Love Buzz

"Love Buzz"
Single by Nirvana
from the album Bleach
B-side	"Big Cheese"
Released	November 1988
Format	7"
Recorded	June-September 1988 at Reciprocal Recordings in Seattle, Washington
Genre	Grunge, Alternative rock
Length	3:35
Label	Sub Pop
Writer(s)	Robbie van Leeuwen
Producer(s)	Jack Endino
Nirvana singles chronology
"Love Buzz" (1988) "Blew" (1989)
Bleach track listing 11 tracks "Blew" "Floyd the Barber" "About a Girl" "School" "Love Buzz" "Paper Cuts" "Negative Creep" "Scoff" "Swap Meet" "Mr. Moustache" "Sifting" Audio sample file info · help

"Love Buzz" is a single by Dutch rock band Shocking Blue. It was written by Robbie van Leeuwen and first released on the group's 1969 album, At Home. The song was later covered by Nirvana, who released it as their debut single in 1988.

Cover versions

Nirvana

The American grunge band Nirvana recorded a cover version of the song for its 1988 debut single, released on Sub Pop in the US. It was the first single in the Sub Pop Singles club.

It was made single of the week in Sounds by John Robb - the first mention in the UK press of Nirvana.

A slightly different mix of the song would also appear on Nirvana's debut album, Bleach. This version is missing a 10-second sound collage introduction put together by Kurt Cobain. "Love Buzz" was later released on Nirvana's Blew in the UK in December 1989.

In a 1989 review for British music magazine Melody Maker, Everett True wrote, "Nirvana are beauty incarnate. A relentless two-chord garage beat which lays down some serious foundations for a sheer monster of a guitar to howl over. The volume control ain't been built yet which can do justice to this three-piece!" True also made "Love Buzz" joint-US Single of the Week.^[1] True also described Nirvana's Love Buzz single as a "Limited edition of 1,000; love songs for the psychotically disturbed".^[2]

An intense, violent performance of the song, recorded in Dallas, Texas, can be seen on Nirvana's 1994 home video Live! Tonight! Sold Out!!, with another 1990 performance from Olympia on With the Lights Out, and a further performance from 1991 on Live at the Paramount (video).

In 2012, a Dutch episode of the TV programme Classic Recordings about Shocking Blue's album At Home featured a rare interview with guitar player Robbie van Leeuwen^[3] and clips of Nirvana's live performance of the song at the Paradiso, Amsterdam. Klaasje van der Wal was proud of the fact that Krist Novoselic once called him a bass god in a blog, while it was said that Van Leeuwen was informed about the Nirvana cover during a visit to Hilversum in the Netherlands. Apparently, he had listened to Bleach in a shop, returned it to his friend without having purchased the album and explained that he did not buy it because he thought the cover was inferior.

The Prodigy

The original Shocking Blue version was sampled for the song "Phoenix" by The Prodigy on their 2004 album Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned.

Lil' Kim

Elements of the original song were also sampled for the track "Kitty Box" by Lil' Kim, which featured on her 2005 album The Naked Truth.

Others

The track has also been covered by Hatcham Social on its free EP Party, released in 2008. A club mix of "Love Buzz" was released on Saint Thomas Records in 2009 by the Dallas psychedelic band Lithium X-Mas as a CD single. The song was also sampled by the Danish rap group Malk De Koijn, in the song "5 øres ting" from the 2011 release "Toback to The Fromtime". British and German singer/songwriter Anika covered "Love Buzz" on her 2013 self-titled EP.

References

Specific references:

General references: