Solo artist Lenny Kravitz, best known for tracks like “Are You Gonna Go My Way,” “Always On The Run” and his cover of “American Woman” is rumored to be in the studio with the remaining members of Velvet Revolver. Former Velvet Revolver frontman Scott Weiland left the band back in April and is currently touring with his former band, Stone Temple Pilots.

I honestly have never heard a Velvet Revolver track. I liked Guns N Roses and love Stone Temple Pilots, but never got motivated to check out Velvet Revolver. I may end up checking out some tracks on iTunes now out of curiosity, but I wouldn’t think Kravitz would be a good fit to lead VR, seeing as Kravitz would be unlikely to sing and play guitar as the band already has Slash and another guy on the six string. The other replacements the article throws around aren’t any better suggestions either, but Kravitz would seem to be the least compatible fit.

Yesterday, Harmonix announced the full 86-song setlist of on-disc tracks (to obviously be vastly supplemented with lots of tracks in the form of downloadable content, like the original Rock Band).

It’s also cool because it’s been confirmed that tracks from the first game can be ripped from the original disc into the sequel, basically doubling the possible setlists you can have in Rock Band 2 for all of us many Rock Band original owners.

I’m loving the setlist from the 60’s - 90’s. It’s great and features varied music styles throughout! Most of the stuff from the 2000 is crap, but I guess that is kind of reflective of the music industry as a whole. Overall though, this is going to rock to play.

My only other complaint is one that people have had since the original Guitar Hero. Sometimes, the game includes strange entries from bands. I don’t know if it’s a cost of licensing, or the band’s choice or whatever. But we finally get AC/DC, but instead of an anthem like “Back in Black” or “Thunderstruck,” we get “Let There Be Rock.” It’s a decent song, but not one that everyone in the room is likely to know. Here’s to hoping for a DLC AC/DC “Back in Black” album track pack (or the entire album) consisting of “Shook Me All Night Long,” “Back in Black” and “Hells Bells.”

Rock Band 2 Track List Revealed

So it sounds like Rock Band 2 is going to build onto the super-smooth and successful original. I love the fact that they’re adding a battle of the bands mode and that the world tour mode will go to Xbox Live. This next round of music games should have even better set lists as more and more bands realize the popularity and revenue stream potential of these games. Sign me up for a copy upon release (sans the instruments):

Rock Band 2 Hands-On

So things are looking up in the Guitar Hero universe for me. For Independence Day, they’re releasing the “Top Gun Anthem” for free on Xbox Live and the Playstation Network. I’ll be downloading that for sure. But the better news are the rumors of future Guitar Hero releases. Rumor has it that on the heels of the recently released Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, two more bands are in the works – both of which are tops in my most often played: Metallica and Van Halen. Sign me up for both please!

I’d rather have both of those as Rock Band, getting the drums in the mix as well, but I’ll settle for whatever I can get in playable content from those two.

Free DLC for GH III on July 3, GH: Van Halen in the Works?

I am super psyched about this – a legitimate application and solution for something we’ve struggled with in our home audio setup. Recently, we upgraded our home theater system and now have the living room Airport Express’s audio out streaming to our living room home theater. Well, I’ve got iPhone Remote running, which works wonderfully for skipping tracks forward and backwards, as well as pausing, but there’s no indicator of playlist, currently playing track. *Plus* to initiate, I have to go upstairs and switch iTunes to stream its audio to that given Airport Express. We overcame that last part by getting a VNC client running on the laptop downstairs, but even that’s a pain.

My hope is this iTunes Remote will have a nice amount of polish and be full-featured. It should fit right into our home music streaming wants and needs. So far, this will definitely be my first download when the Application Store goes live.

iTunes 7.7 reveals iTunes Remote app for iPhone and iPod

Man, that is a good lineup – the two sane former portions of Van Halen plus Joe Santrini on guitar and the Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer, Chad Smith on the skins. I’ll definitely be getting that album when it’s released. I’m looking forward to hearing it.

Sammy Hagar Says New Supergroup Could “Rival Zep”

Man, looks like Activision’s next incarnation continues to emulate the original developer’s moves. While Harmonix has moved onto Rock Band, Guitar Hero IV will have all the instruments of Rock Band. It’ll even borrow the name of the multiplayer mode of Rock Band – “World Tour.”

New Details on Guitar Hero World Tour

Sweet, not a lot of detail, but I’m already a Guitar Hero IV customer with the simple fact that they’re going to include Van Halen tracks… hopefully multiple that represent both the Roth and Hagar era. We shall see.

I’m not entirely sold/on board with the song creation thing. If it’s along the lines of importing your own MP3s, that would be great, but my gut is it’s not going to be that simple.

Also, like one of the article’s commenters said, if they’re doing the multiple instruments thing, they had better make it cross-compatible with the Rock Band hardware.

Guitar Hero 4 Includes Song Creation and Sharing, Multiple Instruments, Van Halen, Linkin Park

So Trent Reznor is taking it further with bucking music distribution’s normal channels. This time around, he’s offering up the album in multiple formats for free and is welcoming people to distribute, remix, etc. Great experiment! I’m halfway through the album and like it. It’ll take a few more listens for me to get a full feel and opinion formed.

No guarantee these links will work forever, but I’ve uploaded all of the Apple Lossless tracks below to Rapidshare for you to sample. You can also go to the nine inch nails site to signup and download the MP3s and get torrent trackers for the WAV and Apple Lossless tracks, or you can download the lossless ones below.

I’m not breaking any laws, licenses, etc. by putting these links up, and Rapidshare says they’ll keep the links up there no matter the bandwidth and until there is 90 days of inactivity. Trent wants his new album out there. You can pay him by going to his concerts and the like:

01 999999
02 1000000 03 Letting You 04 Discipline 05 Echoplex 06 Head Down
07 Lights in the Sky
08 Corona Radiata
09 The Four of Us Are Dying
10 Demon Seed

Oh man, despite being over their current tour, I would be all over this. Sign me up now. I’ll pre-order, pay full retail, but a Frankenstrat guitar controller and whatever else. I’d love Guitar Hero: Van Halen. Please please please! Just make sure it has classic Van Halen and Van Hagar. I want my “Running With the Devil” *and* “Poundcake.”

Is Guitar Hero: Van Halen Next For Activision?