Kurt Cobain’s smashed guitar to be auctioned in New York City
A guitar smashed on stage by rock idol Kurt Cobain, frontman of the band Nirvana, will be auctioned at the end of May in the United States, Kody Frederick of auction house Julien’s Auctions told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The reassembled Fender Stratocaster guitar, which was signed by the three musicians of the Seattle band when they were on the rise, is no longer playable, recounted Frederick, who expects the musical artifact to fetch $80,000.
“You can see the breakage that occurred when he hit the guitar (…) Kurt Cobain, when he was on stage, when he played, he was a machine. You could feel his anger on stage. And you could feel it in the way he treated his instruments,” he told AFP.
The instrument is somehow “damaged” thanks to a “damaged musician”, which defines that “era of rough and tumble music” that Nirvana transmitted, which conquered the hearts of young people in the late 1980s.
Kurt Cobain’s smashed guitar and handwritten songs to be auctioned in New York City
Nirvana’s hits, several written by Cobain, included “Come As You Are,” “Lithium” and “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” the latter of which became an anthem for many teenagers.
Nearly 30 years after the death of Cobain, who struggled with substance addiction and depression, he left a mark on rock and on the minds of generations of teenagers and young adults that is still visible today.
The auction will take place in New York next May 19-21, it also includes a list of songs handwritten by Cobain for a concert in Seattle in April 1991, which price is expected to be 6 thousand dollars, also includes pieces related to Eddie Van Halen, Elvis Presley and Freddie Mercury.