Featured Playlists
Nevermind
The full Nirvana album "Nevermind".
For information on this album visit:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N<wbr>evermind
Live at Reading
"Live at Reading" by Nirvana from their performance at the 1992 Reading Festival, released in 2009.
Bleach
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 poorly known debut. It has since been certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America, making it one of only two albums released on Sub Pop to have received platinum certification, the other being the self-titled album by Flight of the Conchords.
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. The band recorded again on December 29-31, and on January 14 and 24. 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. "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. 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.
The recording sessions were completed with a cost of $606. 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. 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."
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. Krist Novoselic noted in a 2001 interview with Rolling Stone that the band had played a tape in their van while on tour that had an album by The Smithereens on one side and an album by the black metal band Celtic Frost on the other, and noted that the combination probably played an influence as well.
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. Cobain often was still working on them on the drive to the recording studio. 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." Nirvana biographer Michael Azerrad noted that nevertheless many of the songs on the album were reflective of Cobain and various incidents in his life. "Mr. Moustache" was inspired by Cobain's dislike of macho behavior, while "School" was a critique of the Seattle music scene, particularly Sub Pop.
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". 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". In Australia, Bleach was released on Waterfront Records and later re-issued on various colored covers and colored vinyl prior to 1992. Sub Pop released a remastered version of the album on CD and cassette in April 1992.
Packaging
The album's working title was Too Many Humans. 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."
Hormoaning (EP)
Hormoaning is an EP by the American grunge band Nirvana. It was released on February 5, 1992 through DGC Records and Geffen Records. It was released in Australia and Japan only, during the band's tour there.
Four of the songs on Hormoaning are covers which had not been released previously. The remaining two songs are Nirvana originals which previously appeared as b-sides in singles for Nevermind.
"Aneurysm" and "Even in His Youth", the two Nirvana originals, also appear as b-sides on the "Smells Like Teen Spirit" single. This version of Aneurysm also appears on disc two of With the Lights Out and is different from the version released on Incesticide.
"Turnaround" (originally by Devo), "Son of a Gun" and "Molly's Lips" (originally by The Vaselines) appear on the Incesticide album
"D-7" is a cover of The Wipers song and appears on the UK version of the "Lithium" single and later on disc 2 of With the Lights Out in 2004.
In Australia, 15,000 copies were released. 4,000 on burgundy 12" vinyl, 10,000 on CD, and 1,000 on cassette.
In Japan it was released on CD, and later 12" vinyl in large quantities. The two releases have entirely different artwork and as a result, the Australian version is considered rare due to the enduring popularity of the band.
There were only two "official" Japanese Geffen pressings, both on CD with barely noticeable variations in artwork. The Japanese CDs were rushed out without prior consent from the US parent company (note low rent artwork culled from Nevermind) and were subsequently deleted. All Japanese vinyl copies are counterfeit.
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