But MTV didn’t seem to mind, he is the Boss after all.Īs is the case with any television show – especially one that includes a performance of some kind – certain episodes are bound to stick out.
Rather than going unplugged (which, if you think about it, he’d done for his seminal Nebraska album), Bruce recorded a special Plugged show, complete with electric guitars. There was one person who deviated from the acoustic format of the programme, and that was Bruce Springsteen. Derek & The Dominos’ Layla was rendered virtually unrecogniseable, the searing trademark guitar riff of the original having been replaced with lolloping, almost swing-time acoustic strumming, while the melacholic lament Tears In Heaven could have been written explicitly for the format, were it not for the tragic circumstances in which it was conceived (Clapton actually wrote it in the aftermath of the death of his young son in an accident).Ĭrucially, and some might say cynically, Unplugged allowed many bands to fulfil record label obligations and get another album release on the shelves with scant effort – there would be no need to write new material, and the fans would lap it up as they were getting something genuinely different rather than just another repackaged Greatest Hits set.
It has been stated that when Neil Young recorded his Unplugged set, he had to redo one of his songs twice, and Wikipedia reports that each time he gave his drummer a hard time for playing too fast!Įric Clapton’s 1996 performance was a revelation – the blues veteran completely reworked his material to fit the format. However, not all artists are as carefree about their performance as McCartney. It’s also this off-the-cuff informality that has proved a winning formula along with hearing the songs you love in a different format. He halts the band, laughs and tries it again – this time getting them right. Sir Paul commits the ultimate faux pas and forgets the words to The Beatles’ We Can Work It Out. McCartney’s Unplugged is fun, and highlights the fact that even the greatest of musicians can get it wrong. It was a platform for everyone to excel and show off in an understated fashion, from Paul McCartney to Pearl Jam, from REM to Nirvana. It seemed to be a way for loud rock bands to say: “Look, we have a sensitive side, our songs can hold up to rigorous reinterpretation.” It offered a platform for established artist to reintroduce themselves to a new MTV audience without having to embarrass themselves with a dodgy promo clip (which, chances are, the network wouldn’t play anyway).įor the old guard (sorry guys), Unplugged performances brought the likes of Neil Young, Eric Clapton and Bob Dylan firmly back to centre-stage. However, once the Unplugged programme was up and running, it seemed that anyone who was anyone wanted a piece of it. Just think of Led Zeppelin: a big part of their appeal had always been based upon their ability to mix light and shade, and they had been performing a wholly acoustic segment as part of their shows since the early 70s.
After all, grabbing a couple of acoustics and performing has long been a staple of rock bands on the road, be it in hotel rooms or on tour buses.īut, again, even in the late 70s this wasn’t necessarily a new concept. The crowd went nuts, and some bright MTV executive spark realised that they could make a fully-fledged programme if they harnessed this idea. Popular opinion has it that the genesis of the Unplugged programme harks back to the 1989 MTV Music Video Awards, where Bon Jovi (well, frontman JBJ and guitarist Richie Sambora) took to the stage armed with only their acoustics and delivered a sparkling new ‘unplugged’ version of Wanted Dead Or Alive and a slower, more melancholic take on their monster hit Livin’ On A Prayer. The premise was extraordinarily simple – take one rock band (the louder the better), force them to leave their electric guitars and Marshall stacks at the door and then allow them to perform their songs in an acoustic manner, the new arrangements often providing a startling insight into the songs themselves and, by extension, the band.
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