Nirvana’s First Test Pressing Played on Radio Up for Auction
Now this, this is music history. I mean obviously many things are but there’s something special about this situation. Many bands back in the day had to fight, bite and claw their way onto radio, since that was the only way you’d really get to hear about bands at first. Those were the good ol’ days, but I age myself as I digress. Anyway, Nirvana‘s first shot at the big bad radio came by way of their first vinyl test pressing, and now the relic is up for auction at an ass-load of dollars.
The test pressing was for their single “Love Buzz,” a cover of Shocking Blue’s 1969 classic of the same name. The 7-inch vinyl, open for bidding through the international online auction house Goldin, is currently going for $8,500. Pricey as fuck but worth it, considering. It’ll come with an official certificate of authenticity from Scott Vanderpool, the Sub Pop and KCMU employee that first played it. All this music history is making me hot and bothered.
Vanderpool offered this lil tidbit about how it all came to be:
“I met (Sub Pop co-founder) Jon Poneman at KCMU, where all three of us were volunteer DJs. It was handed to me by Jon seconds after it arrived in the mail from the pressing plant… While I was working at Sub Pop, any test pressing that came in I immediately took to the radio station to play on that show (Audioasis), so your Nirvana test pressing has the distinction of being the first Nirvana studio recording played on the radio anywhere.”
“Love Buzz” was the first time Nirvana would release anything officially under that name, operating as Skid Row during previous radio appearances in the 80’s. The pressing is labeled as “Test Pressing No. 6,” reportedly out of 10 known copies. The Goldin auction page describes the 7-inch as graded E for excellent with subgrades of 0 for its packaging and 8 for media by AMG (50008056). I don’t know what any of that shit means but it sounds official.
The vinyl itself is labeled old school with a blue felt-tip pen, though the writing has started to fade with age. The A-side reads “Love Buzz,” while its reverse is “Big Cheese.” It’s part of this larger auction situation Goldin is doing, called their 2025 Fall Music Auction. It runs through November 12 and also features over 600 lots of rare music, hard-to-find vinyl, original photographs, and items used on stage during performances.
As if we needed another reason to jizz out money for the sake of filling whatever holes we have on the inside. Most of us metalheads likely don’t have that kinda cash, but it’s free to dream.
