The guitar that ended the reign of ‘80s glam-metal sold for big bucks Sunday. And raised funds for an important cause.
The blue 1969 Fender Mustang that Nirvana singer/guitarist Kurt Cobain played in that grunge-band’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” music-video went for $4,550,000, during an auction in New York, according to Julien’s Auctions.
In addition to the ’90s-defining “Teen Spirit” clip, Cobain played the guitar during recording sessions for Nirvana’s 1991 “Nevermind” and 1993 “In Utero” albums. However he rarely used the Mustang for concerts, which often culminated in Nirvana smashing their guitars and drums onstage. The ’69 Fender was one of Cobain’s favorites. And he wanted to take care of it.
Most recently, Cobain’s Mustang was owned by Jim Irsay, owner of the National Football League team Indianapolis Colts. Irsay auctioned the guitar off to help raised money for the Colts’ mental-health awareness initiative, “Kicking the Stigma.” Prior to Sunday’s auction, “Kicking the Stigma” had donated more than $16 million to local and national metal-health-oriented organizations, according to an Indianapolis Star report.
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“This guitar is big, and it relates so much to stigma,” Irsay told the Indy Star. “When you have a mental illness, people die. These are fatal diseases - bipolar, schizophrenia, post-partem depression, alcoholic addictions. With fatal diseases, people die and they don’t choose to die. Those of us who are alive, we’re not stronger or better. We didn’t get our act together more. We didn’t have more character. That’s where it’s so false.” Cobain died by suicide in 1994. He was 27 years old.
Rolling Stone reports the winning bid for Cobain’s former guitar Sunday was from Jim Irsay Foundation, which means Irsay will retain ownership of the instrument. This move “had the full support of the Cobain estate,” according to Rolling Stone. And it also raised more than $4.5 million for mental health. The cause is personal to Irsay, who struggled with substance abuse in the past.
According to Julien’s Auctions, 27 bids were placed for the Cobain Fender Mustang, over the course of May 20 through 22. The auction took place at the Times Square Hard Rock Café. Prior to the auction, the value was listed online as around $700,000. Irsay had previously told the Indy Star he intended to open bidding with a $2 million bid.
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