(Los Angeles) The guitar used by American singer Kurt Cobain during his last concert was sold at auction for more than 1.5 million US dollars, the auction house Julien’s Auctions announced on Friday.
This left-handed Fender Mustang was the Nirvana frontman’s “favorite” guitar, with which he played on Nirvana’s last tour in 1993-1994, she said in a statement.
With its sky blue patina, the instrument up for auction in Nashville, Tennessee, is intact, unlike many guitars broken on stage by the grunge legend.
In May, a black Fender Stratocaster smashed by the singer fetched 595,000 at auction at New York’s Hard Rock Cafe.
After having marked a generation within Nirvana with hits like Smells Like Teen Spirit Or Come as You Areduring a career marked by his addiction to heroin and his complex relationship with Courtney Love, Kurt Cobain committed suicide in April 1994, at the age of 27.
On Thursday, Julien’s Auctions also sold another Eric Clapton guitar, for nearly US$1.3 million.
PHOTO VALERIE MACON, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
The Gibson SG that belonged to Eric Clapton (left) and Kurt Cobain’s Fender Mustang.
Nicknamed “The Fool,” this Gibson SG is strongly associated with the singer’s time with the band Cream, where he produced one of rock’s most distinctive sounds.
Its personalized decoration, in a psychedelic style, makes the instrument one of the most easily recognizable in rock and a symbol of the “Summer of Love”, the counterculture movement of 1967 which marked a generation.
Eric Clapton, whose riffs on songs like Layla Or Sunshine of Your Love earning him a reputation as one of the best guitarists in the world, had started using the instrument during Cream’s first US tour.