So I have to give Kiko Jones credit for pointing out a nearly sacrilegious avatar that's floating around in the new Guitar Hero 5 game.Evidently, after you unlock a few levels of GH5, you can use Kurt Cobain's likeness to play any instrument in the game. More importantly, you can get Kurt Cobain's likeness to play with any song in the game, no matter how shitty it is.
Actually, the soundtrack to GH5 isn't that bad, but the weirdness of watching Cobain's likeness going through the songs with programmed expressions and body movements is downright creepy.
It immediately got my attention enough to do a quick search to learn that Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic have spoken out against the feature and Courtney Love has turned on to full batshit crazy mode, implying that the gamemaker Activision, the controlling interest party of Cobain's musical legacy, and anyone else that she feels is responsible, is conducting rape, necrophilia, and a number of other reprehensible acts.
The one person she fails to acknowledge who is at fault?
Herself.
Turns out, Courtney Love was part of the Cobain avatar design process. She directed Activision on which likeness to use and provided input on the design (notice the Daniel Johnston t-shirt on the image). She was the one (along with other parties of the Cobain Enterprises LLC, including Dave Grohl) who signed the contracts and agreed on a PRICE to be PAID for this deal. Ultimately, she would have been the one who would have asked "What would Kurt do?"
And we all know the answer to that.
And we all know the answer that we would have given if a similar opportunity was provided to us and we were beholden to the legacy of a fallen musical hero.
Look, I'm not a good person to consult in terms of the impact of Kurt Cobain and/or Nirvana. My heart is too full to give you an accurate idea of how this man impacted my life. I am one of those who has barely listened to a lick of Nirvana's music since he killed himself. I'm what you call a little pissed off at him still and a little tired of the martyrdom that he's been provided. I pulled out From The Muddy Banks Of The Wishkah on vinyl a few weeks ago and spun the stage banter side for a laugh-but I left the actual music sides alone. My wife has the greatest hits disc and leaves the radio on when a Nirvana song comes on, which in turn, means that I have to listen to it. The songs don't feel the same to me anymore, and there's really no reason why I should even get worked up about a Kurt Cobain avatar today.
But I do. Because I know it's morally corrupt. I know it's wrong and I know that it could have been stopped. Ironically, I have more tolerance for the things that Love rants about on her Twitter site (Cobain lunchboxes, Converse shoes, etc.) but have zero tolerance for this licensing deal and have not forgiven her for the entire Journal fiasco.
Does this latest controversy surprise me? In a way it does. It reeks of opportunity and goes beyond what normal hero worship of his likeness typically does.
3 comments:
Great post, Todd. And btw, call me a loon--from you it would be a compliment--but I don't even believe Kurt killed himself. I refer to his death as "...since/after Cobain died..."
I still can't believe this. It's like "Courtney, were you totally drugged out when all of this was being negotiated?" "With everything that you and Kurt had been through, didn't you think that there's a possibility that others in the business community did not have his legacy at heart, but merely their pocketbooks?" It's inexcuseable, and she needs to do more than just continually tweet bullshit. She needs to take a shower, put on some nice clothes, and hold a press conference where she explains the entire process and what her and her lawyers will do to remove his likeness from this game.
As far as the conspiracy goes, Cobain was a chickenshit and I totally could see him offing himself instead of dealing with the litany of hard choices that he had to make at that time. One of them, obviously, was Courtney Love.
She's claiming Kurt's likeness was licensed but she did not agree to have the avatar be unlocked...What I want to know is: Did Courtney and co./her attorneys drop the ball? Or did she agree to this knowingly and is now trying to bullshit her way out of it? In any event, I'm with you re: the press conference, etc.
Kurt may or may not have been a chickenshit--and WHO on God's green Earth would want to deal w/Courtney on any regular basis?--but there's a bit of factual evidence out there that doesn't add up and makes it dicey at best that he actually offed himself. Seriously.
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