Nirvana 's first test vinyl record played on the radio, Love Buzz , is up for auction on Goldin, an international online auction site. Currently, the bid is in the thousands, around US$16,000 (R$85,410.00 at the current exchange rate), with possible updates until November 13, 2025, the closing date for bids.
Accompanied by a Scott Vanderpool certificate of authenticity, this edition is a test pressing containing a cover of "Love Buzz" by the Dutch band Shocking Blue, originally released in 1969 on the album At Home . This pressing is a rarity, with only ten copies produced.
As a result, with this new version, the single becomes denser, heavier, and more psychedelic. Reaching a vast audience, the band included the song on their 1988 Bleach
The process of making 'Love Buzz'
Ultimately, the 7-inch copy was produced by the factory of the independent Seattle record label, Sub Pop . Test materials were produced in extremely small quantities precisely to have adequate control over sound quality.
KCMU radio officially broadcast the band's first studio recording in November 1988.
Vanderpool, an employee of Sub Pop and DJ at KCMU at the time, managed to receive one of the copies in person, he reports (via Loudwire ):
“I met Jon Poneman (co-founder of Sub Pop) at KCMU, where the three of us were volunteer DJs,” Vanderpool recalled in his certificate of authenticity. “It was handed to me by Jon seconds after arriving by mail from the pressing plant… While I worked at Sub Pop, any test pressing that arrived, I immediately took to the radio to play on the show ( Audioasis ), so his Nirvana test pressing has the distinction of being the first Nirvana studio recording to be played on the radio anywhere.”
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