we could find on Spotify. Uzis, banana clips, what what? I gots some:

Songs removed from the GTA IV soundtrack

RUSLANA – Wild Dances
MARAKESH – Jdat
BLACK SABBATH – Heaven And Hell
BRAND NUBIAN – All For One
DOLPHIN – RAP
MTUME – C.O.D (I’ll Deliver)
MARLEY MARL FEAT CRAIG G – Droppin’ Science
RANETKI – O Tebe
OLEG KVASHA – Zelenoglazoe Taksi (club remix)
ELO – Evil Woman
RALPH MYERZ & THE JACK HERREN BAND – The Teacher
TAMIKO JONES – Can’t Live Without Your Love
PAPOOSE – Stylin’
DAVID BOWIE – Fascination
MICHAEL SHRIEVE: Communiqué: Approach Spiral
CRO-MAGS: It’s The Limit
GLUKOZA: Schweine
GIL SCOTT-HERON: Home Is Where The Hatred Is
KINO: Gruppa Krovi
LEEWAY: Enforcer
THE SMASHING PUMPKINS: 1979
ANGEL Y KHRIZ: Ven Bailalo
SPLIN: Liniya Zhizni
ZVERY: Kvartira
THE PRAIRIE CARTEL: Homicide
STEVIE NICKS: Edge Of Seventeen
FAT JOE FEAT. LIL WAYNE: Crackhouse
BASTA: Mama
SERYOGA: King Ring
LENINGRAD: Nikogo Ne Zhalko
RICHIE SPICE: Youths So Cold
TERRY RILEY: A Rainbow In Curved Air

It’s worth noting that Rockstar has added a few new songs to the GTA 4 soundtrack, but it’s not like you get nostalgic for something you haven’t experienced yet.

Songs added to the GTA IV soundtrack