Rare + Historic Nirvana Vinyl Record Being Auctioned for Thousands

Everyone has to start somewhere and Nirvana's "start" in the form of the first vinyl test pressing ever played at a radio station is currently on the auction block drawing bids for multiple thousands of dollars.

A 7-inch vinyl test pressing of "Love Buzz" is currently up for bids through Goldin, an international online auction house where the current bid at press time stands at $8,500.

The Story of the Nirvana "Love Buzz" Test Pressing

The 7-inch vinyl test pressing of "Love Buzz" comes with a certificate of authenticity from Scott Vanderpool, who shared his firsthand account of receiving the test pressing and his sharing of the song on his Seattle radio show.

Vanderpool was also a Sub Pop employee at the time and reportedly was able to get his hands on one of the test pressings just as they arrived.

“I met (Sub Pop co-founder) Jon Poneman at KCMU, where all three of us were volunteer DJs," recalled Vanderpool in his certificate of authenticity. "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.”

The group that would become Nirvana had previously appeared on radio in 1987 when they were known as Skid Row, but the airing of "Love Buzz" on KCMU was the first official studio recording from the group under the Nirvana moniker to have hit the airwaves.

As it was a test pressing, the vinyl is also numbered as "Test Pressing No. 6," reportedly of only 10 known copies.

The History of "Love Buzz"

Nirvana's debut song, "Love Buzz," was actually a cover. It was written and released in 1969 but the Dutch rock band Shocking Blue on their At Home album.

Digging into its psychedelic nature, Nirvana decided to record a heavier, sludgier version of the track with some of their pop sensibilities fully intact. The song has the distinction of being the first single ever offered as part of the Sub Pop Singles Club and only 1,000 numbered copies were issued.

READ MORE: The Grunge Guitarist Who Played in Two Big Bands, But Quit Music to Join the Military

The track would eventually reach a wider audience when it was included on Nirvana's 1988 debut album, Bleach.

What You Should Know About the "Love Buzz" Test Pressing

According to the Goldin auction page for the 7-inch vinyl test pressing of Nirvana's "Love Buzz," the item has been graded E (Excellent) with subgrades of 0 for packaging: 0 and 8 for media by AMG (50008056).

Test pressings like this were created in extremely small quantities to verify sound and pressing quality, making each surviving example extraordinarily scarce. Only six have been documented to date, and this particular copy is the very record played on local college radio station KCMU in November 1988 — the first time an official studio recording by Nirvana ever aired on the radio.

The record label bears handwritten inscriptions in blue felt-tip pen — “Love Buzz” on the A-side and “Big Cheese” on the reverse — each showing light discoloration consistent with age.

The Nirvana "Love Buzz" 7-inch vinyl test pressing is also part of a larger auction currently underway through Goldin. The site's 2025 Fall Music Auction currently runs through Nov. 12 and features more than 600 lots of rare instruments, coveted vinyl records, stage-used accessories and original photographs connected to name artists.

An Ozzy Osbourne personally used, signed and inscribed throne, a band-signed Led Zeppelin II vinyl and stage-used items from the Rolling Stones are also among the top items currently up for bid through the Goldin Fall Music Auction.