Unplugged in New York: Pure Nirvana

Oh my God, I love MTV Unplugged in New York, the album by Nirvana. This album is, without a doubt, one of my top three favorite albums ever. Maybe it even is my favorite album ever. I mean it’s so much more than just a live performance captured forever. When I listen to it I feel like I’m sitting right there with Nirvana at Sony Music Studios.

The whole thing just feels so different from their usual electric, grunge-heavy sound. It kinda reminds me of the Memoirs of Kurt Cobain, but obviously produced. Differing from their non-live albums, with this one you get something more tender, more personal. And that is Kurt Cobain’s voice.  I mean damn what a tortured soul.  You can hear Kurt with all of his fragility, as he takes center stage here, and honestly, it’s hard not to get caught up in how real and raw it feels. Songs like “About a Girl”(BANGER) and “Come As You Are” feel like you’re hearing them for the first time. The songs that you’re familiar with kinda just sound like new songs in a way, there’s this softness to them, a vulnerability that you don’t get in the studio versions. It’s almost like you’re peeking behind the curtain of the band, trying not to make Dave Grohl cheat on his wife, and you’re suddenly aware of how much more depth and emotion there is to their music than just the angry, rebellious side everyone knows. With the lights out, it’s less dangerous, here we are now, entertain us, I feel stupid and contagious,
here we are now, entertain us!

I can’t help but be in awe of frankly how imperfect yet at the same time how perfect it all is. You can hear the pauses, the breaths, and there’s this undeniable sense of humanity with every lyric. When Kurt’s voice cracks on certain lines, it feels so honest, so human.  Kinda like you’re hearing him, not just his rockstar persona. The way he delivers some of these more feeling related lyrics, especially in “Where Did You Sleep Last Night,” is like he’s letting us into his world, his mind, and it’s cool.

And the covers, oh man, the covers! Where do I even begin. Some of my favorite songs from this album are covers. Nirvana didn’t just stick to their own material right, they took songs from David Bowie, The Meat Puppets, and this album led me to discover Lead Belly, and with each song they did a bit and sort of made them their own. The way they did “The Man Who Sold the World”? I mean, that’s just iconic. It was like they completely redefined it, making it feel dark and haunting in the best way. It’s this beautiful mix of respect for music history and at the same time putting their own spin on it.

There’s something so special about Unplugged. With everything that happened after Kurt’s death, it almost feels like a eulogy, but it’s also so much more than that. It’s the band, stripped down, showing their flawed, raw, and yet undeniably brilliant side of Nirvana. And that’s just a little bit of why it’s one of my all time favorites, hands down.