Digital technology has allowed the dead to rise from their troubled graves, the most recent and truly creepy event being when Guitar Hero 5 launched with Kurt Cobain as a playable character. Kurt warbling through a Nirvana tracklist wasn’t the issue, really, but more that he could be set to sing tunes from other bands. Some songs just aren’t improved by a virtual undead mannequin.
This also created a certain amount of legal trouble, as in a totally unexpected surprise, artists care about what their digital images do, say, and sing. Their widowed wives do, too. Courtney Love complained then about the practice of turning her extremely lucrative husband into a juke box, and now it’s Band Hero’s turn to face the ire of its own performers.
The kind of punkish band No Doubt is suing Activision, the parent company of the Band Hero game, over their likenesses in Band Hero. The core of the suit is the group allowed the game company to use their virtual selves in three songs – yet the Band Hero game has them singing just about every song in the game.
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