Pop music is full of references to denim — from the opening lyrics of Elton John's "Tiny Dancer" — "Blue jean baby" — to Flo Rida's ode to an Apple Bottoms pair in "Low."

But musicians don't just sing about jeans. They also live in them. And those garments sometimes reveal intriguing details about the people who wear them, as the new Amped: Music Icons in Levi's Denim exhibition at Levi's headquarters in San Francisco shows.

One of the exhibition's marquee items is a pair of Levi's 501s once owned by Kurt Cobain. The late Nirvana frontman's jeans set a Guinness World Record in 2023 when they sold for more than $412,750 at a Nashville auction .

Tracey Panek was there. "I was bidding on it," Levi's in-house historian and archivist told NPR. "But sadly one of my rivals got it."

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