A Record Collector's Guide

Nirvana

Nevermind

I mean, holy crap. What did I get myself into here? Well, anyway, here we go. I can say with certainty that this website would not exist without this record. It really kicked off everything for me, and resulted directly in my digging into independent music. I can't overstate its importance. Of course, I also can't overstate how much of a pain in the ass it is to try to summarize this one from a collector's standpoint. There are almost 600 variants of this album across all formats. I did my best above, but even condensing it as much as humanly possible and ignoring the unofficial versions, it's a mess up there.

As with most pages on this site, I am mostly focused on the vinyl. This makes it SLIGHTLY more manageable, but we're still dealing with over 50 variants. There are a couple of standouts in this batch. First, we have the original U.S. pressing on black vinyl. This one stayed surprisingly affordable for many years, but has skyrocketed in value over the last several years, and is now quite expensive. There were two original U.S. versions: a standard DGC one and a Columbia Record Club (CRC) version. The standard DGC version has black labels, with the DGC-24425 catalogue number above the side numbers on the right sides of the labels. It also came with an inner sleeve on which one side was printed upside down (the side with some lyrics and a picture of a monkey). The CRC version labels are a bit different, but are easy to spot, as "CRC" is printed above the catalogue number. This version did not come with a printed inner sleeve. The standard original DGC version value has been completely out of control lately. It sells for much more than the CRC version, which I find a little weird, since the CRC one is definitively less common. It's still very expensive, just slightly less so.

The original European pressings are a lot more affordable. The ones made for general European consumption were produced in the Netherlands and Germany. Each of those countries had two label variants: one that had a Geffen Records logo on the labels and another that had a DGC logo. All four of these came with inner sleeves like the U.S. one, with one side was printed upside down. There was also an early repress, made in Germany, which had DGC labels and a properly oriented inner sleeve. There were some other country-specific European pressings in this era: Spain, France, and Portugal. The French pressing seems pretty rare, and it's kind of a weird one: the labels were in French, but the sleeve credits were in Spanish. The Spain pressing had two main variants: the Eurogram pressing and the Iberofon pressing. The Eurogram one had matrix codes that read 850 GEF 24425 = *A*1/850 GEF 24425 = *B*2, and it had the DGC-24425 catalogue number on the labels. The Iberofon pressing matrix codes were GEF-24425-4 IN3-DMM/GEF-24425-B IN3-DMM, and the catalogue number on the labels was 5C GEF 24425. Neither is particularly expensive, but the Iberofon version seems more scarce. The Portuguese pressing is not super-rare or overly expensive.

There were lots of other vinyl pressings in 1991: Mexico, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, South Africa, and Zimbabwe. The Brazil, Colombia, and Venezuela versions are relatively reasonable finds. The others are all quite rare and pretty expensive. The Zimbabwe one seems quite rare, and may have only come out as a promo. All of these were on black vinyl (there was a later Brazilian re-press on white, but I'll get to that). There were a number of variants of the Brazilian pressing (mostly small variations in the matrix codes and on the labels). The backs of the sleeves of the original Brazilian pressings had blue borders on the tops and bottoms - it looks as though they used the CD art to make the record sleeve.

In the subsequent year or two, vinyl came out in Ecuador, Czechoslovakia/Czech Republic, Croatia, and South Korea. So we have to talk about the Czech pressings. There were three legitimate variants: one on black vinyl, one on turquoise vinyl, and a picture disc. This was the only non-bootleg picture disc of Nevermind until the deluxe edition came out in 2011. The turquoise one was also the only legitimate color vinyl version until much later. The picture disc and black vinyl versions have mid-range scarcity and value. The turquoise one is quite expensive. Now, the problem...it appears the plant held onto the masters, and, years later, started cranking out unofficial re-presses. These started to emerge in 1999. More variants came out in 1999-2000, and then, in 2006, a whole shit-ton of colors hit the market. Since the original masters were used, the matrix codes were correct. Also, one variant was a blue pressing that looked an awful lot like the turquoise original. However, fortunately for us, the re-presses all used silver labels. The originals all had black labels. Whew. Crisis averted. They did also do an unofficial re-press of the picture disc. This one was a little harder to differentiate from the original. The unofficial one was missing a couple of digits in the matrix codes, though. The original matrix codes were & GE 0235/A 14 / & GE 0236/A 11. On the unofficial re-press, they were & GE 0235/A / & GE 0236/A.

The South Korean version is moderately rare and a little more expensive than the average variant. The Croatian version is pretty common and inexpensive. The Ecuadorian version...not so much. There are actually two known variants of this one: one has "℗ 1991" and the bulk of the credits on the left of the label, and another has it on the right. Both of these are extremely rare.

1996 brought us a regular Japanese pressing, and then some heavyweight Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab (MFSL) pressings (U.S. and Japan). The regular Japanese pressing was very affordable for many, many years. I didn't actually notice the price rising, but it did, and now it is an expensive one. It came with a purple obi strip. The 200g MFSL pressings were viewed as the ones to get for sound quality at the time. These have been a bit expensive for some time, but have shot upward in value in recent years. In 2020, it started exceeding the $300 mark regularly, and now, it's up closer to $600. The Japanese MFSL version was just the U.S. version with a Japanese label on the outside and a Japanese insert...which is weird to me, since at least 80% of the copies of the U.S. version I've seen have been sold in Japan. Anyway, the Japanese one is rarer, but I haven't seen one sold in many years, so I am going to value it the same as the U.S. one for now. I kind of arbitrarily mark these pressings as the unofficial end of the first phase.

So then we started with phase 2: the re-presses. First, there were the UK Simply Vinyl pressings in 1997-98. I haven't heard great things about the sound quality of these, but have never owned or heard them myself. There were three variants of this one: two in 1997 and one in 1998. The first one had the Geffen logo in the middle of the labels. The second one had the logo on the left side of the labels and was missing the track "Lithium", for some reason. That version is rarer than the others. The 1998 pressing had all the tracks and labels that looked like the first variant. You can tell the difference between the first and third ones in a couple of ways. First, they had different matrix codes. Also, the Simply Vinyl logo embossed on the back of the outer plastic sleeve on the third version contained the Simply Vinyl URL, while the first one did not. Now, beware...there were a whole bunch (at least 10-12) unofficial reproductions of the Simply Vinyl release, on all kinds of different colors. The matrix codes on these came close to those of the 1997 Simply Vinyl pressings, but didn't quite get there. The real 1997 ones have matrix codes that say either SVLP 0038 A-1-1-/SVLP 0038 B-1-1- or SVLP 0038 A-2-1-/SVLP 0038 B-1-1-. The fakes have matrix codes that say SVLP 038 -A-/SVLP 038 -B-. Subtle, but definitely distinct. Also, know that there were no legitimate color vinyl versions of this one.

Next up, there were scattered DGC re-presses for a few years: there was a European reissue in 2001, which was on black vinyl three label variants (brown, red, and black). The one with the black labels is weirdly expensive. The others are all in the same general price range. Several fakes came out around this time (2004-ish). They are identifiable by their poorer quality artwork and the fact that these colors were not released legitimately. The first ones were in red, blue, white, and yellow, and later ones appeared in clear, pink, and green vinyl. There was a confusing Discogs entry with a red one, purportedly from 2001, which listed the correct matrix codes for the black vinyl versions of the era. That made me question whether there was a real red version. I have since been able to confirm that there was not. It is likely that the person who created the Discogs entry copied over a legitimate one and did not change all the information.

In 2007, there was a Japanese repress, which was a 200g black vinyl pressing, and a 180g black vinyl Canadian pressing in 2008. This Japanese pressing came with a white obi strip, and it has gotten rather expensive. The Canadian one has not.

There was also another European pressing in 2008: this was the first "Back to Black" pressing of Nevermind, which was a series that started that year as a celebration of 60 years of vinyl. They were 180g pressings on - you guessed it - black vinyl. I've heard very mixed things about the quality of these. Some people think it sounds really good, but the more common opinion is that it sounds terrible, as though it was badly mastered from a CD. There were a bunch of later Back to Black re-presses - we'll get to those. The first Back to Black release came with a red sticker on the front of the sleeve.

OK, let's talk ORG pressings. Original Recordings Group did some 180g remastered pressings in the U.S. that many believe to be the best-sounding of all pressings. They were remastered from the original tapes by Bernie Grundman. There was a blue vinyl version, limited to 4,000 copies, and a black vinyl version. This first batch was pressed at RTI in 2009. Then, blue and black reissues came out, which were pressed at Pallas, and many say the Pallas pressings are the best-sounding of all the pressings. All four of these are now very expensive. You can occasionally find black vinyl RTI ones for reasonable prices, but not often. The pattern we've seen in recent years is the pressings that have gained reputations for sounding better than others have taken off in value. This has been fueled by many things: word got around about how the Nevermind masters were lost in the great 2019 Universal warehouse fire. This may have created some urgency for people to find the best sounding versions. Then, collectibles all seemed to appreciate in value during the 2020-21 pandemic.

All hell broke loose in 2011, the 20th anniversary of the original release date. We'll call this phase 3. First, there were interesting deluxe editions that were released. They came as 4 LP or 2 CD sets and contained all kinds of fun bonus material. The U.S. version was on black vinyl. One European version was also on black vinyl (and was a Back to Black pressing, which came with a silver sticker on the front of the sleeve). Then, there was a European picture disc version of the 4 LP set, which was limited to 1991 (ha) numbered copies. The picture disc version has gotten quite expensive.

There was also a single disc UK re-press in 2011, which came with a CD. This one was not a Back to Black edition. It was released by Art Vinyl (i.e. sold with a record frame for display), and was available at John Lewis stores in the UK. There was a hype sticker on the front of the sleeve that said "Also contains CD version of this LP". There was some confusion surrounding the vinyl color due to an errant Discogs entry. I've been able to confirm that they were black. The blue-green vinyl pictures in the Discogs entry were from a separate bootleg, which became clear upon looking at the matrix codes and labels (the text of the matrix codes matched real ones, but the font did not - two portions of the matrix codes that would have been added at different stages were in the exact same font and aligned, giving it away; also, the labels had the Simply Vinyl catalogue numbers, which this release did not use).

Somewhere around this time, a Brazilian white vinyl version came out. My best guess is early to mid-2012, based on the sales history. The Discogs entry lists it as 1991, and I know that's not true. It first surfaced much, much later. I'm not convinced that this one was a legitimate pressing, and I am leaving it in the "Rumors" section for now. I would need to have one in my hands to confirm, and I do not. It's pretty tough to find.

There were a few more vinyl pressings to finish it off. There were two additional U.S. pressings: a 180g black vinyl one in 2013 (common, inexpensive) and a silver vinyl one in 2019, which was a Target exclusive. There was also another non-Back to Black European pressing in 2013 - that one is cheap and easy to find. This one was was made at Pallas, so I think there could be some confusion with the Pallas ORG pressings, but this one was totally different. There can't be all that much confusion, though, as the price has remained low for the 2013 one. Then, there were two more European Back to Black pressings, in 2015 and 2017. There were two variants for the 2015 pressing: one is very common - it has a black Back to Black sticker on the front of the sleeve. There was also a separate, numbered edition, which was limited to 500 copies. This one was a "Concerto 60th anniversary edition", and came with a circular blue sticker on the front of the sleeve. I'm told this was part of the Back to Black series, but it didn't come with the Back to Black sticker. This one is not as expensive as one might expect, considering the scarcity. Then, there were three variants of the 2017 pressing, which had two different catalogue numbers: 0720642442517 and 424 425-1. There was only one of the 424 425-1 version, but there were two variants of the 0720642442517 pressing: one had reddish labels and one had black labels. All of the 2017 variants are super-common and inexpensive. The 2017 one with the 424 425-1 catalogue number seems to be slightly more scarce. And finally (so far), there was an Irish pressing in 2019 - this one was made by Dublin Vinyl as part of its "Loves Vinyl Monthly Subscription Club", and is actually a bit hard to find already.

U.S. Original - 1991	U.S. Original CRC Version - 1991	Czech Turquoise - 1992
Czech Picture Disc - 1992	ORG Black - RTI - 2009	ORG Blue - Pallas - 2010
Europe 4xLP Deluxe Picture Disc - Disc 1 - 2011	UK Art Vinyl LP+CD - 2011	Silver - Target Exclusive - 2019

This page was last updated on July 24, 2021.