Line #25 Music/BleachAlbum


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bleach_4136.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:''In my eyes, I'm not lazy\
3	In my face, it's not over\
4	In your room, I'm not older\
5	In your eyes, I'm not worth it...'']]
6
7	''Bleach'' is the debut studio album by American rock band Music/{{Nirvana}}, released in 1989. It is their only album released under Creator/SubPop, and their only album with Chad Channing on drums before he was replaced by Music/DaveGrohl.
8
9	Following the release of the band's debut single "Love Buzz" on the label in November 1988, ''Bleach'' was recorded following two to three weeks of rehearsals for [[NoBudget just over 600 dollars]]. According to retrospectives from frontman Kurt Cobain, [[ExecutiveMeddling pressures from Sub Pop]] plagued the album's production.
10
11	The label insisted that the band create music in line with the popular {{grunge}} sound of the time, which contributed in part to the album's negative and bleak tone, with self-loathing, pessimism, alienation, and resentment running through many of its lyrics, which Cobain claims he largely wrote the night before recording while he was "pissed off". Additionally, the album's release was delayed for months on end as a result of its head Bruce Pavitt demanding that it be completely resequenced and the label needing to find sufficient funds.
12
13	While critics took kindly to ''Bleach'', [[AcclaimedFlop it didn't make much of an impact upon release]], selling only 40,000 copies in North America. That would change after the smash success of ''Music/{{Nevermind\|Album}}'' in 1991; when ''Bleach'' was subsequently reissued in 1992, it peaked at #89 on the ''Billboard'' 200. The album would become one of the best-selling independently-released albums, being certified Platinum by the RIAA in 1995.
14
15	''Bleach'' is best known for the fan favourites "About a Girl", "School" and "Negative Creep".
16
17	The album has nothing to do with [[SimilarlyNamedWorks the identically-named]] [[Manga/{{Bleach}} manga]] created by Creator/TiteKubo or [[Franchise/{{Bleach}} its associated works]].
18	----
19	!!Tracklist (* = Not included on the original vinyl release):
20	# "Blew" (2:54)
21	# "Floyd the Barber" (2:18)
22	# "About a Girl" (2:48)
23	# "School" (2:42)
24	# "Love Buzz" (3:35)
25	# "Paper Cuts" (4:06)
26	# "Negative Creep" (2:55)
27	# "Scoff" (4:10)
28	# "Swap Meet" (3:03)
29	# "Mr. Moustache" (3:23)
30	# "Sifting" (5:22)
31	# "Big Cheese" (3:42)*
32	# "Downer" (1:43)*
33
34	!!Bonus tracks (Live in 1990 from the 20th Anniversary CD):
35	# "Intro"
36	# "School"
37	# "Floyd the Barber"
38	# "Dive"
39	# "Love Buzz"
40	# "Spank Thru"
41	# "Molly's Lips"
42	# "Sappy"
43	# "Scoff"
44	# "About a Girl"
45	# "Been a Son"
46	# "Blew"
47	----
48	!!Principal members:
49	* Chad Channing - drums
50	* Music/KurtCobain - lead vocals, guitar
51	* [[Music/{{Melvins}} Dale Crover]] - drums
52	* Krist Novoselic - bass
53	----
54	!!I need some easy tropes, I do think it would fit here too:
55	* AccentuateTheNegative: It's not a happy record, to say the least, but the bleakest and most disturbing song must be "Negative Creep", where Cobain screams top of his head off about what we assume to be some very young girl on drugs.
56	* AlternativeMetal: Contains enough metallic elements to qualify for this trope unlike Nirvana's later records.
57	* AntiLoveSong: "About a Girl".
58	-->''I'm standing in your line\
59	I do hope you have the time\
60	I do pick a number too\
61	I do keep a date with you\
62	I'll take advantage while\
63	You hang me out to dry\
64	But I can't see you every night''
65	* BoardingSchoolOfHorrors: "School"
66	-->''Won't you believe it is just my luck? NO RECESS!''
67	* BrokenRecord:
68	** "School", in which Cobain just repeats the lines: "Won't you believe it is just my luck? No recess!!" over and over. These are the only lyrics apart from: "You're in high school again."
69	** "Negative Creep": "I'm a negative creep and I'm stoned. Daddy's little girl ain't a girl no more."
70	** Near the end of "Blew", the phrase "You could do anything" is repeated eight times.
71	* CircleOfShame: The topic of shame is prominent in "Blew" and "Floyd The Barber". In "Mr. Moustache" Cobain also sings: "Yes, I eat cow, I am not proud".
72	* ComeToGawk: "Paper Cuts"
73	-->''And very later I have learned to accept some friends of ridicule\
74	My whole existence is for your amusement and that is why I'm here with you''
75	* CorruptTheCutie:
76	** "Floyd the Barber", in which the nice and friendly cast character from ''Series/TheAndyGriffithShow'' turns out to be a vicious murderer, along with Barney Fife, Aunt Bee and little Opie, and possibly even Andy Taylor himself.[[note]]It's debated whether Kurt sings "I die smothered in ''Aunt Bee's muff''" or "''Andy's clutch''"[[/note]]
77	** "Negative Creep" in which Cobain repeats the line "I'm a negative creep and I'm stoned. Daddy's little girl ain't a girl no more".
78	* CoverVersion: "Love Buzz", a cover of the 1969 hit by the Dutch rock band Shocking Blue, who are better known for the song "Venus".
79	* CruelAndUnusualDeath[=/=]DangerouslyCloseShave: In "Floyd the Barber" the protagonist (identified as Kurt himself in the first verse) is put in the barber chair and cut to death.
80	* DeliberatelyMonochrome: The album cover is in black-and-white.
81	* FaceOnTheCover: Subverted; the cover shows the band members performing, but their faces can't be seen because their long hairs cover them up.
82	* FadeOut: "Negative Creep" is the only Nirvana song that fades out. The rest all suddenly end.
83	* TheGirlWhoFitsThisSlipper: "About a Girl"
84	-->''I do... think you fit this shoe.''
85	* InTheStyleOf: "About a Girl" is Kurt Cobain's attempt at writing an early [[Music/TheBeatles Beatles]] song.
86	* LastChorusSlowDown: "Scoff" and "Swap Meet" both slow down near the end.
87	* LockedInTheDungeon: "Paper Cuts", where the protagonist is trapped in some kind of darkened confinement where "food is pushed through the door".
88	-->''Black windows of paint''
89	-->''I scratched with my nails''
90	-->''I see others just like me''
91	-->''Why do they not try to escape?''
92	-->''They bring out the older ones''
93	-->''They point in my way''
94	-->''They come with a flash of light''
95	-->''And take my family away''
96	* MetalScream: Prominent in many of the lyrics.
97	* NonAppearingTitle: Though the word "bleach" would turn up in the song "Come As You Are" on their next album ''Music/{{Nevermind\|Album}}''.
98	** Several of the song titles as well, including "Scoff", "Sifting", "Paper Cuts" and "Downer".
99	* ObsessionSong: "Love Buzz".
100	-->''Please don't deceive me when I hurt you''
101	-->''Just ain't the way it seems''
102	* OneManSong: "Mr. Moustache", "Floyd the Barber".
103	* OneWomanSong: "About a Girl", which Cobain wrote about his then girlfriend.
104	* OneWordTitle: "Bleach", "Scoff", "Blew", "School", "Sifting", "Downer"
105	* PottyFailure: From "Sifting".
106	-->''Wet your bed. Wouldn't it be fun?''
107	* RecordProducer: Jack Endino.
108	* SelfDeprecation:
109	** In "Floyd the Barber" a man is cut to death by a barber and Cobain identifies this person as himself in the very first line of the song. "Negative Creep" is sung from a first person perspective. And in "Blew" he lampshades all of this with the line:
110	--->''Here is another word that rhymes with "shame"''
111	** In 1993, before Nirvana played "About a Girl" as the first track on ''Music/MTVUnpluggedInNewYork'', Kurt says this:
112	--->'''Kurt''': ''Good evening. This is off of our first record, most people don't own it.''
113	* ShoutOut:
114	** "Floyd the Barber" is named after a character from the ''Series/TheAndyGriffithShow''. In the song Floyd, Barney Fife, Opie and Aunt Bee apparently take turns cutting Kurt up, whereupon he dies.
115	** On the vinyl version, [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bleach_a_side_label.jpg the A side label]] is based on the label design of Creator/VerveRecords, a jazz company that also signed rock performers such as Music/TheVelvetUnderground and Music/FrankZappa. [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bleach_b_side_label.jpg The B side label]] has a diagram of the circles of {{Hell}} from ''Literature/TheDivineComedy''.
116	* SingerNamedrop: "Paper Cuts" drops the band's name six times in a row in the middle of the song.
117	* [[DoomMetal Sludge Metal]]: Widely considered to be Nirvana's most "metallic" album due to their strong influence from Music/TheMelvins. At the time of this album's release, "grunge" and "sludge" were virtually indistinguishable and wouldn't fully diverge until grunge went mainstream on Nirvana's [[Music/NevermindAlbum next album]]. Most evident on tracks like “Floyd the Barber”, "Negative Creep”, "Blew”, and "Paper Cuts”. "Negative Creep" also qualifies lyrically due to its nihilistic and aggressively dark lyrics.
118	* SurprisinglyGentleSong:"About A Girl" is a light alternative rock song on an album that otherwise consists of grunge and sludge metal fusions.
119	* TakeThat: "Mr. Moustache", a criticism against machoism.
120	* WordSaladLyrics: "Downer", which is just Kurt mumbling nonsensical words at random. Many other lyrics are quite incomprehensible too.

Context Music / BleachAlbum