Blew

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Blew
NirvanaBlewEP.jpg
EP by
Nirvana
ReleasedNovember 1989 (1989-11) [1]
RecordedJune/December 1988 (side one)
September 1989 (side two) [2]
Genre Grunge, [3] garage rock [4]
Length11:32
Label Tupelo
Producer Jack Endino, Steve Fisk
Nirvana chronology
Bleach
(1989)		Blew
(1989)		 Nevermind
(1991)
"Blew"
Single by Nirvana
from the album Bleach
ReleasedJune 1989 (1989-06)
RecordedJune/November 1988
Studio Reciprocal Recordings in Seattle, Washington
Genre
Length2:56
Label Sub Pop
Songwriter(s) Kurt Cobain
Producer(s) Jack Endino
Nirvana singles chronology
"Love Buzz"
(1988)		"Blew"
(1989)		"Sliver"
(1990)
Bleach track listing
11 tracks
  1. "Blew"
  2. "Floyd the Barber"
  3. "About a Girl"
  4. "School"
  5. "Love Buzz"
  6. "Paper Cuts"
  7. "Negative Creep"
  8. "Scoff"
  9. "Swap Meet"
  10. "Mr. Moustache"
  11. "Sifting"
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [5]

"Blew" is a song by American rock band Nirvana, written by vocalist and guitarist Kurt Cobain. It is the first song on the band's debut album Bleach , released in June 1989 by Sub Pop.

Contents

The song was re-released on Tupelo Records as the title track of a four-song EP in the United Kingdom on November 1989, where it charted at number 15 on the UK Indie Singles chart. [6] [7]

Early history

Written in 1988, "Blew" was first performed live at the Community World Theatre in Tacoma, Washington, on March 19, 1988. This was also the first show the band played with their name as Nirvana. [8]

The song was first recorded in the studio by Jack Endino at Reciprocal Recording Studios in Seattle, Washington on June 11, 1988, [9] during the recording sessions for what became the band's debut single, "Love Buzz".

Bleach

A second studio version was recorded by Endino at Reciprocal in December 1988, and was released on Bleach on June 15, 1989.

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". [10] Not realizing that they had already tuned to their favored D Standard 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." [11]

"Blew" EP

The Bleach version of "Blew" was re-released on the Blew EP in November 1989, along with the Bleach mix of "Love Buzz" and the previously-unreleased songs "Been a Son" and "Stain", which had been recorded by Steve Fisk at Music Source in Seattle, Washington in September 1989. The band's original plan had been to release an EP to promote their upcoming European tour, but the EP was delayed and released exclusively in the United Kingdom after the tour was over. However, the EP built on the interest the band had generated in the UK with Bleach, and was promoted by English DJ John Peel, who had also played Bleach on his influential show. The Blew EP eventually peaked at number 15 on the UK Indie chart. [6] [7]

Post-Bleach

"Blew" was one of only three songs from Bleach, along with "About a Girl" and "School," that remained in the bands setlists until the end of their touring career. It was performed live for the final time in Munich, Germany on March 1, 1994, as the second-to-last song preceding "Heart-Shaped Box".

Composition and lyrics

In his 1993 Nirvana biography Come As You Are: The Story of Nirvana , Azerrad described the song as having a "theme of entrapment and control." [10]

Release and reception

In 2009, Novoselic 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." [11]

In 2015, Rolling Stone listed "Blew" at number 22 on their ranking of 102 Nirvana songs. [12] In 2023, the A.V. Club ranked it at number 29 in their list of Nirvana's "30 greatest songs. [13]

EP

The Blew EP was released in November 1989 on Tupelo Records on 12-inch vinyl and CD. With a working title of Winnebago, [14] the EP was originally intended as a release to promote an upcoming European tour, but due to production delays, [15] the maxi-single ended up being released exclusively in the United Kingdom shortly after the tour's completion.

Released exclusively in the UK, the EP was difficult to obtain elsewhere, with only 3,000 copies of the maxi-single pressed on 12-inch vinyl and CD. Both vinyl and CD counterfeit copies exist, with the vinyl copies varying in color. The official 12-inch vinyl was pressed only on black vinyl. The cover art was photographed by Cobain's then-girlfriend Tracy Marander at a May 26, 1989 concert at the Green River Community College in Auburn, Washington. [16] Marander shot the back cover photo as well.

"Stain" was re-released by DGC Records in December 1992, on the band's rarities compilation, Incesticide . The Blew version of "Been a Son", hailed by Kurt St. Thomas as the "definitive take" due to its trashy sound and pronounced bass solo, [17] remained a rarity until it was re-released in October 2002 on the band's first best-of compilation, Nirvana . [18]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Kurt Cobain, except where noted

Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Blew" 2:56
2."Love Buzz" (Shocking Blue cover) Robbie van Leeuwen 3:36
Total length:6:32
Side two
No.TitleLength
3."Been a Son"2:22
4."Stain"2:38
Total length:5:00 11:32

Charts

Charts (1989)Peak
position
UK Indie Singles (MRIB) [6] [7] 15
UK Indie Singles (NME) [19] 8

Accolades

YearPublicationCountryAccoladeRank
2023 The A.V. Club United StatesEssential Nirvana: Their 30 greatest songs, ranked [20] 29

Other releases

Personnel

Nirvana

Production

Additional Personnel

Covers

See also

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References

  1. ↑ Borzillo-Vrenna, Carrie (2003). Nirvana - The Day to Day Illustrated Journals (1st ed.). Barnes & Noble. p. 49. ISBN   0-7607-4893-4.
  2. ↑ Gaar, Gillan (2012). Entertain Us (1st ed.). Jawbone. p. 190. ISBN   978-1-906002-89-3.
  3. ↑ Danaher, Michael (August 4, 2014). "The 50 Best Grunge Songs". Paste . Retrieved November 27, 2022.
  4. ↑ Gerard, Chris (April 6, 2021). "The 100 Best Alternative Singles of the 1980s: 80 - 61". PopMatters . p. 2. Retrieved November 27, 2022.
  5. ↑ "Nirvana: Blew EP". AllMusic.
  6. 1 2 3 Lazell, Barry (1997). Indie Hits 1980–1989. Cherry Red Books. ISBN   978-0-9517206-9-1. OCLC   38292499. Archived from the original on June 6, 2011. Retrieved July 9, 2020.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  7. 1 2 3 "Charts - Indie Singles". Melody Maker . MRIB. November 18, 1989. p. 35. Retrieved July 11, 2020.
  8. ↑ "1988-03-19 Community World Theatre show".
  9. ↑ "Love Buzz sessions".
  10. 1 2 Azerrad, Michael (1994). Come As You Are: The Story of Nirvana. Doubleday. p. 100. ISBN   0-385-47199-8.
  11. 1 2 Novoselic, Krist (October 27, 2009). "Bleach: Krist Novoselic Interviews Chad Channing". Seattle Weekly. Retrieved February 1, 2020.
  12. ↑ Bienstock, Richard (April 8, 2015). "No Apologies: All 102 Nirvana Songs Ranked". Rolling Stone. Retrieved February 1, 2020.
  13. ↑ Thomas Erlewine, Stephen (September 21, 2023). "Essential Nirvana: Their 30 greatest songs, ranked". The A.V. Club. Retrieved September 22, 2023.
  14. ↑ "Live Nirvana | Interview Archive | 1989 | August ??, 1989 - Olympia, WA, US".
  15. ↑ Borzillo-Vrenna, Carrie (2003). Nirvana - The Day to Day Illustrated Journals (1st ed.). Barnes & Noble. p. 49. ISBN   0-7607-4893-4.
  16. ↑ "Live Nirvana | Concert Chronology | 1989 | May 26, 1989 - Lindbloom Student Center, Green River Community College, Auburn, WA, US".
  17. ↑ St. Thomas, Kurt (2004). Nirvana: The Chosen Rejects. New York City: St. Martin's Press. p.  54. ISBN   0312206631.
  18. ↑ Gaar, Gillian G (March 31, 2020). "A look at Nirvana's collectible recordings". Goldmine . Retrieved April 1, 2020.
  19. ↑ "Charts". NME . November 18, 1989. p. 60. Retrieved June 15, 2022. Bleu
  20. ↑ Thomas Erlewine, Stephen (September 21, 2023). "Essential Nirvana: Their 30 greatest songs, ranked". The A.V. Club. Retrieved September 22, 2023.
  21. ↑ Monroe, Jazz. "Nirvana Reissuing In Utero With 2 Unreleased Live Albums for 30th Anniversary". Pitchfork. No. 5 September 2023. Retrieved September 8, 2023.
  22. ↑ Deaux, John (September 5, 2023). "Nirvana In Utero: 30th anniversary multi-format reissues arrive October 27, 2023". allabouttherock.co.uk. Retrieved September 8, 2023.
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