Bowie, Styx, Swift, Gaye and others join Band Hero

Activision has put out a press release announcing that Taylor Swift is a playable character in Band Hero.

Along with the announcement comes word that Styx, David Bowie, Marvin Gaye, Big Country, and tracks from many others are featured in the soundtrack.

New tracks announced for the console version include:

• 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"

Wonder if Gaye and Stuart Adamson will be with gamers in spirit during play or haunting their record companies over the inclusion.

The full list is after the break.

BAND HERO™ GIVES FANS A SNEAK PEEK AT THE BIGGEST MUSIC EVENT TO HIT LIVING ROOMS THIS HOLIDAY SEASON WITH THE DEBUT OF TAYLOR SWIFT’S VIDEO GAME PERFORMANCE

Band Hero Lifts the Curtain to Unveil More Popular Music from the Hottest Bands including Fall Out Boy, Hilary Duff, Boys Like Girls, The All-American Rejects and Jesse McCartney

Santa Monica, CA – October 1, 2009 – Video game players and music fans alike can now get closer to Activision Publishing, Inc.’s (Nasdaq: ATVI) Band Hero’s™ in-game playable character Taylor Swift than ever before, as they can perform as the music icon to her fan-favorite chart-topping hits “You Belong With Me,” “Picture To Burn” and “Love Story” in the biggest music event to hit living rooms this holiday season - Band Hero. Today, Activision puts fans front and center in the concert of a lifetime, as they debut Swift’s never-before-seen in-game performances in Band Hero, the perfect game for family and friends to jam out and sing along to their favorite tunes together.

Allowing budding pop stars the ability to perform with friends and family in living rooms across the globe or take their newfound fame on the road as they command center stage with their band anywhere they choose, Band Hero confirmed today additional songs from both the console and Nintendo DS™ Lite set lists, comprised of the most fun to play, chart-topping hits. When the games ship on November 3, fans can live out their music fantasies as they step on stage as their favorite music superstars, including singer/songwriter Taylor Swift and Maroon 5’s Adam Levine, while strumming, drumming and singing along to the most popular songs of yesterday and today including;

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 - "Naïve"
* 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"

This holiday season, the biggest music event of the year will hit living rooms around the world as family and friends come together to ascend the virtual stage and rock their way to superstardom with Band Hero. Brought to you by the makers of Guitar Hero®, one of the best-selling video game franchises of all time, Band Hero features the hottest chart-topping hits from everyone’s favorite bands including No Doubt, Nelly Furtado, Lily Allen, The All-American Rejects and Jackson 5. Headlined by some of the leading names in music as in-game artists and playable characters, including singer, songwriter and guitarist Taylor Swift and Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine, Band Hero is the ultimate party game where friends and family can choose to join the band or “take five” at any time without interrupting the performance, in Party Play mode. Band Hero allows fans to create the band of their dreams, using any combination of vocals and guitar or drum controllers, providing budding pop stars the chance to customize how they interact with and experience their favorite music.

Published by Activision, Band Hero is being developed by Neversoft Entertainment for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system, by Vicarious Visions for the Wii™ system from Nintendo and by Budcat for the PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system. Band Hero is rated “E10+” (Everyone 10 years and older – Mild Lyrics, Mild Suggestive Themes). Become a fan of Band Hero on Facebook at facebook.com/bandhero and for more information about Band Hero, please visit bandhero.com.