Kurt Cobain’s GH avatar is legal to use
Before Guitar Hero 5 hit stores, there was a bit of to do around the fact that Kurt Cobain was an unlockable character in the game. It only got weirder when Cobain’s digital self was singing songs by Bon Jovi and Bush. Then, just to make it interesting, Courtney Love took to her Twitter page and tweeted all in caps that she was going to sue Activision for using Kurt’s image (because nothing says intimidating like typing in caps online, right Kanye?)
However, the whole lawsuit claim has been sidestepped when GH C.E.O. Dan Rosensweig spoke to NME about the legality of the situation. “I do know that there’s absolutely a contract and we know that the check has been cashed,” he said. “I can only deal with the facts. It’s very clear what the terms are.”
Rosensweig also went on to say that Guitar Hero went to the estate, had the papers signed and paid for the rights to Cobain’s likeness. Although former Nirvana members Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic have spoken out and said that they weren’t fans of Cobain being in the game either. To that claim, Rosensweig simply suggested that they take up their claim with Courtney Love.
So hopefully this puts the final nail in the proverbial coffin on this issue. Although, personally, I would love it if GH5 made Cobain a character that could only sing the Nirvana songs in the game and not have him scream Flava Flav’s infamous catch phrase. That’s just disrespectful.
Tags: Guitar Hero 5, Kurt Cobain
