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MTV Unplugged in New York (1994)

Where the lyrics of MTV Unplugged in New York take you, and where it was really made.

Cobain asked for a stage set that looked like a funeral, and the album came out nearly seven months after his death.

Key places

Sony Music Studios in Hell's Kitchen (1993)

Recording site Sony Music Studios — Nirvana taped the MTV Unplugged performance at Sony Music Studios on 18 November 1993. The show later aired on MTV and became this album. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• MTV Unplugged in New York: the first live album by the American rock band Nirvana
• Released by DGC Records on November 1, 1994, nearly seven months after Kurt Cobain's suicide
• Part of the cable television series MTV Unplugged; the performance is mostly acoustic
• Recorded at Sony Music Studios in Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan, on November 18, 1993
• Directed by Beth McCarthy-Miller; aired on MTV on December 16, 1993
• Debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200

Background

• MTV Unplugged had aired on MTV since 1989, with artists playing their hits on acoustic instruments in intimate settings
• Nirvana had been in negotiations to appear for some time; Cobain accepted while touring with the Meat Puppets
• The band wanted to do something different, since they found most Unplugged performances unimpressive
• The group looked to Mark Lanegan's largely acoustic 1990 album The Winding Sheet for inspiration
• Ideas included covering David Bowie's The Man Who Sold the World and inviting Meat Puppets members on stage
• The prospect of an entirely acoustic show reportedly made Cobain nervous
• Plans to release the performance as part of a live album, Verse Chorus Verse, were abandoned, and the Unplugged performance was released instead

Recording

• Rehearsals ran for two days at SST Rehearsal Facility in Weehawken, New Jersey, and were tense and difficult
• Cobain suggested stargazer lilies, black candles and a crystal chandelier for the stage
• The entire performance of 14 songs was filmed in a single take
• The set included one song from Bleach, four from Nevermind, three from In Utero and six covers
• Pat Smear and cellist Lori Goldston joined the band; Cris and Curt Kirkwood of the Meat Puppets joined for three songs
• Cobain ran his acoustic guitar through his amplifier and effects pedals

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Nirvana is an American rock band formed in Aberdeen, Washington, in 1987.
• Founded by Kurt Cobain (vocals, guitar) and Krist Novoselic (bass).
• Went through several drummers, including Chad Channing, before Dave Grohl joined in 1990.

Members

• Kurt Cobain: lead vocals and guitar, principal songwriter.
• Krist Novoselic: bass.
• Dave Grohl: drums, joined in 1990.

Career

• Part of the Seattle grunge scene; debut album Bleach released on Sub Pop in 1989.
• Signed to DGC Records in 1990; Nevermind (1991) became a cultural phenomenon, credited with ending hair metal's popularity.
• In Utero (1993) topped the US and UK album charts.
• Cobain died in April 1994; the band disbanded that year.
• MTV Unplugged in New York (1994) won a Grammy for Best Alternative Music Performance at the 1996 Grammys.
• One of the best-selling music artists of all time; inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2014.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Q: Tom Hibbert said that as an acoustic ensemble, Nirvana sounded most moving, possessed of a ragged glory
• Rolling Stone: Barbara O'Dair found the record stirring and occasionally brilliant, with spare and gorgeous spots everywhere
• Mojo: Ben Thompson argued that the format's colourless, generic aspect benefits Nirvana's record because of how intense it seems in light of Cobain's death
• Entertainment Weekly: David Browne felt unsettled by the album and heard a sense of musical loss
• Pazz & Jop: voted the fourth-best album of the year
• Robert Christgau ranked the album fourth on his own year-end list
• Pop & Rock: rated the album third best of 1994 and the best rock-pop album of 1994

Reappraisal

• AllMusic: senior editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine called the album fearlessly confessional
• PopMatters: Jason Mendelsohn believed its intimate folk rock quality was radical for Nirvana and Cobain
• The Rolling Stone Album Guide (2004): Charles M. Young called it Nirvana's second masterpiece after Nevermind
• USA Today: Maeve McDermott called it an album of transcendent folk rock
• The Guardian: wrote that the album became inextricably linked to Cobain's death
• The Atlantic (2013): Andrew Wallace Chamings described it as one of the greatest live performances of all time

Records

• US Billboard 200: debuted at number one
• First-week sales of 310,500 copies, the highest first-week sales of Nirvana's career
• By March 1995 it had outsold In Utero, with 6.8 million copies sold
• Certified eight-times platinum in 2020
• Won Best Alternative Music Performance at the 1996 Grammy Awards, Nirvana's only Grammy
• Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums of All Time: number 313 (2012), number 279 (2020)

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Cobain asked for a stage decorated with stargazer lilies, black candles and a crystal chandelier, and producer Alex Coletti asked whether it was like a funeral.
• Nirvana's finale, Where Did You Sleep Last Night, followed a 1944 recording by Lead Belly, whom Cobain described as his favorite performer.
• Cobain refused to play an encore because he felt he could not top the In the Pines performance.
• The 1959 Martin D-18E guitar used at the concert was sold at Julien's Auctions in 2020 for US$6 million.
• The planned double album Verse Chorus Verse was cancelled a week after it was announced, because compiling it was too emotionally difficult for Novoselic and Grohl.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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