Nirvana - MTV Unplugged in New York

MTV Unplugged in New York is the first live album by the American rock band Nirvana, released by DGC Records on November 1, 1994, nearly seven months after the suicide of Kurt Cobain. It was part of the cable television series MTV Unplugged and features a mostly acoustic performance. It was recorded at Sony Music Studios in Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan, on November 18, 1993.

The show was directed by Beth McCarthy and aired on the cable television network MTV on December 16, 1993. In a break with MTV Unplugged tradition, Nirvana used some electric amplification and effects, and played mainly lesser-known material and covers, with performances of songs by the Vaselines, David Bowie, Lead Belly and Meat Puppets. They were joined by the rhythm guitarist Pat Smear and the cellist Lori Goldston, alongside Meat Puppets members Cris and Curt Kirkwood for some songs.

MTV Unplugged was released after plans to release the performance as part of a live album, Verse Chorus Verse, were abandoned. It debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 and was certified 8× platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in 2020.[1] It won the Best Alternative Music Performance at the 1996 Grammy Awards, Nirvana's only Grammy Award. It was released on DVD in 2007.

Background
MTV Unplugged began airing on MTV in 1989, with artists performing their hits on acoustic instruments in intimate settings.[2] Nirvana had been in negotiations to appear for some time; Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain finally accepted while touring with the Meat Puppets.[3] Nirvana wanted to do something different from a typical MTV Unplugged performance; according to drummer Dave Grohl, "We'd seen the other Unpluggeds and didn't like many of them, because most bands would treat them like rock shows—play their hits like it was Madison Square Garden, except with acoustic guitars."[4]

The group looked at Mark Lanegan's 1990 album The Winding Sheet, which Cobain had performed on, for inspiration. Among the ideas the band members came up with included covering David Bowie's "The Man Who Sold the World" and inviting members of the Meat Puppets to join them on stage.[5] Still, the prospect of an entirely acoustic show reportedly made Cobain nervous.