Nirvana disapproves of GH5 Cobain avatar

by JC Fletcher { Sep 11th 2009 at 10:20AM }

Two out of three Nirvana members agree: Kurt Cobain's Guitar Hero 5 avatar is not cool. As for the third: the fact that he can't offer an opinion is kind of the whole problem. Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl, former bassist and drummer for Nirvana, issued a joint statement to register their disdain with the free use of Cobain's likeness.

The pair, who have no legal say in the matter but are probably worth listening to anyway, said that they were "dismayed and very disappointed" in the use of the avatar. "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."

Novoselic and Grohl then entreat Activision to "re-lock" the avatar so that it can only be used to play Nirvana songs. Which is a surprisingly even-handed request.

Tags: guitar-hero-5, kurt-cobain, nirvana

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)

RogerFH @ Sep 11th 2009 10:25AM

This story will not end too early ._.

CobraClutch @ Sep 11th 2009 2:56PM

I don't think I've ever seen so many high and low-rated comments in one story before. It's like trying to read a checkerboard.

Chris D.(PSN: Aggie_CEO | XBL:The Aggie CEO | Steam: Aggie_CEO @ Sep 11th 2009 10:25AM

Damn quite a bit of people are more than upset of this it would seem.........people that matter....

whylekat @ Sep 11th 2009 10:48AM

If you or anyone was born pre 1985 and listened to nirvana all through out the 90's, you'd completely understand & agree.

XBL: xGeneral DEATHx PSN: Deeth82 @ Sep 11th 2009 10:54AM

Yeah, I didn't think anything of it when they said that crackhead Courtney Love didn't approve, but it raised my right eyebrow when Grohl and Nover-...Novoche-...the other guy said it, too.

XBL: xGeneral DEATHx PSN: Deeth82 @ Sep 11th 2009 10:56AM

Honestly though, couldn't it be said that you'd be honoring his memory by rocking out as Cobain?

whylekat @ Sep 11th 2009 11:00AM

Dude, you obviously know nothing about Kurt Cobain.

Chris D.(PSN: Aggie_CEO | XBL:The Aggie CEO | Steam: Aggie_CEO @ Sep 11th 2009 11:01AM

I didnt really listen to their music then...but with the people who knew him the best saying this was foul then its obvious its something he wouldnt have agreed on himself

Chilly P @ Sep 11th 2009 11:07AM

I really love GH5, and I want it to keep getting DLC, so I hope Activision meets this request. Show a little love; don't make me go back to Rock Band and their stupid bars and boring note patterns.

XBL: xGeneral DEATHx PSN: Deeth82 @ Sep 11th 2009 11:11AM

I didn't listen to Nirvana during their peak popularity years; couldn't stand the dopey sound, and only in the last few years have I come to appreciate some of their songs. All the same, stop acting like he was your best friend. I'm not saying he was a piece of shit or anything, I'm saying that so many people never knew him personally and act like they were his best friend ever. People pull that same crap the world over...they wait until someone is dead and then try to act as though the deceased was their closest compadre . It's good to pay your respects...it has to be said that he was talented and tortured at the same time. But I'm not going to go squealing up to Activision's door because I don't like something they did. It's not like they exhumed his body for this, and *someone* over his estate had to sign off on it. If I were you, I'd direct my anger at that person/people.

Duke @ Sep 11th 2009 11:40AM

I think this request is pretty darn fair and I hope they follow it. Though Novoselic and Grohl don't have the legal rights, they are the best people to stand up for Cobain. Their request doesn't come off as being pissy and selfish, but rather out of respect.

Chibi Chaingun - blackhivemedia.com @ Sep 11th 2009 11:45AM

I listened to them back in the hey-day and liked them a lot (don't really listen to them much at all anymore), and I couldn't care less he's in GH5. I really have no idea what all the fuss is about.

aristokrat @ Sep 11th 2009 1:08PM

I'm with Chibi. If you don't like it, don't use him in your game. For people it matters to, problem solved. I don't think Che Guevara would have approved of his use as an image for Castro-Cuba, but people still think he's cool.

Maybe this whole thing could have been averted if they gave him different animations for the songs than other people, so that he was always just moping around on stage instead of raising the roof, etc. Maybe not, but it'd still be hilarious.

Wayne @ Sep 11th 2009 2:52PM

I have no problem with Cobain as an unlockable character. As long as the actual user becomes a sloppy guitar player and mumbling vocalist, that is.

Gally @ Sep 11th 2009 6:16PM

But at the same time, if Activision has any respect at all for the bands who make the music that goes into their games, they'll honor the request.

Dr. Robotnik, Evil Genius Extraordinaire @ Sep 11th 2009 10:33PM

Let's just say I hope Activision and GH fanboys got the Nirvana song they wanted because I doubt after all this that they'll let them use Nirvana songs again.

The Mexxicution @ Sep 12th 2009 12:36AM

I'm with General Death here. I grew up with Nirvana in the 90's. They weren't my favorite band (which is about to get this post automatically unfavored and faded out), but they were okay. To me, they're a lot like the Beatles. There's one or two songs I like, don't really care about the rest of it, but for some reason, there's a legion of people who are BFF's with them. Kurt may not have liked that his image was used in a video game, but I think he'd dislike that his ex-wife would become the egomaniacal crazy bitch she's become even more. Why doesn't everyone spam the hell out of her Twitter/MySpace/etc. about that for awhile and let this go?

Blind Io @ Sep 12th 2009 1:55AM

You know what else gives people the ability to put Kurt Cobain into ridiculous situations? Photoshop. Maybe we should also block the ability to upload his image into anything that can piss people off. If it pisses you off then don't play as him....problem solved. Personally I found it kinda neat that they included his Jagstang and the Daniel Johnston t-shirt but I didn't bother myself with the fact that you can play him whenever you like.

As for Courtney Love...maybe if she was sober for more than 2 minutes in a row she'd remember giving permission to Activision. Hopefully she OD's and everything gets handed over to Dave Grohl and/or Krist Novoselic.

Bob @ Sep 12th 2009 2:12PM

I actually think that these guys are wrong. Yes, his bandmates. For one, they weren't his best friends or anything. There where people who knew him much better. And, I still think his image has been seriously distorted, especially after his death. He was never a huge crusader for not selling out, or not joining a big record label. He just didn't care. He didn't want to take life to seriously. He would probably be taking this as just a joke. He'd laugh at seeing himself preform Bon Jovi songs. He wasn't some ultra-serious prick. He was depressed, but mostly because of drugs, and a predisposition to depression. If he where alive right now, he'd laugh at you guys. Then he'd cry at what you've made him out to be.

Dr. Robotnik, Evil Genius Extraordinaire @ Sep 12th 2009 5:37PM

Bob, are you stupid or something?

Bob @ Sep 15th 2009 5:20AM

No. Just because I've read about him, listened to a very large amount of interviews that he did, and talked to people who knew him does not make me "stupid or something". He didn't fucking care.

NEXT

bamb0o-stick @ Sep 11th 2009 10:26AM

Okay, so far it seems that the old band members, Courtney Love (for what its worth) and the fans hates the avatar. What's it take Activision?!

Archon (PSN: Archonik, XBL: DarkARHN) @ Sep 11th 2009 10:32AM

What do you mean? "What's it take Activision?!"
Do you want them to burn all the copies of the game or just make people unsee Kurt Cobain?

I'm not very happy with Cobain's avatar in the game either, as it shows that Activision doesn't understand AT ALL what they are putting in the game, or the music they are including. But what happened, happened.

Let Activision know how you feel if you want to, but don't demand ridiculous things.

Andy @ Sep 11th 2009 10:32AM

Direct loss of sales.

copa @ Sep 11th 2009 10:52AM

Stop fighting, guys. Can we at least all agree that that's one crazy bitch?

bamb0o-stick @ Sep 11th 2009 11:07AM

What what I want Archon, is for Activision to stop stretching out GH for what its worth already. Isn't it a bad sign when they're on their 5th Guitar Hero and instead of making people discover new music they're ruining images of past icons?

Chilly P @ Sep 11th 2009 11:10AM

Yeah, I was kinda surprised when I unlocked him as a character and can now use him (and Johnny Cash, too, for that matter...he's dead, right?) to play any instrument on any song. I can make Cobain sing Coldplay....that kind of makes a small piece of me die inside.

mynk @ Sep 11th 2009 11:45PM

did we all just go back to NES and forget about updates and patches for a second?

WINterfang @ Sep 11th 2009 10:26AM

A part of me is happy that Nirvana "retired" because Foo Fighters is on of my favorite bands,

Dr. Ew @ Sep 11th 2009 10:57AM

Hear hear!

It's funny but, at the time, who would have ever thought that the drummer was actually the talented one?

JXCgunrunna @ Sep 11th 2009 11:07AM

All three of them were/are talented. You dont create a new genre of rock music and not be talented.

Now if we are talking about a new genre of boy band, that takes no talent at all. (im glaring at you jonas brothers)

Solace @ Sep 11th 2009 11:30AM

wow winterfang are you retarded?

whylekat @ Sep 11th 2009 11:53AM

No Solace, Dr Ew is retarded.

Dave grohl didn't play drums for nirvana, he played bass.

rudimentalist @ Sep 11th 2009 11:58AM

He played Drums in Nirvana. Novoselic was the bassist.

whylekat @ Sep 11th 2009 12:02PM

Hmmm I thought on the 1st album Grohl played bass then moved to drums on the later albums..? I gotta pull my cd's out!

Levi (God Hand Defense Force) @ Sep 11th 2009 3:09PM

Grohl wasn't even with the band for their first album whylekat. Who's the retard now?

Wayne @ Sep 11th 2009 11:37PM

JXC, Cobain didn't invent the genre. He was strongly influenced by the bands that preceded Nirvana, e.g., the Pixies and Mudhoney. Nirvana simply introduced it to the masses. I hate when people inaccurately credit Cobain with inventing the sound.

When Cobain checked out Nirvana was already being outsold by Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, and the Smashing Pumpkins among others. They were becoming a footnote in history. By taking the easy way out he ensured his and the band's legacy. He never survived to make records that didn't sell and play tiny, half-empty venues.

DryvBy @ Sep 11th 2009 10:27AM

Oh my freakin' goodness. Who cares? It's the likeness of someone. I don't find it 'disrespectful' but whatever. I think it's kind of an honor to see one of the best 90's rockers in a rock game. Now, if it was Kurt Cobain as some DLC, then I'd be kind of feeling it.

WINterfang @ Sep 11th 2009 10:30AM

It depends, what if they use a dead relative of yours?

Storm Eagle [Resident Capcom Megafan] @ Sep 11th 2009 10:34AM

I think people should be more disappointed that Matthew Bellamy is in the game.

I mean come on...

Carlos Santana...Legend.
Johnny Cash....Legend.
Kurt Cobain.....Legend.
Matthew Bellamy....Who?

WINterfang @ Sep 11th 2009 10:44AM

Jum...I just Google Matthew Bellamy and I still don't have any idea who he is.

WDUK @ Sep 11th 2009 10:50AM

Matt Bellamy is the guitarist from Muse, get your head out of your ass

XBL: xGeneral DEATHx PSN: Deeth82 @ Sep 11th 2009 10:59AM

Learn something new everyday.

WINterfang @ Sep 11th 2009 11:01AM

MUSE?

aggrazel @ Sep 11th 2009 11:04AM

Ok, at first I thought he was being a stupid troll. I love Muse. I own every single one of their albums.

But is Matt Bellamy on the same level as those other guys? Not sure I'd agree .. yet .. give him a few more years.

Johnny Cash is timeless. Santana is a guitar God. Kurt Cobain was the voice of an entire generation. Matt Bellamy, while I love his work, isn't quite on the same level as the others. Again ... yet.