1969 Fender Mustang electric guitar photographed at Hard Rock Cafe on April 28, 2022 in London, England. The guitar will go up for auction in New York from May 20.
One of Kurt Cobain‘s most beloved guitars, seen in Nirvana‘s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” video, sold for $4.5 million at auction Sunday in New York, Julien’s Auctions announced.
The guitar — a 1969 Fender Competition Mustang in a color known as Lake Placid Blue that was owned by the Cobain family — was previously displayed as part of Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay’s extensive collection of rock memorabilia prior to the auction, theAssociated Press previously reported. On Sunday, it was the Jim Irsay Collection that ultimately made the winning bid at the auction to officially take ownership of the guitar.
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“I am thrilled to preserve and protect another piece of American culture that changed the way we looked at world, ” Irsay said in a statement. “The fact that a portion of the proceeds will go toward our effort to kick the stigma surrounding mental health makes this acquisition even more special to me.”
Cobain famously used the guitar in the video for the band’s breakthrough single, “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” The guitar is said to be among the musician’s favorite in his expansive collection — so much so that Cobain rarely used the guitar outside of a studio setting. (Footage from a September 1991 in-store performance in Seattle show Cobain playing the guitar for several songs, and numerous fan sites have documented the guitar’s use at a handful of gigs between the fall of 1991 and early 1993.)
The so-called “competition stripe” variants, which were available for both Mustang guitars and basses, are a much-coveted instrument among short-scale enthusiasts; original 1960s and 1970s models regularly sell for thousands of dollars.
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Cobain was well-known for his devotion to Fender’s line of offset guitars — most notably the brand’s Mustang models, which the “Come As You Are” singer used regularly throughout Nirvana’s run. In the year leading up to the release of
, Cobain destroyed several Mustangs — which the band had pieced together and assembled on the cheap — on-stage during several live shows. (“We bought some necks, and took pieces of wood and cut out the bodies and put necks on — and they were completely out of tune. But we did a pretty good job, ” Cobain recalled in a 1993 interview. “Those were all destroyed in one tour.”) He also exclusively played a series of four Fender Mustangs during the band’s
“Out of all the guitars in the whole world, the Fender Mustang is my favorite, ” Cobain said in a 1991 interview withGuitar World. “They’re cheap and totally inefficient, and they sound like crap and are very small.”
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In addition to the Fender Mustang, Cobain was frequently drawn to another Fender offset: the Jaguar. His love of both the Jaguar and the Mustang eventually led Cobain to collaborate with the Fender Custom Shop on the creation of the hybrid Jag-Stang in 1993 — a model that remains in production to this day.
Reported that Irsay intended to place an opening bid of $2 million on the guitar; he ended up spending $5 million to purchase the guitar, for a good cause.
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Kurt Cobain Signed 1973 Fender Mustang
Grunge became gold Saturday as the guitar Kurt Cobain played on Nirvana’s 1993 “MTV Unplugged” performance months before his death sold for an eye-popping $6 million at auction.
The 1959 Martin D-18E that Cobain played in the band’s rare acoustic performance and subsequent live album was sold to Australian Peter Freedman, owner of Røde Microphones, at the Music Icons event run by Julien’s Auctions in Beverly Hills, California.
Cobain used it to play tunes including “About a Girl” and “All Apologies” at the Nov. 18, 1993 show in New York that came less than five months before the singer and songwriter died at age 27.
Kurt Cobain's 'mtv Unplugged' Guitar Sells For $6 Mln At Auction
A day earlier at the same auction event, a custom guitar played by Prince at the height of his stardom in the 1980s and 1990s sold for $563, 500, a small sum compared with the Cobain guitar but well over the $100, 000 to $200, 000 it was expected to fetch.
Prince played the blindingly blue guitar with the artist’s “love” symbol on its neck beginning on the 1984 Purple Rain Tour, as well as on the classic albums “Lovesexy” and “Sign O’ The Times.” He used it into the early 1990s.
Archivists going through Prince’s possessions at his Paisley Park home and musical headquarters in Minnesota recently found the guitar that was thought to be lost during the four years since his death from an overdose at age 57.
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Also Friday, a macrame belt that Elvis Presley wore about 30 times on stage brought in nearly 10 times its expected price, with a final bid of $298, 000, and an ivory gown worn by Madonna in her 1990 “Vogue” video sold for $179, 200.Kurt Cobain's 1969 Fender Mustang Competition Lake Placid Blue Finish electric guitar, which he used in the video for Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit, on display at the Hard Rock Cafe in London on April 27. Ian West - PA Images / PA Images via Getty Images
Kurt Cobain’s mythical 1969 Fender Mustang electric guitar from Nirvana’s landmark 1991 music video, “Smells Like Teen Spirit” was auctioned for nearly $5 million at Julien’s Auctions on Sunday.
It was sold to the Jim Irsay Collection of Indianapolis in a bidding war among collectors from all over the world who participated in the online and over-the-phone auction. The guitar sold for approximately $4.5 million, far surpassing its original estimate of $600, 000.
Kurt Cobain's 'unplugged' Guitar Sells For Record $6 Million
Cobain considered this 1969 Fender Mustang, left-handed guitar in “competition lake placid blue” finish with matching headstock one of his favorite go-to guitars and said in his final interview with Guitar World: “I’m left-handed, and it’s not very easy to find reasonably priced, high-quality left-handed guitars. But out of all the guitars in the whole world, the Fender Mustang is my favorite. I’ve only owned two of them.”
The guitar was also used in the recording studio during both the “Nevermind” and “In Utero” recording sessions, as well as numerous prominent live performances. It was proudly displayed at Seattle’s Experience Music Project, now named MoPOP Museum of Pop Culture, and photographed and selected for the prestigious “Guitar Collection.”
In support of Mental Health Awareness Month, the Cobain family is donating a portion of the proceeds from the guitar sale and other select Cobain items to Kicking The Stigma — the Irsays’ initiative to raise awareness about mental health disorders and remove the stigma associated with these illnesses.
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“To have this legendary guitar, one of the most culturally significant and historically important guitars of Kurt Cobain and in all of rock music history return to my home state of Indiana to be part of Jim Irsay’s renowned memorabilia collection is a great honor and personal highlight of my life, ” said Darren Julien, president and chief executive officer of Julien’s Auctions. “This once-in-a-lifetime auction has been one of the greatest privileges in my professional career and I’m duly pleased that the proceeds will also bring much needed attention to mental health awareness.”
When Nirvana broke out with their hit single “Smells Like Teen Spirit” in 1991, the band had no idea what kind of seismic shift they had unleashed onto the music universe. It would go on to become a cultural marker in history by heralding the alternative grunge era of the ‘90s and becoming one of the most iconic songs and music videos of all time.
The Generation X anthem off their sophomore album “Nevermind” — which recently celebrated its 30th-anniversary milestone — turned the underground Seattle-based trio of Cobain, Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl into overnight sensations. The song delivered a call to arms for teenage rebellion and angst punctuated by the intensity of Cobain’s unforgettable performance style in the song’s accompanying music video.
Kurt Cobain's “mtv Unplugged
The video, depicting a high school pep rally that turns into a mosh pit frenzy, quietly debuted on Sept. 29, 1991 on MTV’s “120 Minutes, ” and quickly went on to reach unthinkable masses as “Nevermind” went gold only five weeks after its release.
Other Cobain items that sold included (with estimates) Cobain’s 1965 “Baby Blue” Dodge Dart 170 4-door sedan — which came from Kurt’s sister, Kim Cobain, who has owned the car for the last 28 years. The Dodge is the only known surviving car that was owned and driven by Kurt Cobain and it sold for approximately $375, 000.
Cobain’s personally drawn 1985 Iron Maiden “Killers” skateboard deck artwork featuring the Iron Maiden mascot “Eddie” also sold with an added NFT for $35, 200 and Cobain’s original artwork of Michael Jackson plus NFT accompanying the physical item sold for $87, 500.
Kurt Cobain's 'unplugged' Guitar Sells For $6 Million At Auction
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