Guitar smashed by Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain sells for almost 10 times estimate

A guitar smashed on stage by Nirvana front man Kurt Cobain was sold for close to US$595,000 ($895,000) at a New York auction, a sum several times its estimate according to the auction house.

The Fender Stratocaster guitar had been put back together, but is no longer playable. Cobain destroyed the instrument while the band was working on their breakout 1991 album, Nevermind, which included hit song, ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’.

All three members of the grunge band had signed the guitar during a period where they were being launched into international stardom.
The auction was held at Hard Rock Café in New York City, with the auction house, Julien’s Auctions, estimating it would sell for US$60,000.
Instead, it sold for almost 10 times the estimate, in an event that Julien’s called totally ‘astounding’ in a statement.

“You can see here the break that took place as he slammed down the guitar, where the neck here kind of connects, as well as down here on the bottom where he slammed the guitar down,” said Kody Frederick, of Julien’s, in May.
“Kurt Cobain, when he was on stage, when he played, he was a machine. The man was angry, and you could feel that on stage. And you would feel that by the way he would treat his instruments.
“This broken element, in a strange way, from this broken musician, that really defined this rough-and-tumble era of music.”

Cobain penned many of Nirvana’s hits, including ‘Lithium’, ‘Come As You Are’, and their most famous track, ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ — which became an anthem for a new generation of teenagers feeling alienated in the early 90s and beyond.
Cobain lived with substance addiction, depression, and had a chaotic and public marriage with Courtney Love.
He took his own life in 1994 at the age of 27.

The auction took place over three-days, ending on Sunday.
It also included memorabilia related to the careers of Elvis Presley, Freddie Mercury, Janet Jackson, Eddie Van Halen and Bill Wyman.