The Guitar Hero train kept on rolling through 2009 with yet another side game. This time, however, the focus was almost completely off of the rock music seen in previous Guitar Hero games, instead having a more pop oriented feel designed around vocalists. This was reflected in the name Band Hero.

As far as new features are concerned, there was nothing of note added from Guitar Hero 5. Despite this, critical reception wasn’t bad with most of the reviews saying that it was still the solid game that Guitar Hero 5 offered, but with a smaller selist.

Similar to previous entries in the Guitar Hero series, famous musicians gave their likeness and did motion capture work in order to appear in Band Hero. The celebrities used this time were Adam Levine of Maroon 5, Taylor Swift, and the entirety of the band No Doubt.

Unfortunately, as with Kurt Cobain in Guitar Hero 5, the usage of celebrity likenesses backfired due to the ability to use them outside of their own songs (which could create moments like this). The first act to sue was No Doubt, who were outraged when they saw Gwen Stefani’s avatar singing Honky Tonk Women. Then a little bit later Adam Levine followed (law)suit.

As mentioned before, the setlist itself focused on big hits and more pop oriented acts like Spice Girls, Lily Allen, and Robbie Williams. The size of the setlist was also considerably smaller, featuring only 65 songs compared to Guitar Hero 5’s 85. Of the 65 songs in the game, only 13 are currently available in Rocksmith 2014 for a total of 20%. That unseats Guitar Hero 5 as the 4th lowest percentage we’ve seen thus far on Setlist Sunday.

Artist	Song	Date in Rocksmith
3 Doors Down	When I'm Gone	03/06/2012
The Airborne Toxic Event	Gasoline	N/A
The All-American Rejects	Dirty Little Secret	09/08/2015
Alphabeat	Fascination	N/A
Aly & AJ	Like Woah	N/A
Angels and Airwaves	The Adventure	04/24/2019
Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals	Steal My Kisses	N/A
Big Country	In a Big Country	11/13/2018
The Bravery	Believe	N/A
Carl Douglas	Kung Fu Fighting	N/A
Cheap Trick	I Want You to Want Me (Live)	N/A
Cold War Kids	Hang Me Up to Dry	N/A
Corinne Bailey Rae	Put Your Records On	N/A
Counting Crows	Angels of the Silences	N/A
Culture Club	Do You Really Want to Hurt Me	N/A
Dashboard Confidential	Hands Down	N/A
David Bowie	Let's Dance	N/A
Devo	Whip It *	N/A
Don McLean	American Pie	06/28/2016
Duffy	Warwick Avenue	N/A
Duran Duran	Rio	08/19/2014
Evanescence	Bring Me to Life	04/03/2012
Everclear	Santa Monica	05/31/2016
Fall Out Boy	Sugar, We're Goin' Down	02/05/2013
Filter	Take a Picture *	N/A
Finger Eleven	Paralyzer	07/10/2012
The Go-Go's	Our Lips Are Sealed	N/A
Hilary Duff	So Yesterday	N/A
Hinder	Lips of an Angel	10/10/2017
The Jackson 5	ABC	N/A
Janet Jackson	Black Cat	N/A
Jesse McCartney	Beautiful Soul	N/A
Joan Jett	Bad Reputation	06/26/2018
Joss Stone	You Had Me	N/A
Katrina & The Waves	Walking on Sunshine	N/A
The Kooks	Naïve	N/A
KT Tunstall	Black Horse and the Cherry Tree	05/01/2018
The Last Goodnight	Pictures of You	N/A
Lily Allen	Take What You Take	N/A
Maroon 5	She Will Be Loved	05/14/2013
Marvin Gaye	I Heard It Through the Grapevine	N/A
The Mighty Mighty Bosstones	The Impression That I Get	N/A
NER*D	Rockstar	N/A
Nelly Furtado	Turn Off the Light	N/A
No Doubt	Don't Speak	08/12/2014
No Doubt	Just a Girl	N/A
OK Go	A Million Ways	N/A
Papa Roach	Lifeline	N/A
Parachute	Back Again	N/A
Pat Benatar	Love is a Battlefield	N/A
Poison	Every Rose Has Its Thorn	02/03/2015
Robbie Williams & Kylie Minogue	Kids	N/A
The Rolling Stones	Honky Tonk Women	N/A
Roy Orbison	Oh, Pretty Woman	N/A
Santigold	L.E.S. Artistes	N/A
Snow Patrol	Take Back the City	N/A
Spice Girls	Wannabe	N/A
Styx	Mr. Roboto	N/A
Taylor Swift	Love Story	N/A
Taylor Swift	Picture to Burn	N/A
Taylor Swift	You Belong with Me	N/A
Tonic	If You Could Only See	03/14/2017
The Turtles	Happy Together	N/A
Village People	Y.M.C.A.	N/A
Yellowcard	Ocean Avenue	04/21/2015

* Indicates a re-recorded version of the track.

The setlist was very divisive, but for me personally it’s one of my favourites. Narrowing it down to 10 songs was super hard, but we did it. Here’s what we’d like to see show up in Rocksmith:

The Bravery – Believe

Personally, I just really want to learn the bass riff at the beginning. The Bravery are an awesome band, and we’ve mentioned before how much we’d love to see them in Rocksmith one of these days.

Cheap Trick – I Want You to Want Me (Live)

Normally I’m against live versions of songs showing up in Rocksmith because the learning aspect, combined with the lack of need for masters, means that the cleaner studio versions are preferable. For I Want You to Want Me, however, the Live at Budokan version (which is not the version in Band Hero) is absolutely the one that should show up in Rocksmith due to how much more iconic it is. Plus, the fact that only one Cheap Trick song has shown up in Rocksmith is an absolute travesty that needs to be rectified as soon as possible.

Culture Club – Do You Really Want to Hurt Me

I didn’t take guitar lessons very long, but I’ll always remember when I took my first lesson my teacher asked me what kind of music I’d like to learn. I’d mentioned that I wanted to learn stuff my Wham!, Tears for Fears, and Culture Club. While he told me that Wham! sucked and didn’t have any decent guitar parts, Tears for Fears and Culture Club both actually had really good guitar going on. Do You Really Want to Hurt Me will always have sentimental appeal due to it being the first song I ever learned, and I’d love to re-capture that magic again in Rocksmith.

David Bowie – Let’s Dance

It’s David Bowie. Stevie Ray Vaughan plays guitar on it. There’s really nothing more that needs to be said. Come on, Ubisoft! When is that Bowie song pack going to finally come out?

Hinder – Lips of an Angel

My favourite song about infidelity this side of O.P.P., Lips of an Angel is a perfect time capsule of what rock music was a decade ago. It may not be a super complex song, but it’d be a great song to just have in your repertoire to bust out when you need to impress someone who may not actually know what the song means.

Janet Jackson – Black Cat

Now, you may not instantly think of Janet Jackson when you think of great guitar parts, but Black Cat contains that in spades. A proper 80s hard rock song, it’s absolutely filled to the brim with rip-roaring solos that are sure to give guitarists a challenge. In fact, the radio edit version of the song even features guitar work from Nuno Bettencourt.

Marvin Gaye – I Heard It Through the Grapevine

Soul music is criminally under-represented in Rocksmith, and a perfect way to get more of it would be the return of Marvin Gaye. I Heard It Though the Grapevine has a wonderful laid back vibe that would make it a great late night bass track while still having enough going on to keep you on your toes.

No Doubt – Just a Girl

It’s amazing that No Doubt didn’t get a five-pack the first time around. I had to check and double check that we didn’t actually already have this track. One of No Doubt’s most beloved tracks, Just a Girl features some fun guitar work and would surely provide some cool new tones.

Pat Benatar – Love is a Battlefield

It’s no secret how much of a Pat Benatar fan I am. She’s one of the best rock singers of all time, and Love is a Battlefield contains some really interesting instrument parts that would be a blast to play in Rocksmith. Besides, she rocks. Just ask JD.

Styx – Mr. Roboto

In addition to being a critically acclaimed series on the USA Network, Mr. Roboto is also a classic 80s song by one of the best prog bands ever. Maybe it’s not the most technically challenging song in Styx’s repertoire, but there’s enough fun stuff going on that it would make a great mid-tier track for new guitarists to show off their skills.

Village People – YMCA