Now, mind you, Eric Clapton and Neil Young likely have something to say in this discussion. But in tipping over the typical cash cow of the purportedly unparalleled eliteness of Nirvana’s MTV Unplugged in New York as the no-brainer best unplugged album of all time, I’m actually going to look to 10,000 Maniacs, a band which had been paying its dues since the early ’80s and whose casual, embraceable approach to radio rock rendered its blueprint ideal for the “unplugged” setting.
Of course, this is not at all to say Nirvana’s “grunge” disposition is to their considerable disadvantage in recording a solid unplugged effort — obviously Alice in Chains and Stone Temple Pilots did the same thing, with what’s apparently little complication or stylistic resistance. Nirvana had even been incorporating “secret sets” into their concerts by this point, which were basically a series of songs done on acoustic instruments.
Unlike Nirvana, though, whose “Smells Like Teen Spirit” would just sound oblong and wacky on acoustic instruments, 10,000 Maniacs were able to slot their most high-profile tune, “These Are Days”; into their acoustic performance, even wisely choosing to lead off with it. Throughout the album, their MTV Unplugged performance just seems to perfectly coddle, in tinge and fabric, the cerebral arena rock of In My Tribe (1985) and the heartbroken chamber pop of Our Time in Eden (1992), their two classic albums. They were a band, from the start, tailor made for the “unplugged” concept.
Interestingly, the two most-streamed tunes on Nirvana’s unplugged album are both covers, David Bowie’s “The Man Who Sold the World” and Leadbelly’s “Where Did You Sleep Last Night?” Now, don’t get me wrong: I adore Nirvana’s choice of covers here, along with the plangent and gorgeous, accordion-soaked take on The Vaselines’ “Jesus Doesn’t Want Me for a Sunbeam” and the ingenious rendering of those obtuse and almost erstwhile unlistenable Meat Puppets numbers.
So short of actually arguing that Nirvana’s including six covers on the 14-song lineup actually detracts from its value, I would offer this as evidence of an increased ease on the part of the Maniacs in organizing and orchestrating their particular performance. From the perspective of a Nirvana fan, that is, it’s disorienting to actually have the best song be “The Man Who Sold the World”; and to have the whole thing littered with these songs which were written by someone else.
By contrast, the Maniacs hit their stride over and over, juxtaposing the biting disillusionment of “Eat for Two” on side A with “Candy Everybody Wants” and “I’m Not the Man” two more tunes which, in addition to being classic, hummable songs (I love the shift from minor to major in the “I’m Not the Man” chorus), both tackle tense humanistic issues and unpack them in a way that’s compelling and even haunting. (Of course, the subplot of Courtney Love reportedly cheating on Kurt Cobain does grant “Where Did You Sleep Last Night?” a certain synergy, you’ve gotta admit.) They take on beat poetry on “Hey Jack Kerouac” and domestic violence on “What’s the Matter Here?”; maneuvering it all with the utmost finesse and breezy approachability, but the best song still might be “Like the Weather”; which, ironically, almost resembles a little kid complaining that he can’t go outside and play because it’s raining. Hey, nobody’s inner child is perfect. All the while, too, Natalie Merchant’s voice penetrates the mix with pristine beauty and gripping urgency, handling seemingly every topic under the sun (Nirvana by contrast probably aren’t known for their especially worldly lyrics) and by the end you feel like you’ve just devoured a world-class seven-course meal, or “the lion’s share,” if you prefer.
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