KRIST NOVOSELIC WONT LET COURTNEY LOVE COMPLETELY RUIN NIRVANA’S LEGACY
Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009 at 3:45pm by Gary Suarez
We’ve all been cringing at Courtney Love’s latest desecration of her dead husband for a quick buck. Thankfully, the Hole frontwoman and executor of Kurt Cobain’s estate isn’t standing in the way of an absolutely awesome reissue of Bleach, Nirvana’s classic grunge/sludge debut. First released twenty years ago on Sub Pop, the album has been remastered for the label under the direction of bassist Krist Novoselic and original producer Jack Endino.
Last week, Novoselic had this to say in his Seattle Weekly column:
There are many reasons for this record being an aural treat. First, I was in the band. (more on my utter lack of objectivity later). Second, Endino recorded it and finally, most importantly – the release is a tribute to the vision of Kurt Cobain.
There’s going to be a vinyl version too. Jack and I got test pressings earlier this summer and the vinyl sounds killer. It’s going to be pressed on white vinyl – just like the first issue. I put the tone arm down and the bass growl of “Blew” is there in all its Grunge glory.
For those of you whiny black metal babies who immediately turn off your brains the moment the name Nirvana is evoked, I encourage you to actually give Bleach a listen when it hits stores on November 3, curiously sharing the same release date as Foo Fighters’ Greatest Hits. (Dave Grohl didn’t play on Bleach, FYI.) It’s a twisted slab of Melvins-esque noise and hardcore punk that only hints at what came next. The reissue also comes with twelve bonus tracks from a 1990 concert in Portland, Oregon. Get excited, you miserable fucks!
-GS
[Gary Suarez is a negative creep. He usually manages the consistently off-topic No Yoko No. Say, why don't you follow him on Twitter?]
Yes.
YES.
A good number of today’s black metal bands own their careers to Nirvana. Hard to respect anyone’s musical taste who doesn’t own this album. You don’t have to love them, just be aware.
How would not releasing this not be ruining his legacy? Any posthumous release is simply an excuse for more money; Krist can say whatever he wants.
Let me further add a release with NO new material either.
Was that live material available before?
Nope.
The only good that came from the rise of Nirvana was Alice in Chains, and some of Soundgarden’s material.
That’s a bit of revisionist history. Soundgarden was already on a major label and opening for GN’R at the end of 1991. ‘Man in the Box’ was getting MTV airplay and AIC were opening the Clash of the Titans tour before Nirvana broke. Once Nirvana exploded, marketing execs realized they were all from the same city and opted to promote them under the buzz word “grunge.” Undoubtedly it helped the other bands sell a lot of records but Soundgarden, AIC, and Pearl Jam too would’ve been around regardless.
Mudhoney, Soundgarden, and a few Pearl Jam songs are the only thing that makes grunge listenable. Oh yeah, forgot Creed…
Creed isnt grunge
maybe that’s the joke
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Nirvana was fucking great. I was 12 when Nevermind and the Black album came out almost simultaneously, and they both opened the doors to heavy music for me. Haven’t listended to Bleach (or any Nirvana for that matter) in a while. Need to give it a spin.
yes, the black album, and Nevermind are probably the most important albums of mid ninety´s, and they got me into rock music too
Yea, I was 11 at that point, and let me tell you, that period of 5 years or so was freaking magical with the amount of really good music I was becoming exposed to. I suppose 11 year olds during any era in the last 50 years or so may have felt the same way when discovering new genres or musical pathways, but when rock/metal was “new” to me, I look back on those years with great nostalgia.
yes man, I feel the same nostalgia
Great album…very raw sound. Def my favorite Nirvana album next to Incesticide.
I dug “Bleach” a ton when it came out.Such a raw record
Meh, I used to like Nirvana’s early work somewhat. I would have to say that Bleach is in fact my favorite album of theirs. I’m just not much of a fan anymore.
i kind of feel the same way but maybe for an entirely different reason altogether. i still listen to some songs occasionally but it just isn’t the same now. maybe because my teenage angst fizzled out and the ‘thrill is gone’, as bb king would have put it. i don’t have bleach (shame on me) so i’m looking forward to this one.
I’ve been going through the process of rebuilding my nirvana import/bootleg collection (all of my cd’s were stolen in college. Only took me ten years to get off my ass and start over) and I’ve found myself being more interested in the bands early output. It’s heavier, sludgier, and weirder than I remember. Outside of “about a girl” and portions of “love buzz” bleach is a heavy fucking record. I’m picking this one up on vinyl when it comes out and blasting it at full volume. For old times sake.
One of my favourite bands of all-time. Interested to hear the Oregon tracks :)
Double-kick drum fills in “School”? Interesting…
I never was a fan of Nirvana, but I think that was more of a childish angst “hate whatever is popular, only listen to Pantera” mode I was in at the time when Nirvana was at the height of their popularity, after Cobain exited the scene.
I must say that all the positive praise of this album has me interested enough, at least, to pick it up and give it a spin.
and I hate everything Courtney Love, just felt like putting that out there.
I have always been a “casual” fan of Nirvana and always thought about getting more into them. I think this reissue is just the excuse i needed…
yessss!!
just based on this post I put bleach on for the first time in what seems like a life time and you know what, it fucking rocks, I forgot, negative creep is giving me fucking goosebumps right now.
I can’t wait to hear what the re-master sounds like. If any Nirvana album needed this treatment, it’s “Bleach.”
Nirvana sucks and Cobain is just a dead asshole who could hardly play his instrument. …[puts in Dirt]
+1
While I haven’t listened to much (if any) Nirvana in recent years, I still consider myself an avid fan because that’s what I grew up with. I was only 4 years old when Kurt Cobain died, but my mother filled the house with his music since before my earliest memories. I grew up being surrounded by the musical embraces of Nirvana, Alice In Chains, Black Sabbath (mainly the self-titled album), and Living Colour. It is to people like Kurt Cobain that I owe my fucking life (however ironic that may be). I still have his posters on my wall and every goddamn album (both CD and vinyl) in my possession and I will likely never part with them. The man deserves to be remembered for his musical genius, and whether Krist makes a pretty penny or two out of it in the process bothers me not. He obviously IS doing it for Kurt, because unlike Courtney fucking Love, he doesn’t have three separate houses in Hollywood, New York City, and London. He lives in a quiet suburban area with a three bedroom house with his family. He’s balding writer and activist. Not a pill-popping, star-killing whore.