Nirvana’s MTV Unplugged In New York remains one of the band’s defining releases. Partly because of the band’s iconic performance, but also because of how the set design eerily resembled a funeral scene. (The episode aired in December 1993, and Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in April 1994.)
Meanwhile, MTV’s rote Unplugged programming was ubiquitous at the time, but Nirvana’s appearance was unlike any other. They had already shifted pop culture in 1991 with Nevermind. And here, they transformed another institution, as these surprising facts reveal.
Plugged-In
Though the show is called MTV Unplugged, Kurt Cobain did, in fact, plug his acoustic guitar into an amplifier for the performance. Cobain’s 1959 Martin D-18E, which sold at auction in 2020 for more than six million dollars, was plugged into a Fender Twin. (The amp sat in front of him, hidden behind a wooden box.) He also used his go-to pedals, a Boss DS-1 distortion and an Electro-Harmonix Small Clone chorus, which can be heard on songs like “The Man Who Sold The World” and “Come As You Are”.
Come as you are, as you were,
As I want you to be.
As a friend, as a friend,
As an old enemy.
Underground Covers and Obscure Indie Bands
While most artists appeared on MTV Unplugged to showcase acoustic versions of their hits, Nirvana avoided playing their best-known song, “Smells Like Teen Spirit”. Instead, nearly half the set features covers, including songs by The Vaselines and Meat Puppets. Cobain helped shine a light on two of his favorite indie bands, and since Nirvana’s performance, “Jesus Doesn’t Want Me For A Sunbeam”, “Plateau”, and “Lake Of Fire” became hits in their own right.
Jesus don’t want me for a sunbeam,
Sunbeams are never made like me.
Mark Lanegan as a North Star
Cobain was hesitant to play the show. But he found inspiration in Mark Lanegan’s 1990 album, The Winding Sheet. Lanegan’s solo debut contains a cover of “Where Did You Sleep Last Night”, which also features Cobain on electric guitar. Nirvana ended their Unplugged set with the folk traditional, and when introducing it, Cobain attributed the song to his favorite performer, Lead Belly. However, the song dates back to the late nineteenth century and has also been adapted by bluegrass legend Bill Monroe.
In the pines, in the pines,
Where the sun don’t ever shine,
I would shiver the whole night through.
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