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Bleach (Nirvana album)

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Untitled

Bleach is the debut album by the American grunge band Nirvana. It was released on June 15, 1989 through the independent record label Sub Pop. Bleach originally sold a mere 30,000 copies, but following the enormous success of the band's second album, Nevermind (1991), fans discovered Nirvana's lesser known debut. It has since been certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America.

Recording

The main sessions for Bleach took place at Reciprocal Recording Studios in Seattle, Washington, with local producer Jack Endino manning the board. Nirvana began recording with a five hour session on December 24, 1988.[1] The band recorded again on December 29-31, and on January 14 and 24.[2] Ultimately Endino billed the group for 30 hours of recording time. Three of the album's songs–"Floyd the Barber", "Paper Cuts", and the CD-only track "Downer"–were recorded during a previous session at Reciprocal Studios in 1988, featuring Dale Crover on drums. Despite attempts to re-record them with new drummer Chad Channing, the band ultimately decided to remix the versions recorded with Crover for the final version of Bleach.[3] "Big Long Now" was omitted from the album because vocalist/guitarist Kurt Cobain felt "there was already enough slow heavy stuff on Bleach, and he "didn't want that song to go out", according to Endino.[2] The album was edited and sequenced, but Sub Pop head Bruce Pavitt ordered that the album be completely resequenced. The record was further delayed for several months until Sub Pop was able to secure sufficient funds to issue it.[3]

The recording sessions were completed with a cost of $606.[4] Jason Everman, a guitarist who was impressed by the band's demo with Dale Crover, supplied the money. He eventually joined Nirvana as a second guitarist.[3] Everman received a credit on the album sleeve, even though he did not perform on the record. Bassist Krist Novoselic explained, "We just wanted to make him feel at home in the band."[5]

Music

According to Cobain, the music on Bleach conformed with the grunge genre Sub Pop heavily endorsed. "There was this pressure from Sub Pop and the [grunge] scene to play 'rock music'," Cobain said. "Strip it down and make it sound like Aerosmith." Cobain felt he had to fit the expectations of the grunge sound in order to build a fanbase, and so he purposefully suppressed his arty and pop songwriting traits when crafting the record.[6]

Cobain told Spin in 1993 that with Bleach "I didn't give a flying fuck what the lyrics were about," and claimed that eighty percent of the lyrics were written the night before recording.[7] Cobain often was still working on them on the drive to the recording studio.[3] He explained, "It was like I'm pissed off. Don't know what about. Let's just scream negative lyrics, and as long as they're not sexist and don't get too embarrassing it'll be okay. I don't hold any of those lyrics dear to me."[7] Nirvana biographer Michael Azerrad noted that nevertheless many of the songs on the album were reflective of Cobain and various incidents in his life.[8] "Mr. Moustache" was inspired by Cobain's dislike of macho behavior,[9] while "School" was a critique of the Seattle music scene, particularly Sub Pop.[10]

Release

Sub Pop pressed the first 1,000 copies on white vinyl, the next 2,000 on black, and all subsequent pressings were on red and blue. The first 3,000 copies of the record came with a poster, featuring Jason Everman. The vinyl pressings omitted "Big Cheese" or "Downer".[11] In the United Kingdom, the record was released on Tupelo Records in June 1989. The first 300 Tupelo copies were pressed on white vinyl; the next 2,000 copies were on dark green. The rest of the Tupelo copies were on black vinyl. The Tupelo copies did contain "Love Buzz", but "Big Cheese" was listed on the label and sleeve instead. They also did not contain "Downer".[11] In Australia, Bleach was released on Waterfront Records and later re-issued on various colored covers and colored vinyl prior to 1992.[12] Sub Pop released a remastered version of the album on CD and cassette in April 1992.[11]

Title

The album's working title was Too Many Humans.[13] It was renamed Bleach after Cobain found an AIDS prevention poster while Nirvana was driving through San Francisco. The poster advised heroin addicts to bleach their needles before use, featuring the slogan "Bleach Your Works."[3]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Kurt Cobain, except where noted

No.TitleLength
1."Blew"2:55
2."Floyd the Barber"2:18
3."About a Girl"2:48
4."School"2:42
5."Love Buzz" (Robbie van Leeuwen)3:35
6."Paper Cuts"4:06
7."Negative Creep"2:56
8."Scoff"4:10
9."Swap Meet"3:03
10."Mr. Moustache"3:24
11."Sifting"5:22
12."Big Cheese" (CD and cassette only)3:42
13."Downer" (Cobain, Krist Novoselic, CD and cassette only)1:43

Personnel

Chart positions

Year Chart Position
1992 Finland Albums Chart 24
1992 German Albums Chart 24
1992 Austrian Albums Chart 26
1992 New Zealand Albums Chart 30
1992 UK Albums Chart 33
1992 Australian Albums Chart 34
1992 Japanese Albums Chart 46
1992 US Billboard 200 89

Accolades

  • Kerrang! magazine "100 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die" - Editors Choice #78 (1998)
  • Kerrang! magazine "100 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die" - Readers Choice #28 (1998)

References

  • Azerrad, Michael. Come As You Are: The Story of Nirvana. Doubleday, 1994. ISBN 0-385-47199-8
  • Cross, Charles. Heavier Than Heaven: A Biography of Kurt Cobain. Hyperion, 2001. ISBN 0-7868-8402-9

Notes

  1. ^ Azerrad, 1994. p. 90
  2. ^ a b Gaar, Gillian G. "Verse Chorus Verse: The Recording History of Nirvana". Goldmine. February 14, 1997.
  3. ^ a b c d e Azerrad, 1994. p. 91
  4. ^ Hannah Levin, "Jack Endino", Seattle Metropolitan, December 2008, p. 66.
  5. ^ Azerrad, 1994. p. 92
  6. ^ Azerrad, 1994. p. 102
  7. ^ a b Steinke, Darcey. "Smashing Their Heads on That Punk Rock". Spin. October 1993.
  8. ^ Azerrad, 1994. p. 97
  9. ^ Azerrad, 1994. p. 99
  10. ^ Azerrad, 1994. p. 100
  11. ^ a b c Tuller, Aaron (1996-10-19). "Nirvana Discography 3.3". Retrieved 2007-04-04.
  12. ^ Waterfront Records Discography. Retrieved April 4, 2007.
  13. ^ Cross, p. 105
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