still from nirvana : unplugged in new york, geffen & mtv networks

“Good evening. This is off our first record. Most people don’t own it.”

It’s 1993. A time when, surprisingly, most people didn’t have a copy of “About a Girl” on their shelves. MTV didn’t play as much music as they used to, but they played a lot more than they do now. They even had a regular show where bands play “unpluggged” for a studio audience. Dave Grohl had a ponytail, and Krist Novoselic was looking young and happy. And there’s Kurt Cobain in that ragged sweater on the candlelit lily-filled stage in New York. Maybe it’s because I never saw them live for myself when they came through my hometown on their last stadium tour [rs]. Maybe it’s because it seemed to play continuously on the day that Cobain killed himself. When I think about Nirvana, this is the show that I think about first.

Now, just over fourteen years later, the whole thing is out on DVD. Both the picture and the sound seem more pristine than I remember from the broadcast and CD version, though that might just be a combination of fuzzy memories or hardware upgrades. The disc includes the entire performance (”for the first time ever!”). Special features include the ability to watch the forty-four minute version that aired on MTV instead of the sixty-five minute uncut version, clips from the rehearsal, and some interviews with people who were there. Not the biggest collection of extras, but at the twelve dollar sale price [amazon], it’s a no-brainer for completists and borderline nostalgiacs alike.