Winnipeg Free Press - September 3/09
Guitar Hero 5 - Kurt Cobain
FOLLOWING the death of ’90s alt-rock antihero Kurt Cobain, there were years of legal wrangling between his widow Courtney Love and his Nirvana bandmates Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl. With a settlement finally reached a few years back — which paved the way for the band’s box set and opened up the licensing of their music — it was only a matter of time before Nirvana songs started popping up in the increasing lucrative video-game market.
Considering there’s an all-out battle between Activision’s Guitar Hero franchise and MTV’s Rock Band game to secure the biggest names in music, it isn’t surprising that Nirvana tracks will be included in the new edition of Guitar Hero.
“Remembered as one of the most iconic artists in the history of alternative rock, Kurt Cobain’s enduring legacy continues with his video game debut,” said the games publisher.
Not all Nirvana fans think a digitized Cobain is a good thing. “I am a huge Nirvana fan, so I’m not sure; I mean it is kinda wrong and Kurt probably would have hated it, but it brings a icon and great music to a younger generation who listen to very bad music,” said one fan on the Denver Hard Rock Examiner blog.
NY mag’s Vulture blog was somewhat more upset. “This new clip from GH5 of a digital Nirvana doing Smells Like Teen Spirit and Lithium is the most we’ve been creeped out by a video game since the original Resident Evil.”
Although Guitar Hero managed to lock down one of the most important music acts of the last 30 years, Rock Band will have a Beatles edition in stores at the same time. Guitar Hero 5 came out Tuesday in North America, while The Beatles: Rock Band will be released worldwide on Wednesday.
IF you’re addicted to sites like Texts from Last Night, failblog.org and fmylife.com, you’ll want to add Lamebook to your daily reading schedule. With the tagline “from lame to fame,” the site features strange status updates, embarrassing photos, bad typos and other stuff that probably shouldn’t be seen by other people. Lamebook is net voyeurism at its best.
WITH two tracks from their forthcoming album Raditude already floating around the web (check Hype Machine if you want to hear or download them), Weezer has also launched a new streaming net radio station. Home to acts that include Christina Aguilera, the Jonas Brothers and the Eagles, iheartradio.com is quickly positioning itself as the go-to site for artist-specific streaming radio. Expect to hear material from other alt-rock stars such as the Smashing Pumpkins, the Dandy Warhols, the Foo Fighters, Red Hot Chili Peppers, the Silversun Pickups and flavour-of-the-moment acts like 3oh!3.
