“It’s cooler to hang Lennon’s guitar than a Picasso”: pop culture wins out at auctions

Level 2: Intermediate

1
  Warmer

a. Match the items sold at auction with the amounts people paid for them.

1.  Kurt Cobain’s guitar a.  $48 million

2.  Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi painting b.  $71 million

3.  a 1960 Ferrari 250 GTO c.  $6 million

4.  an 1856 British Guiana postage stamp d.  $450 million

5.  the Pink Star diamond e.  $10 million

2
  Key words

a. Find the following words in the text. The paragraph numbers are given to help you.

1. a noun meaning a public occasion when things are sold to the people who offer the most
money for them (1)

2. a noun meaning a set of clothes that are worn together (1)

3. an adverb meaning only (3)

4. a noun meaning a woollen jacket that you fasten at the front with buttons or a zip
(3)

5. a phrasal verb meaning persuade someone to do something (two words)

(5)

6. a noun meaning the things that you own (6)

7. a noun meaning an amount that you guess or calculate using the information available
(9)

8. a noun meaning an award given in the US each year to the best writers and performers in music
(9)

9. a noun meaning an object that was made some time ago and is historically important
(10)

10. a noun meaning something that someone has achieved that continues to exist after they retire
or die (10)
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 “It’s cooler to hang Lennon’s guitar than a Picasso”: pop culture wins out at auctions
Level 2: Intermediate
Priya Elan
26 May, 2021
1 In April, Julien’s Auctions in California held
an auction of Janet Jackson’s personal
belongings, including some of her stage outfits.
Buyers included Kim Kardashian, who bought
Jackson’s outfit from the music video for her
1993 classic “If” for $25,000.
2 “A collector recently told me: ‘It’s cooler to hang
John Lennon’s guitar on my wall than a Monet
or Picasso,’” says Darren Julien, the owner of
Julien’s, the only auction house that only trades
in celebrity items.
3 Julien’s, which began in 2003, was the first
auction house to deal exclusively in pop-culture
items. Early auctions included the dress in
which Marilyn Monroe sang “Happy Birthday”
to President John F. Kennedy (sold for $4.8m
in 2016) and the cardigan Kurt Cobain wore
for Nirvana’s MTV Unplugged performance
(sold for $334,000).
4 “After we sold Kurt Cobain’s guitar for over
$6m last year, buyers wanted the cardigan,”
says Julien. “The sale of the guitar made
$334,000 seem cheap. We had one client
who offered over $600,000 to buy the
cardigan from the winning bidder, but the
buyer in our 2019 auction refused to sell it.”
5 There has also been a rise in auctions of items
that celebrities still own, as opposed to property
from fan collections. So items at auction may
belong to celebrities who are still alive and
performing. “I remember, when I was trying to
talk Cher into doing the auction nearly 15 years
ago, she said: ‘But I’m not dead,’” Julien says.
6 “Those auctions showed celebrities and this
market that you don’t have to be dead to have a
successful auction of your belongings,” he says,
mentioning a Barbra Streisand auction in 2009.
“We’ve noticed that items are still selling for big
money, even though the celebrity is still alive.”
7 The house had similar auctions for Ringo Starr,
Nancy Sinatra and Bette Midler. Julien says
that hosting auctions for top celebrities makes
it easier for others to organize one themselves.
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8 “Janet Jackson was one of the most difficult
people to talk into an auction because she’s
so private,” he says. “Even Janet was surprised
at the results, and she really enjoyed the
process of creating an amazing video for her
fans and surprising the fans on the day of her
birthday, coming on the screens in the auction
room to thank them for attending.”
9 In January, Julien’s auctioned seven outfits
from K-pop boyband BTS. The costumes
from their 2020 video for “Dynamite” sold for
$162,500, far more than the $40,000 estimate.
Does Julien think selling off items by relatively
new pop-culture figures is the future trend?
“Yes, especially if it’s a band or someone as
hugely popular as BTS,” he says. “If you take
a set of outfits that are worth $2,000 and put
them on BTS, have them perform in them in
a music video, and then the song is nominated
for a Grammy, you just increased the value
of those outfits 81 times.”
10 In June, 2021, artefacts being sold will include
Bob Dylan’s handwritten lyrics to “Lay, Lady,
Lay”, a handwritten letter by Britney Spears
that she sent to a school boyfriend, and a self
portrait by Cobain. “These lifestyle auctions
have now become a way for celebrities to do
something that helps to build their legacy,”
Julien says. “Many of these items belong in
museums or in the hands of people who can
properly preserve them, and it also takes
the pressure off storing so many items for
celebrities.”
© Guardian News and Media 2021
First published in The Guardian, 26/05/21
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 “It’s cooler to hang Lennon’s guitar than a Picasso”: pop culture wins out at auctions

Level 2: Intermediate
 3   Comprehension check

a. Are these statements true (T) or false (F) according to the article? Correct any that are false.

1. Janet Jackson bought Kim Kardashian’s outfit at auction.

2. Julien’s is the only auction house that deals in pop-culture items.

3. Kurt Cobain’s guitar sold for more money than his cardigan.

4. Julien’s only sells items from celebrities who are dead.

5. At first, Janet Jackson didn’t want to sell her items at auction.

6. BTS’s costumes sold for a lower price than the estimate.

7. If a song is nominated for a Grammy, this can increase the value of an outfit.

8. Bob Dylan wrote the lyrics for “Lay, Lady, Lay” on a laptop.

9. Britney Spears sent a handwritten letter to Kurt Cobain.

10. Some celebrities believe auctions can help them to build their legacy.

4
  Key language

a. Match the words in the left-hand column with those in the right-hand column to make
expressions from the text.

1. auction a.  culture

2. pop b.  belongings

3. big c.  video

4. music d.  portrait

5. self e.  house

6. personal  f.  money

5
  Discussion

a. Discuss these statements.

• “Pop stars are more famous than classical painters.”

• “Collecting things is a strange behaviour.”

• “It is stupid to pay this much for a cardigan.”

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 “It’s cooler to hang Lennon’s guitar than a Picasso”: pop culture wins out at auctions

Level 2: Intermediate

6
  In your own words

a. In the Warmer (activity 1), there is a reference to the Pink Star diamond. Search online
to find out more information about this item. Write a short report (150 words), including
some of the following information:

• when and where the diamond was found

• how big it is and what it weighs

• where it was sold at auction

• who bought it and where it is now

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 “It’s cooler to hang Lennon’s guitar than a Picasso”: pop culture wins out at auctions

Level 2: Intermediate – Teacher’s notes

Key:
Article summary: The article describes how 1. auction
items belonging to pop stars are becoming 2. outfit
popular at auctions. 3. exclusively
4. cardigan
Time: 60 minutes 5. talk into
6. belongings
Skills: Reading, Speaking, Writing 7. estimate
8. Grammy
Language focus: Vocabulary
9. artefact
10. legacy
Materials needed: One copy of the
worksheet per student
3. Comprehension check

a. The answers given are only suggested answers

1. Warmer and students may correctly answer the questions
in different ways.
a. The purpose of this activity is to introduce the
concept of auctions and the kind of items that are Key:
sold at them. It also focuses on the types of things 1. False. Kim Kardashian bought Janet
that people are willing to spend large amounts of Jackson’s outfit.
money on. Ask students to match the items with the 2. False. It was the first one to deal exclusively
amounts of money that people paid for them. When in pop-culture items.
you check the answers, ask if they are surprised by 3. True.
any of the amounts (e.g. the amount paid for a small 4. False. They also sell items from celebrities
piece of paper, the postage stamp). who are still alive.
5. True.
Key: 6. False. They sold for far more than the estimate.
1. c 7. True.
2. d 8. False. The lyrics were handwritten.
3. a 9. False. She sent it to a school boyfriend.
4. e 10. True.
5. b
4. Using key language
2. Key words
a. Students could be asked to do this exercise
a. Ask students to do the exercise individually and individually and then compare their answers in pairs.
then compare their answers in pairs or small groups. Ask students to refer back to the text to check their
Point out that explain that a legacy is not always answers. Point out that ‘big money’ is an informal
positive. Notorious dictators or rulers from the past expression for ‘a lot of money’.
can also leave a legacy (a very negative one). You
could also explain that the opposite of talk someone Key:
into doing something (i.e. persuade them to do it) is 1. e
talk someone out of doing something (i.e. persuade 2. a
them not to do it). 3. f
4. c
5. d
6. b
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 “It’s cooler to hang Lennon’s guitar than a Picasso”: pop culture wins out at auctions

Level 2: Intermediate – Teacher’s notes

5. Discussion

a. Allow students time to note down their ideas about

each statement and encourage them to say why they
agree or disagree with each one.

6. In your own words

a. Students should find some basic information about

the Pink Star diamond using the basic guidelines
given. They could also include other information
they find interesting. The results could either be
corrected as a piece of writing or students could
use the information to make a short presentation
to the group.

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