Bleach

Raw, loud grunge rock. Shows off some of the song structures that would come to define the band, but affronts and challenges the listener more than their later records. Lots of down-tuned, hard rock guitar and rough, expressive vocals. Tracks 1-13 are the original album, and 14-25 are recordings from a live show. My picks: 1, 3, 4, 9, 12, 20. FCC: 21.
– Andy

1 - Rough but catchy, with growling bass and vocals, hard rock choruses
2 - Loud and anxious, with nice breakdown at end
3 - Clean and poppy while distinctly Nirvana; fantastic, expressive vocal hooks
4 - Driving beat, well-conveyed frustration: "You're in high school again"
5 - Shocking Blue cover; grabbing bass riff and nice guitar interplay
6 - Slower but intense, with screeching guitar opener, screaming vocals, spacey harmonization on choruses
7 - Fast and brutal; bassy, distorted riff and had-it-up-to-here vocals that mostly hover just this side of breaking out into chaos
8 - Hard rock guitar riffs, indignant vocals
9 - Simple, pleading verse structure with loud, cathartic choruses; effecting and mature
10 - Still angry, but has some fun with it; solid rock number
11 - Epic, stripped-down, roughed-up hair metal
12 - Quiet, spooky intro; snarled anti-corporate lyrics with grabbing two-part harmonies on choruses
13 - Very fast and dark, with stretches of unnerving spoken vocals
14 - Band salutes Portland and noodles around with guitar feedback into "School"
15 - More desperation in the vocals, with crisp bass
16 - Pretty similar to the studio version, with a little more vocal intensity
17 - Bass intro, catchy vocals
18 - Faster than studio version, with heavier guitar
19 - Fecal Matter cover; Meat Puppets reminiscent opening and hard-rocking choruses
20 - Vaselines cover, as the band enthusiastically announce; simple, poppy, energetic rock tune
21 - More paced, brooding number; FCC "fuck"
22 - A little faster than studio, with deranged chorus vocals
23 - Significantly sped up, with clean guitar and loud bass; frantic and frustrated
24 - Driving and determined, with catchy, repeated vocal patterns
25 - Fast and heavy, long guitar solo; song goes to about 2:30, followed by what sounds like Cobain doing something bad to his guitar