OK, Mother Theresa is dead so she doesn’t have an opinion, but if she were alive, and knowing that she fucking loved Bleach, we’re pretty sure she’d be pissed off as all hell about Kurt Cobain’s inclusion in the new Guitar Hero. I mean, come on, the dude can’t be virtually singing “Wanted Dead or Alive” in a video game owned by the company who published “MechWarrior 2: 31st Century Combat.”

But he is. And ya know who’s pissed off about it? Bon Jovi. Yeah, Jon Bon Jovi. And while the one day future Governor of New Jersey (one can always dream) is speaking out against the inclusion, he isn’t really mad that Cobain’s in the game, as much he is the fact that virtual Cobain sucks at singing “You Give Love A Bad Name.” Quoted Bon Jovi, “To hear someone else’s voice coming out of a cartoon version of me? I don’t know. It sounds a little forced.” Sort of like Bon Jovi’s movie career.

With Courtney Love having used Twitter to foment her rage (or smear her tracks,) Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic issued a joint statement late yesterday in regards to their former bandmate’s likeness being used so excessively in the newest installment of the Guitar Hero franchise. Below:

We want people to know that we are dismayed and very disappointed in the way a facsimile of Kurt is used in the Guitar Hero game. The name and likeness of Kurt Cobain are the sole property of his estate – we have no control whatsoever in that area.
While we were aware of Kurt’s image being used with two Nirvana songs, we didn’t know players have the ability to unlock the character. This feature allows the character to be used with any kind of song the player wants. We urge Activision to do the right thing in “re-locking” Kurt’s character so that this won’t continue in the future.

It’s hard to watch an image of Kurt pantomiming other artists’ music alongside cartoon characters. Kurt Cobain wrote songs that hold a lot of meaning to people all over the world. We feel he deserves better.

Meanwhile, Activision issued the following statement:

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.

Yes, this is a true story. NYU is offering a freshman seminar called “Guitar Heroes (and Heroines): Music, Video Games and the Nature of Human Cognition.” No, there are not any openings in the course at the moment. Yes, we will make up our own course. At home. Tonight.

Via [URB Via New York Post]

With the exception of games that are either a) un-fun or b) just have nothing to do with jams, we’ve tried to keep current on all things video game-related. Today brings more news on the next installment of the Guitar Hero franchise, a game that promises to be a black hole/joy ride of behemoth proportions. The White Stripes and Elton John will be making their GH5 debuts, both “Blue Orchid” and ” Saturday Night’s Alright (For Fighting),” respectively, to be included amongst the fray. Also on the docket now is the Rolling Stones’ “Sympathy For The Devil” as well as Sonic Youth’s Rather Ripped burner “Incinerate.” But the coup de grace remains an unreleased live recording of Nirvana’s “Lithium.” (via RS)

Here’s a complete list of the new additions:

Attack! Attack! UK – “You And Me”
Bon Jovi – “You Give Love A Bad Name”
Darker My Love – “Blue Day”
The Duke Spirit – “Send A Little Love Token”
Elton John – “Saturday Night’s Alright (For Fighting)”
Face To Face – “Disconnected”
Garbage – “Only Happy When It Rains”
Kaiser Chiefs – “Never Miss A Beat”
Kiss – “Shout It Out Loud”
Love and Rockets – “Mirror People”
My Morning Jacket – “One Big Holiday”
Nirvana – “Lithium (Live)”
The Police – “So Lonely”
Rammstein – “Du Hast”
The Rolling Stones – “Sympathy For The Devil”
Sonic Youth – “Incinerate”
Screaming Trees – “Nearly Lost You”
Sublime – “What I Got”
The Sword – “Maiden, Mother & Crone”
Thin Lizzy – “Jailbreak”
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers – “American Girl”
The White Stripes – “Blue Orchid”

The former makes sense, but the latter? How many people out there have been clamoring to shred their way through “Between The Bars” or “Waltz #2″? “Needle In The Hay”?
Read the full story