NIRVANA GEMS

In November 1988, Kurt Cobain and Krist Novoselic drove to Seattle to pick up copies of Nirvana’s first ever single, “Love Buzz”/“Big Cheese,” from their label, Sub Pop Records. It was an exciting moment for both musicians, who were keen record buyers themselves. Anxious to hear the single as soon as possible, they asked to play it on the office stereo. “We played it for them and I don’t think I ever saw Kurt happier,” Daniel House, the label’s sales manager, later told Cobain biographer Charles Cross.

The single became an instant Nirvana collectible, and not just because it was the band’s first official record. “Love Buzz” was also the first release in the Sub Pop Singles Club, a subscription service the label had devised to increase cash flow; for $30, subscribers would receive a year’s worth of limited edition singles. The singles were mostly available only through subscription, though in the case of “Love Buzz,” copies were also sold in local stores.

“Love Buzz” was the first in what’s become a long line of collectible Nirvana recordings. Since 1988, the band has released well over 30 recordings on vinyl, CD, and cassette (not counting their numerous appearances on compilations), and they remain a highly collectible and shows on vinyl each had a limited edition run on colored vinyl (though the collectors at the forums remained unimpressed, as the records had no previously unreleased material).