Be afraid, be very afraid.

Entertainment Weekly today revealed that song’s from Disney teeny-boppers Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato are coming to the world of Guitar Hero next week.

Disney Stars Gomez, Lovato and Cyrus

The Disney-made-me-famous trio’s track pack arrives May 18 for Wii and May 25 for Xbox 360 and PS3 for both Guitar Hero and Band Hero.

The songs include Miley Cyrus’ "7 Things," Demi Lovato’s "Here We Go Again," and Selena Gomez & The Scene’s "Falling Down."

To get an early glimpse at the songs in action, head to the EW page.

Guess what? It’s the beginning of the month, and that can mean only one thing.

Activision passed along a press release this morning, revealing every last song coming to the world of Guitar Hero and Band Hero this May.

It’s really an eclectic offering, as classic rock tunes from Lynyrd Skynyrd, Steve Miller and Foreigner and Aerosmith combine with a random week of alternative rock songs from Snow Patrol, Capra and Alpha Rev.

Individually, each song will run you $1.99/160 MS Points/ 200 Wii Points and the 3-packs will be $5.49/440 MS Points/ 550 Wii Points.

May 6 (May 11 for PS3) – “Classic Rock 3 Track Pack”

• “Juke Box Hero” – Foreigner
• “Sweet Home Alabama” – Lynyrd Skynyrd
• “Take the Money and Run” – Steve Miller Band

May 11 – “Alternative Pop Track Pack”

• “Face Down” – Alpha Rev
• “Low Day” – Capra
• “You’re All I Have” – Snow Patrol

May 18 – “Aerosmith Track Pack”

• “Living on the Edge”
• “Love In An Elevator”
• “Rag Doll”

Source: Destructoid

Activision today announced every song headed to the world of Guitar Hero and Band Hero for the month of April and the list includes the likes of classic rockers Black Sabbath and Lynyrd Skynyrd to new sensations Phoenix and The All-American Rejects and more.

Here’s how the month will shake out.

April 1 (no, this is no  Apri Fools joke) - Lynyrd Skynyrd – “Free Bird,” “Simple Man” and “Gimme Three Steps.”

April 8 – Fall Out Boy – “Thnks fr th Mmrs,” “This Ain’t A Scene, It’s An Arms Race” and “The Take Over, The Breaks Over.”

April 15 – All American Rejects - “Gives You Hell” Blur – “There’s No Other Way” and Saving Abel - “Addicted.”

April 22 - Phoenix – “Everything Is Everything,” “1901″ and “Lisztomania.”

April 29 – Black Sabbath – “After Forever,” “Sweet Leaf” and “Into The Void.”

The Skynyrd, Fall Out Boy, Phoneix and Black Sabbath track packs will be available for 440 MS Points/550 Wii Points/$5.49 (all equal).

Each song, individually, is $2.

I have to give Activision credit here, this is an extremely solid list. I’ll be buying way too many

When Activision first gushed details on the kid-friendly "Hero" title, Band Hero, I truly wondered if the franchise had teetered over the ledge and into the abyss of total music-game proliferation. For goodness sake, 2009 alone played host to core installment Guitar Hero 5, as well as spin-offs Smash Hits, Metallica, and Van Halen. With the addition of Band Hero, the number of Guitar Hero titles in 2009 jumped to five, but what is the fifth one? How does it play? And why should you buy it?

Band Hero is Activision’s answer to LEGO: Rock Band and aims to corral and persuade the pop-loving, teen masses into grabbing a plastic instrument and rocking out with friends. The game features tunes from uber-mainstream acts such as Jesse McCartney, Taylor Swift, The Spice Girls, and loads more songs you likely never imagined you’d play in a Guitar Hero game.

There isn’t a heck of a lot about Band Hero that wasn’t covered in our hands-on preview, but now that I’ve jumped into the game for hours instead of minutes, there’s a little more to talk about.

First off, don’t expect anything different or significantly improved in the visuals department. Band Hero looks exactly like Guitar Hero 5. But this is not a detriment whatsoever. Guitar Hero 5 was the most phenomenal looking Hero title we’ve ever seen, and the minor tweaks Band Hero adds, only bring out the power of the engine that much more.

Band Hero’s menus are decorated with pink, popping, sparkly visual effects, and these adjustments clearly distinguish Band Hero from Guitar Hero 5. From a presentation standpoint, Band Hero just feels happier, if a video game could have emotions.

The game features every game-mode found in GH5, but has one significant addition- Sing Along. In this mode, Band Hero essentially morphs into a gorgeously rendered karaoke machine where up to four participants can simply sing along to any of the game’s tracks. The best part? Only one microphone is needed. Now, for me personally, this addition didn’t add anything. But, fill a room with little girls, and turn on "Love Story" by Taylor Swift, and well, it’ll be a different scenario.

The meat, however, of Band Hero, as with any music-game, is in its song list, and on this account, Band Hero excels. There are 65 on-disc tracks and all the downloadable content you’ve got on your hard drive also works in the game. For me it was rather comical seeing tunes from Metallica next to those of Dashboard Confessional, but hey, it works!

The tunes (here’s all 65), as previously noted, include radio friendly cuts from artists like Hilary Duff, Taylor Swift, The Spice Girls, Jesse McCartney and Fallout Boy. But the game also incorporates classics like "American Pie," in all its nine-minute glory and "ABC’s" from the Jackson 5.

Personally, I feel that Band Hero is a "guilty pleasure" music game. It’s hard for me to admit I enjoy listening to Taylor Swift, but when I’m actually actively playing along to her tunes, it’s a little different. Maybe you wouldn’t openly admit to enjoying these songs per se, but when they’re wrapped into a video game, something changes, and they become very much alright.

Of note: What I’ve always found interesting when comparing the Rock Band and Guitar Hero franchises are the differences in note charts of the same songs in both games. For instance, Dashboard Confessional’s "Hands Down" is in both Rock Band and Band Hero. However, the song plays far more simply in Band Hero, and speaks to Activision’s determined effort of accessibility over genuine (as as much as can be expected) musicianship, a gameplay facet that Harmonix tirelessly works to effectively recreate in its game.

Additionally, if you can’t deal with censors and omitted vocal phrases, you might have a problem with Band Hero. In Fall Out Boy’s "Sugar We’re Going Down," the line should that should read “I’m just a notch in your bedpost, but you’re just a line in a song” is sung in the game like this: “I’m just a notch…but you’re just a line in a song”

Good job Activision, you prevented some kid asking his or her parent "What’s a notch in a bedpost mean?"

Blast Factor: Band Hero is a phenomenally fun music-game. It doesn’t add a heck of a lot to the genre, but it remains cemented in excellence in gameplay, and the addition of Sing Along mode is gem hidden in the game that Activision simply did not hype enough. The 65 on-disc tunes are very surprisingly varied and altogether comprise a very wholesome attack from Activision at creating more than just a "kiddy" Guitar Hero title. In-game appearances by Taylor Swift and Maroon 5′s Adam Levine add a level of “whoa cool” to the game.

Band Hero is available for the PS3, Xbox 360, Wii and Playstation 2. A copy of the game was given to us by the publisher for reviewing purposes.

The fateful day hath arrived. Band Hero has made its way to shelves nationwide furthering the full-on music-game proliferation the genre has thrust upon gamers as of late.

In the past two months alone music-gamers have had The Beatles: Rock Band, Guitar Hero 5, Guitar Hero: Van Halen, and now Band Hero to possibly enjoy, depending on their musical preferences.

Band Hero, the epitome of accessibility, as evidenced in our hands, feet, and mouth-on preview, is a fun as heck game, and if you’ve got children in the house, or want to play along to some Taylor Swift with your girlfriend, now you can!

We’d have a review up already but Kanye West interrupted and said his music was better.

Watch and listen to Taylor Swift praise the game.

Maybe you personally aren’t excited about Band Hero, Activision’s aim to reach the tween demographic, but in the interest of staying in tune with the franchise, we’ve gathered the entire, cross-platform track list for the game, and it’s huge, varied, and has Taylor Swift on it!

When Activision first unveiled Band Hero, I nearly punched my hand through a wall, thinking the setlist would be brimming full of Jonas Brothers, Britney Spears, and Miley Cyrus, but now that I’ve seen the final track list, and played the game, I’m, dare I say it, excited for this game? Yes, I am.

• 3 Doors Down – “When I’m Gone”
• The Airborne Toxic Event – “Gasoline”
• The All American Rejects – “Dirty Little Secret”
• Alphabeat – “Fascination”
• Aly and AJ – “Like Whoa”
• Angels & Airwaves – “The Adventure”
• Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals – “Steal My Kisses”
• Big Country – “In a Big Country”
• The Bravery – “Believe”
• Carl Douglas – “Kung Fu Fighting”
• Cheap Trick – “I Want You To Want Me (live)”
• Cold War Kids – “Hang Me Up To Dry”
• Corinne Bailey Rae – “Put Your Records On”
• Counting Crows – “Angels of the Silences”
• Culture Club – “Do You Really Want To Hurt Me”
• Dashboard Confessional – “Hands Down”
• David Bowie – “Let’s Dance”
• Devo – “Whip It”
• Don McLean – “American Pie”
• Duffy – “Warwick Avenue”
• Duran Duran – “Rio”
• Evanescence – “Bring Me To Life”
• Everclear – “Santa Monica (Watch The World Die)”
• Fall Out Boy – “Sugar, We’re Goin’ Down”
• Filter – “Take A Picture”
• Finger Eleven – “Paralyzer”
• The Go-Go’s – “Our Lips Are Sealed”
• Hilary Duff – “So Yesterday”
• Hinder – “Lips Of An Angel”
• Jackson 5 – “ABC”
• Janet Jackson – “Black Cat”
• Jesse McCartney – “Beautiful Soul”
• Joan Jett – “Bad Reputation”
• Joss Stone – “You Had Me”
• Katrina and The Waves – “Walking On Sunshine”
• The Kooks – “Naive”
• KT Tunstall – “Black Horse and the Cherry Tree”
• The Last Goodnight – “Pictures Of You”
• Lily Allen – “Take What You Take”
• Maroon 5 – “She Will Be Loved”
• Marvin Gaye – “I Heard It Through The Grapevine”
• Mighty Mighty Bosstones – “The Impression That I Get”
• Nelly Furtado – “Turn Off The Light”
• N.E.R.D. – “Rockstar”
• No Doubt – “Just A Girl”
• No Doubt – “Don’t Speak”
• OK Go – “A Million Ways”
• Papa Roach – “Lifeline”
• Parachute – “Back Again”
• Pat Benatar – “Love Is A Battlefield”
• Poison – “Every Rose Has Its Thorn”
• Robbie Williams and Kylie Minogue – “Kids”
• The Rolling Stones – “Honky Tonk Women”
• Roy Orbison – “Oh Pretty Woman”
• Santigold – “L.E.S. Artistes”
• Snow Patrol – “Take Back the City”
• Spice Girls – “Wannabe”
• Styx – “Mr. Roboto”
• Taylor Swift – “Love Story”
• Taylor Swift – “Picture To Burn”
• Taylor Swift – “You Belong With Me”
• Tonic – “If You Could Only See”
• The Turtles – “Happy Together”
• Village People – “YMCA”
• Yellowcard – “Ocean Avenue”

• The All-American Rejects – “Believe”
• Avril Lavigne – “Girlfriend”
• Black Eyed Peas – “Let’s Get It Started”
• Blink-182 – “First Date”
• Boys Like Girls – “The Great Escape”
• Duran Duran – “Hungry Like The Wolf”
• Eagles of Death Metal – “Wannabe In L.A.”
• Evanescence – “Call Me When You’re Sober”
• Fall Out Boy – “Thnks Fr Th Mmrs”
• Foo Fighters – “Monkey Wrench”
• Kaiser Chiefs – “I Predict A Riot”
• The Killers – “Spaceman”
• Kings of Leon – “Manhattan”
• KT Tunstall – “Suddenly I See”
• Lacuna Coil – “Our Truth”
• No Doubt – “Excuse Me Mr.”
• Pink – “So What”
• The Presidents of the United States of America – “Lump”
• The Pretenders – “Boots of Chinese Plastic”
• Queen – “Crazy Little Thing Called Love”
• Queens of the Stone Age – “No One Knows”
• The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus – “You Better Pray”
• The Rolling Stones – “Under My Thumb (live)”
• Spin Doctors – “Two Princes”
• Sublime – “All You Need”
• Sum 41 – “In Too Deep”
• Ugly Kid Joe – “Everything About You”
• Vampire Weekend – “A-Punk”
• The Vines – “Get Free”
• Weezer – “Troublemaker”

Source: Joystiq, and they have more juicy details. Hop on over there to enjoy.

When Activision first announced Band Hero, I cringed at the thought of a kid-friendly Guitar Hero game, but today I sing a different tune.

Activision unleashed the Band Hero demo on Xbox Live this morning. The trial comes with three tunes from Taylor Swift, Finger 11, and Katrina & The Waves, as well as Party Play mode from Guitar Hero 5, and the ability to try out the game’s brand new Sing-Along game mode.

The first thing you’ll notice about Band Hero is that it looks and feels just like Guitar Hero 5. The game features minor aesthetic changes, mainly adding brighter colors and lots of pink, but it still looks wonderful.

From the main menu you have three options. Play Now, which will drop you directly into the song being performed in the background, Start, which allows you to pick any of the three tunes and start from the beginning, and Sing-Along, the demos’ only new feature.

The addition of Sing-Along mode speaks directly to Activision’s clear pursuit of accessibility and fun. In this mode, up to four players can sing along to a song using one USB microphone or headset. It’s very much like Karaoke. The words appear on the bottom of the screen in two line phrases and you cannot fail. I tried my hand at Paralyzer, the only song with a male singing, and I, for the first time, felt good about my general aptitude at singing. Additionally, the scene that transpires on-stage while you’re singing is a sight to behold and one that really makes you feel like a rock-star. Hell, you can even think of Band Hero as a 65-song Karaoke machine if you’d like.

I tried drums, guitar, and singing, and all of them felt just like Guitar Hero 5, but this is no problem whatsoever. Guitar Hero 5 is a truly excellent title and even if Band Hero is simply the same game with a few new features and a different target audience, it still excels at what it needs to: gameplay.

There’s no doubt Band Hero will be quality product when it releases next month, and with its kid-friendly song list, it’ll likely fly off shelves for the impending Holiday season. From my time in game retail I’ve seen first-hand the dismay of parents concerned about scantily clad women and provocative songs, both of which do not exist in Band Hero.

Blast Factor: The Band Hero demo is fun, and lots of it. Party Play is as solid as it was in Guitar Hero 5, and the addition of Sing-Along mode is tremendous, and essentially morphs the game into an always fun session of Karaoke. Sure, the song-list is kid-oriented, but with the Holiday season rapidly approaching, it may be just what parents everywhere are looking for.

Activision’s Band Hero, the kid-friendly music-game, releases next month, but a demo for the game hit Xbox Live this morning, allowing you to jump in on the action right away.

The demo weighs in at 533 MB and features Finger Eleven’s “Paralyzer”, Katrina & The Waves “Walking on Sunshine,” Taylor Swift’s “Picture to Burn” and includes Party Play and the brand new Sing-Along mode.

Say what you will about Activision and milking the franchise for every last drop, but the full song-list for Band Hero is actually very appealing.

We’ll have a hands-on preview of Band Hero this evening, once we’re through playing the crap out of the demo.

Band Hero demo now available on Xbox Live via Major Nelson

For more on the game visit BandHero.com

Activision updated the Band Hero song list today putting Hillary Duff and Jesse McCartney next to Styx and the Counting Crows.

Don’t believe it? Believe it! It’s true. Band Hero from Activision, however you measure it, has the most varied setlist in a music-game we’ve ever seen or ever hope to see.

Taylor Swift

Apart from Duff and McCartney and a few others I’m really liking the tracklist thus far, what about you? Any gems on the list?

Available for Band Hero Console:

The Airborne Toxic Event – “Gasoline”
Big Country – “In a Big Country”
The Bravery – “Believe”
Cold War Kids – “Hang Me Up To Dry”
Counting Crows – “Angels of the Silences”
Dashboard Confessional – “Hands Down”
David Bowie – “Let’s Dance”
Devo – “Whip It”
Evanescence – “Bring Me To Life”
Fall Out Boy – “Sugar, We’re Goin’ Down”
The Go-Go’s – “Our Lips Are Sealed”
Hilary Duff – “So Yesterday”
Jesse McCartney – “Beautiful Soul”
The Kooks – “Naive”
Marvin Gaye – “I Heard It Through The Grapevine”
Mighty Mighty Bosstones – “Impression That I Get”
OK Go – “A Million Ways”
Pat Benatar – “Love Is A Battlefield”
Robbie Williams and Kylie Minogue – “Kids”
Styx – “Mr. Roboto”
Yellowcard – “Ocean Avenue”

Available for Band Hero for Nintendo DS Lite:

The All-American Rejects – “Believe”
Boys Like Girls – “The Great Escape”
Foo Fighters – “Monkey Wrench”
Lacuna Coil – “Our Truth”
The Pretenders – “Boots of Chinese Plastic”
The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus – “You Better Pray”
Sublime – “All You Need”
Sum 41 – “In Too Deep”
The Vines – “Get Free”

Previously announced tracks include:

Band Hero Console:

The All-American Rejects – “Dirty Little Secret”
Alphabeat – “Fascination”
Aly and AJ – “Like Whoa”
Carl Douglas – “Kung Fu Fighting”
Cheap Trick – “I Want You To Want Me” (Live)
Don McLean – “American Pie”
Duran Duran – “Rio”
Jackson 5 – “ABC”
Janet Jackson – “Black Cat”
Katrina and The Waves – “Walking On Sunshine”
Lily Allen – “Take What You Take”
Maroon 5 – “She Will Be Loved”
No Doubt – “Just A Girl”
Roy Orbison – “Oh Pretty Woman”
Snow Patrol – “Take Back the City”
Taylor Swift – “Love Story”
Taylor Swift – “Picture to Burn”
Taylor Swift – “You Belong With Me”
Tonic – “If You Could Only See”
Village People – “YMCA”

Band Hero for Nintendo DS Lite:

Avril Lavigne – “Girlfriend”
Blink-182 – “First Date”
Evanescence – “Call Me When You’re Sober”
Fall Out Boy – “Thnks Fr Th Mmrs”
Kaiser Chiefs – “I Predict A Riot”
The Killers – “Spaceman”
KT Tunstall – “Suddenly I See”
No Doubt – “Excuse Me Mr.”
P!nk – “So What”
Queen – “Crazy Little Thing Called Love”
Queens Of The Stone Age – “No One Knows”
Spin Doctors – “Two Princes”

Activision announced today that Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine will be a playable character in the upcoming family-oriented music game Band Hero.

Joining the sensationally gorgeous Taylor Swift as playable characters, Levine will lend you his likeness for their chart-topper “She will be loved” off the group’s 10 million selling “Songs About Jane” album.

Activision released only this in-game headshot of Levine, so…check out Taylor Swift too!