Fender Stratocaster Electric Guitar Played by Kurt Cobain at the Reading Festival, UK, August 30, 1992 and Smashed at the End of Nirvana's Set at the Morocco Shrine Temple, Jacksonville, Florida, November 26, 1993

This left-handed guitar was built for Kurt Cobain (1967-1994) by his technician, Earnie Bailey, and played at the Reading Festival in the United Kingdom on August 30, 1992. Cobain later smashed the guitar at the end of Nirvana's set at the Morocco Shrine Auditorium in Jacksonville, Florida on November 26, 1993. Despite having a Fender Stratocaster decal on the neck, it was made from parts from various guitar manufacturers. 

At the Morocco Shrine Temple show, Cobain invited fan, Jim Garrett onto stage for the song “Blew.” After the song, together they smashed the guitar, leaving it bisected down the middle. At the end of the show, Nirvana band members Kurt Cobain, Dave Grohl (b. 1969), Pat Smear (b. 1959), and Krist Novoselić (b. 1965) all signed the guitar. The band’s signatures are unique and mark one of the few times Kurt Cobain signed in such an unusual manner. The signatures read: “½ Naked Krist, Hi I’m Kurdt Kobain, Dave and Pam Stear waz here.” 

With the release of Nevermind on September 24, 1991, and the constant MTV rotation of the single, “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” Nirvana became the face of the once underground genre of Grunge and suddenly made Seattle and the Pacific Northwest the epicenter of popular music culture in the early 1990s. 

By the end of 1991, Nevermind was selling over 400,000 copies per week and by January 1992, the album was #1 on the Billboard 200 Top Albums chart. Nirvana’s success paved the way for bands like Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, Screaming Trees, and others who soon followed. By all accounts, 1992 was the year of Grunge, and that year Nirvana undertook two tours; Cobain married Courtney Love (b. 1964) of the band Hole; Cobain’s and Love’s daughter, Frances Bean, was born; and the band headlined the Reading Festival.  Despite difficulties with drug use, Cobain continued to perform throughout 1993 and the beginning of 1994, when Nirvana had to cut their European tour short due to his overdose in Rome, Italy. On April 8, 1994, Kurt Cobain was found in his Seattle home, dead by suicide. He was 27 years old.  

Despite his tragic death which lead to Nirvana disbanding, Nirvana and the Grunge genre have made an indelible mark on popular music that resonates to this day.