Month: May 2022

Kurt Cobain’s legendary 1969 Fender Mustang electric guitar from Nirvana’s landmark 1991 music video, “Smells Like Teen Spirit” was auctioned for nearly $5 million at Julien’s Auctions. The guitar was sold to the Jim Irsay Collection of Indianapolis in a bidding war among collectors from all over the world who participated in the online and over-the-phone auction. The guitar sold for approximately $4.5 million, far surpassing its original estimate of $600,000.

The guitar was also used in the recording studio during both the “Nevermind” and “In Utero” recording sessions, as well as numerous prominent live performances. Cobain considered the left-handed guitar one of his favorite ‘go-to’ guitars. Cobain said in a final interview: “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.”

In support of Mental Health Awareness Month, the Cobain family is donating a portion of the proceeds from the guitar sale and other select Cobain items to Kicking The Stigma, the Irsays’ initiative to raise awareness about mental health disorders and remove the stigma associated with these illnesses. Other Cobain items that sold at auction included Cobain’s 1965 “Baby Blue” Dodge Dart 170 4-door sedan, which came from Kurt’s sister, Kim Cobain, who has owned the car for the last 28 years. The Dodge is the only known surviving car that was owned and driven by Kurt Cobain and it sold for approximately $375,000. Cobain’s personally drawn 1985 Iron Maiden “Killers” skateboard deck artwork, featuring the Iron Maiden mascot “Eddie.” also sold with an added NFT for $35,200. And Cobain’s original artwork of Michael Jackson plus NFT accompanying the physical item sold for $87,500.

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Johnny Depp marked the end of his highly publicized seven-week defamation trial against ex-wife Amber Heard with a surprise appearance at a Jeff Beck concert at Sheffield City Hall in England on Sunday. The venue tweeted Monday: “Well … what a surprise we got last night when Johnny Depp joined ⁦@jeffbeckmusic⁩ on stage. Wishing @jeffbeckmusic⁩ good luck for the rest of his amazing tour and a big thank you to Johnny Depp for joining us!”

Numerous outlets and social media posts report that Depp and Beck performed together on a few covers, including Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Goin’ On” and John Lennon’s “Isolation.” Before becoming an actor, Depp had wanted to be a musician, and even testified at his recent trial about his early musical aspirations on the stand. Depp, along with musicians Alice Cooper and Joe Perry, formed the supergroup Hollywood Vampires in 2012

Depp and Heard have been in district court in Fairfax, Virginia since April 11. Depp is suing Heard for $50 million in damages over an op-ed she wrote that was published in The Washington Post in 2018, while she is countersuing him for $100 million.  The case went to the jury who began deliberation on Friday.

Watch videos of Depp performing with Beck on YouTube: – here.

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