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Greatest MTV unplugged of all time?
YellowSnow
Moderator, Swaye's Wigwam Posts: 33,864
Greatest MTV unplugged of all time? 28 votes
Eric Clapton
0%
Neil Young
7%
2 votes
Jay- Z
0%
Alice in Chains
14%
4 votes
Nirvana
71%
20 votes
Pearl Jam
0%
Mariah Carey
0%
Rod Stewart
7%
2 votes
Yo! Unplugged Rap (Tribe Called Quest, LL Cool J, De La Soul)
0%
F.O. Row Peter Puffer
0%
Comments
Nirvana is really the only one that I think is essential because so many of the songs were kick ass covers that they made their own.
KISS was good because it brought Ace and Peter back and Bruce and Eric into the unemployment line.
Clapton somehow won a zillion Grammys for his dog shit of an album.
It seems quite a few of the performances were only on the TV show it seemed.
REM
The Cure
SRV
Prince
Clapton is probably 2nd
Nirvana's unplugged album is definitely the best. As you said, almost every song on it is the best version of that song. Everything is perfectly mixed. No mistakes. And I read somewhere (not sure if true) that Nirvana did the whole thing in one take, whereas normally MTV had the bands re-record some stuff for the official release.
I heard Nirvana's version of Lake of Fire first, and I think it ruined the Meat Puppet's version. It doesn't even sound like the Meat Puppets are playing it correctly....and they wrote the thing! I'm not even a big Nirvana fan, either, but here I am gushing about their Unplugged album. Gushing like a granny I tell ya.
Their original recording contract in the 60s required them to produce 3 new albums a year, which ate up a bunch of time the band could have spent rehearsing for live performances. Necessary for heavy harmonizing vocal type stuff. It's tough getting everyone's part nailed down.
Brian Wilson's deafness in one ear likely made it more challenging to hear himself singing. Then he quit touring altogether in 1964 (occasionally would join) which is a major loss. Then he got into drugs and fucked up his voice in the 70s. So did Dennis.
Much like The Beatles, The Beach Boys were starting to write and record a lot of songs that were difficult to perform outside the studio, due to the instruments and recording techniques used. For example, California Girls was recorded with drums, piano, vibes, assorted percussion, three guitars, both an electric and a double bass, three saxophones, a trumpet, and an organ, not to mention six-part harmony vocals (according to Google). That's just too much to translate to a live performance. And on some songs, they had a session drummer contribute to the recording because Dennis wasn't familiar with certain techniques and patterns. While touring, it was just Dennis. So certain songs (Hawaii, for example) didn't translate well for live performances.