The guitar that Kurt Cobain is seen playing in the music video for Nirvana’s hit song “Smells Like Teen Spirit” has sold at auction for $4.5 million. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to mental health awareness campaigns. The buyer of the guitar is no stranger: Jim Irsay owns the Indianapolis Colts football team. His fortune was estimated at around $1.75 billion in 2015.
The sports official said about the purchase of the guitar:
“I am thrilled to receive another piece of American culture that has changed the way the world sees the country. The fact that some of the money will go towards breaking the stigma surrounding mental health makes this purchase even more special to me.”
“Smells Like Teen Spirit” was the first single from Nirvana’s legendary album NEVERMIND, which was released on September 24, 1991. In the video, which premiered on MTV at the time, Nirvana perform their song in a slightly dystopian high school setting in front of increasingly euphoric and disinhibited teenagers.
The guitar isn’t Kurt Cobain’s first item to have been auctioned off by his family. A car, an acoustic guitar, a cardigan and a self-portrait of the artist have already been sold. None of the other auction items brought in as much money as the guitar from “Smells Like Teen Spirit”. Originally, the campaign house expected proceeds of around 600,000 US dollars. The price now achieved exceeded this sum many times over.
Conflict-laden video shoot: Kurt Cobain was visibly annoyed
Incidentally, shooting the music video for “Smells Like Teen Spirit” was anything but relaxed and conflict-free. The band used a flyer to find extras for the shoot:
“Nirvana needs you to appear in their upcoming music video, ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’. You should be between 18 and 25 years old and adopt a high school persona, for example preppy, punk, nerd, jock… No branded clothes please! You must be at GMT Studios, Stage 6 by 8:30 am on Saturday 17th August. Be prepared to stay for several hours. Support Nirvana and have a great time!”
However, not all of the Nirvana fans who came to shoot took the hint that shooting might take longer seriously. When they were still on set after 12 hours, their frustration grew. And Kurt Cobain was obviously annoyed too. He allegedly encouraged the extras to really vent their aggression during the performance, resulting in the footage the video is famous for today. Still, Cobain wasn’t initially happy with the music video and dropped several scenes, including one in which a school principal sits anguished next to a speaker and confetti is thrown at him. circulating on the internet Director’s Cut of the video with additional scenes.