Cobain in Guitar Hero. Heroin sold separately.
Courtney gives love a bad name.
At a time when the Beatles' legacy is being handled with care by Ringo, Paul, Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison, Nirvana's legacy is being slowly but surely sold out.
In just a matter of days, the Beatles' first foray into videogames comes out with the release of The Beatles: Rock Band - the New York Times reports on the great care and time it took to "recreate and re-imagine...not just stepping stones in the career of a band but transformational shifts in the history of popular music."
Meanwhile, Courtney Love has sold Cobain's name, likeness, and songs to Guitar Hero, but apparently the deal didn't come with a guarantee that Guitar Hero honor so much as a whiff of the importance and seriousness with which Cobain regarded his music.
Rolling Stone says there's blame to go around:
"Not only did Cobain’s widow Courtney Love have to sign off on behalf of the estate, so did former drummer Dave Grohl and Primary Wave Publishing, which administers the Nirvana catalog."It's doubtful that Cobain, who wrote "Rape Me," would approve of this abomination, which re-imagines him as Britney Spears, singing the hits of Billy Idol, Bon Jovi, Bush, and Flavor Flav-era Public Enemy, hip-hop moves and all.
Equally scary is that Johnny Cash apparently makes an appearance in the game. Whether he's as adept a rapper as Cobain is anyone's guess.
Update:
On the way home today, not moments after publishing this post, I ran across this forlorn Kurt Cobain action figure in the window of Red River Book Shop along with his plea to "Stop downloading. Buy my CD."
The man has spoken.
Mini Kurt Cobain in the window of the Red River Book Shop. Poor feller.
Did mini Kurt Cobain break this TV? If not, he certainly saw who did...
Update - Sept. 23:
Did mini Kurt Cobain break this TV? If not, he certainly saw who did...
I'm not really into Rock Band (because I'm not coordinated enough to excel at it), but the Beatles game does interest me somewhat. I like how they've released the list of included tracks for the game except for one. It's nice to have a surprise once in awhile.
ReplyDeleteWould you really expect Courtney Love to give a rat crap about Kurt's legacy? She'd probably sell off anything of his she could get her hands on if it meant she could buy more crack or whatever she always appears to be on.
Sidenote: Kenton, I finally tried an Innis & Gunn Canadian Cask edition beer on the weekend. That's one truly great beer!
Hey,
ReplyDeleteGlad you like the beer. It's pretty amazing. I think it's time for an Innis and Gunn party!
I'm interested in the Beatles: Rock Band. Guitar Hero, Naw.
I'm actually tempted to run down to the LC and buy a bunch of I&G CC (before it disappears) for special occasions, like the birth of... a great idea!
ReplyDeleteBack to Rock Band:
I'm a little surprised they wouldn't offer an even broader catalogue of the Beatles music. 45 songs just doesn't seem definitive enough to me. And to beat the game you should have to play Sgt. Pepper's in its entirety.
Another thing about the Beatles game that should be interesting is how many songs will require 2 and 3part harmonies on vocals. That could add an interesting element to the gameplay.
I'm so tempted to get this game even though I'll suck at it...
Come on,Wade! They've got to save something for the sequel!
ReplyDeleteI'm willing to take with a grain of salt a band in which my lead singer is Kurt Cobain, my bassist is some hot bikini-clad chick, I'm obviously a little kid, and my drummer is a skeleton with a Mohawk.
This is the nature of these games: it's all for fun. Only ultra-serious music geeks would be offended by the use of Cobain's likeness in this way.
No one can say for sure what Kurt Cobain would or would not have liked. He died 15 years ago after an extremely short musical career. had he lived he may have become a completely different person and totally sold out himself. In fact, IT'S EXTREMELY LIKELY HE WOULD HAVE, eventually.
Any legacy he left behind lives in the four Nirvana albums, that it. That's all he is responsible for.
It's a freaking video game guys, relax!
That's true: skeletons don't normally play the drums.
ReplyDeleteMaybe this is what's going on in Hell as we speak: Cobain forced to perform Bon Jovi. Ha, ha!
Dan, there really shouldn't be a Beatles sequel. The game follows the chronology of their career including the places they famously performed such as Budokan, Shea Stadium, and the Apple Corps rooftop.
ReplyDeleteThe only thing they could do without looking like they're just cashing in, is to offer an expansion pack of some sort "due to popular demand" that still fit with the chronology but offered a wider catalogue of tunes.
Only time will tell.
I saw that in the Red River window too! He would be spinning in his grave, if he had one.
ReplyDelete