A guitar played and smashed by Kurt Cobain in 1991 sold for $157,772.71 at Hake's Wednesday night, marking the first time it sold publicly.
The guitar dates back to an early Nirvana show in January 1991 — a musician named Chris Brady had listened to a cassette of the band’s first album, “Bleach,” which had made waves in the local underground scene, and he became a fan fast. Brady heard Nirvana was playing a show in Olympia, Washington, and drove up to see the band play in a $4 anti-Gulf War benefit concert.
In a video released by Hake’s, Brady recalls the band playing a set, being interrupted when someone pulled the fire alarm and then returning to finish the show.
“Near the end, he started destroying this guitar with a hammer ...” Brady said. “It turned into this big mosh pit. The guitar is out there, there’s probably eight people trying to grab it, and I kind of wrestled it away from everybody and finally got it, threw it under my coat.”
Brady didn’t think much of the memento as he left the show that evening, which included the live debut of the song “Endless Nameless,” which would later appear on “Nevermind.” Soon after, he presented it to his friend, Janel Jarosz, for her birthday.
“Wow, Chris, a broken guitar … that’s so weird,” Jarosz said upon first seeing the gift, not realizing it had been Cobain’s.
Six months later, “Nevermind” came out and the band's popularity exploded, becoming one of the best-selling bands of all-time with 75 million records sold worldwide.
Cobain guitars are among the most valuable and desirable instruments for music collectors. The two most expensive guitars ever sold publicly were played by the Nirvana frontman: His MTV Unplugged guitar ($6.01 million in June 2021) and “Smells Like Teen Spirit” guitar ($4.55 million in May 2022).
Smashed guitars from Cobain, who was famous for destroying his guitars on stage, have fetched massive sums in the past, with a smashed black Fender Stratocaster selling for nearly $600,000 in 2023.
Will Stern is a reporter and editor for cllct.