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Are you ready to rock again?

by Scott Sloan ssloan@herald-leader.com

The next generation of music games starts to hit shelves next week when Rock Band 2 debuts on the Xbox 360. The coming months will see Guitar Hero: World Tour, which is adding additional instruments to better compete, and Konami's Rock Revolution.

The second iteration of Rock Band includes updated instruments, including drums that have optional cymbals, and numerous tweaks.

Band leaders can now switch instruments, set lists in the Band World Tour are more customizable, and — drum roll, please (sorry, couldn't resist) — pretty much full backwards compatibility. All of the songs from the first Rock Band, save a few for licensing issues (sadly including Metallica's Enter Sandman) can be imported for a one-time fee of a few bucks.

And the Rock Band instruments will work on Guitar Hero: World Tour and vice-versa.

Here's the set list for the game, arranged by era:

2000s

AFI, Girl's Not Grey; Avenged Sevenfold, Almost Easy; Beck, E-Pro; Disturbed, Down with the Sickness; The Donnas, New Kid in School; Dream Theater, Panic Attack; Guns N' Roses, Shackler's Revenge; Interpol, PDA; Jimmy Eat World, The Middle; Lacuna Coil, Our Truth; Linkin Park, One Step Closer; Mastodon, Colony of Birchmen; Modest Mouse, Float On; Panic at the Disco, Nine in the Afternoon; Paramore, That's What You Get; Rise Against, Give It All; Silversun Pickups, Lazy Eye; System of a Down, Chop Suey; Tenacious D, Master Exploder; Abnormality, Visions; Anarchy Club, Get Clean; Bang Camaro, Night Lies; Breaking Wheel, Shoulder to the Plow; Libyans, Welcome to the Neighborhood; The Main Drag, A Jagged Gorgeous Winter; Speck, Conventional Lover; The Sterns, Supreme Girl; and That Handsome Devil, Rob the Prez-O-Dent.

1990s

Alanis Morissette, You Oughta Know; Alice in Chains, Man in the Box; Beastie Boys, So Whatcha Want; Bikini Kill, Rebel Girl; Dinosaur Jr., Feel the Pain; Foo Fighters, Everlong; Judas Priest, Painkiller; L7, Pretend We're Dead; Lit, My Own Worst Enemy; Lush, De-Luxe; Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Where'd You Go; The Muffs, Kids in America; Nirvana, Drain You; The Offspring, Come Out and Play (Keep 'em Separated); Pearl Jam, Alive; Presidents of the USA, Lump; Rage Against the Machine, Testify; Red Hot Chili Peppers, Give it Away; Smashing Pumpkins, Today; Social Distortion, I Was Wrong; Soundgarden, Spoonman; and Testament, Souls of Black.

1980s

Billy Idol, White Wedding Pt. I; Bon Jovi, Livin' on a Prayer; Duran Duran, Hungry Like the Wolf; The Go-Go's, We Got the Beat; The Grateful Dead, Alabama Getaway; Jane's Addiction, Mountain Song; Joan Jett, Bad Reputation; Megadeth, Peace Sells; Metallica, Battery; Motorhead, Ace of Spades; Ratt, Round and Round; The Replacements, Alex Chilton; Sonic Youth, Teen Age Riot; and Survivor, Eye of the Tiger.

1970s

AC/DC, Let There Be Rock; Allman Brothers, Ramblin' Man; Bad Company, Shooting Star; Blondie, One Way or Another; Bob Dylan, Tangled Up in Blue; Cheap Trick, Hello There; Devo, Uncontrollable Urge; Elvis Costello, Pump It Up; Fleetwood Mac, Go Your Own Way; The Guess Who, American Woman; Jethro Tull, Aqualung; Journey, Anyway You Want It; Kansas, Carry On Wayward Son; Rush, The Trees; Squeeze, Cool for Cats; Steely Dan, Bodhisattva; Steve Miller Band, Rock'n Me; and Talking Heads, Psycho Killer.

1960s

Norman Greenbaum, Spirit in the Sky; and The Who, Pinball Wizard.