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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. The recording sessions lasted from December 1988 to January 1989, and took place at Reciprocal Recording in Seattle, Washington. "Love Buzz" and "Big Cheese", however, were recorded from June to September 1988 at at Reciprocal Studios. The songs "Big Long Now" and "Blandest" were both omitted from the album. Kurt Cobain, the primary writer of songs, aditted that many of the song's lyrics were written very close to the recording sessions. Although Cobain says that many of the lyrics he wrote had no meaning, Michael Azerrad proposed that they regarded previous incidents in his life.

To promote the album, the group released the — limited to 1,000 pressings — single, "Love Buzz"/"Big Cheese". Many photos were taken by Alice Wheeler to also promote both the single and the album. They began touring in early 1989, where they toured outside the United States as well. "Silver"/"Drive" and "Candy"/"Molly's Lips" were released as singles in 1991. The artwork for Bleach was inspired by a billboard.

The album was well recieved by critics, with many critics favoring the album. It also debuted at number eighty-nine Billboard 200, and peaked number twenty-three on the Ultratop 50. Guitarist and lead vocalist Kurt Cobain was credited as "Kurdt Kobain", and bassist Krist Novoselic was credited as "Chris Novoselic". Jason Everman was credited as a second guitarist on the album, however he did not actually perform on the album. Novoselic explained that they "just wanted to make [Everman] feel at home in the band."

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. "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. 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 (but 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."

Lyrics and compositions
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, and noted that he stripped 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. The songs were described as "deliberately bleak, claustrophobic, and lyrically sparse, with none of the manic derangement or sense of release of the live performance." Cobain said that the song structures were "one–dementional," and said that he sought to present a more "polished and urbane side of happy."

Cobain told Spin in 1993 that with Bleach he "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.

Christopher Sandford described many of the compositions, saying "'Paper Cuts' includes a folf-influence melody and "ponderous rhythm of an early Led Zeppelin number; 'Mr. Moustache' addressed itself on Nirvana's male fans; 'Downer' showed the same exceptional contempt for the group's audience." "School" was said by Sandford to be memorable for its chorus that "served as the rip." The song is only four lines long. "Scoff" is "a parting salvo at Don and Wendy," and "Negative Creep" was written by Cobain about humself. According to Sandford, "About a Girl" has a "chiming melody and ironic chrous." In Sounds magazine, Keith Cameron said the song "was exhilarating and it was exciting because that was the nature of the music, but there was also an almost palpable sense of danger, that this whole thing could fall apart any second. There was never any relaxation from the first note to the last." In Chuck Crisafulli's book Nirvana: The Stories Behind Every Song, he wrote that the song "stands out in the Cobain canon as a song with a very specific genesis and a very real subject."

Promotion and release
In November 1988, Sub Pop released "Love Buzz"/"Big Cheese" released promotional single with a limit of 1,000 pressings released. The single's release was said by Kurt Cobain to have attracted "illiterate redneck kids." Cobain, being unhappy with the single, said that it was marketed  as "sludge [from] untamed Olymbia drop–ins." In August 1988, Alice Wheeler took photographs of the group under the Tacoma Narrows Bridge to publicize "Love Buzz". After the album's release, Kmart distributed a selection of clothing that promoted the band, as well as the album. On February 25, 1989, Nirvana played at venues on the west coast, including the University of Washington.

The group began their first European tour in Newscastle on October 30, 1989, and on December 3, 1989, the group performed a "triumphant" concert at Astora, London. On April 1, 1990, the band launched their second major U.S. tour. During the tour, Chad Channing was replaced by ex–drummer Dale Crover. On December 1, 1990, the album's second single from the album, "Silver"/"Drive" was released, and early 1991, the group released the album's final single "Candy"/"Molly's Lips".

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. 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." Pn Australia, Bleach was released on Waterfront Records and later re-issued on various colored covers and colored vinyl prior to 1992.

Reception
The album generally received positive reviews by professionals. Anthony Carew from the About.com Guide said that the album "define[d] the entire decade of the '90s", and rewarded it four out of five stars. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic gave the album three and a half out of five stars, noting that "Kurt Cobain illustrated signs of his considerable songcraft, particularly on the minor-key ballad "About a Girl" and the dense churn of "Blew". He also said that "it's a debut from a band that shows potential but haven't yet achieved it." NME's Edwin Pouncey said that the album was the "biggest, baddest sound that Sub Pop have so far managed to unearth. So primitive that they manage to make label mates Mudhoney sound like Genesis, Nirvana turn up the volume and spit and claw their way to the top of the musical garbage heap," and gave it an eight out of ten rating.

Bleach was considered by Rolling Stone magazine as "a moderate hit on college radio and the underground/DIY circuit." The album is Sub Pop’s biggest selling record ever, and was ensured by the record company that the album "is always in print and available even at big box retailers." Within two months of its release, it was reported that 20,000 units had been sold. It peaked number six on the Top Pop Catalog chart, and charted at number twenty–four on the Finland charts. The album also debuted at eighty–nine on the United States Billboard 200, as well as thirty–three on the UK album charts and thirty–four on the Australian Recording Industry Association chart. "About a Girl" peaked number one on the Modern Rock Tracks chart, and also debuted at number three on the Mainstream Rock Tracks and twenty–nine on the Top 40 Mainstream chart.

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