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Courtney Love: Batshit Insane, But For A Good Cause
By Johnny Firecloud
Monday, September 14, 2009
Courtney Love finally backed away from the Twitter machine long enough to issue a formal response, through her lawyer, to the ongoing upheaval over Guitar Hero 5’s Kurt Cobain avatar. Here’s a refresher, if you don’t know your way around the nerdosphere:
After former Nirvana bandmates Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic already expressed their extreme disappointment that the singer’s image could be found singing Bon Jovi’s You Give Love A Bad Name on the video game. Love’s lawyer, Keith A. Fink, issued the following statement on the issue (see if you can keep up with the doubletalk):
“Ms. Cobain is extremely upset about Activision’s use of Mr. Cobain’s likeness to sing the songs of others in its Guitar Hero game. Activision was granted permission by Kurt’s trust solely to use his name and likeness. Activision was not given an unbridled right to use Mr. Cobain’s name and likeness. Kurt’s songs have a special and unique meaning to his fans and his image and legacy are very important to Ms. Cobain. The agreement Activision has with the trust doesn’t allow them to use his likeness in ways that denigrate his image. We would hope Activision would do the right thing on its own and prohibit game users from using Kurt’s image to sing others’ songs and if they don’t we expect the trust to take appropriate action to protect Mr. Cobain’s image.”
“We are going to sue the shit out of Activision,” Love previously told UK paper The Guardian. “‘We’ being the Trust, the Estate, the LLC, the various LLCs, Cobain Enterprises… For the record, this Guitar Hero shit is breach of contract on a bully’s part and there will be a proper addressing of this and retraction.”
Interestingly, the “bully” in question claims that Courtney personally cashed in on the deal, signing the rights away herself after her detailed involvement in the image choices. “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,” read a statement from Activision, which has been released with the approval of surviving Nirvana members Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic.
Activision’s Tim Riley spoke with RollingStone about the Cobain avatar: “Courtney supplied us with photos and videos and knew exactly what she wanted Kurt to look like,” Riley told RS. “She picked the wardrobe and hair style, which turned out to be the Teen Spirit look, then we went back and forth over changes – some subtle, some not so subtle… She was actually great to work with. She got back with comments pretty quickly.”
The tangle of contradicting statements is hard to see through, but since the onset of her presence in the land of 140 characters, Love’s Twitter feed has largely been devoted to nearly-indecipherable rants related to her legal and financial problems. The batshit conspiracy theories have escalated considerably since the avatar story broke, and Courtney wholeheartedly believes that a widespread, massively-orchestrated plan to loot her husband’s fortune has taken place in the fifteen years since his death. Activision’s use of her husband’s likeness is merely the icing on a cake that’s depleted not only her funds, but the trust-fund inheritance of Cobain’s daughter, Frances Bean.
“Welcome to my NIGHTMARE,” Love said. “Yeah we’ll sue Activision, this is disgusting, but theres a lot MORE. You have not listened to me so Kurt’s avatar is on YOU for dismissing me as a LOON, go fucking play Guitar Hero, commit necrophilia. I KNOW you are raping me and my family.” This is just before claiming to have been studying up on forensic accounting, to track the culprits down herself.
One thing is certain: Courtney Love shouldn’t have control over anybody’s affairs, let alone one of the biggest legends in music history. She’s out of her goddamned mind, and conspiracy or not, there should definitely be a third party involved to make sure that things like this don’t happen in a future pill-induced frenzy.
really? making him a playable character in a music game is equivalent to raping his corpse?
seems like a bit of an overreaction. I REALLY doubt this was done with malicious intent in anyway. Cobain is an entity who’s legend has a very large draw with a very large crowd, he was included because they thought their audience would appreciate it, and I bet that 99.5% of them will.
Sounds like both Love and you guys missed the mark on this one
What are you talking about? Those were Courtney’s necrophilia comparisons – not mine. The only thing I agree with is that there should be a little bit of honor, on some level, granted to dead heroes. It should be obvious to anyone who doesn’t have a syringe hanging out of their arm that Activision has no secret horrible agenda. They want to make money. Kurt’s a goldmine.
Argue his qualifications all you like, but Cobain’s among the top handful of the most popular & recognizable musicians of all time – and I can see how those close to the matter are concerned about his likeness being used at the whims of a nu-Yoko junkie ex-stripper with a plastic surgery addiction. But will I play the shit out of Cobain in that game if it crosses my path? You bet your ass – especially if I can have him singing Flavor Flav.
my gut says this comes down to courtney knowing fuck all about what she was signing. if she played guitar hero, she’d know that playable characters play more than just their own songs. if she didn’t demand that kurt’s likeness be restricted only certain relevant contexts meaningful to “the estate,” (ie nirvana songs) it’s her fail. but i’m talking out of my ass here, and i didn’t read the contract. so who knows. regardless, seems like a no brainer to guess activision will just settle out of court, “re-lock” the avatar, and move on. meanwhile, the game’s out- and it’s about to become a lot more valuable.
as for the ethical dilemma, i’m not sure kurt wouldn’t be on board with this. sure, he’d start off by saying that bon jovi is everything he despises about contemporary music blah blah blah would never endorse even a simulated cover performance of blah blah blah. but just like he swore he’d never play stadiums before signing some checks and playing some stadiums, who the fuck knows what he would have been cool with in the end. i revere the guy, but i have the feeling that if he’s spinning in his grave it’s because he’s unable to spend the money. and courtney has always been the same way; shooting her mouth off from some soapbox, and then revising history and backpedaling when her closet pops open and skeletons come flying out.
Although I hate Courtney as much as the next person, I think she is semi-right on this one. Doesn’t mean she’s not stupid about signing something without completely understanding what she was agreeing to. Kurt saying shit like “Yeah boyyyy” is ridiculous, but still, somewhere in his pop lovin heart, I think he might have gotten a kick out of seeing himself singing Bon Jovi. Who can say? Not Grohl, Novoselic, or Love. I’m not so sure they should have made him a playable character, though, maybe a secret unlock or something like the guitar battle w Slash and Morello but restricted to Nirvana songs.
It’s a fucking video game, a retarded one, at that. For me it’s all full of shit, game’s were always about things, that kids couldn’t normally do, ie shooting other people, driving fast cars, controlling other people lives, all kinds of shit. Now they make games about playing a guitar, like I haven’t seen 10year-old kids on YouTube playing fucking TOOL! Playing Guitar Hero sure has some entertainment value, but it’s lame, and utterly pathetic.
This whole problem is also ridiculous, it ain’t even logical for in-game Kurt Cobain to sing someone else’s songs with their voice istead of his, I mean, how’s that even possible? Like, there’s a model in game, that has a signle body, but a huge fucking collection of other people’s voices?
I think it’s not his voice, only his likeness. The voice would be supplied by the player, if he/she is singing, or the original vocal track by Bon Jovi, if no one is singing. But Kurt is also a guitarist, so Idk how that would work, if you only wanted to sing and/or play guitar to a song using Kurt as a character.
Oh, so you can also sing the songs yourself, eh? My bad… I thought it would be only the original voice. BTW. will they make a special series of inverted guitars for Cobain character?
That is essentially how it would work, the player would be signing. But I may be wrong, now that I think about it. I know Rock Band allows you to sing, but I’m not sure if Guitar hero has the same playability. And that would definitely be cool if they had all of his guitars for leftys.
[...] Courtney Love Threatens Activision Over Guitar Hero 5 @ Antiquiet [...]
maybe it was just me johnny, it just read like you were more in support of Courtney’s position, while simultaneously saying she shouldn’t be allowed to decide anything for anyone
I don’t think she should singlehandedly be able to decide what’s best for Kurt’s legacy. Her decision making skills are highly suspect.
[...] Courtney Love Threatens Activision Over Guitar Hero 5 @ Antiquiet [...]
I find it hard to believe anything Love says. My theory is that she knew exactly what she was signing and is putting up this front because Kurt fans got so pissed off.
It might look very easy but in fact it’s not. Many beginners cannot play the guitar and sing a song in the same time. It’s quite difficult but in time you’ll manage to do it without any problems. Playing guitar requires commitment, practice and dedication especially if you want to sing a song simultaneously. If you choose the right song you can do it. Simple songs are usually the best way to go.
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