Nirvana MTV Unplugged performance - TIMH

Nirvana recorded their MTV Unplugged appearance today in 1993. The MTV Unplugged series featured rock artists performing their hit songs acoustically. Nirvana turned the formula on its head by playing deeper tracks from their own catalog along with relatively obscure covers of other artists’ material. The broadcast aired on MTV on December 16, 1993 and an audio recording of the show was released in 1994. The album is one of the finest live records in rock history.

While the death of singer/guitarist Kurt Cobain certainly added to the lore surrounding the performance, the music stands on its own. While not truly an all-acoustic performance (note the pickups on Cobain’s guitar), it was a stark contrast to the style for which Nirvana was famous. There was no feedback or distortion, Dave Grohl wasn’t doing his usual Bonham/Moon impression on the drums and there were no gothic cheerleaders waving pom poms.

Instead, the stage was adorned as if it were a funeral, with dark curtains in the background, candles flickering and lilies in bloom on stage. The performers were seated and subdued. The tense and mysterious air cloaking the set was first punctured with the opening song, “About a Girl”, a little known number off the band’s first album “Bleach”. They followed with a more popular song, “Come as You Are”, which was the second single off the band’s second album.

At this point the show was starting to follow the formula that Unplugged viewers knew. That did not last as Nirvana launched into a song that was completely foreign to American audiences, “Jesus Doesn’t Want Me for a Sunbeam”, which was originally recorded in 1988 by a Scottish band called The Vaselines. Even in Scotland The Vaselines were not all that popular of a band and were not even together as a band by the time of the Unplugged performance.

Nirvana followed with an exceptional cover of David Bowie’s “The Man Who Sold the World” before returning to their own material for five straight songs. That five song run did not include any songs that received regular radio play. This just wasn’t how the Unplugged shows went and viewers were left wondering when “Smells Like Teen Spirit” or their favorite song would be played. (To understand just how strange this was, consider that Pearl Jam played Unplugged in 1992 and included the songs “Black”, “Alive”, “Jeremy” and “Even Flow”. Alice In Chains played Unplugged in 1996 and included the songs “Rooster”, “Angry Chair”, “Would?” and “Heaven Beside You”.)

Nirvana only added to the viewer’s sense of confusion by trotting out Cris and Curt Kirkwood from the Meat Puppets for a three song run of Meat Puppets covers. Again, these songs, and the Meat Puppets in general, were largely unknown to the average viewer. By the end of the show these covers, “Plateau”, “Oh, Me”, and “Lake of Fire”, were forevermore Nirvana songs in the minds of the audience. Nirvana followed with one of their hits, “All Apologies”, before ending the show with one of the most haunting covers ever recorded.

Nirvana chose a most unusual song to end the show. Nobody knows who wrote it though it’s been around for over 100 years. Nobody even knows what the song is actually called. Sometimes it’s referred to as “In the Pines”, sometimes it’s “Black Girl” and sometimes it’s “Where Did You Sleep Last Night?”. With Cobain being a huge fan of the old bluesman Huddy “Lead Belly” Ledbetter, the band went with the version that Lead Belly recorded in the 1940s.

Nirvana’s version of “Where Did You Sleep Last Night?” was a fitting end to the show and, in retrospect, the perfect epitaph for Cobain. As the audience clamored for an encore, Cobain cursed them and announces this would be the last song of the evening. After a bit of banter, he hits the opening chords and the crowd falls silent.

His voice takes on an ethereal quality as he guides us through this story of betrayal and murder. The strains of a cello in the background add a disconcerting tone to the song as the camera pans around the stage cum funeral parlor. As the songs winds to the final refrains, Cobain closes his eyes and injects a breathless energy to the vocals. As he approaches the last two words of the song Cobain’s eyes bolt open wide, as if he’s pulled back to life from beyond the grave. Cobain nails the final two words of the song, the band plays the outro and Cobain says, “Thank you”. For the vast majority of people, that is the last time they will see Kurt Cobain alive.

“Where Did You Sleep Last Night?”: