Dave Grohl
NO LOVE IN NIRVANA CAMP
Surviving Nirvana members Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl have sued Love, Kurt Cobain’s widow, to have her thrown off the board controlling the band’s musical legacy, Reuters reports.
In their countersuit to her litigation against them, the duo accused Love of trying to manipulate the band’s catalog for personal gain, dubbing her—among other things—"self-centered," "irrational" and unable to manage her obligations to their three-way stewardship of the famed rock trio’s material.
Indeed, Grohl and Novoselic characterize Love’s suit against them as "really about securing money to support Love’s prima donna lifestyle." In an interview with the L.A. Times, Grohl ventured that her actions in the case cast doubt on her highly touted crusade against the music industry.
"We'd have a lot easier time accepting this Joan of Arc music industry crusade if it wasn't coming from somebody trying so hard to hold the two of us down," Grohl told the Times, likening Love's dealings with the Nirvana survivors to "a cheap hustle."
Bit the Times also printed a statement from Love's attorney, Yale Lewis, who declared, "In this country, copyrights go to the heir. When this is over, Courtney will own it all. And when she dies, it will all be passed on to Kurt's daughter."
Love sued last June to block the release of a Nirvana box set that would have coincided with the 10th anniversary of the band's era-defining Nevermind album. Among the contested territory in the legal wrangling between Love and her late husband’s bandmates is the song "You Know You’re Right." Nirvana recorded the track in 1994—just prior to Cobain’s suicide—and it was originally included in the compilation.
Grohl and Novoselic suggest Love’s past live performances of the song indicate that she may wish to suppress the Nirvana version in order to score a hit with it for herself—or perhaps gain leverage in her negotiations with Universal Music Group/Geffen. The two musicians tore into the controversial rocker-actress in an open letter to fans. "In truth," the missive says of Love, "her actions are only about the revitalization of her career motivated solely by her blind self-interest."
For the record, here’s an unbroken string of adjectives used to portray Love: "irrational, mercurial, self-centered, unmanageable, inconsistent and unpredictable."
Whoa—save a little something for the Mad Libs, boys.
