On this day (November 1) in 1994, Nirvana released MTV Unplugged in New York. The mostly acoustic live album hit shelves a little more than six months after frontman Kurt Cobain died by suicide. It debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and has since been certified 8x Platinum by the RIAA. In 1996, it won the Grammy for Alternative Music Performance.
MTV began airing Unplugged in 1989. Five years later, the simple formula was set in stone. The bands played acoustic versions of their biggest hits. Behind the scenes, most bands went through their sets multiple times to make sure they got the perfect take. Nirvana didn’t follow the formula. They didn’t play their most popular songs. Cobain ran his acoustic through an amplifier and effects pedals. The band also recorded the entire show in a single take.
“We’d seen the other Unpluggeds and didn’t like many of them,” Dave Grohl said. “Most bands would treat them like rock shows–play their biggest hits like it was Madison Square Garden, except with acoustic guitars.” They wanted to avoid that. They played a song from their debut album Bleach, four from Nevermind, three tracks from In Utero, and six cover songs. When they took the stage at Sony Studios in Hell’s Kitchen, the only hit on the setlist was “Come As You Are” from Nevermind.
Nirvana Went Against the Grain for Unplugged
Nirvana didn’t just subvert the MTV Unplugged formula with their setlist and Kurt Cobain’s amplified guitar. They also invited some little-known special guests to join them and refused to do an encore.
Guest appearances weren’t new for Unplugged. However, producers expected them to bring on another high-profile alternative rock act like Pearl Jam. Instead, they chose to bring out Curt and Cris Kirkwood to play on Nirvana’s covers of three songs from their band, the Meat Puppets. They appeared on “Plateau,” “Oh Me,” and “Lake of Fire.” The band also covered the Vaselines’ “Jesus Doesn’t Want Me for a Sunbeam” and David Bowie’s “The Man Who Sold the World.”
They closed the set with “Where Did You Sleep Last Night.” They based their arrangement of the song on blues legend Lead Belly’s rendition. This was also the reason Cobain refused to do an encore. He believed this song was the high point of the night and anything he did afterward would pale in comparison.
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