“Love Buzz” with its mesmerizing opening bass line… [and] Kurt Cobain’s iconic rasp

Nirvana was recently added to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame on the first ballot. Just a brief background, in order to be enshrined in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, a group/artist must have had their first release at a minimum 25 years earlier. The first release ever by the band was the song “Love Buzz” in 1988. “Love Buzz” was the first ever release of the Sub Pop Singles Club. It was eventually added to their first album Bleach (and the EP Blew in the UK in 1989). Personally, “Love Buzz” is my favorite song on Bleach. Sure there was the promising “About a Girl” and the caustic, yet enjoyable, “Negative Creep”. It was “Love Buzz” with its mesmerizing opening bass line by Krist Novoselic, Kurt Cobain’s iconic rasp, and Chad Channing’s cymbal crashing that I enjoyed most.

we desperately needed to know more of this group that was being hailed as the ‘The Voice of Our Generation.’

Bleach came to many Nirvana fans second after the juggernaut that was Nevermind. Due to the fact that fans were enraptured by all things Nirvana, it was thought that we desperately needed to know more of this group that was being hailed as the ‘The Voice of Our Generation.’ Kurt Cobain, as it became known through the myriad of documentaries, books, and articles, was a lover not only of underground and punk music, but had quite an affinity for The Beatles, ABBA, and all other shapes and textures across music.

“Love Buzz” was just a song on the album and appears as if it never was released as a single.

Apparently another group that Cobain liked was the Dutch Pop band Shocking Blue. Many are surprised to know that “Love Buzz” was a little known song on Shocking Blues’ album At Home. This album was most famous for the #1 song “Venus” from February 1970 that topped the U.S. charts for three weeks. “Venus” was Shocking Blue’s only real U.S. hit; and, though they had some minor successes with a couple of other singles, they never seemed to amass a huge following or success after “Venus“. “Love Buzz” was just a song on the album and appears as if it never was released as a single.

Shocking Blue eventually went on and recorded a number of singles that were popular in Europe, Asia, and Latin America; but the group never seemed to get a foot-hold again in the U.S. Eventually the group broke up in 1974. Lead singer Mariska Veres went on to a solo career having a couple of hits that were mostly popular in her home country of the Netherlands.

Nirvana • Love Buzz

Shocking Blue • Love Buzz

If you haven’t done so already, please feel free to pick up Nirvana’s debut album, Bleach, right here.

Special kilScene Contributor
Hunter MacLeod