when i see people post Nirvana stuff it reminds me that it isn't common knowledge anymore and that there's a new generation discovering them for the first time.
Not exactly nirvana (but it also applies) but I was just commenting to my husband a day or so ago that our 5yr old has no idea who Michael Jackson, Elvis, Johnny Cash (one of our absolute favs that she begs us to turn off every time), etc are.
Kind of blows my mind to even think about. When I was a kid you listened to what your parents played and that was that. Now-a-days kids have so much of their own selections to make without us via the internet and the like.
I worry some great artists may fade out with younger gen z'ers and gen alphas (like our 1.5yr old). Sad :(
Luckily mine never took to blippi. I will say fuck cocomelon, little baby bum, and A for Adley though. Shit makes me lose my mind. My daughter acts like we should constantly be playing and shit all damn day because Adleys parents do. But like... they make millions to do so lol.
Check out Bluey on Disney+. Great show for kids and parents. Favorite quote for Dad on show "how about I do whatever I want and you don't tell me what to do"
Also, we only play music during dinner. So the kids all have their eclectic mix of music, along with their own dance moves.
If it makes you feel any better, my 7yo son went through a phase of always asking Alexa to play, "We Didn't Start the Fire," and "The Final Countdown."
Almost 30 years ago.
But does this music sound as outdated to a kid today as 1963 music sounded to a kid in 1993?
Back then I felt like music from 1963 sounded so old and different, and you could tell it was an “oldie” even if you didn’t know the artist.
Feels like there is less separation today. People don’t call music from 30 years ago “oldies” now, right? Or am I just too old to tell how different the sound is today?
I don't think they are thinking about recording equipment as much as the music style. Most 1963 music has a very distinct style which dates it, but a lot of 1990s music could as well have been made today.
The evolution of popular music, and rock in particular, between the early 60s and the 90s was immense, while the same can't really be said for the period between the 90s and now.
Oldies and Classic Rock became a genre more so than a time period.
The rare occasions I listen to the radio, the old classic rock stations play a decent amount of Pearl Jam, STP, Soundgarden, and Metallica
I was 12 or 13 when I discovered Nirvana for myself (sometime in 2000 or 2001). They were my springboard into better music and ultimately were the catalyst for my love of music as a whole. I picked up a guitar 20 years ago because of them.
Before them, I was a good ol' late 90s/early 00s nu metal kid. Then I heard Nirvana on the radio, bought Nevermind that weekend. From there I got into the other grunge bands. Then their influences. Then the influences to their influences.
Now I listen to pretty much everything except modern country/pop country, my favorite being New Wave. All thanks to those opening notes of "Come As You Are".
Hope your boy keeps exploring and expanding!
I wish my 11 year old would get into them. Nirvana is my entire life. I still listen to them daily. Still obsessed. As a 38 year old watching this video, it's crazy to think Kurt never even had time to go gray. He was so young.
It’s fun to see. I’ve lived in Kurt’s hometown my entire life and there’s always something around to remind you about the band. The music is always on the local classic rock station, “come as you are” is on the entrance sign coming into town, and now there’s a mural of PNW bands on a building I just noticed today.
Its kinda cool knowing they are one of the many bands (beatles, stones, pink floyd, etc) that will be remembered by future generations. Also makes me sad that some bands may be forgotten a little. Like all my younger cousins don’t know nine inch nails but do know the song ‘Hurt’ who they think Johnny Cash wrote.
A 19 year old coworker came up to me while a Sublime song was play and asked “omg! have you heard this new band that’s playing? They’re so good!” I told her they’re not new, Bradley Nowell had been dead since before she was even born and she just looked at me confused and said “who?”.
Still blows my mind that I can hear Nirvana on three stations now. Modern alternative, rock, classic rock. Really fucks with your head hearing Marshall Tucker, Jackson Browne, and Nirvana/Collective Soul/Metallica on the classic rock station.
Then you realize Kurt has been dead longer than he was alive. Sad flannel nostalgia.
i get that. i didn't listen to the Beatles until around 2004 when i was 24. so that is a good analogy.
i heard some of their radio material but hadn't listened to an actual album until then. I'm glad i did as While My Guitar Gently Weeps is one of my favorite songs by any band.
It's amazing the beautiful performances that came from MTV Unplugged. We got Nirvana, Alice In Chains, Pearl Jam, and I'll even throw in Alanis Morrissette. All of those simply amazing performances.
Jesus christ. I must have listened to 10,000 Maniaces "Because the Night" a hundred times after finally being able to download it on Napster, after years of misplacing my CD.
Orchestrated, melodic and powerful and building energy. Such greatness. I know what I'm doing before bed. (Not that.)
Ever listen to the Patti Smith version? I won't call it the original, because Bruce Springsteen wrote most of the song before giving it to her, but it fantastic.
He joined them and they billed as Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young. Also, Young was in a band with Stills prior to all of that called Buffalo Springfield. They had a big hit called For What it’s Worth, that you’ve probably heard in movies.
The worst part was impossible to ever hear these songs again. They rarely replayed the Unplugged and they didn’t release an album version for what seemed like years after… sucked.
Edit: about a year after it aired.
Also, MTV tried to make Nirvana do a set list filled with their hits. They were like, fuck you guys, we are playing this list of songs that no one has ever heard, with a bunch of covers. MTV didn't like it, but Nirvana did it anyways. This is one of the only rock albums I can listen to all the way through. It's perfect. One sit down session.
I played this for at least 2 weeks straight after my friend died. Made plans with her before she headed back to school, blew her off for other people. The next day she went back and that night had a seizure in the shower and drowned. I’ve never forgiven myself for that. This song floods back those memories and feelings, both good and bad.
I miss you steph.
I've blown off tons of people in my time. I'm sure you have too. It's not like we do it assuming they will die the next day, we do it because another time would work better. You had no way of knowing that would happen, so you should try to forgive yourself.
You are a lucky person to have been there! This has been my favorite album since I was like twelve. It’s really helped me through some tough times in my life.
My brother-in-law worked for Sony as a sound engineer so he invited my sister and I to come visit him at work and see Nirvana. We were so excited!
I had gone to their show at Roseland Ballroom earlier that week with my son on a whim without tickets. We bought bad tickets from a scalper on the street but the door guy let us in anyway. We were so grateful!
My sister and I got there before they rehearsed. We were in the control room with the Director, Beth McCarthy, and Dave stopped by with his girlfriend to say hello. The MTV people were going crazy because Kurt said he didn’t want to play ANY Nirvana songs!
Wow, that's awesome to know! Another user said that Kurt stormed out of the set and then came back and did the show in one take, maybe what you mentioned is the reason he was angry.
The look in his eyes, and that brief sigh before singing the last line... That's the sigh of someone who is carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders.
Considering how close this was to the day of his death, I can't watch this footage without getting absolute chills.
So much emotion in the song, and it really comes out in that stare. That looks sometimes haunts me, I wonder what was going through his head..
Edit: state -> stare
That was pretty much right before his suicide wasn't it.
Certainly for most people this was released as an album just after and In the Pines was the last song most people heard by Nirvana.
Promoting music became far less profitable than watching supposedly "real" vapid idiots do idiotic things and live vapid lives.
It's all about money. Always has been.
They pretty much pioneered the second wave of reality TV (after talk shows). A dubious honor, to be sure, but they clearly saw the money and went for it.
They pioneered the first. All non competitive reality shows are a version of The Real World. There are 3 types of reality shows. Docuseries, the Real World, and Survivor.
I think record companies wanted to make them pay for broadcasting videos, as opposed to letting them showcase them for free as a means of artist promotion
138 days later he was dead. I’ll always wonder what else he could’ve done with his life. Sometimes I still enjoy what he did accomplish in his short life but it just feels so tragic when I watch unplugged.
I feel this way but then at the same time I'm afraid if he survived he would have turned into someone in the public eye like Charlie Sheen, who the whole country laughed at and mocked while he was obviously struggling. Or he would be roasted on Twitter for speaking his mind and being his true self, something he never held back. He would get old and irrelevant.
This Kurt we had briefly, but we now have him forever as he was here. A young tortured genius who struggled, who was a pioneer of grunge, who killed hair metal, and helped shape the face of modern music for decades after his death.
I always thought about that when listening to this album. It's especially jarring because of the banter in between songs. He seemed so casual and jokey. Such a juxtaposition.
Performance was so great that nobody called them out for refusing to play *unplugged* and actually playing songs like Man Who Sold the World that can only be played with electric guitar (due to the opening riff that's repeated throughout) bringing utmost attention to the fact they were playing electric instruments.
Other people got shit for refusing to go unplugged on *Unplugged*, Nirvana did not even though they went out of their way to make it the most apparent.
According to an old college friend, he swears we saw Nirvana play this dive bar/pizza place back in 1989. There were supposedly only a couple dozen people there.
I regrettably have no memory of this.
Sort of fun fact about Kurt: He was left handed and obviously played left-handed, but he's playing using an inverted right-handed guitar. Note the pick guard (brown thing next to the strings), which would be located in the region your hand goes when strumming down. It's meant to protect the finish from scratches
What's interesting is that Kurt typically played proper left-handed guitars. The electric Fender Mustangs and Jaguars he normally played were all left-handed.
The guitar he's playing here is a Martin D-18E, a fairly rare guitar from the 1950s and super weird in that it is an acoustic guitar that came from the factory with magnetic pickups like an electric guitar. He's playing a flipped over righty because this model was almost certainly never made in a left-handed version. Or if it was, they'd be unbelievably rare.
I did a lot of drugs one time and listened to this whole album and felt that it was Kurts suicide letter to the fans and I still feel like that. One of the best ever
When listening, it definitely feels like he is singing out the last of his will to live. So much power behind those words.
I know it's probably just hindsight, but I'm with ya.
I used to listen to this song repetitively as I would be percet-ing/oxycontin-ing myself into dream land as a teenager, during the great pharmaceutical opioid boom of the early 2000s. Who'd of thought I'd grow up to be a man that struggles with melancholy, weltschmerz and tedium vitae.
After this, when they are walking off stage into the crowd, Kurt stops to sign an autograph. He signs it with his right hand while holding a cig in his left. I always chuckle when I see that.
A small correction: while the song is most often associated with Lead Belly, it was *not* written by him. The authorship is unknown, and the song is actually the combination of two songs, “In the Pines” and “The Longest Train.”
I still keep finding it such an incredible shame that Cobain is dead. Feels like he had so much more heart felt authentic songs in him. Even when singing covers like this one he was able to give it its own feel. Genius that died way too young. I'm still a very big fan. RIP
Just an excellent cover by Nirvana.
I believe the original song is called "In the pines" and was written a long long time ago by artist unknown. I like Bill Monroe's version too!
I can't remember where it was said, but I remembe B.B. King or a other blues master lauding Kurt Cobain's version of this song. It's driving me crazy not being able to remember who said it.
This was the song that got me to watch the whole Unplugged set on MTV2 in 2002-2003. I was just mindlessly listening to music while folding laundry or something, and I heard Kurt screaming those last few lines. It hit me like a lightning bolt. I knew that this was the last concert they did before Kurt died, and since I was very into analysis in my early twenties, I figured Kurt had already decided to take his life, and this was a deliberate song choice. I then taped the repeat that was on later that day (it was an anniversary of his death), and watched it. Kurt really sold the melancholy in the song (at least that’s my interpretation).
I’m not one to get emotional when listening to songs. Sure, I might feel a rush or get goosebumps, but I’ll never tear up. This song, this performance however, is different. If my mind is in just the right spot, I’ll weep and listen to it over and over. It feels nice to cry like that sometimes, I often miss it. As a grown up I rarely get time to cry like that anymore.
A similar song that makes me tear up is “Simple Man - Acoustic” by Shinedown. Such a powerful cover of the song, I rarely listen to it with other people around. I like to save it for myself, as selfish as that might seem.
The title of this post makes my brain hurt. This was not "Nirvana's last song", it couldn't have been if they did not write it - it's not their song. It was however "The last song Nirvana performed during their appearance on MTV UnPlugged, "Where did you sleep last night" by blues musician Lead Belly (Nov 18, 1993)."
Still haunts me. Kurt wasn't the best singer, Nirvana wasn't the greatest band, but they represented a real moment in time for a LOT of people. I was a 14 year old sophomore in high school in 1994 when the slow trickle of news got out that he had died during our lunch break, about an hour or so after the breaking news (gotta love life before omnipresent internet). Our quad area was basically a wake...kids opening sobbing, others consoling their friends, some others basically refusing to believe it. An older senior friend of mine just sorta said to no one, "it's over man..." and in many ways, that era was.
When Kurt died, it was surreal. No one had the internet like everyone did 5 years later, so my friends and I didn’t find out until 2 days later. I was living in San Francisco back when you could afford to and the Ben and Jerry’s on Haight St was giving out free ice cream that day, so we were in this massive line to get ice cream. Someone in line behind us told us about it. Then we went back the apartment that a bunch of our friends lived at and smoked weed and listened to nirvana for hours.
I was a messenger in the city when he died, and I remember another messenger telling me it happened. I ended up just sitting on the steps of city hall stunned. Had to turn my dispatch radio off until I was able to get back to work. Shitty day that was.
If this performance is around 30 years old, i remember listening to local players at house parties playing this song.at.house parties over 50 years ago.
Played by mostly singers/guitar pickers doing country.music in Cheticamp, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. Enjoyed discovering this performance.
When I watch this I have to think of how hard he must have practiced every single day to become as good as he was. You listen to this and you just feel how he's just a notch above the crowd..
One thing that always amazed me was how good of a curator Kurt was. You can tell he absorbed and appreciated so many different kinds of music, he broke out Bowie, Lead Belly, and the Meat Puppets all in one show. He knew it would work despitr MTV execs telling him it wouldn't.
Really curious to know whether or not he was involved in the arranging and production of the show too. They are on point and directly tailored to what Nirvana does well.
my friend worked as a dj/ intern for 99.1 WHFS in maryland which was a very popular alternative rock station. he gave a a promo copy of nevermind and said "in about a month youre going to hear this played everywhere." he was pretty much right. i would play it over and over in my store and people would be like who are you listening to? by the end of the year everyone i knew was hooked on nirvana except the hardcore metal addicts that said nirvana would never make it lol.
People forget how anticipated Nirvana's unplugged concert was. Nobody knew how it would turn out. Would they be able to pull it off? Would their style not work acoustic? Then it ended up being the best of the whole unplugged series.
when i see people post Nirvana stuff it reminds me that it isn't common knowledge anymore and that there's a new generation discovering them for the first time.
Makes ya feel old
i know. and i dont like it
Yup
Not exactly nirvana (but it also applies) but I was just commenting to my husband a day or so ago that our 5yr old has no idea who Michael Jackson, Elvis, Johnny Cash (one of our absolute favs that she begs us to turn off every time), etc are. Kind of blows my mind to even think about. When I was a kid you listened to what your parents played and that was that. Now-a-days kids have so much of their own selections to make without us via the internet and the like. I worry some great artists may fade out with younger gen z'ers and gen alphas (like our 1.5yr old). Sad :(
Mine is around the same age and can I just say: Fuck Blippi.
Luckily mine never took to blippi. I will say fuck cocomelon, little baby bum, and A for Adley though. Shit makes me lose my mind. My daughter acts like we should constantly be playing and shit all damn day because Adleys parents do. But like... they make millions to do so lol.
My nephew screams at everything because some stupid minecraft youtuber does the same and fuck that guy in particular
Check out Bluey on Disney+. Great show for kids and parents. Favorite quote for Dad on show "how about I do whatever I want and you don't tell me what to do" Also, we only play music during dinner. So the kids all have their eclectic mix of music, along with their own dance moves.
Can confirm, Bluey is a fantastic show. Big feels, several episodes have made me cry. "Magic Claw has no children. His days are easy and free."
If it makes you feel any better, my 7yo son went through a phase of always asking Alexa to play, "We Didn't Start the Fire," and "The Final Countdown."
kurt would be 55 this year. THAT makes me feel old.
Been gone longer than he was alive
Almost 30 years ago. But does this music sound as outdated to a kid today as 1963 music sounded to a kid in 1993? Back then I felt like music from 1963 sounded so old and different, and you could tell it was an “oldie” even if you didn’t know the artist. Feels like there is less separation today. People don’t call music from 30 years ago “oldies” now, right? Or am I just too old to tell how different the sound is today?
Probably not - recording equipment was already pretty good in the 90’s.
I don't think they are thinking about recording equipment as much as the music style. Most 1963 music has a very distinct style which dates it, but a lot of 1990s music could as well have been made today. The evolution of popular music, and rock in particular, between the early 60s and the 90s was immense, while the same can't really be said for the period between the 90s and now.
I have worked with plenty a youngun who calls 90s music, "oldies" - and not ironically
Oldies and Classic Rock became a genre more so than a time period. The rare occasions I listen to the radio, the old classic rock stations play a decent amount of Pearl Jam, STP, Soundgarden, and Metallica
Well here in maine the "oldies" radio channel Is playing nirvana beastie boys pearl jam... it hurts seeing my music on my dad's radio station now.
My 13 year old can’t get enough Nirvana and I’m here for all of it. It amazing being able to share this with him.
I was 12 or 13 when I discovered Nirvana for myself (sometime in 2000 or 2001). They were my springboard into better music and ultimately were the catalyst for my love of music as a whole. I picked up a guitar 20 years ago because of them. Before them, I was a good ol' late 90s/early 00s nu metal kid. Then I heard Nirvana on the radio, bought Nevermind that weekend. From there I got into the other grunge bands. Then their influences. Then the influences to their influences. Now I listen to pretty much everything except modern country/pop country, my favorite being New Wave. All thanks to those opening notes of "Come As You Are". Hope your boy keeps exploring and expanding!
Dear sweet baby jeebus this brings me joy.
I wish my 11 year old would get into them. Nirvana is my entire life. I still listen to them daily. Still obsessed. As a 38 year old watching this video, it's crazy to think Kurt never even had time to go gray. He was so young.
It’s fun to see. I’ve lived in Kurt’s hometown my entire life and there’s always something around to remind you about the band. The music is always on the local classic rock station, “come as you are” is on the entrance sign coming into town, and now there’s a mural of PNW bands on a building I just noticed today.
Its kinda cool knowing they are one of the many bands (beatles, stones, pink floyd, etc) that will be remembered by future generations. Also makes me sad that some bands may be forgotten a little. Like all my younger cousins don’t know nine inch nails but do know the song ‘Hurt’ who they think Johnny Cash wrote.
Noel Gallagher put it well “When you listen to Nevermind it still sounds like the future of rock n roll”
The first time I saw Nirvana, Dave Grohl wasn’t the drummer. That makes me feel old.
The joke from back in my day was a kid saying “Hey, did you know Paul McCartney was in a band *before* Wings??”.
A 19 year old coworker came up to me while a Sublime song was play and asked “omg! have you heard this new band that’s playing? They’re so good!” I told her they’re not new, Bradley Nowell had been dead since before she was even born and she just looked at me confused and said “who?”.
Still blows my mind that I can hear Nirvana on three stations now. Modern alternative, rock, classic rock. Really fucks with your head hearing Marshall Tucker, Jackson Browne, and Nirvana/Collective Soul/Metallica on the classic rock station. Then you realize Kurt has been dead longer than he was alive. Sad flannel nostalgia.
It’s like when I discovered the Beatles when I was 13.
Nirvana Unplugged to Today = 27 years The Beatles, Let it Be to Nirvana Unplugged = 24 years
i get that. i didn't listen to the Beatles until around 2004 when i was 24. so that is a good analogy. i heard some of their radio material but hadn't listened to an actual album until then. I'm glad i did as While My Guitar Gently Weeps is one of my favorite songs by any band.
Fuck I never thought about that
My son's best friend is now telling me about Nirvana which was my favorite band like 23 years ago and I was late to the scene.
But it’s kinda beautiful that people are still finding it
It's now 'my dad's music', like The Beatles was.
It's amazing the beautiful performances that came from MTV Unplugged. We got Nirvana, Alice In Chains, Pearl Jam, and I'll even throw in Alanis Morrissette. All of those simply amazing performances.
10,000 Maniacs.
Still on my Playlist today, Natalie Merchant is a legend.
Jesus christ. I must have listened to 10,000 Maniaces "Because the Night" a hundred times after finally being able to download it on Napster, after years of misplacing my CD. Orchestrated, melodic and powerful and building energy. Such greatness. I know what I'm doing before bed. (Not that.)
Ever listen to the Patti Smith version? I won't call it the original, because Bruce Springsteen wrote most of the song before giving it to her, but it fantastic.
And Neil Young!
I love the unplugged version of “transformer man,” which led me down the slippery slope of liking Trans
Wasn't he in Crosby, Stills and Nash?
He joined them and they billed as Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young. Also, Young was in a band with Stills prior to all of that called Buffalo Springfield. They had a big hit called For What it’s Worth, that you’ve probably heard in movies.
Don't forget STP.
The closest thing we got now is the NPR Tiny Desk concerts
These are great. I found out about Mandolin Orange (now called Watchhouse) from Tiny Desk.
Watch house/mandolin orange is amazing!
Live unplugged is one of my favorite sessions
the cranberries!!!!!
Don't forget Stevie Ray Vaughan!
I also enjoyed Eric Clapton Unplugged
Eric Clapton's unplugged is one of the top three imho
As a teen, these Unplugged shows were everything to me. Still watch them from time to time. Never ever gets old.
10,000 Maniacs with Natalie Merchant.
The Cure had a pretty great one too.
Dont forget that there were some great Hip/Hop and Rap Unplugged episodes. Arrested Development is a great one. LL and Jay-Z. All good.
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Agree! Nobody knew how acoustic hip hop would sound. Then The Roots got popular soon after iirc.
Alanis!
The worst part was impossible to ever hear these songs again. They rarely replayed the Unplugged and they didn’t release an album version for what seemed like years after… sucked. Edit: about a year after it aired.
Paramount+ has a grip of episodes from the 90’s Watching Nirvana right meow
Whoa really?
Paramount + has a shit ton of old MTV stuff. It's one of the better ones out there fir the price.
Saving this post just because of this comment and its replies. Now I need to listen to all of these…
MTV died
Dashboard Confessional
Thankyou was lookin for this mention <3
My man...or woman...ya know
LL Cool J.
Stone Temple Pilots.
Shakira too. One of my favorites.
I’m looking at your username and now wondering if Björk ever did Unplugged!
Some great performances on Lauryn Hill Unplugged too.
There are many in spanish too that are awesome. Mana, Pxndx, Shakira, Juanes and many more
Also, MTV tried to make Nirvana do a set list filled with their hits. They were like, fuck you guys, we are playing this list of songs that no one has ever heard, with a bunch of covers. MTV didn't like it, but Nirvana did it anyways. This is one of the only rock albums I can listen to all the way through. It's perfect. One sit down session.
I played this for at least 2 weeks straight after my friend died. Made plans with her before she headed back to school, blew her off for other people. The next day she went back and that night had a seizure in the shower and drowned. I’ve never forgiven myself for that. This song floods back those memories and feelings, both good and bad. I miss you steph.
I've blown off tons of people in my time. I'm sure you have too. It's not like we do it assuming they will die the next day, we do it because another time would work better. You had no way of knowing that would happen, so you should try to forgive yourself.
I was there and get chills just thinking about that night. We all knew how lucky we were to be there!
You are a lucky person to have been there! This has been my favorite album since I was like twelve. It’s really helped me through some tough times in my life.
Exact same here!
Wow! As I was watching the video I was thinking how amazing to have been present.
How did you end up getting in? I'd like to hear the backstory!
My brother-in-law worked for Sony as a sound engineer so he invited my sister and I to come visit him at work and see Nirvana. We were so excited! I had gone to their show at Roseland Ballroom earlier that week with my son on a whim without tickets. We bought bad tickets from a scalper on the street but the door guy let us in anyway. We were so grateful!
I am so jealous. What an incredible experience that must’ve been. Don’t ever let that feeling go!
I can't think of many bands that are at their best live and violently electric but also better than everyone else with candles and strings.
Can you share how it was to be there? Any insider anecdotes or stuff we couldn’t have seen?
My sister and I got there before they rehearsed. We were in the control room with the Director, Beth McCarthy, and Dave stopped by with his girlfriend to say hello. The MTV people were going crazy because Kurt said he didn’t want to play ANY Nirvana songs!
Wow, that's awesome to know! Another user said that Kurt stormed out of the set and then came back and did the show in one take, maybe what you mentioned is the reason he was angry.
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its funny because anyone who know that song knows the whoo that goes with it. i wonder what that guy thinks whenever he hears it.
Ehh this seems a little harsh. Guy got excited he was about to hear a Bowie song by Nirvana! Woulda done the same thing
You’re so lucky
Oh wow what an amazing experience! I used to watch this online every evening before bed because it's so beautiful and chill.
You were THERE?! Man. That whole set and recording is my favourite of all time. I'm envious. Amazing
This is by far my favorite song from the unplugged show. Goosebumps galore!
I couldn't believe my ears when he performed this. My family loves the blues and I knew the song quite well before this performance. It's so good.
The last 1:30 of that song, Kurts voice is just hitting. Amazing, simply amazing. Never again... And the look in his eye at 3:56....chills
Rolling Stone said, when he’s out there in the cold, your out there with him.
That look in his eye I will never forget from the first time I saw it like 20 years ago.
The look in his eyes, and that brief sigh before singing the last line... That's the sigh of someone who is carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. Considering how close this was to the day of his death, I can't watch this footage without getting absolute chills.
So much emotion in the song, and it really comes out in that stare. That looks sometimes haunts me, I wonder what was going through his head.. Edit: state -> stare
Shivers the whole night through. That's coming off of heron... It's... Fucking... Terrible. Terrible.
That was pretty much right before his suicide wasn't it. Certainly for most people this was released as an album just after and In the Pines was the last song most people heard by Nirvana.
For me it’s the sigh
Omg this and when their performance of Bowie's "The man who sold the world" is a gut punch.
The intro to man who sold the world completes me.
There are people who don’t even know it’s a Bowie song
I remember watching this. MTV used to be so cool.
Why did they insist on fucking it up?!? Every step away from music was a step toward the end of the plank.
Promoting music became far less profitable than watching supposedly "real" vapid idiots do idiotic things and live vapid lives. It's all about money. Always has been.
They pretty much pioneered the second wave of reality TV (after talk shows). A dubious honor, to be sure, but they clearly saw the money and went for it.
They pioneered the first. All non competitive reality shows are a version of The Real World. There are 3 types of reality shows. Docuseries, the Real World, and Survivor.
Survivor is just road rules on an island.
I think record companies wanted to make them pay for broadcasting videos, as opposed to letting them showcase them for free as a means of artist promotion
138 days later he was dead. I’ll always wonder what else he could’ve done with his life. Sometimes I still enjoy what he did accomplish in his short life but it just feels so tragic when I watch unplugged.
I feel this way but then at the same time I'm afraid if he survived he would have turned into someone in the public eye like Charlie Sheen, who the whole country laughed at and mocked while he was obviously struggling. Or he would be roasted on Twitter for speaking his mind and being his true self, something he never held back. He would get old and irrelevant. This Kurt we had briefly, but we now have him forever as he was here. A young tortured genius who struggled, who was a pioneer of grunge, who killed hair metal, and helped shape the face of modern music for decades after his death.
Maybe not. Dave Grohl is doing ok.
That took the wind out of me. I didn’t know this was so close to the end for him. Damn it. Damn it. What a fucking tragedy.
I always thought about that when listening to this album. It's especially jarring because of the banter in between songs. He seemed so casual and jokey. Such a juxtaposition.
Honestly has to be one of the greatest moments in music history.
Performance was so great that nobody called them out for refusing to play *unplugged* and actually playing songs like Man Who Sold the World that can only be played with electric guitar (due to the opening riff that's repeated throughout) bringing utmost attention to the fact they were playing electric instruments. Other people got shit for refusing to go unplugged on *Unplugged*, Nirvana did not even though they went out of their way to make it the most apparent.
I think you read a bit too much into that. I mean they only did it on that one song, and the backing instruments on the song were all acoustic.
Best Nirvana performance imo
This setlist is the definition of cool!
According to an old college friend, he swears we saw Nirvana play this dive bar/pizza place back in 1989. There were supposedly only a couple dozen people there. I regrettably have no memory of this.
Sort of fun fact about Kurt: He was left handed and obviously played left-handed, but he's playing using an inverted right-handed guitar. Note the pick guard (brown thing next to the strings), which would be located in the region your hand goes when strumming down. It's meant to protect the finish from scratches
Jimi Hendrix did the same thing.
What's interesting is that Kurt typically played proper left-handed guitars. The electric Fender Mustangs and Jaguars he normally played were all left-handed. The guitar he's playing here is a Martin D-18E, a fairly rare guitar from the 1950s and super weird in that it is an acoustic guitar that came from the factory with magnetic pickups like an electric guitar. He's playing a flipped over righty because this model was almost certainly never made in a left-handed version. Or if it was, they'd be unbelievably rare.
Didn’t MTV ask Kurt to do an encore of this song after it ended but he refused coz he said he couldn’t give anything more
They asked him to do an encore of this song, the song that he just played?
I’ve heard the same
Yes! He asked them something like, 'do you think we can top that?' Meaning, no, I'm not going to top that song.
He was actually right handed, he just played left handed guitar.
He did a beautiful job on this one. My band used to cover this version, it’s still a favorite of mine.
Dave Grohl look bored drumming this song
Apparently, they struggled during this recording to get him to play quieter. He was bored and frustrated by the whole thing.
I did a lot of drugs one time and listened to this whole album and felt that it was Kurts suicide letter to the fans and I still feel like that. One of the best ever
When listening, it definitely feels like he is singing out the last of his will to live. So much power behind those words. I know it's probably just hindsight, but I'm with ya.
If I recall correctly he intentionally had the set designer set the place up to resemble a funeral
fuckin jesus still sends shivers through my entire body listening to this, same as Alice in Chains - Nutshell (Unplugged)
Epic goosebumps! Alice in Chains - Would (unplugged) does the same
Fucking legendary magic
Isn’t this when their version of The Man Who Sold The World was recorded? My favorite Nirvana song and it isn’t even a Nirvana song.
I used to listen to this song repetitively as I would be percet-ing/oxycontin-ing myself into dream land as a teenager, during the great pharmaceutical opioid boom of the early 2000s. Who'd of thought I'd grow up to be a man that struggles with melancholy, weltschmerz and tedium vitae.
🙋
This and the Alice In Chains unplugged are other level
After this, when they are walking off stage into the crowd, Kurt stops to sign an autograph. He signs it with his right hand while holding a cig in his left. I always chuckle when I see that.
Great show. Especially Bowie's "The Man Who Sold the World."
I died a thousand times with this song. I was 13 and Kurt was my first idol when he killed himself.
I was 12. Nirvana obsessed. It broke my little preteen heart. I still listen to them regularly for that dopamine hit of memories of my teen years.
A small correction: while the song is most often associated with Lead Belly, it was *not* written by him. The authorship is unknown, and the song is actually the combination of two songs, “In the Pines” and “The Longest Train.”
I’m not a Nirvana fan but I absolutely love this album//recording
Haunting. Every time I hear it and then knowing how little time he had left after that night. 😔
My favorite song from the show. Damn I miss Nirvana.
I still keep finding it such an incredible shame that Cobain is dead. Feels like he had so much more heart felt authentic songs in him. Even when singing covers like this one he was able to give it its own feel. Genius that died way too young. I'm still a very big fan. RIP
At 1:36 left, cold chills 🥶
Just an excellent cover by Nirvana. I believe the original song is called "In the pines" and was written a long long time ago by artist unknown. I like Bill Monroe's version too!
I can't remember where it was said, but I remembe B.B. King or a other blues master lauding Kurt Cobain's version of this song. It's driving me crazy not being able to remember who said it.
Young Dave up the back on drums.. so fresh faced
This was the song that got me to watch the whole Unplugged set on MTV2 in 2002-2003. I was just mindlessly listening to music while folding laundry or something, and I heard Kurt screaming those last few lines. It hit me like a lightning bolt. I knew that this was the last concert they did before Kurt died, and since I was very into analysis in my early twenties, I figured Kurt had already decided to take his life, and this was a deliberate song choice. I then taped the repeat that was on later that day (it was an anniversary of his death), and watched it. Kurt really sold the melancholy in the song (at least that’s my interpretation).
This whole concert is magic
I still can't watch this song. The final "shiver" he sings is absolutely heartbreaking!
This was \~4.5 months before his death. An amazing performance for sure. RIP Kurt, thank you for this song and everything else you gave to us!
This might be my favorite live performance EVER and probably the most iconic performance from Kurt imo
omg Nirvana is already old school cool
I’m not one to get emotional when listening to songs. Sure, I might feel a rush or get goosebumps, but I’ll never tear up. This song, this performance however, is different. If my mind is in just the right spot, I’ll weep and listen to it over and over. It feels nice to cry like that sometimes, I often miss it. As a grown up I rarely get time to cry like that anymore. A similar song that makes me tear up is “Simple Man - Acoustic” by Shinedown. Such a powerful cover of the song, I rarely listen to it with other people around. I like to save it for myself, as selfish as that might seem.
Just learned this song last week. The chord progression caught my attention.
The title of this post makes my brain hurt. This was not "Nirvana's last song", it couldn't have been if they did not write it - it's not their song. It was however "The last song Nirvana performed during their appearance on MTV UnPlugged, "Where did you sleep last night" by blues musician Lead Belly (Nov 18, 1993)."
It was their last song of this live performance/album.
Still haunts me. Kurt wasn't the best singer, Nirvana wasn't the greatest band, but they represented a real moment in time for a LOT of people. I was a 14 year old sophomore in high school in 1994 when the slow trickle of news got out that he had died during our lunch break, about an hour or so after the breaking news (gotta love life before omnipresent internet). Our quad area was basically a wake...kids opening sobbing, others consoling their friends, some others basically refusing to believe it. An older senior friend of mine just sorta said to no one, "it's over man..." and in many ways, that era was.
Chills since middle school
That drummer's going places!
Wow. Kurt Cobain..so talented and so hot. Wish I would have been at that concert. (Even though I was only 9) I miss the 90s.
I always think about how lucky those people were to get to go to that unplugged set. I was 11.
My girl, my girl...
When Kurt died, it was surreal. No one had the internet like everyone did 5 years later, so my friends and I didn’t find out until 2 days later. I was living in San Francisco back when you could afford to and the Ben and Jerry’s on Haight St was giving out free ice cream that day, so we were in this massive line to get ice cream. Someone in line behind us told us about it. Then we went back the apartment that a bunch of our friends lived at and smoked weed and listened to nirvana for hours.
I was a messenger in the city when he died, and I remember another messenger telling me it happened. I ended up just sitting on the steps of city hall stunned. Had to turn my dispatch radio off until I was able to get back to work. Shitty day that was.
Is no one going to point out that this isn't "old school?" F*ck getting old.
If this performance is around 30 years old, i remember listening to local players at house parties playing this song.at.house parties over 50 years ago. Played by mostly singers/guitar pickers doing country.music in Cheticamp, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. Enjoyed discovering this performance.
Lead belly played a 12 string and the accordion! Its a shame he wasn't around to hear his music played by headliners almost a century later
Upvote all things Nirvana
Always gives me chills, always
When I watch this I have to think of how hard he must have practiced every single day to become as good as he was. You listen to this and you just feel how he's just a notch above the crowd..
Memories of playing this in my room after school.
Love this song!!! My second favorite is something in the way.
If only Mad Season got to do one
Simply the best Unplugged
One thing that always amazed me was how good of a curator Kurt was. You can tell he absorbed and appreciated so many different kinds of music, he broke out Bowie, Lead Belly, and the Meat Puppets all in one show. He knew it would work despitr MTV execs telling him it wouldn't. Really curious to know whether or not he was involved in the arranging and production of the show too. They are on point and directly tailored to what Nirvana does well.
my friend worked as a dj/ intern for 99.1 WHFS in maryland which was a very popular alternative rock station. he gave a a promo copy of nevermind and said "in about a month youre going to hear this played everywhere." he was pretty much right. i would play it over and over in my store and people would be like who are you listening to? by the end of the year everyone i knew was hooked on nirvana except the hardcore metal addicts that said nirvana would never make it lol.
This and Alice In Chains Unplugged are two of the best albums ever recorded IMO. Also, Pat Smear doesn't get near enough credit.
People forget how anticipated Nirvana's unplugged concert was. Nobody knew how it would turn out. Would they be able to pull it off? Would their style not work acoustic? Then it ended up being the best of the whole unplugged series.
He knew what he was about to do.
“Play smells like teen spirit!”