Fender Stratocaster Electric Guitar Former Owned by Kurt Cobain and Played on the Nirvana In Utero Tour, 1993-1994

This black, left-handed model Fender Stratocaster electric guitar was played by Kurt Cobain (1967 – 1994) during Nirvana’s worldwide In Utero tour (1993 to early 1994). This is one of several black, MIM (Made in Mexico) Strats made for the In Utero tour, with some receiving a black Duncan Hot Rails pickup in the bridge. While not all of them were played on the tour, this guitar shows signs of being well-used from its appearance. 

With the release of their sophomore album, 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 number one 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.