Unplugged • Nirvana, Eric Clapton, Bruce Springsteen & Pearl Jam

Clockwise: Nirvana, Eric Clapton, Pearl Jam, and Bruce Springsteen.

In what seems like a very long time ago, when the 'm' in MTV stood for music, the station offered the viewers a more intimate look at some of their favorite musical artists, from most of the popular genres. Many of my own personal favorites were the Rockers, who came on to the show and allowed their music to be heard stripped down. In many instances, it made a great song that much better. It also seemed to give us better insight into the men and woman most often heard through a radio. The series began in 1989, and has created some great musical memories, at least for me. I have decided to go with a few of my favorite performances, which makes for an impressive group, to be sure. I will start with the 1992 performance by Grunge Rockers Nirvana. There is something quite wonderful about the performances of Kurt Cobain, Krist Novoselic, and Dave Grohl, so light and almost sweet. It is hard to believe this was Cobain's final televised performance, for the following year, he struggled until he was found dead. You would never be able to tell when watching him sing "All Apologies" that he was struggling so much. The song, off the five-times Platinum selling album 'In Utero', was beautiful stripped down, allowing Kurt's vocals to shine. Watch as Nirvana sings "All Apologies".

Eric Clapton also did the show in 1992, and it was another memorable one. Clapton had a um longer career, with music he played in band going back almost three decades. And he alo had a magnificent catalog of solo work from which to choose, so the wealth of material was not an issue. In fact, there were so many great songs, I had a tough time picking which one to go with. However, I narrowed it down to just one of my favorites, from when Clapton was front man for Derek and the Dominos. The band had a big hit with the 1970 song "Layla", still considered by some to be the best Rock love song ever written. By the way, Clapton sp[lit the writing duties with bandmate Jim Gordon. This is Eric Clapton playing an absolutely amazing Unplugged version of "Layla".

Now, I would be hard pressed to do this post and not include The Boss, New Jersey's great musical ambassador, Bruce Springsteen. Back in college, I had a roommate from Vineland, New Jersey, who lived and breathed everything Bruce. Normally a quiet Pre-Med major, Steve would go crazy whenever Bruce started playing on the stereo. And forget about when he was getting ready to go see The Boss performing live... While it seems there are so many iconic songs in Springsteen's catalog, I have another strong memory associated with some others. Nearly 30 years ago, I worked on a production of Lanford Wilson's 'A Balm In Gilead' at the Circle Repertory Theatre, a co-production with Chicago's Steppenwolf Theater Company. The show included several of Springsteen's early songs, and one of my favorites, "Thunder Road". The song, off the 1975 album 'Born To Run', has a truly magical quality about it, able to remain huge in sound, yet also tell an intimate story, something Springsteen was a master at doing. This is Bruce Springsteen playing his acoustic version of "Thunder Road".

Finally, I have another personal favorite of mine. I still am a huge fan of Pearl Jam, a band with amazing heart, sense of self, and a sense of amazing music. Of course, it never hurt that I found lead singer Eddie Vedder to amazing to watch, so beautiful and so expressive. While many of their classic live performances were bold and bombastic, there was something so wonderful about their pared down sound unplugged. The band, made up by Mike McCready, Stone Gossard, Jeff Ament, Dave Krusen, and Eddie Vedder, managed to have a laid back feel to the show, yet the intensity for the songs was still there. This was amazing, for they were still quite new, having released just one album, 1991's 'Ten'. Of course, that was an astonishing album, with so many great songs. While I could have easily picked any number of the songs, I am going with "Alive", one that still remains one of my favorites. The song, written by bassist Stone Gossard, has an strong message, wrapped in a dark paper. There is just something so honest about the song and the performance, I continue to return to it year after years. This is Pearl Jam playing the acoustic version of "Alive".

Hope your weekend was a good one and this helps kick start you week!!

Through The Years

Boldly going where few smart men have gone before, I thought the blogiversary would be a perfect opportunity to show that I have fallen victim to many of the style fads of the last 50 years, from the time when I was a mere child. The hair, the clothes, well, they say so much, don't they? To celebrate the fashion malfunctions, I thought I would just give some music that might capture that same period of time, starting when I was an infant in the playpen. The Who released an album and single of the same name in 1965, My Generation. OK, more of the time I am wearing the suit on the porch than playpen time, but you get it.



Somehow, I manage to skip the 70s, at least with pictures I have on my computer. The 80s are certainly represented, from the white jacket to the appearance of a major amount of hair. And since in one of those pictures I was wearing a Cure Head On The Door Tour t-shirt, it seemed only right to post a clip of The Cure singing Picture Of You, a truly beautiful and melancholy song.



In the 90s, I let the hair get longer and more wild, and was listening to Pearl Jam. I can't help it, I had a huge crush on Eddie Vedder. I was also listening to bands like Live, Origin, Depeche Mode, as well as singer/songwriters like the incredible Duncan Sheik. But I think it only fitting to celebrate the decade and the pictures with a live performance of Pearl Jam's Alive.



Come the new millennium, I know the focus of my musical passions turned toward the LGBT singer/songwriters, many of them in playing a variation of Folk/Pop/Rock. A leading example of this would be Eric Himan, from whom much of my fandom springs. You see, it seemed that first several people who opened for Eric, or played with him, became part of my collection. That would include Aiden James, Tom Goss, Levi Kreis and Andy Moore. And those talented people exposed me to others, like Jake Walden, Adrianne, Stewart Lewis, and others. Well, I'd like to pay tribute to my Music-Daddyman, Eric Himan singing No Urgency from his 2002 album I Go On...

Saturday Rocks - Pearl Jam

Well, if Saturday is gonna rock, I gotta lay some Pearl Jam on it sooner or later. Why, you ask? Cause I loves me some Pearl Jam. Their music is at once layer, textured, cacophonous, soulful, heavy, metallic, honest, brutal, sweet and forgiving. Lead singer Eddie Vedder is amazing to me, a talented songwriter, and a gifted vocalist who can pull out the emotional content and lay it on the song like a gravy. Technically, he might not be the best singer, with a raging vibrato and a growl for days, but somehow it all works for me, making him truly interesting to watch. And, yes, he is gorgeous. I know he is a straight man, but I can still look, you know? Here is is singing the great song, Alive.



He is not only open-minded, but he is outspokenly supportive of the equality movement. I had read a review of a concert in Memphis, Tennessee, and it went like this:

At one point at the '94 show, he asked the audience, "Is it okay to be gay in Memphis?" The crowd mostly booed back, "no." To my present shame, I was one of them. (At least I would eventually outgrow my childlike homophobia.) Vedder had a comeback to the Memphis masses: "Then you're all a bunch of fucking assholes."

Here is another favorite song of mine, the incredible Black.



Vedder is no stranger to making political statements at concerts, that is for sure. The band is also supportive of many issues for women, including the right to choose. In an MTV Unplugged concert in 1992, Vedder stood on a stool and wrote "PRO-CHOICE!" on his arm in protest when the band performed the song "Porch". They also supported women who were in abusive relationships, a topic brought up in the song Better Man.



The band has also been outspoken about the abuse of children, both by adults and other kids. They helped forward the discussion of bullying with the video for Jeremy. Here is the song from a kicking live performance.



One of my personal favorite songs from the band is Even Flow. The song, from the 1991 debut titled Ten, was their second single, and it climbed the charts to #3 on the Mainstream Pop chart.



The band has also been very politically active, supporting Green candidate Ralph Nader in the 2000 elections, as well as backing Democrat John Heinz in the 2004 election. They have taken part in MTV's Rock The Vote movement, encouraging young people to step up, get to know the facts and participate in the democratic process. And Eddie has managed to do all this and still look damn good.

Great Music - Pearl Jam

Like many other bands in the early 90s, Pearl Jam came out of Seattle and took the music world by storm. The band had picked up lead singer Eddie Vedder out of California, and formed the signature sound that is unmistakenly their own, amazing considering the eruption of grunge bands coming out of the Northwest. The intensity of the band allowed them to tackle subject matter like spousal abuse, child abuse, politics, bullying, and other hot button issues.

To their fans, Pearl Jam are anti-establishment Gods who continue to buck the system for their art. In 1994 Pearl Jam had a very public fight with Ticketmaster, even canceling part of the tour over the governmental investigation of the business practices of Ticketmaster, and later refused to play venues who utilized their services. They toured relentlessly, with a bravado and intensity that recalled their favorite band of the 60s, The Who. To disrupt the bad bootlegs often foisted upon fans, Pearl Jam put out their own live recording of shows, offering them for sale. For many, women and men alike, Vedder is a sex symbol, fighting for everything they hold dear.