Smells Like Dollar Signs: the Flap over Cobain on Rock Band 5

We’re all sellouts
Some are more blatant than others. Aerosmith and Bon Jovi are at least up-front about it. They will happily ham it up for anyone who offers them a big enough check.
Who are we to argue?
The person who is unemployed or behind on their mortgage, or who has been slaving away in bar bands for thirty years certainly wouldn’t.
It’s the hypocrites you have to watch out for. There are those who publicly bleed integrity and sanctimoniousness, but behind the curtain are revealed to be not much more than the Bon Jovi’s of the world.
Of course they don’t buy up tickets for their shows at face value than re-sell them to scalpers like some of the bands mentioned, but you never know.
Courtney Love is angry because Activision is using Kurt Cobain’s likeness on Guitar Hero 5 to not only sing the Nirvana songs he wrote and sang, but also to possibly sing along to songs by other bands- yes even Bon Jovi.
I don’t play it, but someone showed Cobain’s avatar “singing” “You Give Love a bad name” along with the cartoon backing band on YouTube and it was pretty disturbing. At least to someone who was around in the early 1990’s and saw Nirvana break huge with Nevermind, playing music that didn’t play by the “rules” but still was very popular. Bands like Nirvana and Pearl Jam came up with the punk scene, and although they did get signed by large record companies, took pains to maintain their artistic integrity and independence.
To us late thirtysomethings and fortysomethings, it is unsettling, but to the kids who play Rock Band, Cobain is just another dead or aging rock star. Most kids nowadays couldn’t tell Bon Jovi from Nirvana, and wouldn’t care even if they could. It’s all of us old people getting riled up.
Love is angry, and even though she agreed to use Cobain’s likeness for the game, she said that she thought that he would only be singing Nirvana songs.
“You are correct in stating that Ms. Cobain (Love) is extremely upset at Activision’s use of Mr. Cobain’s image in a video game allowing him to sing songs of others. Kurt’s songs have a unique and special meaning to his fans and his image and legacy is extremely important to Ms. Cobain.” said her lawyer.
Cobain's old bandmates, Krist Novolesic and Dave Grohl agree.
“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.” Adding, “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.” They said in a joint statement.
Somebody’s lying, or somebody’s lawyer didn’t do his job. Both the game company and Love have high-priced lawyers looking through the documents, and it’s hard to believe that somebody didn’t catch the clause where Cobain would be aping along to Bon Jovi songs.
Everybody got paid. Activision will sell a ton of games, Cobain’s estate and the other artists featured on the game will get paid and get additional exposure for their music. Nobody is starving off this deal.
It’s one of two things. Activision is either greedy or ignorant, or perhaps telling the truth. Love may be telling the truth, but it also may be a face-saving measure to something she either agreed upon or overlooked.
It’s either dollar signs or ignorance, and I’m picking dollar signs.
Integrity or not, Nirvana signed the big record contract. Even Love’s band Hole had a large record contract in the 1990’s, Grohl’s band the Foo Fighters has been churning out radio-friendly music for years now. All have been well paid, and there is nothing wrong with that. With the money, comes compromise, I’m sure. Nobody is innocent then, nobody is innocent now.
Now comes word that Iggy Pop has agreed to use his likeness for a Lego version of rock band.
No one is innocent.

RIP Jim Carroll

In my late teens, punk rock changed my whole worldview. You didn't have to listen to the same music everybody else did. You didn't have to dress the way everyone else did. I'm sure I speak for many when I say it put me on a path to self-realization. It wasn't a bad thing, and sometimes it was a good thing to not fit in. Besides me, it turned music upside down. Music had become lethargic in the mid-1970's, and punk rock turned it upside down.

Jim Carroll was a footnote, but a big one at that. His song "People Who Died" was a long litany to his friends who had passed away in New York's seamy underside. Written over a raw, chug-a-lug of guitar, bass, and drums, Carroll read off his long list of characters without seeming emotion, saving his big salute for the last one. It was almost like a dark and fatalistic response to "Walk on the Wild Side"

Carroll's "Basketball Diaries" had a similar effect on the literary world. Based on journals he wrote as a thirteen year old, he detailed a double life as a prep school basketball player and a drug-addicted street hustler. Equal parts Salinger, Rimbaud, and Henry Miller, he stred at the darkness in an unfliching, almost conversational manner.

The big regret is that he wasn't more prolific. He did some other music and books, but nothing ever hit the stride of "People Who Died" and "Basketball Diaries". Both have left indelible marks on the literary and music world, whether directly or indirectly.

James Williamson to Re-join Stooges

Stooges fans upset at the passing of founding guitarist Ron Asheton will get the next best thing. James Williamson, who played guitar on the opus Raw Power, will replace him, according to Rolling Stone. Williamson, who has been a software developer in the Silicon Valley, was recently talked into re-joining the band by Iggy Pop, and new music may even be a possibility.
“He asked me if I wanted to play guitar again,” says Williamson, who hasn’t performed a single gig since the Stooges dissolved in 1974. “I was about to take an early retirement from my job in Silicon Valley, so I figured ‘what the hell, let’s do it.’ ”
The only show on the books now is the All Tomorrow’s Parties festival on May 2 and 3rd of next year, but Williamson says many more are coming. He also hopes to write new material with Iggy. “The two of us have a long history of writing new tunes,” he says. “It’s probably a safe bet we will at some point.”
The big debate among Stooges fans and rock fans in general is which Stooges album had a bigger effect on punk rock, the sludgy Fun House or the crash and burn of Raw Power. Asheton played thumping, sludgy, and dirty guitar on The Stooges and Fun House, while Williamson’s style was closer to what the Ramones and Sex Pistols would later do, more driving and chaotic than Asheton’s tighter riffing.
The idea of new music with the Stooges is intriguing. Iggy’s recent solo stuff is quite eclectic, so it seems that he is due to rock out some more with his old bandmates.

Charlie Watts Leaving Stones?

An Australian website reported form “inner circles” of the Rolling Stones than Charlie Watts was leaving the band. The band almost immediately denied the rumors, so it’s hard to say where that stands. For a long time it has been said that Watts was the member of the band most reluctant to tour and seemed to be happy staying at home with his horses and playing in his jazz band.
The source told the Australian site Undercover, “Charlie Watts has quit the band. He will never record or tour with the band again”. The site went on to say “its little secret that Keith Richards had to coax Watts into participating in the band's 2005 album 'A Bigger Bang' and its subsequent global tour. ‘
The band was quick to deny it. The band’s spokesperson, Fran Curtis, tells Entertainment Weekly there is no truth to the rumors: “Contrary to a fabricated story that ran this morning,” she says, “Charlie Watts has not left The Rolling Stones.’’
Watts leaving the Stones would have a devastating effect on the band. His drumming, in tandem with Keith Richards’s guitar, is the bulwark of their sound. Nobody can bring those guys together like Watts, although rumored replacement Charlie Drayton is a great drummer in his own right, Charlie is irreplaceable. No doubt Richards and Mick Jagger would go on without him, but it would be a travesty.