Sonic Youth Gossip - View Single Post - NR Essentials #4: Nirvana

noisereductions · 09.17.2008, 08:30 PM

Nirvana
MTV Unplugged In New York
1994, DGC Records

The chances are good that my connection to this record has a great deal to do with my age. I was in my early teens when this set aired on MTV, and it was a big fucking deal. Back then there was no YouTube. The night it aired I taped it on my VCR (remember VCRs?) and then ran the VCR into my stereo and copied the performance--sans commercials--onto a cassette tape. That cassette tape got a lot of play. And in fact, it wasn't until that neon memorax shit the bed that I finally bought the actual CD release a few years later that included some extra shiz not originally aired.

But even when I take away emotional attachments; even when I take away those confused adolescent evenings spent disecting the setlist to look for "cries for help that WE should have answered"--UNPLUGGED is a great fucking album. And in truth, there are very few live albums that are this good.

The fact that it's "unplugged" is almost the antithesis of what people knew Nirvana for at the time. Remember? And on top of that there were very few "hits" in the set. And what's stranger: there were a LOT of covers. Weird ones. Back then it was like, 'who the fuck are the Vaselines? who the fuck are the Meat Puppets? AND WHY WOULD KURT PLAY A DAVID FUCKING BOWIE SONG???"

There's tons of awkward moments throughout. And yet, I prefer the fuckup in the middle of "Pennyroyal Tea" to the LP version. And "Oh Me" kills me every time because it makes me recall the anictode that Michael Azarad brings up in COME AS YOU ARE of how Kurt played Courtney (I do believe they were once in love) the entire 2nd Meat Puppets album acoustic so that she'd understand why he loved it so much.

Most rock historians acredit NEVERMIND with being the most 'important' Nirvana record. Sure. And a lot of hipsters may side with IN UTERO for well... Albini, and the fact that it was far less mersh. But when all is done and said, I've spent nights listening to this album 3 or 4 times in a row. And there are very few albums that I can still do that with.

09.17.2008, 08:30 PM	#1
noisereductions invito al cielo Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: New England, USA Posts: 16,210	Nirvana MTV Unplugged In New York 1994, DGC Records The chances are good that my connection to this record has a great deal to do with my age. I was in my early teens when this set aired on MTV, and it was a big fucking deal. Back then there was no YouTube. The night it aired I taped it on my VCR (remember VCRs?) and then ran the VCR into my stereo and copied the performance--sans commercials--onto a cassette tape. That cassette tape got a lot of play. And in fact, it wasn't until that neon memorax shit the bed that I finally bought the actual CD release a few years later that included some extra shiz not originally aired. But even when I take away emotional attachments; even when I take away those confused adolescent evenings spent disecting the setlist to look for "cries for help that WE should have answered"--UNPLUGGED is a great fucking album. And in truth, there are very few live albums that are this good. The fact that it's "unplugged" is almost the antithesis of what people knew Nirvana for at the time. Remember? And on top of that there were very few "hits" in the set. And what's stranger: there were a LOT of covers. Weird ones. Back then it was like, 'who the fuck are the Vaselines? who the fuck are the Meat Puppets? AND WHY WOULD KURT PLAY A DAVID FUCKING BOWIE SONG???" There's tons of awkward moments throughout. And yet, I prefer the fuckup in the middle of "Pennyroyal Tea" to the LP version. And "Oh Me" kills me every time because it makes me recall the anictode that Michael Azarad brings up in COME AS YOU ARE of how Kurt played Courtney (I do believe they were once in love) the entire 2nd Meat Puppets album acoustic so that she'd understand why he loved it so much. Most rock historians acredit NEVERMIND with being the most 'important' Nirvana record. Sure. And a lot of hipsters may side with IN UTERO for well... Albini, and the fact that it was far less mersh. But when all is done and said, I've spent nights listening to this album 3 or 4 times in a row. And there are very few albums that I can still do that with.
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