Fiona Apple was just 19 years old when she recorded her first and only episode of MTV’s Unplugged.
Supporting her debut album Tidal, she demonstrated the combination of poise and nervous awkwardness she would exhibit throughout her career.
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Song of the Day #3,406: ‘Pulling Mussels (From the Shell) [Unplugged]’ – Squeeze
The very first episode of MTV’s Unplugged featured British pop band Squeeze along with a pair of American singer-songwriters, Syd Straw and Elliott Easton.
Through some cosmic coincidence, that debut episode aired exactly 28 years ago today, on Halloween of 1989. I’d love to say I planned it this way, but alas, it was fate.
Song of the Day #3,405: ‘Take On Me (Unplugged)’ – A-Ha
Back when MTV played actual music rather than Teen Mom: Roanoke or whatever, my favorite series was MTV Unplugged. These were the Tiny Desk Concerts of the 90s, presenting acoustic sets in an intimate environment. The artists had to be pretty good to pull that off, so you got a wide range of talented acts.
Well, apparently MTV Unplugged is still kind of a thing, at least online and at least in Norway. I know that because I happened upon a viral clip of A-Ha performing a gloriously stripped-down version of their classic ‘Take On Me’ in Giske Harbor Hall, against a beautiful backdrop of mountains and sea.
Song of the Day #3,404: ‘One More Night’ – Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan’s closed out the 60s with Nashville Skyline (1969), a short, sweet, straight-up country album featuring a drastically different singing voice.
In the midst of the civil rights movement and the Vietnam war, just after the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Bobby Kennedy, this was viewed as a puzzling move by an artist who just five years earlier was soundtracking the protest era with The Times They Are a’Changin’.
Song of the Day #3,403: ‘Purple Rain’ – Prince
The Random iTunes Fairy must still be in a tribute mood after this week’s Tom Petty retrospective. Here’s Prince with his classic ‘Purple Rain.’
I was surprised this song hasn’t shown up on the blog before now. In fact, only two songs from the Purple Rain soundtrack (‘Computer Blue’ and ‘The Beautiful Ones’) have been given the Song of the Day treatment, and both of those were on Random Weekends as well.
Meet Me In Montauk 