Rock star Jon Bon Jovi says that he completely understands why former members of Nirvana are protesting the use of an image of Kurt Cobain in Guitar Hero 5, a popular video game.

Last week Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic stated that they were disappointed that an avatar of Cobain was being used in the game for playing songs from other acts.

Jon Bon Jovi said on BBC that he didn’t know if he would have wanted that either. He said that hearing another person’s voice coming from a cartoon version of me would sound a little forced.

Last weekend Guitar Hero 5 started number one on the UK game charts, beating The Beatles: Rock Band, their highly promoted rival.

The late front man for Nirvana appears in the game as an unlockable character which allows players to see Cobain’s image performing a variety of other musical tracks include “You Give Love A Bad Name” by Bon Jovi.

In a statement released jointly by Novoselic and Grohl last week they stated that hadn’t known that the image of Cobain would used that way.

They said they were very disappointed and dismayed the way that the image of Kurt was being used in Guitar Hero 5.

The duo also encouraged Activision, the game maker, to do the right ting by re-locking the character Kurt.

Activision stated the the singer’s estate had granted their permission for using Cobain’s image. They said that Courtney Love, Cobain’s widow, had provided them with a written agreement allowing the likeness of the singer to appear as a completely playable character in Guitar Hero 5.

On Twitter, Love stated that she hadn’t ever signed a contract on Guitar Hero 5 and threatened Activision with legal action. She wrote that it was a breach of contract by a bully and that it would be properly addressed and be retracted.

Jon Bon Jovi, who is currently promoting the 11th studio album of his band, The Circle, stated that he had been offered to appear in Guitar Hero as a playable character and had declined.

He said he had the paperwork and that they had wanted him to be in the game but he had passed. Bon Jovi added that no one had ever mentioned that he would be singing other artist’s songs. I am not sure I would have wanted that or reacted to it.

Richie Sambora, guitarist for Bon Jovi, revealed that to promote “The Circle,” their upcoming album, the band might go out on a world tour next year. He told Rolling Stone magazine that in 2010, probably in the spring, that they would get going and would go out for a long time and that it would be a big one.

The guitarist said he and Jon Bon Jovi had been planning to release a greatest hits collection first before they worked on a new album, but once they started just couldn’t stop making new music.

He said that they began having so much fun while they were making the record that they decided they would first do a studio album. He added that it sounded fresh and that they have reinvented themselves once again. He said that he and Jon had a great time making the album and were quite proud of it. Sambora said they were just getting to the mixing and that they had had quite a prolific songwriting period.

The band’s long awaited new album will be released in November.

Bon Jovi has told Rolling Stone that on their next album they will go back to rock and roll. Today we learned when the returning to their roots will happen when Bon Jovi announced that the release date for The Circle, their next album, will be November 10th.

The first single entitled “We Weren’t Born To Follow” made its radio debut yesterday and featured an anthemic chorus. You can hear it at the Island Def Jam website.

The Circle is a follow up to the band’s country infused and platinum selling album, Lost Highway. Richie Sambora, Bon Jovi’s guitarist, said to Rolling Stone that he thinks what happened was they made a record that was Nashville influenced and that had created a vacuum for a big rock record. He added that there was a continued evolution and that The Circle didn’t sound like any of their previous other records. Santana also said that everyone who they had played it for had really been turned on by it, and that they were very happy about how it had turned out.

The Circle finds Bon Jovi teaming up again with the producer John Shanks, whom they have worked with previously on Have A Nice Day (2005) and Lost Highway (2007). Sambora also said to Rolling Stone that Bon Jovi would tour to promote their new album at some point during Spring 2010 and promised that it would be a big one.

Jon Bon Jovi and Joan Baez would never be allowed to sing in Iran, but are showing their strong support for the protesters there.

In videos that can be found on YouTube, Bon Jovi and Baez perform songs, including some lines sang in Farsi, calling for peace.

In “Stand By Me, Bon Jovi sings with Andy Madadian, an Armenian-Iranian pop musician. Bon Jovi adds a line sung in Farsi proclaiming “one voice, you and me.”

Richie Sambora, Bon Jovi’s guitarist, supplies the licks in the video from June 24th. The video opens with the image of Bon Jovi with a sign in his hands written in Farsi that says “we are all one.”

Bon Jovi was thanked for his performance in comments posted on his website on Saturday, expressing hopes that Bon Jovi would some day be the first American singer to preform in Iran.

Joan Baez, American activist and folk singer, sang “We Shall Overcome,” singing parts of it in Farsi. The 68 year old singer, is seen sitting in her kitchen strumming on an acoustic guitar on the song that was the anthem and made famous by the Civil Rights Movement in the U.S.

Baez, in a message on her website to the people of Iran, proclaims that the world sees the power of nonviolence in you and thanks them for their courage and sacrifices.

Other musicians provide soundtracks for the slideshows and videos of the protests of the alleged fraud from the June 12 election which gave President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a landslide victory.

One set of photographs has late pop superstar Michael Jackson’s song “Beat It,” with the key lyrics in red overlaying images of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Ahmadinejad.

Rage Against The Machine, the politically minded rock band, provides the soundtrack for a video that splices political protest photographs with video of the pre-election debate where Ahmadinejad is holding the intelligence file of Mir Hossein Mousavi’s wife, who was a rival candidate.

Jon Bon Jovi, along with Richie Sambora of the rock band Bon Jovi, were inducted into the Song Writers Hall of Fame during a recent ceremony held in New York City.

Jon Bon Jovi noted that the honor was the closest thing to immortality that he and Sambora was ever going to see.

Bon Jovi and Sambora performed their hit song “Wanted Dead or Alive” at the gala which was a celebration of 40 years of Hall of Fame inductions.

Veteran rockers Crosby, Stills and Nash were inducted as well, and Sir Tom Jones was awarded with a hitmaker award.

Jones, who has just recently begun to collaborate on his material, noted that you had to have great songs in order to get your foot inside the door. He sang a medley of some of his hit songs at the ceremony. He had to start over on “It’s Not Unusual,” after starting in the wrong place in the song.

Jason Mraz, the US singer-songwriter, won an award as the most promising talent and was tapped as a possible future inductee into the Song Writer’s Hall of Fame.

Rob Thomas, a former winner who presented Mraz with his award, joked that he hated him, chiding Mraz and saying he had ruined the curve for everyone. You are young and cute and just too talented. You should stop.

Roger Greenaway and Roger Cook, the British songwriting pair, whose well known songs include “Here Comes That Rainy Day Feeling Again” and “I’d Like To Teach The World To Sing,” were also given a special award.