The Bobby Bones Show - Takin A Walk Celebrates Nirvana's MTV Unplugged.-Music History

Episode Date: November 17, 2023

The band Nirvana recorded an acoustic performance at Sony Music Studios in New York City on November 18. 1993 for the television series MTV Unplugged. It was released November 1, 1994, and we celebrate this moment in music history with former Nirvana manager Danny Goldberg along with former MTV music executive Rob Barnett. We also get the perspective of some Nirvana fans who were there for the event.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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But creatively, in my experience, was that he always knew exactly what he was doing. And he executed, you know, one of the greatest, you know, arguably the greatest MTV unplugged ever. The Take In a Walk podcast loves to celebrate great moments in music history. There was an iconic moment that occurred on November 18, 1993 in New York City. Nirvana recorded their MTV unplugged in New York,

which stands the test of time as a seminal moment in their career and in music. Join host Buzz Knight with special guests that include Danny Goldberg, longtime music executive, and at the time he was the manager of Nirvana. Buzz is also joined by former MTV VH1 executive Rob Barnett, who shares his recollections from that magic moment in music history. We'll also hear from some fans who were there at the concert sharing their pace of music history. All next on Taking a Walk. Danny, can you tell us about the process that led to the performance becoming a reality?

Well, there were a couple of different factors. One was that Kurt had put an enormous amount of energy into the video, for Heart Shape Box. It was the highest budget video Nirvana had done. There was a change directors. And he didn't really feel, he couldn't think of another music video in his mind for a subsequent song

that would live up to the production of Heart Shape Box. And he just wasn't, he didn't have a vision for it. Prior to, you know, all of the Nirvana videos were Kurt's ideas. you know, it smells like in spirit and in bloom and so forth. And so unplugged, but he wanted to do justice to in utero, which had just come out, you know, only been out a few months. And he was very, very tuned into the influence and cultural footprint of MTV. He watched MTV a lot, and he knew they were really important to the band's connection with their fans.

And so unplugged was a way of having a significant presence on MTV without making another music video. That was one factor. And another factor is I think MTV wanted the band to do it, and he didn't love saying no to MTV. He would say no to the monocation, because his art and his own personal schedule came first, but they were very important to him. And then at some point, he developed a creative vision of what a Nirvana unplughey. would be. I don't know when that happened, but by the time they did it, it was completely different from any other unplugged. I mean, most artists, when they did it unplugged, would just do their hits, an acoustic version of them. The Nirvana Unplugged didn't even have some of their

biggest songs on it. There was no spells like Teen Spirit, for example. And it had several songs that had never been recorded or even performed by Nirvana before those meat puppet songs and David Bowie Manus sold the world. I mean, maybe he had done it at some point in the past, but I never heard him do it. And he really had this vision of a different kind of instrumentation and just kind of another version of his art. So it started out as a marketing idea and an ended up being, you know, a real creative self-expression for him. So I know the rehearsal process in Weehawken was definitely a challenging process. What were your recollections of that rehearsal?

Oh, I was on the West Coast. My wife was about to give birth to our son, Max. And so I wasn't there. I was on the phone a lot with both him and other people around. But look, Kurt was certainly struggling with drugs at the time. This is widely known. But creatively, in my experience, was that he always knew exactly what he was doing. And he executed, you know, one of the greatest, you know, arguably the greatest MTV unplugged ever.

So, you know, I don't remember any more drugs. drama about the rehearsals that other than the continuing drama of his, you know, personal issues that had been going on, you know, for several months. Did you feel then that he was discovering a new style in terms of the form that that performance ultimately took? Well, he talked about it afterwards. I spoke to him the next day. And he was really excited by it at that time.

Janet Billig, who worked for my company then, who was very close to Kurt told me that in the immediate aftermath of it, he was worried that it sucked and he was very anxiety-ridden about it. But he got so much good feedback. By the next day, when I spoke to him, he was really excited and he felt that people would perceive the band in a new way. He was so ambitious that as successful as Nirvana had been, two number one albums, redefining what commercial rock and roll was globally. He still felt he had other parts of himself creatively that were meaningful, and he thought he had really demonstrated some of that with the unplug. So he was really, really excited about it by the next day. And there was no question in my mind that this was, again, this was art to him.

This was not marketing. And did you end up feeling differently about the performance as time passed and when it would ultimately run on MTV that December? Oh, I don't know. I fell in love with it right away. I mean, you know, I loved hearing his voice. I thought the performances were incredible, the lead belly song, the Bowie song, the Penny Royalty without any rhythm, just almost a folk version of it. And that was one of my favorite of his lyrics. I knew right away it was spectacular. And so I still feel that way to this day. You know, a lot of people, the unplugged is their favorite Nirvana album. It's certainly up there along Nevermind in utero as one of the three albums that really defines the band's legacy. Thank you, Danny. That's tremendous. I really appreciate it. Oh, my pleasure, Buzz. Thanks for including me. We'll be right back with more of the Taken a Walk podcast. Welcome back to the Taken a Walk podcast.

I'm Sarah from Fairfield, Connecticut, and I cannot believe it. It has been 30 years since I witnessed Nirvana at the MTV Unplug performance in New York. I knew when I was walking in, like, this really was going to be something special. Like, there was just such a vibe, like, with all the Nirvana fans, like, you could just feel the aura in the air. Hey, I'm James, and I'm 50 years old now. I live in Montclair, New York, and I was there November 18, 1993, for what was, a magnificent performance at the Nirvana MTV unplugged. I knew I had witnessed music history.

The atmosphere there was so electric from the moment we walked in. The stage was beautifully set with candles and flowers and that iconic Nirvana logo backdrop. You could feel the anticipation in the air. And then Kurt, Chris and Dave walked out, and the crowd just erupted. Rob Barnett. So, Rob, thanks for being on this moment of taking a walk where we are celebrating the MTV Nirvana, unplugged in New York from November of 93.

Now, you had an 11-year run at MTV and VH1. What were you doing in particular at this time at MTV? I was a lucky, lucky boy because years after programming some of America's finest rock radio stations all around the country, I got to MTV in the late 80s. And that was a time when it was still all music. And I was one of the heads of programming at MTV. So my job, along with just five other human beings, every single Monday morning, was to sit. in a big honkin conference room where they would show us every single music video that was submitted that week. And then like Christians to the Lions, we'd either do thumbs up or thumbs

down. Three of us were the music programmers. We were, you know, we had those radio chops, right? And then the other three people in the room were called T-A-R, talent and artist relations. they were there with equally great, you know, music experience and programmer chops, but they were representing what the labels and the artists were interested in. And then the genius of the chairman of then Viacom, Tom Preston, was that the six of us would fight, right? Because there were only a few slots that would be added to that playlist every week. So that was the first part of the job, second part of the job,

was that I sat in an office that had four people that worked under me, and the 24-hour pages of a full-day programming log would get passed up the line each day from the junior person on the staff up to me, and we would literally go over every minute of every hour, of everything that was on MTV. We programmed the thing like a radio station, with pictures. So do you remember who was really at the core of the person that sort of, you know, brought this idea forward about Nirvana doing this performance?

Well, it's a great story because, you know, success has many mothers and many fathers, but there is absolutely no question if you're an intense Nirvana fan, then you need to know if you don't already about who Amy Finnerty is. because back then, you know, remember the old days when we would go to our job and have to show up at 9 a.m., especially on a Monday? Remember those days, Buzz? Yeah. Even if we had the coolest jobs in the world, you fucking had to go to your job and show up at 9 o'clock in the morning. And the funniest thing about MTV back then is some of us even wore suits, which just makes you want to throw up now when you think about it.

You know? Remember when radio? guys, like we started to wear like sport jackets and ties and we all look like idiots? Well, it was a little bit like that. And on many, many Monday mornings, when four out of the five people that worked for me would show up, the desk down at the end of the line, Amy Finnerty's desk would be empty on many, many Monday mornings. And I would look at all my guys and I would say to Kurt Steffick, one of her best buddies, one of the great programmers of Empty's, TV. Where the fuck is Amy? And Kurt would give me some sort of dog ate my homework cover like, oh, yeah,

she's out of town and she wanted you to know that she missed her flight. And I go, well, great, when is she going to be here? Oh, should the plane, you know, I think this afternoon, many, many weeks when Amy wasn't where she should have been at Times Square. No, we weren't even in Times Square. We were at Columbus Circle in New York back then. Amy was in Seattle, and for MTV's purposes, Amy Finnerty was busy discovering Nirvana. And when she came back on one certain week and started playing that music for the senior leadership team of MTV,

the world changed. Because if you look at the context of what was happening in music, And especially what was happening at MTV, late 80s, we had a hair band phase. Early 90s, we had a boy band phase. And, you know, I was a little sad during the boy band phase because I thought I was working at the pop culture center of the universe. And I, of course, wanted to be working at the rock and roll center of the universe. But we were a little busy for a few years, playing Marky Mark and the funky bunch and, you know,

Backstreet Boys in sync. That's what was happening a few moments before we heard Nirvana. And everyone in the world knows that that not only changed the course of rock forever, we can now say decades and decades later that that moment, was the last major innovation in the story of rock. And when you listen today to unplugged in New York with Nirvana, tell me, as you reflect on that, how you feel about the performance, how it stands up now.

Well, it's great to get the invitation to reconnect with you, especially to talk about this topic and this album, because I spent the last couple of nights listening again to that magic moment on this earth. And you can't listen to it without the agony and the pain of losing Kurt. When that happened, my office was seated next to Kurt Loder for many years. Kurt and I worked together on dozens of the MTV Docs that were called rockumentaries. But when we lost Kurt not long after MTV Unplugged, Kurt was our Walter Cronkite,

and this was one of the great moments in American history and world history to lose one of the true geniuses in the history of music. When you listen to Nirvana Unplugged, you're hearing the marriage of pop, rock, punk, and this ineffable section of American music that took something that was in the same breath, raw, melodic, and pop. And it almost doesn't mathematically add up in your mind, except for the fact that its strength and its power is in its uniqueness.

and in its ability to just rip right through your soul and demand that you pay attention to something that is completely unlike anything else. I mean, I'm old enough to have spent a lot of years at CBGBs and the punk clubs in the mid and late 70s in New York. this was certainly the child of that, but it took it in a direction that punk could never really get to or was never designed to get to. Nirvana took it to the top of the mountain. It's brilliant. Thank you, Rob. So great to be with you again.

Yeah, thanks, man. Thanks for listening to this episode of the Taken a Walk podcast. Share this and other episodes with your friends and follow us so you never miss an episode. Taking a Walk is available on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts. In 2023, Bachelor star Clayton Eckerd was accused of fathering twins, but the pregnancy appeared to be a hoax.

You doctored this particular test twice, Ms. Ellen's, correct? I doctored the test ones. It took an army of internet detectives to uncover a disturbing pattern. Two more men who'd been through the same thing. Greg Gillespie and Michael Marantini. My mind was blown. I'm Stephanie Young. This is Love Trapped.

Laura, Scottsdale Police. As the season continues, Laura Owens finally faces consequences. Listen to Love Trapped podcast on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. When a group of women discover they've all dated the same prolific con artist, they take matters into their own hands. I vowed. I will be his last. target. He is not going to get away with this. He's going to get what he deserves. We always say that, trust your girlfriends. Listen to the girlfriends. Trust me, babe, babe,

on the IHart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And I'm Igo Wood. My next guest, it's Will Ferrell. My dad gave me the best advice ever. He goes, just give it a shot. But if you ever reach a point where you're banging your head against the wall and it doesn't feel fun anymore, it's okay to quit. If you saw it written down, it would not be an inspiration. It would not be on a calendar of, you know, the cat. Just hang in there. Yeah, it would not be. Right, it wouldn't be that.

There's a lot of luck. Listen to Thanks, Dad, on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Dr. Maya Shunker, a cognitive scientist. and hosts of the podcast a slight change of plans, a show about who we are and who we become when life makes other plans. I wish that I hadn't resisted for so long the need to change. We have to be willing to live

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