Every Saturday I use the Discogs Randomizer Gizmo to pick a record from my collection and write about it here.
The Randomizer has a sense of humor this week given the Dave Grohl news/fiasco—picking the lone Nirvana album in my collection.
I have pretty mixed feelings about MTV Unplugged(s) because they are blind money grabs and are sometimes cool and sometimes not. I think Dylan’s and Clapton’s are among my favorites, and rounding out the top would definitely be this week’s Saturday Spin. Nirvana has always been that band that I have never delved into fully—I play the hits, mostly. What makes this Unplugged performance so great is Cobain, and the rest of the band, spurning MTV’s request to only play hit Nirvana songs. instead, they opted for a lot of covers mixed in with Nirvana tracks. “The Man Who Sold the World” being probably the best cover from this album.
Around this time, Cobain’s drug use was not as prolific, and you can hear him trying to stretch his voice on a lot of these tracks, especially the Meat Puppets covers. The final track, a Leadbelly cover, “Where Did You Sleep Last Night” has the band, and Cobain, on the verge of really discovering a new sound. Nirvana is well-known as a grunge stalwart and their sound helped really define that era of music, but what would have happened had Cobain lived and they started to experiment with a rough folk-rock kind of sound? Unfortunately, the closest we as listeners will ever get to that sound is on this album. Also of note: the entire set was done in one take!
My copy of this album is a European press that I won in a raffle, I believe. It was one that I had to have in my collection even though I am not a huge Nirvana or grunge guy generally speaking. It is a single jacket with the insert featuring photos from the show and credits. The cover has a full depiction of the stage and band featuring the macabre decor of stargazer lilies, a chandelier, and black candles.
Other than “The Man Who Sold the World”, I am partial to the unplugged versions of “Pennyroyal Tea”, this stripped down version is preferable to the loud and in your face album version, and “Polly” which seems a bit more emotional than the album version. The two Meat Puppets covers, “Oh, Me” and “Lake of Fire”, are kind of mid in my opinion—I am also not really into them so I am a bit biased. As I noted before, the closing track, “Where Did You Sleep Last Night”, is about as good of a mic drop as you’re gonna get to close out a show.
Give it a listen on this fine Saturday, whether you have never heard this album or you haven’t listened in awhile, it is sure to stick with you for a few days.
I’m a Nirvana fan, and I absolutely love this album!
That performance of “Where Did You Sleep Last Night” is iconic and will remain forever etched in my memory