Nirvana's Unplugged In New York album is considered by many to be the pinnacle of MTV's Unplugged series, but Kurt's gear choice of
an electric amp, chorus and distortion pedals almost saw him disqualified from our unplugged list.
Unplugged In New York was recorded less than six months before Kurt Cobain's suicide and, in hindsight, the entire performance has an eerie quality to it.
The stage was dressed with lilies and black candles at Kurt's request to MTV's Alex Coletti to make it "like a funeral", with the band foregoing the obvious hits from Nevermind, and opting instead to playa sombre set comprising six covers and a collection of secondary singles from Bleach, Nevermind and In Utera.
Choosing a single track from the album was tricky our original instinct was to go with the haunting cover of Lead belly's Where Did You Sleep Last Night?, the closing song on the album, complete with funeral-march, macabre lyrics and
Cobain's gut-wrenching vocals. However, because this is a list of electric-songs-gone-acoustic, we've chosen All Apologies. Cobain's outsider lyrics were often vague and open to interpretation (and much debate), but Ail Apologies features some of Kurt's more lucid moments, and seems every bit as
guilt-laden on Unplugged as the original.
Originally the final song on In Utero, the song features what is perhaps Kurt's most intricate guitar line during the Unplugged performance.
The main riff is played by Kurt in the intro, then Pat Smear takes over for the verses, allowing Kurt to playa simplified rhythm part while he sings. During the outro, however, Kurt doubles with Pat Smear while singingthe line "All in all is all we are" as Lori Goldston's cello, the two guitars, bass and drums drop out gradually until all we're left with is Cobain and Grohl's harmonised vocals.
Listened to in context with Cobain's untimely death, it's a hair-raising performance that becomes more powerful with every viewing. So powerful, it almost tops our countdown...
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