Unplugged In New York

Some of you fine readers out there will recall a time when MTV played nothing but videos. You'll also recall a little show called Unplugged, in which bands would strip down to acoustic guitars and jam out on their hits. So lets take a little trip back to the best one, if not certainly most well known one with Nirvana.

Nirvana at one point was the biggest band in the world. And I believe would probably still be if Cobain didn't join the 27 club. Riding high of the success of the grunge movement and the release of 'Nevermind' and the much grittier 'In Utero', the band had been in talks with MTV for a while to do an Unplugged show. Finally in '93 it happened. Recorded on November 18, 1993 at Sony Music Studios in New York, Nirvana would show the world a night they wouldn't soon forget. Instead of playing their hits, the band focused on playing some of their lesser known material as well as a handful of covers by the likes of The Vaselines, David Bowie, The Meat Puppets, and Lead Belly. It took many for a loop who were expecting to hear the hits. Instead they got a man bearing his soul while in the middle of detoxing. The pinnacle of the album of course is the final cut, a Lead Belly song entitled "Where Did You Sleep Last Night". Look no further than the final line of the song in which Cobain goes up an octave, cracks his voice, and you get goosebumps. The track would serve as a reminder of what a showman Gen X had just lost.

The album wouldn't be released until after Cobain's death. In fact the album didn't see the light of day until almost a year later in November '94. The DVD wouldn't see light of day til '07. The album of course would go on to sell millions of copies worldwide. Serving as what would be at the time the final release of the band. Of course we all know how the music business works and there's money to be made. Several posthumous releases have been issued in recent years. Again making Nirvana a top selling act.

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