Nirvana Nevermind Riffs but with Bleach Tone

A fun alternate timeline experiment. What if 1988 Nirvana recorded Nevermind songs with their Bleach set up?

Gear used:
Eastwood Hi Flier Phase 4 (Univox Copy)
Boss DS-2
Electro-Harmonix Small Clone
Fender Tone Master Twin Reverb
Digitech Drop Tune

0:30 - Smells Like Teen Spirit
1:04 - In Bloom
1:30 - Come As You Are
2:30 - Breed
3:32 - Lithium
4:48 - Polly
5:21 - Territorial Pissings
5:47 - Drain You
7:03- Lounge Act
8:03 - Stay Away
9:03 - On a Plain
9:48 - Something in The Way
10:36 - Endless, Nameless

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[Bluest_Berry]

Even with the tone, they still sound nothing like Bleach songs. Really emphasizes the differences in the styles of the riffs between the two albums. Nothing against you, your playing was impeccable and your tone spot on. Just saying…

[amazingamer]

11:22 Endless, Nameless sounds even more spookier with the Bleach tone I love it

[KevyNova]

Kurt grew more and more as a songwriter on each of their three albums. I can’t even imagine what he would’ve done next.

[--thatbih]

Wow Teen Spirit sounded epic with the Hi Flier! Both clean and distorted tone. As well as CAYA totally did not expect that

[ImdoneGaming]

This tone in general no matter the album, sounds amazing.

[theDragoonyaboiCJ]

the smells like teen spirit intro sounded just like in the album and I give that more to your playing than to the tone. You could do great tutorials

[deadroses]

This video showcases how much different the two albums are, no matter the production; this still sounds nothing like the songs on Bleach. The diversity really is genius

[topher]

This is really cool sounding, but it also shows how much of role Butch Vig's production on Nevermind contributed to its success. Although the songwriting and performances would still be there, I don't think it would have gone as mainstream as it did if it sounded like Bleach.

[anteologijaanteologija]

Songs featured:

0:09 "Mr. Moustache"
0:30 "Smells Like Teen Spirit"
1:04 "In Bloom"
1:30 "Come As You Are"
2:31 "Breed"
3:33 "Lithium"
4:48 "Polly"
5:21 "Territorial Pissings"
5:47 "Drain you"
7:04 "Lounge act"
8:03 "Stay away"
9:04 "On a Plain"
9:49 "Something in the Way"
10:37 "Endless, Nameless"

[cavemanzach]

This is interesting to hear because, personally, it feels like the muddiness worked better on bleach than Nevermind. I think In Bloom and Come As You Are needed the lighter clarity from Kurt's Nevermind setup

[gorkaalbiolvalero]

lmao, imagine Nevermind as the first album recorded by Nirvana, I wonder if this could be the sound of it... Amazing job! I wish I had a playlist of full "Neverbleach" songs.

[supremelordoftheuniverse]

Great job nailing the SLTS riff. It seems so simple, but many people leave out the little details that Kurt might have done on purpose or due to sloppiness, but make all the difference and give the riff it's character and soul. Not even Beato got it right.

[MiguelRamirez-crgh]

There’s a band called Superbloom that are heavily influenced by Nirvana, they add in a pinch of Deftones and it really sounds like Bleach era Nirvana, I highly recommend

[adambell]

What’s cool about what you’re doing here, aside from tone comparison, is that Kurt didn’t want the huge layered sound that Butch got during the sessions. Kurt preferred a more raw, single take (Bleach sounding) punk rock tone & composition. In order to get him to layer the guitars Butch would make excuses to get Kurt to do multiple takes, for example he’d say a string was a bit out of tune or something to that effect. He tricked Kurt into getting that sound!😆😆 That along with the pop over & undertones in the Nevermind material turned it into the monster that it became. Thanks for posting man, good stuff. Rock on

[eastjebus]

Dude how you lived that entire album, incredible how well you captured not just Nirvana but also Kurt himself. I could literally hear the rest of the band and there was nothing there

[juanpuerto]

Those chord progressions were fucking magical. What a song writer

[surfdigby]

It's really interesting to hear how Kurt's playing changed between the albums. Lots more space between the chords, more defined strumming patterns, but with a looser feel.

What would be good is if you record the bass and drums in a similar style, and mimic the more frantic, aggressive style that Kurt had on Bleach to hear everything in context.

[mariteaux]

Polly is my favorite because there's actually demos and BBC sessions of it that sound exactly like how you played it. You got it so dead on, much kudos.

[drtm]

It sounds more raw, like the beehive records gig. I personally think I would have preferred nevermind this way.

[mirata]

The bleach tone sounds surprisingly good for the nevermind tone! Even sounded studio like in some cases