Nirvana Members 'Dismayed And Very Disappointed' By 'Guitar Hero 5'

LOS ANGELES — Kurt Cobain's appearance in the latest "Guitar Hero" video game is not hitting the right notes with the surviving members of Nirvana.

Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl said in a joint statement Thursday that they were "dismayed and very disappointed" that an avatar of the late Nirvana frontman could be used to play songs by other artists.

"While we were aware of Kurt's image being used with two Nirvana songs, we didn't know players have the ability to unlock the character," they said. "This feature allows the character to be used with any kind of song the player wants. We urge Activision to do the right thing in 're-locking' Kurt's character so that this won't continue in the future."

Cobain's widow, Courtney Love, had been lashing out on Twitter this week about her late husband's inclusion in the game, calling it vile and claiming she would sue Activision, the game's publisher. Love claimed she never approved Cobain's digital likeness, and that she thought the grunge rocker would despise the rhythm game "let alone this avatar."

Activision said in a statement Thursday that they secured the necessary licensing rights from the Cobain estate in a written agreement signed by Love to use the singer's likeness as a fully playable character in "Guitar Hero 5," which includes "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and "Lithium" among its 85 tracks that can be played with instrument-shaped controllers.

Other real-life rockers featured in the latest edition of the popular rhythm game franchise for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3 and Wii include Carlos Santana and Johnny Cash. Previous "Guitar Hero" editions have featured the likenesses of Jimi Hendrix, Billy Corgan, Ted Nugent, Sting, Ozzy Osbourne, Travis Barker and members of Aerosmith.

___

On the Net:

http://gh5.guitarhero.com/

Comments

[Zach Reed]

oh my god, iam a big fan of Nirvana, but they act like the guys a sacred prophet or something and hes not he's just a great singer/songwriter who died 16 freaking years ago. I think its about time for people to start getting over it

[Loveforlife]

I saw this at Best Buy yesterday. I don't think Kurt would have so cared so much about Guitar Hero as much as he wanted to stay out of the public eye.

[wanked]

Smells like exploitation of the departed...

[ewj1]

and KC would have liked being exploited, he sure was when he was alive (by his band members, label, and MTV). He exploited himself that led to his own death.

[RedSoxGator]

Cluelessness is running wild around here ...

[DeeDeeDaGumby]

I heard a report on the radio the other day about how his daughter was offered the lead in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland.. She passed it up to go to college.. Sounds like a smart kid..

[NHBill]

Really? You can't make a movie and then go to college?

[whsmith]

Kurt would have found this hilarious I think

[whitey7]

Big deal, Cobain was always a commercial entity and he embraced and enjoyed the lifestyle. I don't think he would give a damn about any of this. He would have cashed the check just like Love and the other guys . It's just a stupid video game people!

[RedSoxGator]

Not too familiar with the grunge scene, are we?

[RobertFromMN]

Nor Cobain, clearly.

[fabricnthreads]

Geez, I would be more concerned about my child wanting to use his avatar.

[puddinpop]

Geez, Courtney. Can't you stay sober long enough to get through important events , like signing away the rights to your late husband's image?

[jimmy19]

Yea, first you have him killed then sell the rights to his image. Great wife!

[bigsexyshaq]

In your world, name-calling is the higher ground on any argument.

[LA2000]

Why do I think Courtney has already spent the Activision check.

The time to stand your ground on the use of your dead husband's image is before you cash the check, not after.

This strikes me as a grab for more cash. It's not like she didn't know what Guitar Hero was.

[BassMonk]

She was probably too drunk/high/whatever to realize what she was signing.

[Grulg]

HA!!! Make Kurtie do 'Heaven' by Warrant or '17' by Winger!!! YES!!! This is great.

[novodia9]

love bon jovi, but Kurt NEVER would have done this.
It's for the publicity, they knew that the outrage would be a publicity goldmine.
and they knew courtney would flip!!!
i'm with TEAMCOURTNEY on this one

[Mainer36]

She signed the rights over to activision. Maybe her love of money outweighed her desire to keep her dead husbands likeness to be used like a marionette out of the public eye.

[jeplanet]

Here's a link to the you.tube clip.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UuAoEW5MbI&feature=fvsr

[POLINUT]

Thanks for the link. Reprehensible IMHO. I agree that Cobain would detest what corporations are doing with his legacy. Disgusting.

[jeplanet]

I'm surprised the makers of the game did this.
Watching Kurt Cobain sing and bop around to Flava Flav or Bon Jovi is not what I think he would have wanted. Why couldn't they just have had him singing his own songs??
His memory is still held dearly by a lot of generation Xers.
I don't like it and I think they messed up.

[rzan1]

He would have absolutely hated it.

[StephenJK]

Yeah, good guess. Kobain hated a lot of things. Like his life.

[whitey7]

I think he would of liked it! I met him a few times and he wasn't some heavy serious person. Because of the manner of his death I think the public gets the wrong impression about the guy. Listen to his music - he had a good sense of humor.

[TequilaMockingbird]

I don't understand all the disdain for Guitar Hero.. My husband and I are both musicians and Guitar Hero was the catalyst for our young Son to not only enjoy and respect the music we listened to as Disaffected Youths but he actually picked up a Guitar and is now quite accomplished at it....

I honestly believe that Kurt Cobain would not mind in the least that Kids who were born after he died are listening to the music he made and are finding it relevant and rocking.....(My Son was born 4 years after Cobain died) Kids who never knew him or saw him as some tragedy.. His Music was bigger than any of the hype and speculation and has stood the test of time and is now speaking to a New Generation.. Is that really so terrible?

Krist and Dave have obviously forgotten what it was like being among the Alienated and Socially Awkward Youths who holed up in bedrooms playing video games and talking about starting a band....

[DeepsyRascal]

I can understand that listening to music is fine but Cobain would never have sanctioned something as crass as his image on a computer game. You obviously don't understand what he stood for.

[TequilaMockingbird]

If you are correct.. then perhaps Cobain never understood who he appealed to..

[EuripidesTheYounger]

He obviously didn't stand for gun safety. Or responsible parenthood. Or personal grooming.

[whitey7]

Please, you have no idea what he would have signed off on. Nirvana was a commercial product mass marketed by a huge corporation(OK, Bleach was a commercial product marketed by a small corporation). He allowed his image and music to be used in countless commercial undertakings and would have most likely signed off on this as well just like everyone else has.