Julien’s Auctions, the world-record breaking auction house to the stars, has announced that the Fender Mustang electric guitar played by Kurt Cobain in Nirvana’s iconic “Smells Like Teen Spirit” music video will be publicly sold for the first time at auction as part of their Music Icons three-day auction event taking place on Friday, May 20, Saturday, May 21, and Sunday, May 22 live at Hard Rock Cafe® New York and online at juliensauctions.com.
In honor of the upcoming Mental Health Awareness Month in May, a portion of the proceeds from the auction of this legendary guitar and select Kurt Cobain items will benefit “Kicking The Stigma,” the Indianapolis Colts and the Jim Irsay family’s national initiative to raise awareness about mental health disorders and to remove the stigma too often associated with these illnesses.
In its now classic opening power riff, Nirvana’s breakout hit single “Smells Like Teen Spirit” created a seismic shift in the music universe 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 that celebrated its 30th anniversary milestone this past fall, turned the underground Seattle based trio, Kurt Cobain, Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl, overnight into the biggest band in the world, bursting on the music scene and pop culture zeitgeist with an explosion of energy unlike anything felt or seen before in rock history. The song delivered a call to arms for teenage rebellion that was punctuated by the intensity of Cobain’s unforgettable performance in the legendary video and its powerful imagery of anarchy and alienation that would later define the grunge revolution. The video depicting a high school pep rally that turns into a mosh pit frenzy was quietly released Sept. 29th, 1991 on MTV’s “120 Minutes,” and stratospherically propelled the band into superstardom with Nevermind turning gold only five weeks after its release.
Julien’s Auctions is proud to present the electric guitar that changed music and the world–one of the most important and iconic guitars owned and played by Kurt Cobain that will ever be sold at auction. The conservative starting estimate of Cobain’s 1969, Fender Mustang, left-handed guitar in Competition Lake Placid blue finish with matching headstock is $600,000 - $800,000 (photo above).
In Cobain’s final interview with Guitar World, he spoke about his go to guitar: “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 has prominently been on display at Seattle’s Experience Music Project, now named MoPOP Museum of Pop Culture, for the past 12 years and was also photographed and selected for the prestigious, The Guitar Collection, the high-end, limited collector’s edition photography hardcover book featuring 150 of the most elite guitars of all time including guitars played and used by legends John Lennon, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, Emmylou Harris, and more.
Further details on the auction can be found here.
