GTA Trilogy Definitive Edition radio stations are missing over 20 songs

(Image credit: Rockstar)

Updated story: A tracklisting provided by Rockstar omitted some of the songs on GTA's radio stations. This story has since been corrected.

A question that's been on our minds since the announcement of Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - Definitive Edition is whether the radio stations will have all the same songs as the original versions did. Grand Theft Auto 4 already lost some of its songs due to music licences expiring, so how will the older games fare?

Rockstar has confirmed the GTA Trilogy will have the same radio stations as the "most recent release" of the games. "With more than 200 songs across 29 pioneering radio stations the series has become known for, Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition's iconic listings match the most recent release of the original versions (from 2014) – with no new changes," Rockstar said.

What that means is songs that were already absent from the mobile ports remain absent in the Definitive Edition. However, a tracklist provided by Rockstar includes Critical Beatdown by Ultramagnetic MCs, which had been removed from the previous re-release of GTA: San Andreas, so at least one track has returned.

Here's a list of songs that were removed from the GTA Trilogy's radio stations.

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City

Afrika Bambaataa & the Soulsonic Force - Looking for the Perfect Beat
Herbie Hancock - Rockit
Irakere - Añunga Ñunga
Kate Bush - Wow
Michael Jackson - Billie Jean
Michael Jackson - Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'
Ozzy Osbourne - Bark at the Moon
Tyrone Brunson - The Smurf

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

2Pac (ft. Pogo) - I Don't Give a Fuck
The Blackbyrds - Rock Creek Park
Black Harmony - Don't Let It Go to Your Head
Blood Sisters - Ring My Bell
Charles Wright & the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band - Express Yourself
Fatback Band - Yum Yum (Gimme Some)
Gap Band - You Dropped a Bomb on Me
James Brown - Funky President (People It's Bad)
James Brown - The Payback
The JB's - The Grunt
Joe Cocker - Woman to Woman
N.W.A. - Express Yourself
Ozzy Osbourne - Hellraiser
Rage Against the Machine - Killing in the Name
Roy Ayers - Running Away
Tom Petty - Runnin' Down a Dream

Those songs that remain can be heard at higher fidelity, Rockstar notes: "In addition to higher quality audio at 16bit 44hrz for all the source music from the stations as well as original ambient effects, players will also be able to experience the game in 5.1 Surround Sound."

Grand Theft Auto's radio stations seem like essential parts of the series, but they almost didn't make it into the first game, with the sound department having to fight for their inclusion.

Jody's first computer was a Commodore 64, so he remembers having to use a code wheel to play Pool of Radiance. A former music journalist who interviewed everyone from Giorgio Moroder to Trent Reznor, Jody also co-hosted Australia's first radio show about videogames, Zed Games. He's written for Rock Paper Shotgun, The Big Issue, GamesRadar, Zam, Glixel, Five Out of Ten Magazine, and Playboy.com, whose cheques with the bunny logo made for fun conversations at the bank. Jody's first article for PC Gamer was about the audio of Alien Isolation, published in 2015, and since then he's written about why Silent Hill belongs on PC, why Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale is the best fantasy shopkeeper tycoon game, and how weird Lost Ark can get. Jody edited PC Gamer Indie from 2017 to 2018, and he eventually lived up to his promise to play every Warhammer videogame.