The song that secured Nirvana a record contract: “They totally nailed it”
Every musician worldwide usually waits for that fateful day when they snag a record deal. In the beginning, the thought of just getting that one fan feels impossible, but once a record company sees enough merit in you to put money behind studio time, you know that things are about to go nuclear. While it seemed like a no-brainer to sign Nirvana the moment that they started making waves in the Seattle scene, it wasn’t until hearing them cover the Shocking Blue song ‘Love Buzz’ that they actually managed to turn the head of Sub Pop Records.
Because as much as people like to talk about the magic being there from the beginning, no artist manages to hit everything out of the park the first time they jam together. There are exceptions where everything falls into place from the first song, but when Kurt Cobain was just starting to put together tunes with Krist Novoselic, they could barely hold the band together in their local scene.
After a healthy musical diet of Melvins and Flipper, Cobain started messing around with pop melodies inspired by REM, leading to them filling up clubs around Seattle. They weren’t necessarily looking to be the next Beatles at that time, but in terms of raw success, Sub Pop was the only place that they could have thought of making it.
Sub Pop had already developed a reputation as one of the greatest underground labels in the country, and their signing of acts like Green River and Soundgarden showed that they were at least in tune with what the emerging sound was. Even though Bruce Pavitt wasn’t thrilled with everything he heard when seeing them play live, he thought there was some magic behind the Shocking Blue song.
The obscure B-side to the hit ‘Venus’ already had a bit of a weird edge to it, but having Krist Novoselic play the iconic bassline is what really hooks people the minute they hear it. When looking back on the Bleach era of Nirvana, the tune is also one of the best vehicles for Cobain’s voice, especially when he builds to the final piece of the chorus and unveils that signature scream.
According to Pavitt, hearing that live knocked him out, saying, “In listening to their whole set, that song was the only one that really jumped out, and it was a cover. But, the hypnotic feel of that was kind of an indicator of some of their direction in songwriting. And it’s just an incredible recording. They totally nailed it.”
Given that this was their early stages, though, it’s not surprising that Pavitt may have caught them on a bad night. Even when looking back on their time in the limelight, Dave Grohl had to admit that there was no telling whether they would be an absolute trainwreck when they took to the stage or one of the greatest bands in the world, but ‘Love Buzz’ didn’t need any of that trademark Cobain ear candy to cut through everything.
The germs of ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ were already bubbling up, but it took ‘Love Buzz’ to give them that extra push. Nirvana still had a long way to go, but they at least had a central part of their catalogue locked in.
