Underappreciated MTV Unplugged Performances

The franchise has been so good that some band's performances have been forgotten.

An MTV Unplugged performance used to be a symbol for a band that had made it big. It seemed to be an honor to be asked to film an episode and there have been plenty of iconic moments. Nirvana, Alice In Chains, Pearl Jam, Eric Clapton, Lauryn Hill, Kiss, Jay Z, Oasis, Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, George Michael, Bryan Adams, and LL Cool J are some of the most memorable appearances, but there are others that get lost in the fray.

I went back and watched some other performances and the following are three that I felt didn’t get their proper respect.

1. Stone Temple Pilots (1993)

I didn’t even know this existed until a couple of months ago and it has to rank as one of the best Unplugged’s ever produced. Filmed at Sony Studios in New York in 1993 and aired in 1994, it would be hard to find another performance where Scott Weiland sounds this good.

Aesthetically it is different, with Weiland sitting in a rocking chair. The band kicks off with “Crackerman,” and within seconds you realize that they figured out how to translate their electric songs to the acoustic format. The song’s tempo is still there, but what makes it better than the studio version is Weiland’s clean vocals, he’s not singing into a megaphone.

Bassist Robert DeLeo told Billboard this about the performance;

“Oh, that was nerve-wracking. I was so nervous. There’s something about volume and turning things up so loud that allows you to hide behind the wall of sound, and there we were doing something we’d only done together when we were alone in a room, just us. I remember getting to “Creep,” and I have a little vocal part in there where I answer Scott, and looking back at the video you see my hands were shaking, I was so nervous. It was part of growing as a musician in front of a large audience. No one prepares you for that.”

STP was riding the wave of their massively successful debut Core, an album that sold 8 million copies by the end of the millennium. Their set featured five songs off that album as well as a new song “Big Empty,” and a cover of David Bowie’s “Andy Warhol.”

Whatever nerves the band was feeling they were able to come together to deliver a performance full of emotion. When they begin the opening chords of “Creep,” Weiland rests his palms on his knees while slowly rocking in his chair, looking down at his lap. As he starts to sing he briefly opens his eyes and looks towards the crowd then closes them to channel a soulful delivery.

The band included their MTV Unplugged set on the super deluxe edition of their Core reissues in 2017.

2. Hole (1995)

The performance was taped on Valentine’s Day at the Brooklyn Academy of Music during the band’s touring cycle for the critically acclaimed album Live Through This. It had only been a year since Kurt Cobain’s death and as expected, Courtney Love seemed to be especially emotional.

Not that they should be compared, but Nirvana set the standards for Unplugged and people were curious to see how Hole would fare in the spotlight.

According to an article in Billboard, rehearsals had their share of difficulties. Guitarist Eric Erlandson explained;

“There were drugs mucking things up, as they do. Whenever I see a FedEx envelope, I’m instantly transported back to New York City circa 1995.”

The setlist was a source of contention as well, specifically Courtney’s desire to play some unreleased songs Kurt Cobain wrote. Erlandson said this in the Billboard article;

“Courtney wanted us to play a couple of — at the time — unreleased Kurt songs…the last ones he wrote. I was always wanting to distance us from that connection, but it was as if she wanted to rub it in everyone’s face.”

The group ended up deciding to play “You Know You’re Right,” a song that was later released by the Nirvana camp on their greatest hits compilation, but was titled “You’ve Got No Right,” on the show.

Courtney takes a lot of shit, some deserved, some not. For her to cover a Nirvana song in 1995 was ballsy and she did it justice. Her raspy scream renders itself perfect for this song, but she lucked out. If she would have originally got her way and was able to play a couple of her dead husband’s songs then it might have been a disaster.

The rest of the setlist was comprised of mostly songs off Live Through This and covers. What is great about this set is how rock and roll it is. Obviously, some members of the band were high and they didn’t always tone down their arrangements. Many have noted that drummer Patty Schemel smashed her kit with full force on some songs and the overall volume was louder than other performances. Courtney’s banter is always entertaining and Hole’s Unplugged episode contains plenty of it.

3. Korn (2007)

Broadcast in February 2007 from MTV Studios in New York, Korn created a unique set of original compositions, guest appearances, and covers. For an aggressive, down-tuned band, the group transferred amazingly to the stripped-down format. Jonathan Davis is the standout here as he shows off his ability to sing, something that can be lost within Korn’s crunching rhythms.

One of my favorite Korn tracks is “Blind.” If you need to understand how big Korn was in the late 90s and the genre of nu metal as a whole, check out Korn at Woodstock ’99. Roast me all you want, but I get goosebumps when I watch them come onto the stage and you see hundreds of thousands of people lose their minds as they go into “Blind.” You couldn’t pick a better song to open with as the track starts with the menacing quick guitar riff that eventually leads into Davis screaming “Are you ready?”

But I wondered what that would sound like opening MTV Unplugged as “Blind,” was first on the setlist. They kept the tempo and made it more of a mariachi, western sort of vibe which was definitely a unique take.

For one of their biggest songs “Freak On A Leash,” they recruited the services of Amy Lee from Evanescence to perform a duet with Davis. What happens is a haunting, piano-driven instrumental that mixes with both singer's voices to make something beautiful.

Their cover of Radiohead’s “Creep,” is fitting for Davis and the rest of the band as they’ve been branded as such throughout their careers. Davis then fulfills a childhood dream of performing with Robert Smith and The Cure who join Korn for “Make Me Bad,” and The Cure song “In Between Days.” The show in its entirety is worthy of the franchise and one of the more eclectic episodes.