No question about it, Dennis Hopper was a singular actor, filmmaker, and personality. His contributions to cinema and culture are genuinely unquantifiable. If you need help appreciating just how influential his work was on the film industry of the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, just read Peter Biskind’s Easy Riders, Raging Bulls. All of that said, his taste in music seems like it was… pretty okay. Not bad at all, but not particularly interesting either. And we know this because his record collection is currently on sale through luxury fashion retailer Moda Operandi.
“With a career spanning almost six decades as an actor, filmmaker, photographer, artist, art collector and Hollywood enfant terrible, Dennis Hopper collected over 100 record titles during his lifetime,” the website boasts, “including iconic artists and bands such as The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, Fleetwood Mac, Leonard Cohen and Miles Davis, this collection provides an incredible view into the world of one of America’s most culture-defining men.” More than a hundred albums? And who is this Fleetwood Mac person?!
To be fair, there is an intangible value to these pretty commonplace discs, given that they used to sit on Frank Booth’s shelf while he expounded upon who knows what during countless dinner parties. And the collection features “handwritten notes to the actor from various artists and several unreleased records,” which sounds interesting. But if you can’t afford the $150,000 asking price—some of which will be donated to charity—you can probably pick up your uncle’s record collection for $150. It’ll probably be a comparable purchase.