Shocking Blue

"Love Buzz" is a song written by Robbie van Leeuwen

Robbie van Leeuwen

Robbie van Leeuwen is a Dutch musician who used to be the guitarist, sitarist, background vocalist and main songwriter for the Dutch bands The Motions, Shocking Blue and Galaxy-Lin. His most well-known compositions are Shocking Blue's most famous songs, Venus, which was an American no...

 of Dutch rock band Shocking Blue

Shocking Blue

Shocking Blue was a Dutch rock band from The Hague, the Netherlands, formed in 1967. Their biggest hit, "Venus", went to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in February 1970, and the band had sold 13.5 million discs by 1973, but the group disbanded in 1974.-Members:...

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Nirvana

The American grunge

Grunge

Grunge is a subgenre of alternative rock that emerged during the mid-1980s in the American state of Washington, particularly in the Seattle area. Inspired by hardcore punk, heavy metal, and indie rock, grunge is generally characterized by heavily distorted electric guitars, contrasting song...

 band Nirvana

Nirvana (band)

Nirvana was an American rock band that was formed by singer/guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic in Aberdeen, Washington in 1987...

 recorded a cover version

Cover version

In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...

 of the song for its 1988 debut single, released on Sub Pop

Sub Pop

Sub Pop is a record label founded in 1986 by Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman in Seattle, Washington. Sub Pop achieved fame in the late 1980s for first signing Nirvana, Soundgarden, Mudhoney and many other bands from the Seattle music scene...

 in the US. It was the first single in the Sub Pop Singles club. A slightly different mix of the song would also appear on Nirvana's debut album, Bleach

Bleach (album)

Bleach is the debut album by the American rock band Nirvana, released in June 1989 through the independent record label Sub Pop. The main recording sessions took place at Reciprocal Recording in Seattle, Washington between December 1988 and January 1989...

. This version is missing a 10-second sound collage

Sound collage

In music, montage or sound collage is a technique where sound objects or compositions, including songs, are created from collage, also known as montage, the use of portions of previous recordings or scores...

 introduction put together by Kurt Cobain

Kurt Cobain

Kurt Donald Cobain was an American singer-songwriter, musician and artist, best known as the lead singer and guitarist of the grunge band Nirvana...

. "Love Buzz" was later released on Nirvana's Blew (EP)

Blew (EP)

"Blew" is the title of a song and EP released by the American grunge band Nirvana.-Song:"Blew" was written in 1988 by Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain. The song was recorded in December of 1988 and initially appeared as the first track on Nirvana's 1989 debut album Bleach.-Release:Blew was released in...

in the UK in December 1989.

In a 1989 review for British music magazine Melody Maker

Melody Maker

Melody Maker, published in the United Kingdom, was, according to its publisher IPC Media, the world's oldest weekly music newspaper. It was founded in 1926 as a magazine targeted at musicians; in 2000 it was merged into "long-standing rival" New Musical Express.-1950s–1960s:Originally the Melody...

, Everett True

Everett True

For the cartoon character, see The Outbursts of Everett True.Everett True is a British music journalist, who grew up in Chelmsford, Essex...

 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.

An intense, violent performance of the song, recorded in Dallas, Texas, can be seen on Nirvana's 1994 home video Live! Tonight! Sold Out!!

Live! Tonight! Sold Out!!

Nirvana: Live! Tonight! Sold Out!! is a video album released by the grunge band Nirvana on laserdisc and VHS on November 15, 1994. The DVD version was released November 7, 2006. Kurt Cobain compiled much of the video himself, but did not complete it prior to his death...

, with another 1990 performance from Olympia on With the Lights Out

With the Lights Out

With the Lights Out is a box set, containing three CDs and one DVD, of previously rare or unreleased material, including b-sides, demos, rough rehearsal recordings and live recordings, from the American rock band Nirvana. It was released in November 2004...

, and a further performance from 1991 on Live at the Paramount (video)

Live at the Paramount (video)

Live at the Paramount is a live video by the grunge band Nirvana released in 2011. It was released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc as part of the 20th anniversary of Nirvana's Nevermind album. It showcases a live performance at the Paramount Theatre in Seattle from October 31, 1991. The footage is taken...

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The Prodigy

The original Shocking Blue version was sampled for the song "Phoenix" by The Prodigy

The Prodigy

The Prodigy are an English electronic dance music group formed by Liam Howlett in 1990 in Braintree, Essex. Along with Fatboy Slim, The Chemical Brothers, and other acts, The Prodigy have been credited as pioneers of the big beat genre, which achieved mainstream popularity in the 1990s and 2000s...

 on their 2004 album Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned

Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned

Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned is the fourth studio album by English electronic dance music group The Prodigy. The album was released in the United Kingdom on 23 August 2004 under XL Recordings, and in North America on 15 September 2004 by Mute Records and Maverick Records. It was the last...

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Lil' Kim

Elements of the original song were also sampled for the track "Kitty Box" by Lil' Kim

Lil' Kim

Kimberly Denise Jones , better known by her stage name Lil' Kim, is an American rapper and actress who was a member of the group Junior M.A.F.I.A.....

 which featured on her 2005 album The Naked Truth (Lil' Kim album)

The Naked Truth (Lil' Kim album)

The Naked Truth is the fourth studio album by rapper Lil' Kim, released on September 27, 2005. This album was released on the first day of Kim's sentencing, in which she went to jail for nearly a year on perjury charges.- Critical reception :...

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Others

The track has also been covered by Hatcham Social

Hatcham Social

Hatcham Social are an English indie pop band who first met and formed in New Cross, London, and who have released a string of singles on indie labels since 2006, a debut album in 2009 and are currently active in a Pledge Campaign for the release of their second LP...

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.