Classic Albums: Nirvana - "Bleach"
 

Hi, welcome to my first review. I chose "Bleach" because it's Nirvana's most under-rated album. While many hardcore fans cherish this album as a classic, its remains mainly unheard of to the general Nirvana-loving public. So why don't we start with the first track and work our way down?

"Blew" – 2:54

An awesome dark song with a great intro, if a bit reppetitive.
3 stars our of 5.

"Floyd the Barber" – 2:18

3 stars out of 5.

"About a Girl" – 2:48

The closest you'll ever hear to a love song from Nirvana. Cobain was taking a major risk putting such an uptempo pop song on a grunge album. However, it majorly payed off in this masterpeice.
4 and a half out of 5.

"School" – 2:42

No recess! What an intro! What a chorus! What a song!

5 out of 5

"Love Buzz" (Robbie van Leeuwen) – 3:35

3 out of 5

"Paper Cuts" – 4:06

4 out of 5

"Negative Creep" – 2:56

This is for the true Nirvana fan. Negitive Creep is a dark, loud, somewhat disturbing song, and I love it. The intensity in Cobains voice is superb. However, being a man of the people, I can't give this one 5 starts, simply because I know many people would not agree with me.

4 and a half out of 5

"Scoff" – 4:10
"Swap Meet" – 3:03
"Mr. Moustache" – 3:24
"Sifting" – 5:22
"Big Cheese" – 3:42

All pretty good songs, deserving at least, a

3 out of 5

"Downer" (only on CD version) – 1:43

In Cobain's attempt at describing the existence of the human race, the bass levels hit an unusal level of awesomeness, making a really good song, even if the vocals are a little low for my liking.

4 and a half stars out of 5

Overall:

Of the three albums Nirvana has released (While Kurt Cobain was alive anyway), this ranks number 3. And yet, if I were to listen to this without hearing any of Nirvana's other material (Teen Spirit, Heart-Shaped Box, ect.) I would quickly become a Nirvana fan.

3 and a half stars out of 5

I personally prefer Bleach to any other Nirvana album, only because the sound of Nevermind has been repeated countlessly and I just don't care for In Utero.

Yeah, if your looking for raw sound, Bleach is the way to go. I personally prefer uncensored emotional writing of In Utero.

I actually drag out Incesticide more than the other albums, but can't deny the power of Bleach, Nirvana at their rawest

8.5/10
 

It's a great album. Very gritty, whilst still being catchy. I don't know how they got so popular.. 8.5/10

currently my fave Nirvana album

Probably my least favorite Nirvana release, while it is not awful, it showcases a band that has yet to find their own voice and identity. Much like "Pablo Honey" by Radiohead or "World of Noise" by Everclear.. Albums that are good for a rough document of a band that would soon come out with something more unique. Bleach to me is a good album, but not a great one... apart from "About A Girl" nothing really stands out the way it did on future releases. Pretty typical release from Sub Pop.

Bleach
 

I like the "raw" Nirvana sound and style of Bleach. Its unlike the later on "popular" Nirvana sound (albums) like "In Utero" for example.

Yeah, I'd say it isn't as good as In Utero or Nevermind. To me it's the hipster's favourite album, the other two are of course far too mainstream to name-drop.

I appreciate the ethos driving Bleach, and I like the sound, the material on the whole just doesn't measure up to their later releases.

I really like "big cheese" ,it's a very intense album.

However, i gotta agree with stu. The song writing just is nowhere near as strong as nevermind or in utero.

^^more than makes up for it, in terms of heaviness alone

in utero was pretty heavy too man, tourettes and milk it

Yeah, the recording and studio production of Bleach, just has a "dry" sound to it. Its unique and raw in its own way, unlike the other albums by Nirvana.

"In Utero" is my Fav. album.

I wouldn't say it's unique. Sorry I'm kind of shitting on this album. It is good, and well worth a listen. It's a testament to Nirvana that it falls short of the rest of their back catalogue.

Mediocre hardcore album. If it weren't for the fact the name on it is 'Nirvana' I doubt we, or anyone, would care.

Negative Creep is a damn good song, though. The rest is eh...

hardcore? huh...

and no, it would still be cared about as a document of the early Seattle grunge scene. The album got rave reviews upon it's release, even pre-success. It had little impact outside of the underground at the time, but it still did well enough for an unknown band upon it's release, and got great reviews as well.

"Negative Creep" is a good song, but so is "Love Buzz", Big Cheese", "About a Girl", "Blew", "Floyd the Barber" and "Mr. Mustache"

It sold more in the mainstream when "Nevermind" was a hit, but it was cared about by those who knew it in the underground and local scene when it came out as well.

huh? the album practically invented the apathetic slacker mentality the Seattle scene is known for

I hate this album. The only listenable song is About A Girl, the rest is absolute rubbish. Kurt Cobain wrote the lyrics in the car on the way to the studio and it shows. I find it to be a such a boring album,the guitar sounds like ****, it's nowhere near as good as Nevermind and In Utero.

well obviously your not familiar with the punk genre. The whole approach of atrocious guitar playing and lack of ambition when writing lyrics are the roots of punk. which nirvana derives from.

not to mention the obvious nods to the Melvins

What Nirvana released with Bleach didn't really kick start or shape anything. Bands like Mudhoney were releasing material similar in style yet superior and more culturally significant to this at the time. Superfuzz Bigmuff is a case in point, that EP helped mobilise the Seattle scene, with the Deep Six compilation and early Green River EPs moulding the grunge movement even before that.

The Melvins released Guey Porch treatments in '87 and Ozma in 89'. Nirvana were clearly influenced by these releases, but both were better than Bleach. The fact it sounds like them means shit all.

Nirvana only really became significant with Nevermind. Bleach has gone on to become Sub Pop's biggest seller, but only really because of the legacy forged through the band's later releases.

wel, if Nirvana didn't get that much exposure, lots of people wouldn't have heard the Melvins

Did he say so in an interview? I kinda doubt this.

Nirvana obviously gained masses of exposure, following the release of Nevermind. The album's success made Cobain the poster boy and gave him a voice yada yada. The fact he often referred to the Melvins as a key influence went a long way in raising the Melvins' popularity.

I am sure Kurt would have completely agreed with you on this.

He did once mention he worte lyrics on the way to the studio in the car, was for Never mind or in utero though,can't recall the song. It is mentioned in the book "come as you are" by michael azerrad.

Invented an attitude that was extremely common in 80s underground?

not really a "trademark" then

I wouldn't call it underrated. Its a decent rock album though, maybe a bit too repetitive.

Paper Cuts is definitely my favorite track, its so dark and heavy and the lyrics really drag you "down".

I was watching an interview with Ian Astbury lead vocalist for the band The Cult, and Astbury stated that the album Bleach by Nirvana was the first major album that signaled something new and different was at hand, concerning the grunge era and the popularity and sound of all prior rock music of the 80s and 90s (at the time of its release). So the album Bleach seems very significant (to me) as being the first popular album to bring grunge music to the mainstream.

That is my conclusion and opinion, to the statistical significance of the album anyway.

I would like to agree, but outside of the underground, Bleach didn't make an impact. It only became a mainstream hit after Nevermind became a success.

Bleach got great reviews at the time, but it was not one to go mainstream.

I was mainly commenting about the way it was seen through the eyes of other popular bands and artist of the time. (But I will admit) I also assumed Bleach as being a significant and groundbreaking album into grunge concerning its popularity as well.
I understand the impact Nevermind made and had at the time of its release compared to Bleach. "And I didn't buy Bleach until after Nevermind was released myself":o:.

But was it really that irrelevant of an album until Nevermind was released?

I would hold into account Nirvana changing their labels ('89) original release, from Sub Pop records to Geffen Records in '92 had a lot to do with it as well.

It wasn't irrelevant at all. I was not really anymore influential than say Mudhoney was at the time, I think Superfuzz Bigmuff had just about the same impact at the time, even Sub Pop thought that Mudhoney was going to be the band to break into the mainstream, at that time I think they thought Nirvana had potential to do so, but were not going to be the ones to break grunge mainstream.

Another fact people overlook in the whole grand scheme is Hole's debut album, "Pretty on the Inside", granted it was not grunge as much as a noise album in the vein of Sonic Youth (Kim Gordon even produced it)... but it outsold Bleach and got great reviews as well, Hole were the bigger band until Nirvana broke. I like that fact cause it counter claims all the talk that Courtney only got famous cause of Kurt, when in fact before they were a couple, she was doing better than he was... Of course that all changed when Nevermind was released, but up until that point "Pretty on the Inside" was doing better than "Bleach" in terms of sales.

Ive always been a fan of Courtney Love myself, but I actually assumed Cobain helped launch her career as well:rolleyes:. That's some good information Bastard!:) concerning her career.

well, I think the Kurt association didn't hurt, but she was doing fine before that as well.

This is my favorite Nirvana album. I liked the raw aggression of this album. I seen Nirvana on tour for this album. Kurt was still very great at this time. If you've never heard this check it out

at this point in time, Kurt was spelled as "Kurdt"

i prefer the earlier spelling

You know I had forgot about that

Did they do that as some kind joke about Krist Novoselic's name?

nah, i think that's the name he was born with