Nirvana before ‘Nevermind’

“There was a real sense of anticipation around ‘Bleach,’ ’’ said Bernstein, who later worked as a publicist for Nirvana’s first record label, Sub Pop. “You already had a sense that it was going to be amazing, just because the first single [‘Love Buzz’] had gone over so well.’’

To mark the 20th anniversary of “Bleach,’’ Sub Pop is issuing deluxe CD and LP editions on Tuesday, featuring crisp remastered versions of the original 13 tracks as well as a previously unreleased live recording of a February 1990 performance in Portland, Ore.

While the band didn’t explode until the release of “Nevermind’’ in 1991, members of the Seattle music scene considered “Bleach’’ to be a breakout hit, simply because it allowed Nirvana to tour the country.

“To us at the time, the idea of them being as popular as they got was never in anyone’s remotest fantasy,’’ Bernstein said. “People think of ‘Bleach’ as this forgotten album, but we thought of it as a big deal.’’

Twenty years later, it’s nearly impossible to listen to “Bleach’’ without a certain amount of emotional baggage attached. The tragic story of the rise and abrupt end of Nirvana and the death of singer Kurt Cobain undercuts whatever potential can be heard in material from the band’s early years.

That said, the 12-song concert, re-mixed from original tapes by “Bleach’’ producer Jack Endino, captures the raw energy that became Nirvana’s signature. Hearing Cobain’s raspy growl - as an instrument in itself - is haunting. The recording ends with him smashing his guitar onstage at the end of “Blew.’’

“[Cobain] had this intimacy with the audience,’’ said Danny Goldberg, who managed Nirvana in the post-“Bleach’’ era until Cobain’s death in 1994. “It was almost like somehow he simultaneously was part of the audience and on stage at the same time.’’

Bernstein, who used to pick up the band’s mail in Seattle, described fans’ feelings toward the record as “intense.’’

“For years before, it was these LA hair metal bands . . . bands who wore makeup and stage clothes and things like that,’’ he said. “It was as if the people writing [to Nirvana] had never seen themselves in one of the bands they liked. This was the first band they’d ever encountered . . . where there wasn’t this divide between the audience and the rock star. I think that’s what everyone reacted to. People felt so personal about this music, and I think it just came at the right time.’’

That connectivity didn’t just extend to the fans. Jennie Boddy, who worked as a publicist at Sub Pop from 1989 to 1992, remembers being blown away the first time she heard “Bleach.’’

“It was incredible,’’ she recalled. “It’s urgent and blunt and angry and empathetic and explosive. . . . You could scream ‘No Recess’ and it would sound important, or hear ‘Negative Creep’ and that song was like you.’’

In spite of their own personal responses, however, those close to Nirvana said few, if any, anticipated the group to achieve the widespread popularity they did.

“I thought it was a really good record, and I got why it was a buzz record among the rock critics and the punk subculture,’’ Goldberg said. “But just from hearing ‘Bleach,’ I would not have predicted that they were going to be that big.’’

For locals, Nirvana appeared to be an underdog in a long line of area acts who were cultivating what would come to be known as the grunge sound.

“It was like they were an amazing local band that didn’t seem to have as much commercial potential as some of the other bands,’’ Bernstein said. “The other bands at the time had these frontmen that were so theatrical, in a way, and [Cobain] wasn’t. . . . But if you paid attention, he obviously exuded this intensity that went way beyond [other] performers.’’

“Somehow, it was the rare circumstance for what should happen did happen, that the little, talented, intense guy actually did get more popular than . . . these preening frontmen-type people,’’ he added.

Whatever their later appeal, “Bleach’’ reminds listeners that Nirvana was, first and foremost, a punk rock band. But already evident is the infusion of Cobain’s sense of melody, particularly on songs like “About a Girl.’’

“It wasn’t the most brilliant songwriting they ever achieved as a band, but the parts were all there,’’ Bernstein said. “It’s a really [expletive] noisy, shouty, at times very discordant, atonal record . . . by a bunch of angry kids. I think the fact that that could then go on to sell [more than] a million records is incredible.’’