Kurt Cobain's Guitar Used On MTV Unplugged Sells For Rp. 8 Billion

JAKARTA - Kurt Cobain's legendary guitar used in the MTV Unplugged program broke the record for being the most expensive guitar ever sold at auction. The acoustic guitar sold for 6.01 million US dollars, equivalent to Rp85.5 billion.

The winner of the auction, out of a total of seven bids - went to Peter Freedman, an Australian businessman and founder of Røde Microphones.

The 1959 Martin D-18E acoustic guitar Cobain used in 1993 was originally expected to sell for between $ 1 and 2 million as part of the 'Music Icons' sale at Julien's Auctions on June 19 and 20. However, the bid had reached 1 million US dollars before the official auction opened.

Freedman said he was scared to death and trembled when the auction ended. He also said that he would use the guitar to support the artists, and had no intention of keeping the guitar forever.

"I'm paying for it but I'm going to use it to highlight the state of artists around the world by going around and then I'm going to sell it and use the funds for that too, later," he told NME.

The previous record for the most expensive guitar ever sold was David Gilmour's black Stratocaster of Pink Floyd. The guitar sold at auction for $ 3.95 million in 2019.

When the auction was first announced in May, auction house CEO Darren Julien said, “This landmark guitar has earned its rightful place in rock & roll history as an instrument played by one of the most influential rock musicians and icons at one of the greatest live shows and most influential of all time. "

Along with the guitar is the hard shell on which Cobain has attached three baggage claim papers, a flyer from the band Poison Idea, and a sticker from Alaska Airlines.

Other hotly contested legacies of Nirvana include the Fender Stratocaster Cobain crushed on the In Utero tour in 1994. The t-shirt he wore in the Heart-Shaped Box music video and MTV Unplugged's performance setlist were also hot spots.

Last year, the green cardigan Cobain wore during the same performance also broke records when it sold for $ 334,000.

Nirvana's performance for MTV Unplugged was recorded in November 1993, five months before Cobain died, at the age of 27.