V-Rock

V-Rock is a radio station featured in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories. The station is a rock station, primarily playing hard rock and heavy metal.

Description
In 1984, the station was based in Reddick, Florida, and was hosted by Couzin Ed and station "intern" Lazlow. By 1986, the station had relocated to Vice City and Lazlow is now the sole DJ following Couzin Ed's dismissal.

The station's promos often included derogatory comparisons to other stations, mocking the kind synthesizer-based music played by its competitors while insinuating that "real men" only listen to the rock music that V-Rock airs. The station's mascot is a vulture, as can be seen in the station's logo; V-Rock DJ Lazlow would often complain that the bird "got more air time than [he] did".

The station was officially endorsed by rock artists of the time, including Jezz Torrent of Love Fist, who can regularly be heard in V-Rock's promos. The station also operated a studio adjacent to its Vice City headquarters, which would often be used by Love Fist for their recording sessions. V-Rock also features call-ins from members of the public. The three callers featured in GTA Vice City are Couzin Ed, who wishes to vent his anger at Lazlow for "stealing" his job, Mitch Baker, who berates the station for playing "girl's music", and a man who refers to himself as "Snow Dog". The phone line is also used in GTA Vice City Stories, although in this instance the only caller is a man who insults Couzin Ed.

The V-Rock Hotel in Las Venturas, San Andreas takes its name from the radio station and features the V-Rock logo prominently on its sign.

GTA Vice City
Songs marked with * don't appear in the 10th Anniversary Edition
 * Twisted Sister - "I Wanna Rock" (1984)
 * Mötley Crüe - "Too Young to Fall in Love" (1983)
 * Quiet Riot - "Cum On Feel the Noize" (1983)
 * The Cult - "She Sells Sanctuary" (1985)
 * Ozzy Osbourne - "Bark at the Moon" (1983)*
 * Love Fist - "Dangerous Bastard" (Unknown. 2002 in real world)
 * Iron Maiden - "2 Minutes to Midnight" (1984)
 * Loverboy - "Working for the Weekend" (1981)
 * Alcatrazz - "God Bless Video" (1985)
 * Tesla - "Cumin' Atcha Live" (1986)
 * Autograph - "Turn Up the Radio" (1984)
 * Megadeth - "Peace Sells" (1986)
 * Anthrax - "Madhouse" (1985)
 * Slayer - "Raining Blood" (1986)
 * Judas Priest - "You've Got Another Thing Comin'" (1982)
 * Love Fist - "Fist Fury" (Unknown. 2002 in real world)
 * David Lee Roth - "Yankee Rose" (1986)

GTA Vice City Stories

 * Dio - "Holy Diver" (1983)
 * Queensrÿche - "Queen of the Reich" (1984)
 * KISS - "Lick It Up" (1983)
 * Dokken - "Breaking the Chains" (1983)
 * Autograph - "All I'm Gonna Take" (1984)
 * Accept - "Balls to the Wall" (1984)
 * Scorpions - "Rock You Like a Hurricane" (1984)
 * Krokus - "Long Stick Goes Boom" (1982)
 * Ted Nugent - "Stranglehold" (1975)
 * Ratt - "Round and Round" (1984)
 * Judas Priest - "Electric Eye" (1982)
 * Mötley Crüe - "Looks That Kill" (1984)
 * Quiet Riot - "Metal Health" (1983)

Trivia

 * A large portion of Couzin Ed's banter references the 1986 cult-documentary "Heavy Metal Parking Lot".
 * One of the V-Rock stingers contains the first few seconds of the Dio song "Jesus, Mary & The Holy Ghost".
 * Couzin Ed also says "Comin' atcha live! The bitch is back...", a reference to "Cumin Atcha Live" by Tesla being included in the GTA Vice City soundtrack. "The Bitch Is Back" by Elton John is also a popular classic rock song, although not on either V-Rock playlist.
 * The songs "Round and Round" by Ratt and "Working for the Weekend" by Loverboy are present in Saints Row and Saints Row 2 respectively, a series considered by some to be a GTA Clone. "Peace Sells" by Megadeth is featured in True Crime: Streets of LA, which is also considered by some to be a GTA Clone.
 * Couzin Ed makes reference to the heavy metal mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap, saying "let's turn it up to 12", an obvious play on 11 being "one louder" than 10 on the guitar amplifier volume control in the film.
 * Lazlow quotes the Neil Young song Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black) during one of his segments by quoting the line "It's better to burn out than to fade away." This was the final line in Kurt Cobain's suicide note when he committed suicide in 1994, and was also used in the 1983 Def Leppard song Rock of Ages and by Clancy Brown's character in the 1986 film Highlander.
 * The word "Rock" in the V-Rock logo, and the text on its billboards, are written in the same font as the logo for heavy metal band Iron Maiden.
 * Slayer, Anthrax and Megadeth are part of the "big four" thrash groups. Metallica is the only band not to be featured on the station.