It's turning into a hard-rocking battle of the bands, with Courtney Love, Jon Bon Jovi and former Nirvana members Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl gunning for Guitar Hero 5 publisher Activision over an in-game representation of Kurt Cobain that many fans are calling disrespectful.

Cobain led the Seattle-based group Nirvana to selling over fifty million albums worldwide, and he is largely credited with creating the grunge movement of rock that enveloped the 90s music scene. He died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in 1994 after years of battling drug addiction and the pressures of his newfound fame.

The look on Kurt's face says it all.Click to see more images from the game...

So what in the world is he doing singing like Flavor Flav?

The lead singer is included in Guitar Hero 5, the popular music-focused game that has grown in popularity over the past few years. Activision scored a coup of epic proportions by having Cobain's widow Love and former Nirvana members Novoselic and Grohl agree to having Cobain appear in the game.

The only problem? Whereas Love, Grohl and Novoselic thought Cobain's likeness would be used only with Nirvana songs in the game, Activision made him an "unlockable" character that can play any of the games 80+ songs, only three of which are by Nirvana.

This has led to videos like the one embedded below, where Cobain takes to hip-hop with Flavor Flav's voice intoning "Yeahhh, boyyyeee."

Love is looking for the publisher to "relock" Cobain's character, and has said she plans to go to court to make sure this happens. Novoselic and Grohl, now members of the band Foo Fighters, have expressed their disappointment over Cobain's depiction.

Now, rock star Jon Bon Jovi has weighed in on the controversy, siding with the musicians and continuing an avalanche of criticism leveled at Guitar Hero 5.

"I don't know that I would have wanted it either," Jon Bon Jovi told the BBC.

"To hear someone else's voice coming out of a cartoon version of me? I don't know. It sounds a little forced."

Bon Jovi went on to say he declined appearing in the game, and now seems relieved he did so.

"I had the paperwork, they wanted me to be on that game and I just passed," he said.

"But no-one even broached the subject with me that I would be singing other people's stuff. I don't know how I would have reacted to that. I don't know that I would have wanted it either."

This comes off the heels of a very impressive debut for The Beatles: Rock Band, this year's direct competitor to Guitar Hero 5. Sales of the Harmonix-developed Rock Band are far exceeding expectations and critics call the game a very moving, honorable tribute to The Fab Four.

The Beatles: Rock Band was done with full cooperation and input from Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono, Dhani and Olivia Harrison, and is quickly becoming the gold standard for the way music games are handled moving forward. On the other hand, Cobain's controversy is quickly chipping away at Guitar Hero's credibility, and could play a large hand in game development over the coming year.

We will keep you posted with any updates as they come out, including any movement on Guitar Hero maker Activision's part in "relocking" Cobain's character, per Courtney Love's request.