Yesterday, I got myself a DVD of the previously unreleased, unedited video of Nirvana's groundbreaking appearance for MTV Unplugged. I dithered at first. After all, I already have an original CD and a tape of the event. I also have the edited MTV Unplugged version on a bootleg DVD. Getting this DVD would cost me almost a day's pay. I wasn't too sure that the DVD extras and the lack of editing would matter all that much.
However, I was feeling quite down, so I decided to splurge. After all, this particular performance is one of the things my dad and myself agree on, musically speaking.
I watched it this afternoon and...
...
... I was completely at a loss for words. There are very few things that I could say that would do justice to this groundbreaking, yet very intimate performance by what may very well have been the most influential band of its generation... And I thought I had heard it all before.
I've had an (edited) copy of this event on audio CD for the past 9 years, have listened to the songs on tape shortly before then, and had seen in passing video replays of the performance on MTV well before then, and have a copy of the edited version. I've also read books and quite a lot of literature about the set. Before I bought the newly released unedited version, I doubted quite a bit if my purchase was really worth the expense, seeing as how familiar I already am with the material. I was so wrong.
When I first borrowed a CD copy of Nirvana: Unplugged in New York, way back in 1997 (long after it happened), it was an event that changed my life from that point on. Listening to it was a revelation.
Before then, I just took music at face value. Something that was there in the background that could change your mood if you wanted it to. Something that can keep you from getting bored. Something that was merely candy for one's ears. I also thought that if you wanted to make good music that you had to be really, really good, just short of virtuosic if you wanted to make something great, that you had to play extremely clean if a piece had to be worth anything. In other words, I knew shit.
Listening to the performance all those years ago made me realize that music does not merely change your mood, nor keep you from getting bored. It is not merely candy for one's ears and quite surprisingly, I found that virtuosity does not matter all that much in the final assessment.
On the contrary, I found that music, no matter how simple, can not only change your mood - it can move you. Music can be food for your soul, not just candy for your ears. I realized that even something with so many faults could be so impeccably beautiful.
What happened that evening in New York on November 18, 1993 was nothing short of magic. A band (and of course, a man) known for making music out of sheets of sonic fuzz and fury made themselves vulnerable by doing something completely new for the very first time. The fact that the concert was not completely "unplugged" or acoustic was irrelevant. The band showed that they were capable of so much more than everyone (including themselves) expected.
Seeing the interviews, the gig banter, the jokes, the rehearsals, and seeing how the band and their guests interacted with the crowd was not only quite satisfying; seeing those things put the entire event into perspective. Only when I saw these things did I finally realize that the band was winging it. For instance, they decided to let Kurt do a song that they had practiced and messed up an hour earlier as a full band - solo. The last few songs (arguably the set's highlights) were just played at the spur of the moment. They even jammed to Sweet Home Alabama!
They (especially Cobain) were putting themselves in a very risky and awkward situation. They really were going against the grain. Most bands playing in MTV Unplugged just went through all their biggest hits, going along with the expectations of MTV and their fans.
What the band did was really something else. None of the songs on the set, save one (Come as You Are) were really big hits for the band. In fact, most of the songs were covers. People expected an acoustic version of Smells Like Teen Spirit, and they also expected the band to bring in Neil Young (the so-called grunge godfather), or maybe even Eddie Vedder as their special guests. Everyone was expecting this big grunge-fest.
Who did they bring along? The Meat Puppets... Who? Exactly. That the Meat Puppets never had any sort of major acclaim with the general public was irrelevant to the band; what mattered was that they were trying to honor their influences. On the DVD, you could see and feel the crowd getting disappointed with the choice of guests.
However, as things turned out well. Really well. The performance became legendary and has transcended the vision of the show and had likewise demonstrated Nirvana's ability to make music that was way beyond the ordinary. MTV, in the final analysis, had nothing to worry about and they were right not to interfere, even though studio heads wanted to on more than one occasion. Interfering would have been like telling Michelangelo to paint the Coca-cola logo on the Sistine Chapel ceiling. There was simply a feeling in the air that night that this performance was going to be extraordinary.
The performance would also turn out the last time the band did anything like it. Nothing like this will ever happen again. Times have changed, people have moved on to other things and any attempt to recreate something like the event would be kitschy and quite frankly, patently dishonest and against the spirit of what made that night truly special.
Regardless of what kind of music you listen to or what influences you have, this is something that really should not be missed. If there was anything that could demonstrate the painful beauty that comes with being true and with leaving one's self vulnerable, watching Kurt Cobain perform on this very special night would hit the mark very closely.
I R Proud Owner
