On November 26, 1989, the mythical show, which has given us so many magical musical moments over the years, "MTV Unplugged" was premiered.
This may come to some of you as a surprise, but it seems that we all owe a great debt of gratitude to Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora, who are much responsible for the existence of MTV Unplugged's all-too-successful format. When the two sat down in September 1989 on the chairs with their acoustic guitars at the 1989 MTV Music Awards and played "Livin 'On A Prayer" or "Wanted Dead Or Alive", it proved how much power and magic an acoustic rock have and gave MTV The idea for the exemplary Unplugged series.
About two months later, on November 26, 1989, the first episode of the MTV Unplugged series appeared, featuring performances by "Squeeze", Syd Straw and Elliot Easton. The series initially featured 13 episodes that featured, among others, "Aerosmith", Elton John, Sinéad O'Connor, "Poison," Joe Satriani and Stevie Ray Vaughan.
The show aired regularly on MTV from 1989 to 1999 and later less frequently from 2000 to 2009, when the series was called "MTV Unplugged No. 2.0". Since 2009 we have won a single number of shows, mostly specials, some of which have been streamed over the internet.
The first to turn the unplugged show into an album was Paul McCartney, who in May 1991 released the album "Unplugged (The Official Bootleg)".
Over the years this exemplary series has produced some of the greatest moments in the history of music. Starting with Eric Clapton's "Unplugged" album which became the best-selling live album of all time, through the masterpiece shows "Nirvana - MTV Unplugged" and "Alice In Chains - MTV Unplugged" which entered the pantheon of live performances, the unplugged show of "Kiss" which brought to the reunion of the band, "Jimmy Page and Robert Plant - No Quarter" which united Robert Plant and Jimmy Page and more.
And of course, there are other memorable moments we did not mention, like "10,000 Maniacs" with their cover of "Because The Night" that even beat Patti Smith's cover in the charts, Neil Young's "Unplugged" show that had to be recorded twice, the "Oasis" show in which Noel Gallagher was forced to perform without his brother Liam Gallagher due to a deep conflict between them, "REM" Who did this show twice in 1991 and 2001 and more and more.
It was a kind of "test of courage" that any self-respecting artist did not want to miss. Artists like "The Cure", "Pearl Jam", "Queensrÿche", Bruce Springsteen, Rod Stewart, "Stone Temple Pilots", "Korn", Alanis Morissette and many more wanted to be included in the list of artists who passed the test successfully.
And this time we invite you to listen to a series for 3 "Unplugged" shows that we broadcast in 2019.
First Part: Here.
Second Part: Here.
Third Part: Here.