Essential Live Albums

[Happy Trees]

Admittedly, I did not know about Jay-Z’s but I knew about the rest.

1990s MTV was weird because of all its transitions. It went from playing music videos around the clock with rare programming like Unplugged or MTV News to break it up, and had some shows like Yo! MTV Raps and Headbanger’s Ball, and those I think served as a way to compartmentalize music - a breeding ground for a “this and not that” selectivity. It seemed people liked rap or rock but not both, or the new Seattle based grunge rock or hair metal. There never seemed to be a middle ground, and MTV more than any other format were the tastemakers.

That then transitioned to hit shows Beavis and Butthead, which shared a music connection in its humor and storytelling, to The Real World, which had nothing to do with music. After The Real World, MTV moved fully away from music television and became this vortex of bad TV that people seemed to watch but complained about incessantly.

Unplugged, however, was a game changer and a moment where you felt like artists were challenged to reflect their songs from a new light and a real event - something that wouldn’t be replicated for another decade with VH1’s Storytellers series.

The first one I took notice of was the Aerosmith episode. I thought it was great and in stark contrast to the shit music they were releasing at the time (and continue to release).

The beginning of the end of MTV for me was The Real World, and history has proven that my fears were well-founded.

Really driving home for me just how little mtv I watched. I didn’t know that half these people did an unplugged. Live, Alanis, Mariah, 10,000 Maniacs…never heard or saw a one. I only knew Kiss because RnR All Night was played on local radio.

I'm surprised you didn't know about Mariah and Maniacs at least because "I'll Be There" and "Because The Night" were in constant - and I mean constant - rotation as standalone videos, and thus hard to miss.

I also remember Stone Temple Pilots "Big Empty" being played a lot because there was no music video and it was a hit before "Purple" was even released.

[McParadigm]

Really driving home for me just how little mtv I watched. I didn’t know that half these people did an unplugged. Live, Alanis, Mariah, 10,000 Maniacs…never heard or saw a one. I only knew Kiss because RnR All Night was played on local radio.

I'm surprised you didn't know about Mariah and Maniacs at least because "I'll Be There" and "Because The Night" were in constant - and I mean constant - rotation as standalone videos, and thus hard to miss.

I also remember Stone Temple Pilots "Big Empty" being played a lot because there was no music video and it was a hit before "Purple" was even released.

I watched a good bit of MTV in the 80s, and stuff like Shout and Born in the USA registered at an early age. But I was never much for tv, and after that I wasn’t paying attention. Ironically, the first I knew of Pearl Jam was flipping through the channels after midnight sometime in 1993 and seeing porch unplugged (speak of the devil).

Oh, I think I saw songs from the nirvana and stone temple pilot unplugs after, but where stp’s felt interesting (though I wasn’t into the songs at that time), nirvana’s did not. And of course my dad had Eric Clapton‘s fucking thing, but I didn’t stay at his place much during that time so I only had to hear it at Christmas.

So, at the time it didn’t matter how often they played the video, I wasn’t going to see it because I wasn’t watching. And in the years after, I mostly didn’t have any interest in going back to explore that stuff because little of what I had heard grabbed me.

I think part of it was that I always liked the tone of acoustic guitars a little more than electric, and an acoustic guitar feels like an instrument capable of great energy to me…so whenever a band said “acoustic? I guess that means we have to play like we are in a coffee house,” it felt uninspired and not like an artistic endeavor. More like a tired default.

[wease]

The VMAs are responsible for my fandom of Pearl Jam. I had seen the Alive video and not thought much about it and then they did Jeremy on the VMA show and BAM! something clicked. It was all downhill from there.

[wease]

KISS - MTV Unplugged

While this performance is mostly fine, this rather seems like the low point of this miniature journey within a journey. The first 2/3 of the show are with the many times revamped KISS lineup and they do an admirable job through hits and newer songs, but the real point to this thing is the reunion with the classic lineup with Peter Criss and Ace Frehley. Nothing to Lose is the winner here, though Rock n Roll All Nite certainly is also very good. It wasn’t until the last 3-4 songs that they finally raised the stakes but probably it was worth it for that moment.

The Essential Performance: Nothing to Lose

Up Next: Live - MTV Unplugged

Fair assessment. It was really just a take-off from an acoustic convention tour they had done that summer/fall. As such, it was aimed mostly at die hard fans. Regular joes would think the novelty of Peter and Ace sitting in with them was maybe kinda cool, but by and large no one looked at it as anything groundbreaking. Except Gene. He saw the response to Ace/Peter and saw dollar signs dancing everywhere…

Nothing to Lose (are there any more songs in rock music about anal sex?) is one of my top two tunes from it with Got To Choose being my number one. It’s my favorite KISS song and the one I never got live.

[liebzz]

And of course my dad had Eric Clapton‘s fucking thing, but I didn’t stay at his place much during that time so I only had to hear it at Christmas.

Eric Clapton: granddad rock

[warehouse]

Really driving home for me just how little mtv I watched. I didn’t know that half these people did an unplugged. Live, Alanis, Mariah, 10,000 Maniacs…never heard or saw a one. I only knew Kiss because RnR All Night was played on local radio.

you've definitely heard 'because the night' from unplugged on the radio.

[warehouse]

The VMAs are responsible for my fandom of Pearl Jam. I had seen the Alive video and not thought much about it and then they did Jeremy on the VMA show and BAM! something clicked. It was all downhill from there.

i remember my brother getting me out of bed when they performed 'Jeremy'. Then the next year they played with Neil Young, my dad's favorite artist. this was life changing.

is neil young unplugged on this journey?

[McParadigm]

Really driving home for me just how little mtv I watched. I didn’t know that half these people did an unplugged. Live, Alanis, Mariah, 10,000 Maniacs…never heard or saw a one. I only knew Kiss because RnR All Night was played on local radio.

you've definitely heard 'because the night' from unplugged on the radio.

Not a lot of 10,000 Maniacs on South Dakota radio in 1990-whatever. I spun it just now to confirm, and maybe I heard it at JCPenney’s 10 years later or something?

[liebzz]

The VMAs are responsible for my fandom of Pearl Jam. I had seen the Alive video and not thought much about it and then they did Jeremy on the VMA show and BAM! something clicked. It was all downhill from there.

i remember my brother getting me out of bed when they performed 'Jeremy'. Then the next year they played with Neil Young, my dad's favorite artist. this was life changing.

is neil young unplugged on this journey?

Planned. Speaking of which, R.E.M. scrapped because it appears their record label has done all it can to erase these shows from the digital world. Shame.

Neil Young effort will be next.

[liebzz]

Neil Young - MTV Unplugged

This one has a nice focus on Harvest Moon, but spans Neil’s career enough that it isn’t singularly focused. One thing we can count on is Neil taking a calculated risk and having it pay off. Like a Hurricane on organ and harmonica fits the bill, and it’s stunning. Long May You Run is gorgeous, as is Harvest Moon (I want a recording credit for playing the broom please). This is Neil in his natural habitat just making these songs even nicer than they already were.

The Essential Performance: Harvest Moon

Up Next: Stone Temple Pilots - MTV Unplugged

[liebzz]

Stone Temple Pilots - MTV Unplugged

Every time I listen to this one, I am reminded and astounded at how well this came out. Reconsidering Sex Type Thing as this laid back swingy tune? Check. Slow the chorus on Wicked Garden so you can get pummeled by the verses and the ridiculous energy coming off the band? Check. Nail the ballads to give you the required Unplugged feels on Creep and Big Empty? Check. Weird tune that works and perhaps foreshadows the funkier approach to Tiny Music in Andy Warhol? Check. All that not to mention Plush and Crackerman which are killer in their own right. This one has it all, and I can still see in my mind’s eye Scott Weiland rocking on that chair.

The Essential Performance: Wicked Garden

Up Next: Alice In Chains - MTV Unplugged

[wease]

AiC is quite possibly the best Unplugged ever produced.

[warehouse]

Stone Temple Pilots - MTV Unplugged

Every time I listen to this one, I am reminded and astounded at how well this came out. Reconsidering Sex Type Thing as this laid back swingy tune? Check. Slow the chorus on Wicked Garden so you can get pummeled by the verses and the ridiculous energy coming off the band? Check. Nail the ballads to give you the required Unplugged feels on Creep and Big Empty? Check. Weird tune that works and perhaps foreshadows the funkier approach to Tiny Music in Andy Warhol? Check. All that not to mention Plush and Crackerman which are killer in their own right. This one has it all, and I can still see in my mind’s eye Scott Weiland rocking on that chair.

The Essential Performance: Wicked Garden

Up Next: Alice In Chains - MTV Unplugged

thanks, i'm gonna have to listen to this today.

AIC is classic unplugged

[dad]

AiC is quite possibly the best Unplugged ever produced.

heck yeah, it's definitely one of the best.

[VinylGuy]

Thats probably the one i listened the most.

[wease]

Thats probably the one i listened the most.

Without a doubt

[liebzz]

Over Now = a Layne-ister always pays his debts (on time)

[bart]

The Real World was great tv up through San Francisco. The various Liquid Television shows were excellent for the most part too. Would rather watch that stuff than musicians lip synching in front of colored lights all day. 99% of music videos are terrible.

[liebzz]

Alice In Chains - Unplugged

Amazing they hadn’t really shared a stage in nearly 2 years and wouldn’t do much of that going forward. The combination of Layne and Jerry singing together is pretty magical - a polish and an unconventional voice harmonizing in interesting ways makes for its own instrument, especially when it is amplified in front of acoustic instruments. The songs themselves play like a perfect summary of their careers together to that point, with standouts from their Sap and Jar of Flies EPs standing toe to toe with Dirt songs and stuff from the new album. Would, Got Me Wrong, Nutshell, and Heaven Beside You are easy picks. I got to go with Over Now here, only because of all the songs, this is the one I can’t get out of my head when I listen to this show, and have quite a few times.

The Essential Performance: Over Now

Up Next: Nirvana - MTV Unplugged in New York

[liebzz]

Note: I am still keeping a running tally of my favorites, and AIC is the first Unplugged show this far to crack the top 50 as of now - 199 live albums into the journey.