The Daily Swarm

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November 03, 2009

On Remastering and Reissuing Nirvana: Give It to Us Straight...

Newsweek | Read Full Story >

When a catalog is so noteworthy, and yet so pitiably small as Nirvana’s—three studio records, an outtakes collection, an inconsistent box set of demos, and multiple live shows that duplicate most of these songs again and again—a passionate base of support turns into something like a church. And like any religious order, true believers protect canonical gospels from the Gnostic. In 2009 the Church of Kurt Cobain objected most strongly to the revelation that an “avatar” of the Nirvana lead singer would appear in the next version of the Guitar Hero videogame—which allows players to simulate performing their favorite hits in the guise of various, well, rock heroes. And not just an avatar, but an “unlocked” one, which could be used to play—perish the thought!—non-Nirvana material. “You can even make Kurt Cobain sing a motherf—king Bush song. He does it all while dancing like he’s at a Phish show, accompanied by a mohawked skeleton drummer and an angel-winged, top-hatted bassist. It’s nuts,” the tastemaking Web site Pitchfork moaned, adding: “On the plus side, it’s not like Kurt Cobain can kill himself a second time.”