What were you doing in 1989? Bumping and grinding away on the playground to "My Prerogative?" Chugging roofie-laced MGDs at a frat party whilst pissing away your parents' money attending Useless U to the summer smash "Love Shack?" Trying to grab some ass at the high school dance to "Wind Beneath My Wings?" Soft-shoeing your way to the Sunglass Hut with Phil Collins' "Two Hearts" on your Walkman WM-EX170? Lip-syncing "Girl You Know It's True" while sliding in the latest episode of Quantum Leap into your Betamax?
Well, since you're reading this clued-up site, there is a good chance that, wherever you were and whatever and whomever you were doing it to, it probably involved listening to the first Nirvana album, Bleach, which was released in June of that topsy-turvy, decade-killing year by the then-home of grunge, Sub Pop. Although not the smash album that would propel Kurdt Kobain, Krist Novoseladinejad7, and Chad Channing to Tiger Beat cover star status (that would come two years later, with Dave Grohl replacing the canned Channing on the ubiquitous Nevermind), Bleach shows the band in its raw, kinetic infancy, but still miles ahead of the pack they inadvertently influenced after the record's release.
On November 3, Sub Pop will celebrate Bleach's platinum (modern) or china (traditional) anniversary by reissuing Nirvana's debut in expanded CD and double LP packages. Each format includes the original album proper plus a complete live recording from a February 9, 1990 show in Portland, OR at the Pine Street Theatre. The live show has the trio playing a set of road-tested Bleach material plus fan favorites like "Spank Thru" (Nirvana's first song), "Been a Son" (from the Blew EP), "Dive" (B-side to the "Sliver" single), the oft-worked-over "Sappy," and their much-loved version of The Vaseline's "Molly's Lips." Bleach: Deluxe Edition has been remastered from original tapes by original producer Jack Endino and comes with a 48-page booklet in the CD and 16-page booklet in the LP. Limited initial copies of the double album will be released on snow white vinyl, just as was a limited run of the original platter release.
You may not remember the Menendez brothers, Exxon Valdez, or the country formerly known as "Burma," but I'll be damned if you don't remember these:
Bleach:
1. Blew
2. Floyd the Barber
3. About a Girl
4. School
5. Love Buzz
6. Paper Cuts
7. Negative Creep
8. Scoff
9. Swap Meet
10. Mr. Moustache
11. Sifting
12. Big Cheese
13. Downer
Live at Pine Street Theatre:
1. Intro
2. School
3. Floyd the Barber
4. Dive
5. Love Buzz
6. Spank Thru
7. Molly's Lips
8. Sappy
9. Scoff
10. About a Girl
11. Been a Son
12. Blew
