Nirvana exhibition coming to Seattle

October 20th, 2010

Ever since Kurt Cobain killed himself in 1994, we’ve been given an all-access look into his life. The guy was pretty private, but that didn’t stop the people around him from divulging every little detail of his 27 years. Now there is an official exhibition opening up in Seattle that will dig even deeper into both his personal and professional life.

Nirvana: Taking Punk To The Masses will take place at the Experience Music Project and feature “the world’s most extensive exhibition of memorabilia celebrating the music and history of Seattle grunge luminaries.”

The exhibition is Nirvana-approved, according to the band’s bassist Krist Novoselic, who gave a statement that reads: “Kurt was a visionary artist who touched people all over the world. It’s great that there will soon be a collection that celebrates that contribution to music and culture. There’s a story with Nirvana at its center, but it’s a story that also includes the many people, bands and institutions that make up a music community. The show is a celebration of Northwest music.”

Says the press release, “More than two years in the making, Nirvana: Taking Punk to the Masses features 200 artifacts tied to the band and the independent punk rock music community that nurtured it.”

Here are just some of the treasures in the exhibit:

-Kurt Cobain’s never-before exhibited, high school painting of two aging, Reagan-era punks in the post-apocalypse, informally known as “punk American gothic.”
-The Teac reel-to-reel tape machine owned by Mari Earl, Cobain’s aunt, on which a young Kurt recorded material for his early bands, Organized Confusion and Fecal Matter.
-Cobain’s handwritten lyrics for Nirvana songs including “Spank Thru” and “Floyd the Barber.”
-Numerous instruments, including pieces of the first guitar Cobain destroyed onstage (a Univox Hi-Flyer); Dave Grohl’s Tama Rockstar-Pro drum kit; and Krist Novoselic’s Guild acoustic bass guitar and Buck Owens American acoustic guitar used during the recording of “MTV Unplugged.”
-The yellow cardigan worn often by Cobain between 1991 and 1994.
-The winged angel stage prop featured on Nirvana’s In Utero tour.
-Scores of candid snapshots capturing the band’s early years, from their beginnings in Aberdeen, Washington to the media frenzy that erupted after Nevermind.

For more information, click here.

Nirvana: Taking Punk to the Masses runs from April 16, 2011 until April 22, 2013.

Tags: Kurt Cobain, nirvana