Guitar Smashed By Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain Sells For Nearly Rs 5 Crore At Auction

The guitar was signed by Mr. Cobain and fellow band members Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl

A guitar smashed by US rock band Nirvana’s late frontman Kurt Cobain, in the early 1990s, was sold at an auction for nearly $600,000 (Rs 4,96,73,100) this weekend, BBC reported. The busted black Fender Stratocaster was sold at the auction at the Hard Rock Cafe in New York on Saturday and acquired for $596,900 (Rs 4,94,16,455) by a buyer, whose identity is not known.

Mr. Cobain, who took his own life in 1994, destroyed the guitar as Nirvana was working on their break-out album Nevermind in the early 1990s. Though the busted instrument has been put back together, it is no longer playable, Kody Frederick of Julien’s Auctions told AFP earlier this month. 

The guitar was signed by Mr. Cobain and fellow band members Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl, People reported. There was also an additional inscription to Mark Lanegan of the Screaming Trees by Cobain, who purposely misspelled his name.

It reads, ”Hell-o Mark! Love, Your Pal, Kurdt Kobain / Washed up rockstar.”

Sold for $595,900. A lefty black Fender Stratocaster electric guitar, smashed by Kurt Cobain during Nirvana’s Nevermind era and signed to the body by all three band members.

Julien’s Auctions “Music Icons” at the Hard Rock Cafe in New York City and on https://t.co/tzS6JKuf2p. pic.twitter.com/AXRuScNlcx

— Julien’s Auctions (@JuliensAuctions) May 20, 2023

”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. 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, really defined this rough and tumble era of music,” Mr Frederick said.

Two years ago, the acoustic guitar Mr Cobain used for his legendary MTV Unplugged performance in late 1993 sold for $6 million.

Mr Cobain struggled with substance addiction and depression and had a tumultuous relationship with his wife, Courtney Love. He took his own life in April 1994 at the age of 27.