Before Nirvana became a household name, they released their raw and gritty debut album, “Bleach.”
Nirvana’s “Bleach”
The album dropped in 1989 and it was a powerful introduction to the band’s grunge sound that would later revolutionize rock music. The album captures the raw energy and angst of Kurt Cobain, Krist Novoselic, and Chad Channing. Tracks like “About a Girl” and “Negative Creep” are prime examples of band’s early sounds, a fusion of punk’s rebellious spirit and heavy guitar riffs. Although it didn’t achieve immediate success, it laid the groundwork for Nirvana’s explosive rise. The album’s underground success was a sign of bigger things to come. Nirvana was poised to take grunge to the new heights.
Well, 35 years have passed since its release and to celebrate the milestone anniversary.
Here are a few facts about the Nirvana album:
Initially, Sub Pop had only wanted to put out an EP from the band and not a whole album. It was back in 1988, when Sub Pop released Nirvana’s first ever single “Love Buzz,” a Dutch band called Shocking Blue insisted that they were ready to put out a full album. When “Bleach” was released, a slightly different version of “Love Buzz” appeared on the album.
Meanwhile, as per Michael Azerrad’s “Come As You Are: The Story of Nirvana”, Kurt Cobain felt the pressure to stick to the “Seattle grunge” sound that he felt Sub Pop was pushing, so he scrapped any poppy song ideas he had.
Cut to 1993, Cobain told Spin that he “didn’t give a flying f*** what the lyrics were about” when he wrote the songs for the album, clarifying that the night before Nirvana were set to record “Bleach” he was “pissed off”.
“Let’s just scream negative lyrics, and as long as they’re not sexist and don’t get too embarrassing it’ll be okay,” he said. “I don’t hold any of those lyrics dear to me.”
Kurt Cobain changed the name to “Bleach”
It has also come to light that the original working title for the album was “Too Many Humans.” However, Cobain changed it after he saw an AIDS prevention poster in San Francisco that warned heroin users to bleach their needles as a safety precaution.
Interestingly, the album featured several drummers since Dave Grohl didn’t join Nirvana until 1990. Dale Crover, of the Melvins, played on three of the album’s songs – “Floyd the Barber,” “Paper Cuts,” and “Downer”. When Chad Channing was brought on as the band’s new drummer, they had intended to re-record those songs with Channing, but instead just remixed Crovers’ versions.
Another interesting fact that is worth noting is that guitarist Jason Everman was such a fan of Nirvana’s demo tape, that he paid the bill for the recording time spent on “Bleach”, totalling $606.17. Everman ended up joining Nirvana as their second guitarist for a short period, and the band decided to give him credits on the album and feature him on the cover even though he technically didn’t play on it.
Krist Novoselic told Rolling Stone in 2001 that the band had some interesting influences for the album. Prior to recording, they often listened to a tape they had in their van that had songs by the Smithereens and Celtic Frost.
“That tape was always getting played, turned over and over again. I think back now and go, ‘Yeah, maybe that was an influence,’” he said.
“Bleach” is the only Nirvana record to be put out by Seattle-based Sub Pop Records. However, it is the company’s best-selling album of all time. Initially, “Bleach” only sold 40,000 copies in the US, but that all changed after 1991 when Nirvana released “Nevermind” and their popularity skyrocketed. In 1995, the album was certified Platinum, and currently has sold over 1.9 million copies.
