Scorched Hendrix Guitar Going to Auction, Expecting Million Dollar Bid

A guitar famously lit on fire by Jimi Hendrix while performing onstage in London in 1967 is going to auction. Experts are predicting the guitar may fetch as much as $1 million. Hendrix used the guitar at the London Astoria while he was living in the U.K. on a temporary visa. Looking to make a name for himself, Hendrix lit the Fender Stratocaster on fire, only to burn himself while performing the stunt. Hendrix was taken to the hospital, but not before he told the venue's roadies to retrieve the guitar. The rest is rock history, as Hendrix would repeat the bonfire of the guitar at future performances. The guitar was initially given to both Jimi Hendrix Experience bassist Noel Redding and press officer Tony Garland, who held onto it for 40 years before his nephew put it up in this auction. The Fame Bureau and Idea Generation will conduct the auction on September 4th. Other notable items up for sale include John Bonham's last-surviving drum-kit, Jim Morrison's final book of poetry and a "We Are the World" song sheet autographed by Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Wonder and Bob Dylan.

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Song Stories

“I'm Yours”

Jason Mraz | 2008

Jason Mraz re-emerged after his disappointing second album with this lead single, a Jack Johnson-esque ditty about giving yourself fully to someone else. The success of the reggae-tinged song (it earned two Grammy nods and a spot on the Billboard singles chart for well over a year) was something the folk-pop singer never predicted when he wrote it in 15 minutes at home. "I played a happy-hippie chord progression that would probably work without 50 different Bob Marley songs," he told Rolling Stone. "I thought, 'It's too novelty. This is a nursery rhyme,'" concluding that "you can never guess what's gonna be a hit."

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