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Monday, December 5, 2011

History Music Journalist Collects $7,975 For Nirvana Test Pressings

Posted by on Mon, Dec 5, 2011 at 12:31 PM

Mountains of digital dollars were collected yesterday when Internet auctions ended for three Sub Pop Nirvana 7" test pressings. A person claiming to be a music journalist in Seattle "for a time" also notes that each of the test pressings came from "the owners of Sub Pop."

LB.jpg

The heavy hitter of course was SP23, the test pressing for the Singles Club release "Love Buzz" b/w "Big Cheese," which fetched $4,350.00. The seller initially misread the matrix etching as "WHY DON'T YOU TRADE THOSE GUITARS FOR SINGLES?"

SD.jpg

The second mound of money came from the test pressing for the "Sliver" b/w "Dive" single, released by Sub Pop in 1990. Recorded during a one hour break during a Tad session by Jack Endino, "Sliver" is my personal least favorite Nirvana track. That didn't seem to hurt the value of this test pressing, though, as it went for $2,100.00 yesterday.

ML.jpg

Rounding out the lot is the test pressing for SP97, another Singles Club release which was a split with Denver's the Fluid. The key track here is Nirvana's live version of the Vaselines' "Molly's Lips," with "LATER" etched into the dead wax. It went for a cool $1,525.00.

Internet conjecture seems to point that these records were sold by Everett True, the journalist who aided in the invention of "the grunge." But that could be, in his native tongue, a load of bollocks.

h/t: Matt Clark

 

Comments (7) RSS

Oldest First Unregistered On Registered On Add a comment
matt clark 1
Haha, thanks for the speculative credit, Derek!
Posted by matt clark http://facebook.com/othermattclark on December 5, 2011 at 2:06 PM
derek_erdman 2
Is that picture in front of Pho Bac?!
Posted by derek_erdman http://www.derekerdman.com on December 5, 2011 at 2:08 PM
matt clark 3
Yeppers, we get preferential treatment there.
Posted by matt clark http://facebook.com/othermattclark on December 5, 2011 at 2:33 PM
4
I've never seen you there, Matt.
Posted by paulus on December 5, 2011 at 2:58 PM
matt clark 5
If you want any personal information about any of the Stranger staff, let me know Dan. I gathered a ton of top-quality intel this past weekend.
Posted by matt clark http://facebook.com/othermattclark on December 5, 2011 at 3:18 PM
Emily Nokes 6
Sliver rules. Take it back.
Posted by Emily Nokes on December 6, 2011 at 9:00 PM
7
I've never owned a test pressing of 'Love Buzz'.

And I've never claimed to be a journalist either.
Posted by Jerry Thackray on January 18, 2012 at 7:43 PM

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