Last year, Rock Band was the only music game that enabled users to play as a full-fledged band. Things are different this year with Konami’s Rock Revolution and, more dauntingly, Guitar Hero World Tour. Ultimately, no amount of features or new equipment is going to matter. The real winner will be whichever game has the best track list. Harmonix and MTV must be fully aware of this fact, because today, the two released the full 84-song set list. Judging by the impressive list, Konami and Activision have reason to worry. This is easily the greatest assemblage of music in a game to date.

The big jaw-to-the-floor announcement is that Guns N’ Roses is set to debut a new song from the long-awaited album Chinese Democracy. It’s not just that Rock Band 2 has GNR -- it has new GNR and effectively announces the imminent arrival of the band’s oft-delayed album. Guns N’ Roses’ "Shackler’s Revenge" is just the tip of the iceberg for a track list that features far more greats (Bob effin’ Dylan!) than stinkers (Linkin effin’ Park?!).

Joining GNR and Dylan are such surprises as Tenacious D, Pearl Jam, Beck, Talking Heads, and The Replacements. The list isn’t so focused on spreading across decades as it is spanning genres. There’s a lot more heavy metal this time around and the music from the ’60s is better focused (and lacking the horror that is Green Tides and High Grass). Perhaps the only head scratcher is the inclusion of Norman Greenbaum’s "Spirit in the Sky," which most will recognize as an overused sports anthem.

Ah, but as great as this list may be, you love your old RB1 tracks and just don’t want to give them up. Fear not. All downloadable content will work with Rock Band 2 and gamers can export tracks from Rock Band 1 to RB2. That’s right -- from day one you can bring all RB1 tracks into RB2 to compliment your DLC as long as you own a PS3 or an Xbox 360 with a hard drive.

And there’s more. Harmonix actually wanted to toss in 100 tracks total for the disk, but couldn’t get them all in one time to ship for Xbox 360 by September. So this fall, MTV is releasing an additional 20 downloadable master tracks... for free. By year’s end this will mean RB fans will have access to more than 500 songs.

That is the sound of Activision gulping.

Check out the full list of tracks. Note that all tracks on RB2 are master recordings. There are 75 tracks from famous artists, plus nine bonus tracks from various bands that feature members of Harmonix.

Master Tracks
#	Artists	Song Title	Decade
1.	AC/DC	Let There Be Rock	1970s
2.	AFI	Girl’s Gone Grey	2000s
3.	Alanis Morissette	You Oughta Know	1990s
4.	Alice in Chains	Man in the Box	1990s
5.	Allman Brothers	Ramblin’ Man	1970s
6.	Avenged Sevenfold	Almost Easy	2000s
7.	Bad Company	Shooting Star	1970s
8.	Beastie Boys	So Whatcha Want	1990s
9.	Beck	E-Pro	2000s
10.	Bikini Kill	Rebel Girl	1990s
11.	Billy Idol	White Wedding Pt. I	1980s
12.	Blondie	One Way or Another	1970s
13.	Bob Dylan	Tangled Up in Blue	1970s
14.	Bon Jovi	Livin’ on a Prayer	1980s
15.	Cheap Trick	Hello There	1970s
16.	Devo	Uncontrollable Urge	1980s
17.	Dinosaur Jr.	Feel the Pain	1990s
18.	Disturbed	Down with the Sickness	2000s
19.	Dream Theater	Panic Attack	2000s
20.	Duran Duran	Hungry Like the Wolf	1980s
21.	Elvis Costello	Pump It Up	1970s
22.	Fleetwood Mac	Go Your Own Way	1970s
23.	Foo Fighters	Everlong	1990s
24.	Guns N’ Roses	Shackler’s Revenge	2000s
25.	Interpol	PDA	2000s
26.	Jane’s Addiction	Mountain Song	1980s
27.	Jethro Tull	Aqualung	1970s
28.	Jimmy Eat World	The Middle	2000s
29.	Joan Jett	Bad Reputation	1980s
30.	Journey	Anyway You Want It	1970s
31.	Judas Priest	Painkiller	1990s
32.	Kansas	Carry On Wayward Son	1970s
33.	L7	Pretend We’re Dead	1990s
34.	Lacuna Coil	Our Truth	2000s
35.	Linkin Park	One Step Closer	2000s
36.	Lit	My Own Worst Enemy	1990s
37.	Lush	De-Luxe	1990s
38.	Mastodon	Colony of Birchmen	2000s
39.	Megadeth	Peace Sells	1980s
40.	Metallica	Battery	1980s
41.	Mighty Mighty Bosstones	Where’d You Go	1990s
42.	Modest Mouse	Float On	2000s
43.	Motorhead	Ace of Spades	1980s
44.	Nirvana	Drain You	1990s
45.	Norman Greenbaum	Spirit in the Sky	1960s
46.	Panic at the Disco	Nine in the Afternoon	2000s
47.	Paramore	That’s What You Get	2000s
48.	Pearl Jam	Alive	1990s
49.	Presidents of the USA	Lump	1990s
50.	Rage Against the Machine	Testify	1990s
51.	Ratt	Round & Round	1980s
52.	Red Hot Chili Peppers	Give it Away	1990s
53.	Rise Against	Give it All	2000s
54.	Rush	The Trees	1970s
55.	Silversun Pickups	Lazy Eye	2000s
56.	Smashing Pumpkins	Today	1990s
57.	Social Distortion	I Was Wrong	1990s
58.	Sonic Youth	Teenage Riot	1980s
59.	Soundgarden	Spoonman	1990s
60.	Squeeze	Cool for Cats	1970s
61.	Steely Dan	Bodhitsattya	1970s
62.	Steve Miller Band	Rock’n Me	1970s
63.	Survivor	Eye of the Tiger	1980s
64.	System of a Down	Chop Suey	2000s
65.	Talking Heads	Psycho Killer	1970s
66.	Tenacious D	Master Exploder	2000s
67.	Testament	Souls of Black	1990s
68.	The Donnas	New Kid in School	2000s
69.	The Go-Go’s	We Got the Beat	1980s
70.	The Grateful Dead	Alabama Getaway	1980s
71.	The Guess Who	American Woman	1970s
72.	The Muffs	Kids in America	1990s
73.	The Offspring	Come Out & Play (Keep ’em Separated)	1990s
74.	The Replacements	Alex Chilton	1980s
75.	The Who	Pinball Wizard	1960s
Bonus Tracks
76.	Abnormality	Visions	2000s
77.	Anarchy Club	Get Clean	2000s
78.	Bang Camaro	Night Lies	2000s
79.	Breaking Wheel	Shoulder to the Plow	2000s
80.	The Libyans	Neighborhood	2000s
81.	The Main Drag	A Jagged Gorgeous Winter	2000s
82.	Speck	Conventional Lover	2000s
83.	The Sterns	Supreme Girl	2000s
84.	That Handsome Devil	Rob the Prez-O-Dent	2000s

Rock Band 2 hits Xbox 360 for a short exclusive window in September and then broadens with a holiday release on PS3, PS2, and Wii. It’s unknown if any cross-game functionality will exists for PS2 or Wii versions.

Credits: SYN Chandler XL, IGN