In 1988 Nirvana were unknowns.

They also sounded amazing.

Here’s some footage recorded in a cellar from that year.

It underlines a few things…the band had a great sludgy sound from the start, Chad Channing was a far better drummer than the myth of Nirvana has painted him to be- infact he’s a great drummer, Kurt singing at the wall is unusual and this song rules!

A few months later ‘Love Buzz’ came out on Subpop and I remember making it single of the week in Sounds before it came out I phones up Kurt Cobain at his mother’s house (still have the number in an old address book) and did the first ever major rock press interview with the band for Sounds…

the Sounds interview (it was an introducing new band’s piece)

THE POTENTIAL trump card in Sub Pop’s pack, Nirvana have created one primed to thrill single so far.

The grubby pop delights of their guitar maelstrom 7-inch, ‘Love Buzz’, were quickly chewed up by clued-in punters.

But now, with Sub Pop achieving a higher profile, and Nirvana ready to hurl their debut LP at a fawning nation, things could move faster.

Frontman, Kurt Kobain explains: “The album is similar to the single in song material, but we’ve recorded it a lot rawer. It sounds better”â¢harder. The single seems so commercial now. But it’s bound to be, since it’s a cover of the Shocking Blue song.”

And that’s the Shocking Blue who gave Bananarama their ‘Venus’ hit.

But what’s this fuss about Seattle? Last year it was home town to Jimi ‘Six Fingers’ Hendrix’s remains and the Petrol’s Steve Mack, but nothing else. Now there’s an infatuation with the place.

“It’s because we are secluded, out on a limb up here. The local scene has always had an element of rock in it, but it’s been a gloomy element.

“That’s why I reckon you guys in the UK like it”â¢because your rock is on the gloomy side too. Maybe it’s the weather”â¢we have the same sort of miserable climate as you have!”

Nirvana’s LP, ‘Bleach’, is due out next month, and they play their first major US tour to promote it. Hopefully they’ll reach Europe in September.

If Nirvana can maintain the standards set by ‘Love Buzz’ the four-piece could well find themselves at the vanguard of guitar pop noise at it’s best.