If ever a moment of true horror occured on Music Television, it came four minutes into Nirvana's cover of Muddy Water's “Where Did You Sleep Last Night” on MTV Unplugged. As Kurt Cobain finishes his final wail of “shiver the whole…” his contorted face drops, his clenched lids suddenly open, revealing stark blue eyes that reveal either agonizing physical pain or a terrifying vision of the future. It's a thousand-yard gaze that was unnerving when it aired and became eerily prophetic when Cobain took his own life a mere four months later.
14 years later, in keeping with the resurgent interest in all things Cobain , Geffen and MTV are releasing Nirvana Unplugged for the first time on DVD. The disc will feature two additional songs cut from the airing, “Something in …
In what amounted to group therapy – with visuals – along the lines of Courtney Love’s reading aloud of Kurt’s suicide note over a local radio station after his death, “About A Son” the film fusing Cobain’s interviews with Rolling Stone writer Michael Azerad over director AJ Schnack’s montages of varying relevance and often a too literalistic bent, is a labor of love that will still deliver for many, a much-needed wake. One attendee who’d read Azerad’s tome described the film as “watching an audiobook”. Not a bad thing, although the director, in his admitted appreciation for Godfrey Reggio’s narration-free documentary Koyanisquatsi, May have failed to consider enough how Reggio’s montages worked because they weren’t in the service of an idea being spoken. Soundtrack-wise it’s instantly understandable why there are no Nirvana songs in …
1. Strawberry Letter 23 – The Brothers Johnson “Classic lost song from the '70's. Makes you wanna be on roller skates, with a disco ball. Coincidence that the number 23's in the title? I think not.” 2. Breed – Nirvana “One of my anthems. Put it on and imagine you're pummeling your foe's face into blood soup.” 3. My Immortal – Evanescence “Gothic. Hauntingly beautiful voice. I like powerful women.” 4. One – Mary J. Blige & U2 “I love the light that shines through Mary. And U2's song can really lift you out of the muck” 5. Close to Me – The Cure “This song makes me feel like I'm being held down and tickled.”…
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