Vote for why you think it jumped
Nirvana
LL Cool J
Bruce Springsteen plugs
They add MTV to the title
Shark Bytes
I think the shark jumping moment which completely hacked me off was when after Cobain's suicide (which kicked off Nirvana's Unplugged to selling like hotcakes),MTV decided to "promote" Alice In Chains Unplugged. The singer (Layne Staley) was an heroin addict obviously on his way to an unpleasant end. This, to me, was a blatant attempt to cash in on his passing and the motives there were so transparent I would dare MTV to deny it, but those guys don't play MUSIC on their network anymore...now it's game shows,cartoons so-called "reality TV"(wanna deny that Real World/Road Rules isn't scripted)? The only thing that kept me watching MTV as long as I did was 120 Minutes because the performers on that program would actually show up in you city or town and PLAY A SHOW!
Yeah. After Nirvana the show jumped. It was one of the best live tv performances ever. Heck, MTV itself jumped after that. How can you top that?
Ok... Great concept for a show. Seriously. Probably the last show that will ever be on MTV that's related to MUSIC. Nirvana was good, Alice In Chains was even better. The poster above me said the Alice In Chains Unplugged cd ruined him/her from the original songs for like a year. The same thing happened to me! I still listen to that album a lot. I didn't watch Bruce Springsteen because I don't really care about his music...But plugging back in?? Why would you do that for a show that's supposed to be all acoustic? Wtf? The worst though must be rappers going on there. When LL Cool J did his thing, was there any music backing him up? what was it? I can't remember ever hearing an acoustic rap song. That's a little too stupid for me.
There are "Unplugged" classics. Eric Clapton, Alice In Chains (the acoustic versions of the songs ruined me for the originals for a year...that unplugged album was in my CD player constantly), Nirvana, and yes, Hole. C'mon, who can't love the moment where Courtney's string breaks while she's doing the Duran Duran cover, "Hungry Like the Wolf". That's what made a show like this fun for me. It's supposed to have a cozier feel to it than any other type of concert. When the cash flow potential was realized, however, and you had bands that had no business going acoustic on, as well as Springsteen plugging in, you realized that it was getting more overproduced and it lost its charm. Not everyone should have an acoustic album, nor should they be allowed to play acoustic sets. Ahem...LL Cool J.
I agree with the above poster who said it was when Bruce "plugged" in. I am a huge Bruce fan, and it has always disappointed me that he didn't do the entire set unplugged, especially when such great songs like "Born to Run" are much more haunting and beautiful when played acoustically. He's a tremendous live performer, and I don't know if that had anything to do with perhaps why he chose to plug in, but 4 years later, he went on an acoustic tour. Kind of shady, eh?
Is this show still going? What annoyed me was acoustic or folky bands singing...ACOUSTIC SONGS! It was boring after one show and for crying out loud..MARIAH CAREY. Also everyone who appeared on the show released a mid-price crap accompanying album. You could tell some bands were extremely proud but they should've left the shows to the recesses of the MTV archives.
Once NIRVANA did their UNPLUGGED performance every thing that came before was forgotten and nothing that followed seemed to matter. It should also be noted that Courtney Love changing the lyrics to NIRVANA's then unreleased final song "You Know You're Right" and performing it on "HOLE - Unplugged" was the final nail in a coffin that was already sealed and buried by that time.
MTV refused to air the long awaited Soundgarden episode, because of "anti-commercial sentiments" that Chris Cornell supposedly made throughout the taping of the bands'set. A similar fate would later befall the G'n'R reunion episode in 2000. MTV can kiss my ass.
Did they really need to change the name to "MTV" Unplugged? We all knew it was MTV. Maybe they thought we were confused because MTV was showing MUSIC instead of a reality show. What a concept.
Surely, the shark was jumped when they allowed Bruce Springsteen to violate the entire premise of the show by plugging in and completing his set with electric instruments. I'm not a big fan of Bruised Stringbean, but he's a very good musician and a better songwriter - just because I don't like him doesn't mean he's no good. I would have liked to have seen an entire acoustic set from him. I think one of his albums is acoustic or close to it. I've seen some TV interviews with him and my own observations is that this guy has some serious mental problems - he's not the uncomplicated, bar band, regular dude we think he is. I think his nutso, prima donna side kicked in and he just decided to take the easy way out and do "plugged" versions of his songs. If an MTV person wanted to commit music biz suicide, they could have unplugged the amps, and said, "Excuse me, Mr. Rock and Roll Star, the name of the friggin' show is UNPLUGGED! You knew that when you showed up today! Now get a pickin'!" This "plug" sort of took the shine off the show - knowing that the interesting basic premise of the show (having to play acoustically) had no meaning. In the future, Bruce will probably get hair implants instead of wearing a do-rag like Little Stevie (now of Soprano fame), and Bruce will be truly "plugged." I guess this is what you call one of those 'special' shows. I always have called this DFF (Departure From Format).
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