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Kurt cobain unplugged6/27/2023 ![]() You don't have to be a gearhead to realize Nirvana's MTV Unplugged in New York is hardly "unplugged." Everyone used acoustic guitars, and Kurt Cobain's guitar, a Martin D-18E, was outfitted with electric pickups as well as a tone and volume knob. The stories behind the album won’t change the way it sounds, or the way it makes you feel, but they do add a new layer of meaning to the performance. In the weeks leading up to the show, the band was breaking up, producers were freaking out, and Cobain was doing his best to stay clean. ![]() The narrative that Nirvana's Unplugged album is "Kurt Cobain’s final goodbye" is too suggestive and hyperbolic, but the stories behind the filming provide a new and interesting lens through which the performance can be seen. No one in Nirvana knew that Cobain would take his life only a few months later, but that’s the way audiences contextualized the recording. They were tired of playing the hits, and they wanted to give their fans something special.Īfter Cobain’s passing, the Unplugged album took on the grim tone of a funeral - each song was suddenly a dirge that signaled the singer’s fate. The group, their friends, and MTV producers have spoken at length about the concert, and they’ve noted that while the band was falling apart at the time, they were having a blast. The performance, recorded on November 18, 1993, has been called “personal" and “raw,” but it’s just Nirvana doing what they do best. In hindsight, the show mirrors Cobain’s life, one that was complicated by mental health issues and substance dependency. It was a lark, an afterthought, something recorded in roughly an hour that the band didn’t plan to release. It was ultimately Nirvana’s final album, giving fans one of the most unbelievable Kurt Cobain performances, as well as a strange foreshadowing of Cobain’s passing. Julien’s are keeping the name of the seller anonymous.Nirvana’s MTV Unplugged in New York was never meant to be a big deal. Come 2019, Love demanded that Silva should be given a psychiatric evaluation as part of the lawsuit, and said that he should not get to keep the guitar. Silva subsequently filed a lawsuit accusing Love and Lutfi of attempting to kill him to get the guitar back. In 2018, a judge granted Silva the guitar in the divorce settlement. After Frances Bean split with her ex-husband, Isaiah Silva, in 2016, Silva kept the guitar, claiming it was given to him as a wedding present. The guitar is the source of a lot of controversy, with Courtney Love and Frances Bean Cobain having been locked in a protracted legal battle for it. Julien’s Auctions previously sold Cobain’s cardigan from the performance for $344,000. The case includes a flyer for Poison Idea’s album Feel the Darkness, three baggage claim ticket stubs, and an Alaska Airlines sticker. The case also contains Cobain’s half-used pack of guitar strings, three guitar picks, and a suede “stash” bag, according to The Guardian. It will be auctioned at Julien’s Auctions in Beverly Hills, California, on June 19 with its original hard-shell case, decorated by Cobain. The Nirvana singer played the 1959 Martin D-18E acoustic-electric guitar during his legendary performance on the show. Kurt Cobain’s MTV Unplugged guitar will be auctioned next month, and it’s reportedly valued at $1,000,000.
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