After the success of Tapehead City’s Love Buzz Red reissue of Nirvana’s Bleach, the cassette purveyor has announced another limited-edition reprint. The Blew edition (pressed on a cobalt blue tape) commemorates the album’s opening track and will be limited to 1,989 copies, in honor of its release date.
The Tapehead City description of the release reads as follows:
“Bleach” was the debut album from Nirvana released on June 15, 1989, by Sub Pop records. “Blew” was the first song on the album and one of the few songs Nirvana would continue to play on tour. “Blew” was also the 2nd to last song Nirvana ever played at their final show March 1st 1994.
The Bleach version of “Blew” was accidentally recorded one step lower than the band had intended, which contributed to what Nirvana biographer Michael Azerrad called its “extraordinarily heavy sound.” Not realizing that they had already tuned to their favored Drop D tuning, the band tuned further down to Drop C on the first day of the sessions and recorded several songs in that tuning. As bassist Krist Novoselic recalled in a 2009 Seattle Times article, “we came back the next day and decided the idea wasn’t so hot, and we recorded over most of it with things tuned back up a little. In fact, ‘Blew,’ with that growly bass, is the only survivor of that experiment.”Novoselic also said that “Blew” was perhaps his favorite song on Bleach “because it has a groove, and again, it’s the sole survivor of the Doom Pop experiment.
Kurt Cobain died 27 years ago at age 27 which means he’s been dead for as long as he’s been alive. A sad and eerie fact. In homage of Kurt, his songs and the day Nirvana played their final show we bring you the “BLEW” edition, exclusively available at Tapehead City!
The cassette is set for a March 22 release and can be preordered here.
We recently named Nirvana our most influential artist of the past 35 years. Krist Novoselic spoke with us about the trio’s lasting legacy and reminisced about a show during the Bleach era when Cobain had to perform without his guitar for probably the only time in the band’s history. You can read our interview with Novoselic here.
