A massive row has blown up between the former members of Nirvana and the makers of the upcoming game ‘Guitar Hero 5’.
Nirvana occupy a very special place in American rock music. Their album ‘Nevermind’ knocked Michael Jackson from the pinnacle of the Billboard charts ushering in the grunge boom and completing almost two decades of work.
However the band have a special relationship with their fans. Kurt Cobain’s suicide deeply affected those who revered and admired him, turning him from a songwriter into an icon for many who feel dispossessed and alienated in modern society.
Which is exactly why ‘Guitar Hero 5’ has caused an enormous ruckus. The game features a playable character of Kurt Cobain, meaning that the Nirvana singer can be used to perform any song on the game.
Obviously, fans are up in arms about this. However the row has even extended to the former members of Nirvana with Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic issuing a statement decrying the game.
“We want people to know that we are dismayed and very disappointed in the way a facsimile of Kurt is used in the Guitar Hero game. The name and likeness of Kurt Cobain are the sole property of his estate – we have no control whatsoever in that area.”
“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. 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.”
“It’s hard to watch an image of Kurt pantomiming other artists’ music alongside cartoon characters. Kurt Cobain wrote songs that hold a lot of meaning to people all over the world. We feel he deserves better.”
Activision, the makers of ‘Guitar Hero 5’ has responded by re-affirming their legal right to use Kurt Cobain’s image. “Guitar Hero secured the necessary licensing rights from the Cobain estate in a written agreement signed by Courtney Love to use Kurt Cobain’s likeness as a fully playable character in Guitar Hero® 5.”
Cobain’s widow Courtney Love, however, has denied ever signing an agreement to allow them to do this. In a Twitter posting the Hole singer claimed:
“FOR THE RECORD I DID NOT APPROVE KURTS AVATAR FOR GUYITARHERO5. i think Kurt would despise this game alone let alone this avatar”.
Also: “We are going to sue the shit out of Activision we being the Trust the Estate the LLC the various LLCs Cobain Enterprises.”
