This page details the entire series of the first Sub Pop Singles Club, which covered 61 singles from November 1988 to December 1993.  These singles are all also covered within my even more extensive "Sub Pop Singles By Catalogue Number" pages (see menu).

Page Index
Sub Pop Singles Club Version 1

There it is...Sub Pop Singles Club #1, released November 1988.  Nirvana's legendary first single.  1000 hand-numbered copies, 200 additional copies with red marker across the number space on the sleeve.  All are on black vinyl.  The value fluctuates wildly on this record.  Even if you catch it in a downswing, however, it will cost you an awful lot of money.  I do not feel the need to really go into excruciating detail on this one.  Check out sliver.it for the full story.  I cannot do a better job than that.  Note that there are MANY bootlegs out there (also see sliver.it for details).  They are not terribly difficult to spot once you know what to look for.  Remarkably, the bootlegs also sell for a considerable amount of money...lately (April 2008) the fakes have been going for over $300.  Asinine.  

Summary:

Sleeve: Paper foldover

Test pressing: Black vinyl, small hole, plain white labels.

Test Press

Sub Pop Singles Club single #2, released 12/88.  500 on clear vinyl and 2500 on black.  Sonic Youth and Mudhoney cover each other.  A classic.

Summary:

Sleeve: Paper foldover

Test pressing: Black vinyl, small hole, plain white labels.

Test Press

Clear

Black

Sub Pop Singles Club single #3, released January 1989.  1500 copies, all on black vinyl. 

Summary:

Sleeve: Paper foldover

Test pressing: Black vinyl, small hole, plain white labels.

Test Press

Sub Pop Singles Club single #4, released February 1989.  1500 copies, all on black vinyl. 

Summary:

Sleeve: Paper foldover

Test pressing: Black vinyl, small hole, plain white labels.

Test Press

Sub Pop Singles Club single #5, released March 1989.  1500 copies, all on black vinyl. 

Summary:

Sleeve: Paper foldover

Sub Pop Singles Club single #6, released April 1989.  This record was limited to 1500 copies, all on black vinyl.  The version of White Trash Party on this single is a different version from the one that was released on the Up in It album.

Summary:

Sleeve: Paper foldover

Test pressing: Black vinyl, small hole, plain white labels.  SP-32 on side A in black marker.

Test Press

Sub Pop Singles Club single #7, released May 1989.  Limited to 1500 copies, all on black vinyl.  The labels are misnumbered; they say it is SP31...it isn't.

Summary:

Sleeve: Paper foldover

Sub Pop Singles Club single #8, released June 1989.  Limited to 2500 copies, all on black vinyl.  Both bands cover Black Flag songs.  

Summary:

Sleeve: Paper foldover

Loose Insert

Sub Pop Singles Club single #9, released July 1989.  Limited to 1500 copies, all on black vinyl.  

Summary:

Sleeve: Paper foldover

Test pressing: Black vinyl, small hole, plain white labels.

Loose Insert

Test Press

Sub Pop Singles Club single #10, released August 1989.  Limited to 2500 copies, 1000 on clear vinyl and 1500 on black vinyl.  After a steady run of consistent value, the price of the clear vinyl version has been rising over the past year.

Summary:

Sleeve: Paper foldover w/ loose insert

Test pressing: Black vinyl, small hole, plain white labels.

Loose Insert	Test Press
Clear	Black

Sub Pop Singles Club single #11, released September 1989.  Limited to 2000 copies, 1000 on clear vinyl and 1000 on black vinyl.  I always thought there were 1200 clear, but Sub Pop says it was 1000, so...well, I am believing that at the moment.

Summary:

Sleeve: Paper foldover w/ loose insert

Test pressing: Black vinyl, small hole, plain white labels.  Mislabeled as "SP44" on one label on the copy that I have.  "Mudhoney SP44" is also written on the sleeve.

Loose Insert	Test Press
Clear	Black

Sub Pop Singles Club single #12, released October 1989.  Limited to 2000 copies, 1200 on red vinyl and 800 on black vinyl.  The test pressing of this record was on purple vinyl.

Summary:

Sleeve: Paper foldover w/ loose insert

Test pressing: Purple vinyl, small hole, plain white labels.

Loose Insert	Test Press

Sub Pop Singles Club single #13, released November 1989.  2000 copies pressed, 1200 on red vinyl and 800 on black vinyl.

Summary:

Sleeve: Paper foldover w/ loose insert

Loose Insert

Sub Pop Singles Club single #14, released December 1989.  2000 copies pressed, 1200 on green vinyl and 800 on black vinyl.  This one has a weird sleeve, pressed on a rice paper and laid over a beige inner sleeve.   

Summary:

Sleeve: Rice paper foldover w/ inner velum sleeve and paper insert

Inner Sleeve	Loose Insert
Green	Black

Sub Pop Singles Club single #15, released January 1990.  3000 copies pressed: 1200 on green and 1800 on black. 

Summary:

Sleeve: Paper foldover w/ loose insert

Test Pressing: Black vinyl, white labels, small hole

Loose Insert	Test Press

Sub Pop Singles Club single #16, released February 1990.  Limited to 3000 copies, 1500 on white vinyl and 1500 on black vinyl.  Supposedly, there was a second pressing of this one of about 50 on purple vinyl.  I have never seen one of these.  I am not convinced they exist.  

Summary:

Sleeve: Paper foldover w/ loose insert

Rumors:
Purple vinyl version.  If anyone has one of these, please email me and send pics.

Loose Insert

Sub Pop Singles Club single #17, released March 1990.  3000 copies pressed, 1500 on white vinyl and 1500 on black vinyl.  Okay, the insert situation is a little screwy with this record.  Many just came with the normal loose paper insert (see A below).  I got one recently that clearly had not been touched since its release.  It contained a catalogue that had insert A incorporated into it (see B below), along with a credit card survey printed on dot matrix paper (C).  Then...I heard from somebody who received two photographs along with their copy (thanks to Keith for the pic).  

Summary:

Sleeve: Paper foldover w/ loose inserts

		Insert A
Insert B - Side 1	Insert B - Side 2	Insert C
Photo Insert

Sub Pop Singles Club single #18, released April 1990.  3500 copies total: 2000 on gold (yellow), 1500 on black.

Summary:

Sleeve: Paper foldover w/ loose insert

Loose Insert

Sub Pop Singles Club single #19, released May 1990.  Limited to 3500 copies, 2000 on gold (yellow) vinyl, 1500 on black vinyl.  When I was selling my last big set of records, someone emailed me to tell me of a red vinyl version of this one.  He said that there were a few made, but they didn't play correctly, so they were scrapped.  He also said that there was a version of the sleeve with an alternate picture on it.  I am skeptical.  I have never seen of heard of either of these things before or since.  It is a rumor, though, so I am including it.

Summary:

Sleeve: Paper foldover w/ loose insert

Rumors:
Red vinyl version; alternate sleeve with different picture.  I don't think either of these things exists, but...that's my gut talking.

Loose Insert

Sub Pop Singles Club single #20, released June 1990.  Limited to 4000 copies, 2000 on blue vinyl and 2000 on black vinyl.

Summary:

Sleeve: Paper foldover w/ insert attached

Attached Insert

Sub Pop Singles Club single #21, released July 1990.  Limited to 4000 copies, 2000 on color vinyl ( pink marble and red) and 2000 on black vinyl.  The red ones are by far the rarest.  I don't know precisely how many red copies were pressed, but I probably see ne red for every 10-15 pink ones I come across.  There is also an in-between-colors version, which is a combination of the pink and black.  It ends up basically being purple.  However, after viewing this one up close, I consider it part of the pink set.  It's the rarest of the bunch, but I don't think it deserves to be considered a separate color.  I have included a scan below.

Summary:

Sleeve: Paper foldover w/ insert attached

Attached Insert
	"Purple": Pink + Black

Sub Pop Singles Club single #22, released August 1990.  Limited to 4000 copies: 2500 on green marble vinyl and 1500 on black vinyl.  

Summary:

Sleeve: Paper foldover w/ insert attached

Test pressing: Green marble vinyl, small hole, plain white labels.

Attached Insert	Test Press

Sub Pop Singles Club single #23, released September 1990.  This single was the source of some confusion at one point.  An early discography listed it as a 4000 copy pressing, with 2500 on green vinyl and 1500 on black.  The pressing plant must have been short on the green, because it ended up being 2500 yellow and 1500 black.  The yellow ones are mostly yellow marble, but there are also some clear yellow copies available.  They are rarer.  Check out the comparative pictures below. To complicate matters, there were a handful of green marble copies that made it to the market.  They are by far the rarest variety.  A fellow collector got one from a former Sub Pop employee (that being Green Marble 2 below), who said that there were 50 of these made and given to the band.  I would believe this figure - these are very tough to come by.

Summary:

Sleeve: Paper foldover w/ insert attached

Test pressing: Green marble vinyl, small hole, plain white labels.

Test Press	Yellow Marble	Clear Yellow
Attached Insert	Green Marble	Green Marble 2
Comparison of Yellows		Black

Sub Pop Singles Club Bonus single, released September 1990.  Limited to 5000 copies, 1500 on purple vinyl and 3500 on black vinyl. 

Summary:

Sleeve: Paper foldover w/ insert attached

Test pressing: Orange-peach vinyl, small hole, plain white labels.

Attached Insert	Test Press

Sub Pop Singles Club single #24, released October 1990.  Limited to 4500 copies, 3000 on pinkish-red marble vinyl and 1500 on black vinyl.  Some will call the color vinyl version of this single pink, some will call it red.  It's the same thing in this case.    

Summary:

Sleeve: Paper foldover w/ insert attached

Test pressing: Black vinyl, small hole, plain white labels.

Attached Insert	Test Press

Sub Pop Singles Club single #25, released November 1990.  Limited to 4500 copies, 3000 on mint green marble vinyl and 1500 on black vinyl.  Much like many of the other records listed here, the color vinyl version sells for more, even though there are twice as many in existence.  People like pretty colors...

Summary:

Sleeve: Paper foldover w/ insert attached

Attached Insert

Sub Pop Singles Club single #26, released December 1990.  Limited to 6500 copies.  Based on the pressing patterns of that time period, I always thought the breakdown is 3500 on blue marble vinyl and 3000 on black, but Sub Pop says there were 4000 on blue, which means the black one is much rarer.  It is usually cheaper, though.

Summary:

Sleeve: Paper foldover w/ insert attached

Attached Insert

Sub Pop Singles Club single #27, released January 1991.  7500 total pressed - 4000 on green marble vinyl, 3500 on black.  Some bootlegs have surfaced of the black version - see the sliver.it page about this single for the details.

Summary:

Sleeve: Paper foldover w/ insert attached

Test pressing: Black vinyl, small hole, plain white labels.

Attached Insert	Test Press	Green Marble
	Black	Solid Green

Sub Pop Singles Club single #28, released February 1991.  Limited to 7000 copies, 4000 on clear vinyl and 3000 on black vinyl.  This one can be found at any record store in the world at any time.  I am convinced this is true.

Summary:

Sleeve: Paper foldover w/ insert attached

Test pressing: Black vinyl, small hole, plain white labels.

Attached Insert	Test Press

Sub Pop Singles Club single #29, released March 1991.  Limited to 7000 copies, 4000 on lilac vinyl and 3000 on black.  Well...I thought it was that simple.  Many people call the lilac one pink.  That's a fair assessment.  Slightly misleading, though.  It's more of a lavender (and officially, it's lilac). I thought there was no pink one. Then I found a pink one.  Oops.  It looks like it is part of the lilac pressing, but they ran out of the marbling colors.  The result: it's pink, and very rare.  See pics.  In real life, it is more pink than in the picture. It is a distinct difference.  

Summary:

Sleeve: Paper foldover w/ insert attached

Test pressing: Black vinyl, small hole, plain white labels.

Attached Insert	Test Press
	Lilac	Pink

Sub Pop Singles Club single #30, released April 1991.  Limited to 5000 grey copies.  This was one of the records that was pressed in Germany.  

Summary:

Sleeve: Paper foldover w/ insert attached

Attached Insert

Sub Pop Singles Club single #31, released May 1991.  Limited to 5000 copies, all on neon yellow vinyl.  This was another in the brief German pressing era.

Summary:

Sleeve: Paper foldover w/ insert attached

Attached Insert

Sub Pop Singles Club single #32/33, released June 1991 (as a double single, it also counted for July).  Limited to 5500 copies, mostly on black vinyl, with a handful on blue-grey vinyl.  I don't think it was really supposed to be pressed in blue.  The A-side label says "Limited Edition Black Vinyl," and the D-side label says, "they're all black, sucker."  I just recently got a blue copy after a very long search, and I paid more than the price listed here to get it.  Be warned.

Summary:

Sleeve: Paper foldover

Test pressing: Black vinyl, large hole, plain white labels.

A/B Test Press	A/B Black	A/B Blue-Grey
C/D Test Press	C/D Black	C/D Blue-Grey

Sub Pop Singles Club single #34, released August 1991.  Limited to 4500 copies, all on white vinyl.  From this point on, most of the rest of the singles were predominantly released on one color of vinyl (with a few notable exceptions...keep reading...).  Most of them also had full sleeves from this point onward.

Summary:

Sleeve: Full cardboard matte

Sub Pop Singles Club single #35, released September 1991.  Limited to 4500 copies, all on grey marble vinyl. 

Summary:

Sleeve: Full cardboard matte

Test pressing: Grey vinyl, small hole, plain white labels.

Test Press

Sub Pop Singles Club single #36, released October 1991.  Limited to 4500 copies, almost all on red vinyl.  This one is fun for so many reasons, not the least of which is the band covers Spinal Tap.  The Dirtbombs' popularity has caused the value of this single to rise.  An early discography cited this as "100 copies on red, 1500 copies on blue marble, 2900 copies on pink".  This is very, very WRONG.  That may have been the original plan for the pressing of this single, but it did not work out that way.  Almost every copy is on red vinyl.  However...there are very, very few blue marble and pink copies out there (probably about 50 of each).  I have seen each exactly once, and it was pure luck that I ended up with both of them.

Summary:

Sleeve: Full cardboard matte

Sub Pop Singles Club single #37, released November 1991.  Limited to 4000 copies, all on green marble vinyl.  

Summary:

Sleeve: Full cardboard matte

Test pressing: Black vinyl, small hole, plain white labels.

Test Press

Sub Pop Singles Club single #38, released December 1991.  Limited to 4000 copies, all on gold (yellow) vinyl.

Summary:

Sleeve: Full glossy

Sub Pop Singles Club single #39, released January 1991.  Limited to 4000 copies, all on pink vinyl. 

Summary:

Sleeve: Full glossy

Sub Pop Singles Club single #40/41, released February 1992 (as a double single, this also counted as the March installment).  Limited to 5000 copies, all on pink vinyl - the first record is on clear pink vinyl, and the second is on pink marble vinyl.  This one also came with a two-sided pink insert correcting the completely mixed-up track listing on the sleeve.  It also advertised upcoming releases and merch.

Summary:

Sleeve: Foldover paper

Test pressing: Yellow vinyl, small hole, plain white labels.

A/B Test	C/D Test	A/B
C/D	Insert Side A	Insert Side B

Sub Pop Singles Club single #42, released April 1992.  3500 copies, all on dark green marble vinyl...it's a really great color of vinyl, and I don't think it was ever used again for Sub Pop.

Summary:

Sleeve: Full glossy

Test pressing: Blue-green marble vinyl (like one of the versions of SP142), small hole, plain white labels.  

Test Press

Sub Pop Singles Club single #43, released May 1992.  Limited to 3285 copies...no, really.  Those numbers actually came from Sub Pop.  There were 1841 blue marble copies, 1234 on white vinyl, and a mere 210 on aqua colored vinyl.  The aqua is a green.  Some confuse the blue with the aqua.  When you see them side by side, it is very easy to tell the difference.  The aqua is basically green.  It would seem that there is quite the color range for the blue copies.  Gregg Conover sent me an image of a light blue version (see below, along with the comparison image).  I recently found a light blue one myself.  Mine does not appear to be quite as light as Gregg's (see lighter blue pic), but those were scanned on different scanners, so you never know.  What this does demonstrate is that the base color here is the light blue, and darker blue and white were mixed in to obtain the blue marbling effect.  As those colors started to run out, they ended up with progressively lighter blue vinyl.  These are clearly a subset of the 1841 blue marble copies, but exactly how many are on the light blue, we will never know.  It is pretty rare. 

Summary:

Sleeve: Full glossy

Blue	White	Aqua
Lighter Blue	Light Blue	Comparison of Blues

Sub Pop Singles Club single #44, released June 1992.  Limited to 2916 copies, all on blue vinyl.  The unconditional love of Rocket from the Crypt meets Sub Pop.  Fabulous single...but I am a slightly biased Rocket from the Crypt loyalist. 

Summary:

Sleeve: Full glossy

Sub Pop Singles Club single #45, released July 1992.  Limited to 2933 copies, almost entirely on clear vinyl.  There are very few copies on white vinyl on the market.  It is not easy to find.

Summary:

Sleeve: Full cardboard matte

Sub Pop Singles Club single #46, released August 1992.  Limited to 2752 copies, all on lavender vinyl.

Summary:

Sleeve: Full glossy

Sub Pop Singles Club single #47, released September 1992.  Limited to 2746 copies, all on blue marble vinyl.  The degree of marbling varies from one copy to another.  There are some out there that are basically solid blue (thanks to Gregg Conover for the pic).

Summary:

Sleeve: Full glossy

Test pressing: Turquoise marble vinyl, small hole, plain white labels.

Test Press

Blue Marble

Solid Blue

Sub Pop Singles Club single #48, released October 1992.  Limited to 2341 copies, all on yellow vinyl.  See how easy this is when there's only one color?  Where's the fun in that, though?

Summary:

Sleeve: Full glossy

Test pressing: Black vinyl, small hole, plain white l