He wouldn’t even do the f***ing show until almost 20 years later.” 2. Jon Bon Jovi thinks he was the inspiration for it. (Springsteen would find his way onto Unplugged in 1992.)Įxecutive producer Joel Gallen has referred to Unplugged as his "baby" as well and, like Shear, was inspired by Bon Jovi and Sambora's VMA set, which he called a "jumping off point." In I Want My MTV: The Uncensored Story of the Music Video Revolution, Small said: “Please do not credit Bon Jovi for creating Unplugged. That's all well and good, but producers Jim Burns and Bob Small claim they got the idea for MTV Unplugged after Bruce Springsteen treated the two-and the thousands of other fans at one of his concerts-to a final encore featuring just himself and his acoustic guitar. In 1992, The New York Times wrote that Shear was inspired by Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora's two-song acoustic set at the 1989 MTV Video Music Awards. Singer/songwriter Jules Shear has said that he came up with the concept for MTV Unplugged to promote his acoustic album, The Third Party. OPINIONS VARY ON WHO CAME UP WITH THE IDEA.
BEST MTV UNPLUGGED SEASON EVER SERIES
In the meantime, here's a look behind the scenes of the music series that became a phenomenon. But now it looks as if Unplugged is ready for a reboot MTV has announced that the series will be back beginning on September 8, 2017, with Shawn Mendes as its first guest. Though it lost its regular time slot in 1999, in the near-20 years since, a handful of artists have popped in for brief revivals. Nirvana famously played Unplugged on November 18, 1983-just six months before frontman Kurt Cobain passed away.Making its debut in 1989, MTV Unplugged-in which famous musicians perform stripped-down arrangements of their biggest hits-was a hit for both the cable network and the music industry, particularly in the early- to mid-'90s. Nirvana won the Grammy for Best Alternative Music Performance in 1995 for their album MTV Unplugged In New York. This version of the song won three Grammys, among them Song and Record Of The Year. During his Unplugged set, he performed “Tears in Heaven," written after the death of his 4–year–old son Conor in 1991. It was the first Unplugged album to win that award. His album from the performance won six Grammys, including Album of the Year. The following year, Eric Clapton performed on Unplugged. Her album, Shakira-MTV Unplugged also won a Grammy for Best Latin Pop Album in 2000. MTV’s first Spanish–language broadcast was Shakira’s Unplugged set that same year. By the time we got home, we’d decided we’d got an album.”ġ991 also saw Unplugged’s first rap episode, with performances from LL Cool J, MC Lyte, De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest, and instrumentals by Pop's Cool Love. We heard the tapes in the car driving back.
He said, “I figured that as Unplugged would be screened around the world there was every chance that some bright spark would tape the show and turn it into a bootleg, so we decided to bootleg the show ourselves. Paul McCartney performed on the show in 1991 and got a successful album out of it, Unplugged (The Official Bootleg), and his performance garnered a lot of popularity for the show. Within the first two years of the series, Sinead O’Connor, Sting, Elvis Costello, Aerosmith, and The Cure all played their own Unplugged sets. The first season consisted of 13 episodes and included performances from Elton John, Hall & Oates and Stevie Ray Vaughn. Shear hosted the first–ever episode, which included performances from Syd Straw, Squeeze members Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook, and Cars guitarist Elliot Easton. HBO, PBS, and MTV initially turned down the idea, but MTV took it up the second time around.
"What if we put these people together and create a show which consists of everybody playing songs together, but only with acoustic instruments, and we'll try to get it on HBO or something?" Shear said.Īccording to The New York Times, Shear got the idea from watching Bon Jovi members Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora play an acoustic set during the 1989 MTV Video Music Awards.Ī third version states that the show’s producers, Jim Burns and Robert Small, were inspired by an acoustic encore at a Bruce Springsteen show. According to an article on the Grammy Awards website, the series was actually created as a promotion strategy for Jules Shear’s acoustic album, The Third Party.
There are conflicting accounts about how the idea for the show came up. It was revolutionary and rare around the time the first episode aired on November 26, 1989. The idea of playing acoustic, stripped–down versions of songs is familiar to both audiences and performers.
0 kommentar(er)
