![]() “They’re like, ‘Oh, we’ve got a manager now. Neil WallaceĪ year later, Pavlovic called again. Kurt Cobain of Nirvana, Big Day Out, Hordern Pavilion, 1992. “‘Yeah, we’d love to, we’re busy making this record. ![]() “So I just call them up – ‘You wanna come to Australia?’” recounts Pavlovic. Having brought pioneering US grunge misfits Mudhoney to Australia’s shores for a run of small gigs in inner-city pubs, they gave him the phone numbers of their friends Chris and Kurt, who were also in a band. The production staff finally built a case for the amp that made it look like a monitor, and it's incredibly hard to spot even after knowing it's there.In 1990, then 24-year-old punk rock promoter Steve Pavlovic had a serendipitous encounter. I can give him what he wants." But I saw it was an issue. I guess it was Earnie, saying, "Look, he really wants his Fender amp on stage." And I was like, "Dude, it’s Unplugged." And he was like, "Oh, but his reverb." And I said, "We have all those effects. Producer Alex Coletti discussed the nightmare that this created for MTV, who at the time really believed the acoustic aspect of the show - as opposed to the big name acts - was driving viewership: ![]() He also ran the guitar through a few different effects pedals, which can most notably be heard on the band's cover of David Bowie's "The Man Who Sold The World." The guitar was run through an amp (either a ' 60s Fender Twin Reverb or Bassman) that the production team actually hid on stage. You don't have to be a gearhead to realize Nirvana's MTV Unplugged in New York is hardly "unplugged." Everyone used acoustic guitars, and Kurt Cobain's guitar, a Martin D-18E, was outfitted with electric pickups as well as a tone and volume knob. The stories behind the album won’t change the way it sounds, or the way it makes you feel, but they do add a new layer of meaning to the performance. In the weeks leading up to the show, the band was breaking up, producers were freaking out, and Cobain was doing his best to stay clean. The narrative that Nirvana's Unplugged album is "Kurt Cobain’s final goodbye" is too suggestive and hyperbolic, but the stories behind the filming provide a new and interesting lens through which the performance can be seen. No one in Nirvana knew that Cobain would take his life only a few months later, but that’s the way audiences contextualized the recording. They were tired of playing the hits, and they wanted to give their fans something special.Īfter Cobain’s passing, the Unplugged album took on the grim tone of a funeral - each song was suddenly a dirge that signaled the singer’s fate. ![]() The group, their friends, and MTV producers have spoken at length about the concert, and they’ve noted that while the band was falling apart at the time, they were having a blast. ![]() The performance, recorded on November 18, 1993, has been called “personal" and “raw,” but it’s just Nirvana doing what they do best. In hindsight, the show mirrors Cobain’s life, one that was complicated by mental health issues and substance dependency. It was a lark, an afterthought, something recorded in roughly an hour that the band didn’t plan to release. It was ultimately Nirvana’s final album, giving fans one of the most unbelievable Kurt Cobain performances, as well as a strange foreshadowing of Cobain’s passing. Nirvana’s MTV Unplugged in New York was never meant to be a big deal. ![]()
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