teen spirit Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain's €9.5m guitar to go on display in Co Kildare

ONE of the late Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain’s guitars, which has a price tag in excess of $10 million (€9.5m), is set to go on display in Ireland.

Cobain, who died tragically by suicide in 1994, founded the band whose music has been described as the soundtrack to ‘Generation X.’

Now Nirvana fans will get the chance to view one his most famous guitars when it goes on show at the Museum of Style Icons at Newbridge Silverware, Co. Kildare from next Thursday to Friday.

In what is a world exclusive event, Newbridge Silverware will proudly display the legendary Cobain’s 1969 Fender Mustang.

The left-handed guitar was used by Cobain in the band’s seminal and cultural defining 1991 music video, Smells Like Teen Spirit.

Cobain and the music of Nirvana are regarded as being the fire-starter to the alternative rock revolution, and generations later is still igniting the alternative rock world.

Cobain’s painting of Michael Jackson and his own Nevermind Australian Tour 1992 laminated personal backstage pass will also be on display.

Speaking ahead of the exhibition, Martin Nolan of Julien’s Auctions, who are set to handle the sale of the guitar later this month, said: “Kurt Cobain was a hugely influential figure not just in music, but in popular culture too. Kurt Cobain’s acoustic guitar sold for a record breaking US$ 6 million in 2020 and that guitar currently holds the record for the most expensive guitar ever sold.

“This electric Fender Mustang guitar from Smells Like Teen Spirit was Kurt’s favourite guitar and is much more iconic and an extremely important piece. It was also used in the Smells Like Teen Spirit music video and also while recording the albums Nevermind and In Utero.

“This guitar has been on display at the MoPop Museum in Seattle since 2010. In my opinion this guitar could beat the current world record for a guitar sold at auction and could sell for in excess of US $10 million.”

The guitar and other Kurt Cobain and Nirvana items will go for auction by Julien’s Auctions in a celebrity studded auction at the Hard Rock Café in New York from May 20-22