Cobain in Guitar Hero

Have you seen the video? If not, take a minute and watch it. (I'll wait.)

Well, in it Cobain's likeness rocks out to Billy Idol and Bon Jovi. Some people are freaking out.

Now, supposedly Courtney Love is suing. Not surprising, but I doubt she'll get anywhere as (see below) she gave the rights to Activision. And do you think she was somehow unaware as to what was going to happen? Yeah, right.

Here's what Activision has to say:

"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."

As for Cobain's Nirvana bandmates, the same press release said:

Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl, the two surviving members of Nirvana, have no say whatsoever in the usage of Kurt Cobain's likeness.

Not surprised by Grohl and Novoselic's reactions at all. They probably don't want to fight with Courtney Love if they don't have to. They have no rights to Cobain's likeness and probably have enough to deal with when they have to consult her with Nirvana stuff.

I think it's weird, but not really offensive. Would he have ever sang those songs in real life? Highly unlikely. In fact, he'd probably be pissed about it. But he's not here any more and Ms. Love controls the rights to his image.

Do you think Slash would ever pick up a guitar and jam on some Pat Benatar? Probably never. But you can make the Guns N Roses guitarist rock out to "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" in Guitar Hero III. Yeah, he's not dead, but it's just as ridiculous.

I think it's cool that Cobain's even in the game (and that he's sporting a cardigan and a Daniel Johnston shirt). The weirdest thing, to me, is that in every video I've seen (with the exception of the picture above) he's not playing a guitar. In a game called Guitar Hero. Fantastic.