The song was first performed live on April 1, 1990 at the Cabaret Metro in Chicago, Illinois. The following day, the band began work on recording a new release for their then-label Sub Pop, at Smart Studios in Madison, Wisconsin with producer Butch Vig. Among the eight songs recorded during the five-day session was "In Bloom," which originally featured a bridge that Vig removed by physically cutting it out of the 16-track master tape with a razor blade, and throwing in the garbage. The original plan of releasing the songs recorded during this session on a single release were abandoned later in the year, after the exit of drummer Chad Channing. The band instead used the material as a demo tape, which circulated amongst the music industry and generated interest in the group among major record labels. However, a few songs from the session still appeared on various official releases in 1990 and 1991. "In Bloom" was released as a music video only, on the "Sub Pop Video Network Volume 1" VHS compilation in 1991.