Nirvana’s ‘Bleach’ released 32 years ago

Bleach was the debut album for Nirvana, released 32 years ago on 15th June 1989 by Sub Pop records. After they released their debut singe “Love Buzz” on Sub Pop records in November 1988, the band rehearsed for about three weeks to get ready for recording their first full-length album. The recording sessions took place at Reciprocal Recording in Seattle Washington. The recording took place between December 1988 and January 1989. It’s the only Nirvana album released on Sub Pop and the only album featuring Chad Channing on drums.

Nirvana’s first ever single “Love Buzz” a cover by a Dutch band called Shocking Blue. Released by Sub Pop in 1988, Sub Pop asked for a follow up EP but Nirvana were ready for a full album release. The version of “Love Buzz” is a different one to the 7″. That 7″ is word over $7k if you’re lucky to find it.

Dave Grohl comes to the minds of many when you talk about the drummer of Nirvana. Grohl didn’t join Nirvana until 1990. Nirvana had several drummers before Grohl such as The Melvins drummer Dale Crover who played on songs “Floyd the Barber”, “Paper Cuts” and “Downer”. So Bleach has two drummers credited on the album Dale Crover and Chad Channing.

The album cost around $600 to record

At the time Nirvana weren’t a hugely successful band with lots of money. So getting the money together to record wasn’t as easy as the later recordings. A fan of the band named Jason Everman weird their demo tape and paid the $600 odd recording cost that was billed by producer Jack Endino. Everman was given credits on the album and featured him on the front cover, although he didn’t actually work on the album at all.

Bleach is Sub Pop’s best selling album of all time. Before the release if Nirvana’s groundbreaking ‘Nevermind’ album Bleach had only sold 40,000 copies in the USA and didn’t get on the charts. Geffen Records put out an international re-release of Bleach after seeing the success of Nevermind. Bleach peaked at No. 89 on the Billboard 200 and has now sold over 1.9 million copies.

Bleach

1. “Blew” 2:55
2. “Floyd the Barber” 2:18
3. “About a Girl” 2:48
4. “School” 2:42
5. “Love Buzz” (Shocking Blue cover) 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