Nirvana Bleach Research Papers

During the 1980’s and 90’s music was taking many different turns with the like of Madonna, Michael Jackson, & Bon Jovi dominating the world stage. However, a silent revolution in the punk scene was brewing from down in Aberdeen in the year 1989 with the release of Nirvana’s first album Bleach. The disc arrived to via Sub Pop in June of ‘89 with little recognition. In fact, it failed to break the top 200 in the US billboards. Despite the rather lukewarm reception this album received at the time it was making noise in underground scenes in places like Seattle, Los Angeles, Washington D.C., etc. Due to their growing popularity in Seattle Nirvana was settled into Reciprocal Records and gearing up for their first album release with the

It’s amazing to note that it’s now been 20 years since Nirvana released its first album. It only seems like yesterday that the grunge group emerged from the American underground scene to knock the Michael Jackson’s and Madonna’s off the top of the Billboard album charts, in the process bringing mass acceptance to punk and other Alt-rock genres and underground music as a whole. Despite this milestone, Sub Pop’s 20th anniversary Deluxe Edition reissue of the band’s debut album Bleach comes off as both rather unexpected and slightly muted in terms of people actually knowing Bleach existed or that there was a re-release at

It may not have the instant appeal of Nevermind, but judged on its own merits,but Bleach actually holds up pretty well. Bleach is the truest definition of grunge we have today and most argue that it started the genre. Getting inspiration from the drunken punk/metal fusion propagated by Soundgarden, Mudhoney, Melvins and The Vaselines in some capacity, Nirvana constructs song after song out of grinding riffs and lurching rhythms that move like a never ending conveyor belt. Bleach more so than any other album, displays the group’s metal influences. The likes of, Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath are the major reference points throughout Bleach, while the twisting riffs of “Swap Meet” could be ripped straight from a slowed-down Metallica. As a result, it’s the one Nirvana album better suited for headbanging and “zoning out” to than moshing in a hardcore show. Late Nirvana singer and guitarist Kurt Cobain admitted in the early 1990s that Bleach intentionally showcased the ‘70s-influenced heavy rock sound Sub Pop coveted at the time, in which helped the fledgling band pick up their underlying metal-roots and find their “voice” later on. In this album, Cobain displays a preference for single note riffing and more conventional rock guitar soloing that is largely absent from later works. The group had yet to develop its signature quiet