Full live performance nirvana mtv unplugged

#Full live performance nirvana mtv unplugged series#

Dave Grohl, whose outsized drumming had concerned Cobain and the producers ahead of the performance, played with brushes for the very first time, showing total control as the drums kicked in on BowieвЂ™s вЂњThe Man Who Sold the World.вЂќ Cris and Curt Kirkwood-of the influential but often overlooked Arizona psych-punk outfit Meat Puppets-sat in for luminous readings of not one but three of their own songs. And yet, there was Krist Novoselic, swapping his bass for an accordion (his first instrument) to reimagine The VaselinesвЂ™ вЂњJesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam,вЂќ itself a parody of an old childrenвЂ™s Christian hymn. This wasnвЂ™t just the worldвЂ™s biggest band at the moment, but one of its loudest and most dissonant, too. (вЂњI was never going to talk them into вЂTeen Spirit,вЂ™вЂќ Coletti says.) Instead, they came armed with covers and deep cuts and guests that definitely werenвЂ™t in rotation. TheyвЂ™d upended the hopes and expectations of the network by electing to play anything but the hits, вЂњCome As You AreвЂќ being one exception. Everyone had seen it.вЂќ But on its own, Unplugged remains one of rockвЂ™s great live albums, as well as a glimpse of Nirvana at their most naked and idiosyncratic. вЂњWeвЂ™d aired it so often that year it was a shock that the album sold so well. вЂњWe used it as a way to mourn Kurt on air,вЂќ Coletti says of the show. (The cardigan he wore, still unwashed since the performance, just raised $334,000 at auction, making it the most expensive sweater ever sold.) The live album wouldnвЂ™t see release until nearly a year later. ItвЂ™s impossible at this point to divorce the recording from images of Cobain, from the mythology of the night.

But we didnвЂ™t know at the time-we moved on.вЂќ вЂњIt should all still be sitting there,вЂќ Coletti says of the set. вЂњAnd Tony Bennett the day after that.вЂќ Almost immediately after the band had finished, a production crew was tearing the set down, including the black candles and white Stargazer lilies that would later give viewers the feeling that they were watching a living funeral.

#Full live performance nirvana mtv unplugged series#

вЂњI think the next day, we did Stone Temple Pilots,вЂќ series producer Alex Coletti tells Apple Music. Recorded in New York on November 18, 1993, five months before Kurt CobainвЂ™s death, it was the first of three tapings in three days that week for MTV. ItвЂ™s worth remembering and repeating: Unplugged was never meant to be NirvanaвЂ™s final statement.