“Blew” by Nirvana

"Blew" is the door Nirvana kicked open on Bleach, their 1989 debut for Sub Pop: it's the first thing on the record, with Kurt Cobain writing, singing and playing guitar, Krist Novoselic on bass and Chad Channing on drums. Jack Endino produced and recorded it at Reciprocal in Seattle.

It dates back to the band's first show as Nirvana, in Tacoma in March 1988, and Endino first taped it that June, at the sessions that yielded the "Love Buzz" single. The Bleach take came from a second go that December, and an accident shaped it: it was recorded a step lower than the band intended, which helped give it what biographer Michael Azerrad called an extraordinarily heavy sound. In November 1989 Tupelo gave it a British release, fronting a four-song EP named after it that reached 15 on the UK indie singles chart.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.