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 obscure 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, selling over 1.7 million copies in the U.S., according to Nielson SoundScan. Worldwide, the album has sold over 4 million copies. The 20th Anniversary re-release, which included a bonus live disc, was released on November 3, 2009.

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.Azerrad, 1994. p. 90 The band recorded again on December 29–31, and on January 14 and 24.Gaar, Gillian G. "Verse Chorus Verse: The Recording History of Nirvana". Goldmine. February 14, 1997. 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.Azerrad, 1994. p. 91 "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. "Blandest" was also omitted from the album. 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 in five hours with a cost of $606.17.Hannah Levin, "Jack Endino", Seattle Metropolitan, December 2008, p. 66. Jason Everman, a guitarist who was impressed by the band's demo with Dale Crover, supplied the money. He briefly joined Nirvana as a second guitarist. Everman is credited (removed on deluxe reissue) as a guitarist on the album sleeve, and is the other guitarist on the cover of the album, 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."Azerrad, 1994. p. 92

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.Azerrad, 1994. p. 102 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.Fricke, David. "Krist Novoselic". Rolling Stone. September 13, 2001.

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.Steinke, Darcey. "Smashing Their Heads on That Punk Rock". Spin. October 1993. 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.Azerrad, 1994. p. 97 "Mr. Moustache" was inspired by Cobain's dislike of macho behavior,Azerrad, 1994. p. 99 while "School" was a critique of the Seattle music scene, particularly Sub Pop.Azerrad, 1994. p. 100

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.. Retrieved April 4, 2007. Sub Pop released a remastered version of the album on CD and cassette in April 1992. This 1992 remastering included the track "Big Cheese" on both CD and cassette releases, while the track "Downer" was included on the CD release. As of January 2007, "Bleach" has sold over 4 million copies worldwide, with over 1.7 million copies sold in the U.S. alone. According to Sub Pop, "Bleach" also had sold an additional 50,000 copies in the U.S. prior to the introduction of Nielson SoundScan, which has recorded album sales in the U.S. since 1991.

For the 20th anniversary of the album, Sub Pop released a deluxe reissue of Bleach featuring a March 2009 remastering from the original tapes by George Marino and a live recording of a 1990 show at Portland, Oregon's Pine Street Theatre. It was released on November 3, 2009. The CD version was packaged in a cardboard foldout case that included a bonus booklet filled with photos of the band from 1987-1990.

Packaging

The album's working title was Too Many Humans.Cross, p. 105 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."

Personnel

* Kurt Cobain – vocals, guitar (credited as "Kurdt Kobain")

* Krist Novoselic – bass guitar (credited as "Chris Novoselic")

* Chad Channing – drums

* Dale Crover – drums on "Floyd the Barber", "Paper Cuts", and "Downer"

* Jason Everman - guitar (credited, does not perform)

* Jack Endino – producer

* Tracy Marander – photography

* Charles Peterson – photography

* Lisa Orth – design

* Jane Higgins – execution

Sales chart positions

References

*Azerrad, Michael. Come As You Are: The Story of Nirvana. Doubleday, 1993. ISBN 0-385-47199-8

*Cross, Charles. Heavier Than Heaven: A Biography of Kurt Cobain. Hyperion, 2001. ISBN 0-7868-8402-9

*True, Everett. Nirvana - The True Story. Omnibus Press, 2006. ISBN 1-84449-640-6

Notes

Artist/Band Information

Nirvana was an American rock band that was formed by singer/guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic in Aberdeen, Washington in 1987. Nirvana went through a succession of drummers, the longest-lasting being Dave Grohl, who joined the band in 1990.

The band established itself as part of the Seattle music scene, releasing its first album Bleach for the independent record label Sub Pop in 1989. After signing to major label DGC Records, Nirvana found unexpected success with "Smells Like Teen Spirit", the band's lead single from its second album Nevermind (1991). Subsequently, Nirvana entered into the mainstream, bringing along with it a subgenre of alternative rock called grunge. As Nirvana's frontman, Kurt Cobain found himself referred to in the media as the "spokesman of a generation," with Nirvana being considered the "flagship band" of Generation X.Azerrad, Michael. "." Rolling Stone. April 16, 1992. Cobain was uncomfortable with the attention and placed his focus on the band's music, believing the band's message and artistic vision to have been misinterpreted by the public, challenging the band's audience with its third studio album In Utero (1993).

Nirvana's brief run ended following the death of Cobain in 1994, but the band's influence and popularity endured in the years that followed. In 2002, "You Know You're Right," an unfinished demo from the band's final recording session, topped radio playlists around the world. Since their debut, the band has sold over twenty-five million albums in the US alone, and over fifty million worldwide.Armstrong, Mark. . Yahoo! Music. November 17, 2002. Retrieved August 18, 2007.. RIAA.com. Retrieved September 22, 2008.

History

Early years

Cobain and Novoselic met in 1985. Both were fans of the Melvins, and frequented the band's practice space. After a couple of false starts at forming their own band, the duo recruited drummer Aaron Burckhard, creating the first incarnation of what would eventually become Nirvana. Cobain later described the sound of the band when they first started as "a Gang of Four and Scratch Acid ripoff."Azerrad, Michael. Come as You Are: The Story of Nirvana. Doubleday, 1994. ISBN 0-385-47199-8, p. 294 Within a few months, Burckhard was fired from the band. He was temporarily replaced by Dale Crover of the Melvins, who played on the band's first demos. Dave Foster then began a brief tenure as the band's drummer.

During its initial months, the band went through a series of names, including Skid Row, Pen Cap Chew, and Ted Ed Fred. The band finally settled on Nirvana in early 1988, which Cobain said was chosen because "I wanted a name that was kind of beautiful or nice and pretty instead of a mean, raunchy punk rock name like the Angry Samoans."Azerrad, 1994. p. 62 Nirvana played their first show under the name that March. A couple of months later, the band finally settled on a drummer, Chad Channing.

Early releases

Nirvana's first release was the single "Love Buzz/Big Cheese" in 1988 on Seattle independent record label Sub Pop. The following year, the band released its first album, Bleach. To record Bleach, the band turned to noted local producer Jack Endino, who had recorded the band's first studio demos. Bleach was highly influenced by the heavy dirge-rock of the Melvins and Mudhoney, 1980s punk rock, and the 1970s heavy metal of Black Sabbath. 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.Fricke, David. "Krist Novoselic". Rolling Stone. September 13, 2001. Bleach became a favorite of college radio stations nationally, but gave few hints of where the band would find itself two years later.

The money for the recording sessions for Bleach, listed as $606.17 on the album sleeve, was supplied by Jason Everman. Everman was introduced to Cobain by Dylan Carlson, but had known Channing since the fifth grade. Everman began hanging out with the band, and offered to lend the money to them for the recording.Azerrad, 1994. p. 91 Though Everman did not actually play on the album, he was credited for playing guitar on Bleach because, according to Novoselic, they "wanted to make him feel more at home in the band."Azerrad, 1994. p. 91–2 After the album was completed, Everman had a brief stay with the band as a second guitar player, but was fired following their first US tour.

In a late 1989 interview, Cobain noted that the band's music was changing. He said, "The early songs were really angry ... But as time goes on the songs are getting poppier and poppier as I get happier and happier. The songs are now about conflicts in relationships, emotional things with other human beings."Robb, John. "White Heat." Sounds. October 21, 1989 In April 1990, the band began working with producer Butch Vig at Smart Studios in Madison, Wisconsin on recordings for the follow-up to Bleach.Azerrad, 1994. p. 137 During the sessions, Cobain and Novoselic became disenchanted with Channing's drumming, and Channing expressed frustration at not being actively involved in songwriting.Azerrad, 1994. p. 138 Not long after the sessions were complete, Channing left the band. After a few weeks with Dale Crover of the Melvins filling in, Nirvana hired Mudhoney drummer Dan Peters, with whom they recorded the song "Sliver" that was released as a single in 1990. A few weeks later, Buzz Osborne of the Melvins introduced them to Dave Grohl, who was looking for a new band following the sudden break-up of D.C. hardcore punks Scream.Azerrad, 1994. p. 151 A few days after arriving in Seattle, Novoselic and Cobain auditioned Grohl, with Novoselic later stating, "We knew in two minutes that he was the right drummer."Azerrad, 1994. p. 154

Mainstream success

Disenchanted with Sub Pop and with the Smart Studios sessions generating interest, Nirvana decided to look for a deal with a major record label.Azerrad, 1994. p. 136–37 Following repeated recommendations by Sonic Youth's Kim Gordon, Nirvana signed to DGC Records in 1990.Azerrad, 1994. p. 162 The band subsequently began recording its first major label album, Nevermind. They were offered a number of producers to choose from, but ultimately held out for Butch Vig.Azerrad, 1994. p. 164–65 Rather than recording at Vig's Madison studio as they had in 1990, they shifted to Sound City Studios in Van Nuys, Los Angeles, California. For two months, the band worked through a variety of songs in their catalog. Some of the songs, including "In Bloom" and "Breed," had been in the band's repertoire for years, while others, including "On a Plain" and "Stay Away," lacked finished lyrics until mid-way through the recording process.Azerrad, 1994. p. 176–77 After the recording sessions were completed, Vig and the band set out to mix the album. However, the recording sessions had run behind schedule and the resulting mixes were deemed unsatisfactory. Slayer mixer Andy Wallace was brought in to create the final mix. After the album's release, members of Nirvana expressed dissatisfaction with the polished sound the mixer had given Nevermind.Azerrad, 1994. p. 179–80

Initially, DGC Records was hoping to sell 250,000 copies of Nevermind, which was the same level they had achieved with Sonic Youth's Goo.Wice, Nathaniel. "How Nirvana Made It". Spin. April 1993. However, the album's first single "Smells Like Teen Spirit" quickly gained momentum, thanks in part to significant airplay of the song's music video on MTV. As they toured Europe during late 1991, the band found that the shows were dangerously oversold, that television crews were becoming a constant presence onstage, and that "Smells Like Teen Spirit" was almost omnipresent on radio and music television.Azerrad, 1994. p. 203 By Christmas 1991, Nevermind was selling 400,000 copies a week in the US.Lyons, James. Selling Seattle: Representing Contemporary Urban America. Wallflower, 2004. ISBN 1903364965, p. 120 On January 11, 1992, the album reached number one on the Billboard album charts, displacing Michael Jackson's album Dangerous."The Billboard 200". Billboard. January 11, 1992. The album also topped the charts in numerous countries worldwide.Azerrad, 1994. p. 239 The month Nevermind reached number one, Billboard proclaimed, "Nirvana is that rare band that has everything: critical acclaim, industry respect, pop radio appeal, and a rock-solid college/alternative base.""Nirvana Achieves Chart Perfection!" Billboard. January 25, 1992.

In February 1992, following the band's Pacific Rim tour, Cobain married Hole frontwoman Courtney Love in Hawaii. Love gave birth to a daughter, Frances Bean Cobain, the following August. Citing exhaustion, the band decided not to undertake another U.S. tour in support of Nevermind, instead opting to make only a handful of performances later that year.Azerrad, 1994. p. 256 Just days after Frances Bean's birth, Nirvana performed one of its best-known concerts, headlining at the Reading Festival in England. Amid rumors about Cobain's health and the possibility the band might break up, Cobain entered the stage in a wheelchair as a practical joke, then proceeded to get up and join the rest of the band in tearing through an assortment of old and new material.Azerrad, Michael. "." Rolling Stone. October 29, 1992. Dave Grohl related in 2005 on the radio program Loveline that the band was genuinely concerned beforehand that the show would be a complete disaster, given all that had happened in the months leading up to the show. Instead, the performance ended up being one of the most memorable of their career.

Less than two weeks later, Nirvana performed at the MTV Video Music Awards. During the first rehearsal for the show, Cobain announced that they were going to play a new song during the broadcast, and the band rehearsed "Rape Me". MTV's executives were appalled by the song, and, according to show producer Amy Finnerty, the executives believed that the song was about them. They insisted that the band could not play "Rape Me," even threatening to throw Nirvana off the show and stop airing their videos entirely. After a series of intense discussions, MTV and Nirvana agreed that the band would play "Lithium," their latest single.Cross, Charles. Heavier Than Heaven: A Biography of Kurt Cobain. Hyperion, 2001. ISBN 0-7868-8402-9 When the band began their performance, Cobain strummed and sang the first few bars of "Rape Me" before breaking into "Lithium". Near the end of the song, frustrated that his amp had stopped functioning, Novoselic decided to toss his bass into the air for dramatic effect. He misjudged the landing, and the bass ended up bouncing off his forehead, causing him to stumble off the stage in a daze. As Cobain trashed their equipment, Grohl ran to the mic and began yelling "Hi, Axl!" repeatedly, referring to Guns N' Roses singer Axl Rose, with whom the band and Courtney had had a bizarre and bellicose encounter before the show.Azerrad, 1993. p. 279: Cobain's version of the story was that Courtney had jokingly asked Rose to be the godfather of Frances Bean. Rose responded by telling Cobain to "shut up his bitch". Cobain turned to Courtney and said, "Shut up, bitch!" eliciting laughter from the Nirvana entourage.

Nirvana released Incesticide, a collection of rarities and B-sides, in December 1992. Many of Nirvana's radio sessions and unreleased early recordings were starting to circulate via trading circles and illegal bootlegs, so the album served to circumvent the bootleggers. retrieved 6th August 2008

In Utero

For Nirvana's third album In Utero, the band brought in producer Steve Albini, well-known for his work on the Pixies album Surfer Rosa. As Nevermind had brought in a new audience of listeners who had little or no experience with the alternative, obscure, or experimental bands Nirvana saw as their forebears, bringing in Albini appeared to be a deliberate move on Nirvana's part to give the album a raw, less-polished sound. For example, one song on In Utero featuring long periods of shrill feedback noise was titled, ironically, "Radio Friendly Unit Shifter" (in the industry, a "radio-friendly unit shifter" describes an "ideal" album: one capable of heavy radio play and ultimately selling many copies, or "units"). However, Cobain insisted that Albini's sound was simply the one he had always wanted Nirvana to have: a "natural" recording without layers of studio trickery.Azerrad, 1994. p. 317 The sessions with Albini were productive and notably quick, and the album was recorded and mixed in two weeks for a cost of $25,000 at Pachyderm Studio in Cannon Falls, Minnesota.DeRogatis, Jim. Milk It!: Collected Musings on the Alternative Music Explosion of the 90's. Cambridge: Da Capo, 2003. ISBN 0-306-81271-1, p. 4

Several weeks after the completion of the recording sessions, stories ran in the Chicago Tribune and Newsweek that quoted sources claiming DGC considered the album "unreleasable".DeRogatis, 2003. p. 17 As a result, fans began to believe that the band's creative vision might be compromised by their label.Azerrad, 1994. p. 332 While the stories about DGC shelving the album were untrue, the band actually was unhappy with certain aspects of Albini's mixes. Specifically, they thought the bass levels were too low,Fricke, David. "Kurt Cobain: The Rolling Stone Interview". Rolling Stone. January 27, 1994. and Cobain felt that "Heart-Shaped Box" and "All Apologies" did not sound "perfect".Azerrad, 1994. p. 336–37 Longtime R.E.M. producer Scott Litt was called in to help remix those two songs, with Cobain adding additional instrumentation and backing vocals.Azerrad, 1994. p. 338

In Utero debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 album chart in September 1993."." Entertainment Weekly. October 8, 1993. Times Christopher John Farley wrote in his review of the album, "Despite the fears of some alternative-music fans, Nirvana hasn't gone mainstream, though this potent new album may once again force the mainstream to go Nirvana."Farley, Christopher John. "." Time. September 20, 1993. Although commercially successful, the album did not achieve the same success as Nevermind. That fall, Nirvana embarked on its first major tour of the United States in two years. For the tour, the band added Pat Smear of the punk rock band Germs as a second guitarist.Azerrad, 1994. p. 352

Final months and Cobain's death

In November 1993, Nirvana, along with Smear, performed for MTV Unplugged. The band opted to stay away from their most recognizable songs, playing only two of their hits, "All Apologies" and "Come as You Are". Grohl later related, "We knew we didn't want to do an acoustic version of Teen Spirit. ... That would've been horrendously stupid."Di Perna, Alan. "Behind Unplugged". Guitar World. March 1995. The setlist also included a few relatively obscure covers, with members of the Meat Puppets joining the band for covers of three of their songs. While rehearsals for the show had been problematic, MTV Unplugged producer Alex Coletti noted that the actual taping went exceedingly well, with every song performed in one take and with the complete set lasting under an hour, which were both unusual for Unplugged sessions. Following the band's set-ending performance of Lead Belly's "Where Did You Sleep Last Night", Coletti tried to convince the band to perform an encore. "Kurt said, 'I can't top that last song.' And when he said that, I backed off. 'Cause I knew he was right." The band's performance debuted on MTV on December 14, 1993.

In early 1994, the band embarked on a European tour. Following a tour stop at Terminal Eins in Munich, Germany, on March 1, Cobain was diagnosed with bronchitis and severe laryngitis. retrieved 6th August 2008 The next night's show, at the same venue, was canceled. In Rome, on the morning of March 4, Love found Cobain unconscious in their hotel room and he was rushed to the hospital. A doctor from the hospital told a press conference that Cobain had reacted to a combination of prescription Rohypnol and alcohol. The rest of the tour was canceled, including a planned leg in the UK. retrieved 6th August 2008

In the ensuing weeks, Cobain's heroin addiction resurfaced. An intervention was organized, and Cobain was convinced to admit himself into drug rehabilitation. After less than a week in rehabilitation, Cobain climbed over the wall of the facility and took a plane back to Seattle. A week later, on Friday, April 8, 1994, Cobain was found dead of a self-inflicted shotgun wound to the head at his Seattle home, dissolving Nirvana. retrieved 6th August 2008

Aftermath

Dave Grohl in London.jpgleftthumb190pxGrohl performing with the Foo Fighters in 2006.

In the years following Nirvana's disbanding, both surviving members remained musically active. Not long after Cobain's death, Grohl recorded a series of demos that eventually became the debut album for Foo Fighters. Foo Fighters became Grohl's main project, releasing several commercially successful records over the next decade. Beyond Foo Fighters, Grohl also drummed for numerous bands, including Paul McCartney, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Mike Watt, Queens of the Stone Age, Tenacious D, Nine Inch Nails, and Killing Joke. He also recorded an album of metal songs featuring many of his favorite early-80s metal singers under the name Probot. Grohl is now also the drummer for the rock trio Them Crooked Vultures.

Krist Novoselic 15A.jpgrightthumb190pxNovoselic in 2008.

After the end of Nirvana, Novoselic formed Sweet 75. retrieved 6th August 2008 Later, he founded Eyes Adrift with Curt Kirkwood (of the Meat Puppets) and Bud Gaugh (formerly of Sublime). He also performed in a one-off band called the No WTO Combo with Kim Thayil of Soundgarden and Jello Biafra of the Dead Kennedys that coincided with the WTO Meeting of 1999. In December 2006, Novoselic replaced bass player Bruno DeSmartas in the band Flipper for a UK/Ireland tour and several US shows.Jasmin, Ernest. . TheNewsTribune.com. September 25, 2006. Novoselic also became a political activist, founding the political action committee JAMPAC to support musicians' rights. retrieved 6th August 2008 In 2004, he released a book titled Of Grunge and Government: Let's Fix This Broken Democracy, which covered his musical past as well as his political endeavors.

Posthumous releases

Several Nirvana albums have been released since Cobain's death. The first came in November 1994 with the release of the band's performance for MTV Unplugged, MTV Unplugged in New York. Two weeks after the release of Unplugged in New York, a video compilation of Nirvana performances, titled Live! Tonight! Sold Out