Welcome to a special Sunday feature of The Weekend Stream, which takes a look at one of MTV's great live music programs thanks to a recent reissue of one of its best-known episodes. We're running a five-part deep-dive on every episode of MTV Unplugged that's currently streaming on the station's parent streaming network Paramount+! (Part 1 can be read here.)

The evolution of MTV Unplugged was not unlike that of the network itself. If those first years on the air from 1989 to 1991 were proof of the format's artistic viability, the episodes recorded and broadcast in 1992 and 1993 were some of the most sterling examples of its blockbuster potential. Four of the episodes were turned into albums that reached the Top 5 of the Billboard 200; two of them reached No. 1, and one of them won a Grammy Award for Album of the Year. You won't be surprised if you own at least one of these releases already, so ubiquitous were they at the time. This might be Unplugged at its peak!

(Our discussion of this show shouldn't go any further without a shout-out to our friend and fellow writer Will Hodge, who runs a fascinating and thorough podcast about the program called Unplugged Revisited. If you like anything you're reading or hearing about here, definitely check it out! There's deep dives on releases as well as interviews with musicians who participated in various episodes.)

SEASON 3

Eric Clapton (rec. at Bray Film Studios, Windsor, England - 1/16/1992; aired 3/11/1992)

No one can really say if they expected Clapton's Unplugged special to take off the way it did. Slowhand was hardly known for his acoustic work, and the set's biggest catalogue hit, "Layla," was nearly unrecognizable from the Derek & The Dominos version. But the show was rocket fuel for the guitar hero. The heartrending "Tears in Heaven," released in studio form on the Rush soundtrack the day after it was performed here, became his first Top 10 hit in more than a decade; the easygoing blues takes were manna for casual CD buyers and admirers of precision performance, leading to a trio of Grammy Awards and a chart-topping album.

Availability: Was it ever! The original Unplugged CD became the bestselling live disc of all time with more than 10 million of the album shipped in America (with another 100,000 of the videocassette). Rhino reissued both as one CD/DVD set in 2013 with a bonus disc of alternates and outtakes. Clapton's own Surfdog label remixed and re-released the audio, putting it on two CDs or three LPs with a less expanded track list that incorporated the songs not featured on the original album ("Worried Life Blues," "Circus," "My Father's Eyes") into the end of the program. (None of the alternates were used.)

Paul Simon (rec. at Kaufman Studios, Astoria, NY - 3/4/1992; aired 6/3/1992)

Airing only a week before Clapton's episode aired, Paul Simon's turn on the show may be among the lesser regarded for one weird reason: acoustic performance wasn't particularly novel for the former half of Simon & Garfunkel. Granted, he rarely did acoustic full-band performances, so despite the hits-packed set list, it's not totally predictable.

Availability: But it was never a focus of release, either: three tracks - "Graceland," "Mrs. Robinson" and "Bridge Over Troubled Water" - were released on various Unplugged compilations between 1994 and 2002.

Mariah Carey (rec. at Kaufman Studios, Astoria, NY - 3/16/1992; aired 5/20/1992)

By this point, Unplugged was a forum for established acts to reintroduce themselves to the world, but it was conceived as a home for up-and-coming, less-exposed musicians. Carey's episode split the difference: though her first five singles all sailed to the top of the Billboard Hot 100, some weren't convinced that her expressive vocals could hold up outside the recording booth. Her episode proved the doubters wrong: the episode was one of the series' most-repeated.

Availability: And, hot off the success of Clapton's Unplugged album, Mariah's EP-length release proved the viability of these tracks on record: it hit No. 3 and spun off Carey's sixth chart-topping single, a cover of The Jackson 5's "I'll Be There" with backing vocalist Trey Larenz. (The set was also released on video as MTV Unplugged+3, featuring, as you might guess, three bonus videos from the preceding album Emotions.)

Pearl Jam (rec. at Kaufman Studios, Astoria, NY - 3/16/1992; aired 5/13/1992) mislabeled under Season 1

Pearl Jam helped usher in (albeit unwittingly) a new sort of alternative rock sound coming from the Seattle area, exemplified further through other acts like Nirvana, Soundgarden, Mudhoney and Screaming Trees. The group's force-of-nature sound lost none of its power in the Unplugged setting, as anyone who remembers the set's powerful version of Singles soundtrack cut "State of Love and Trust" or an immortal take on "Porch" where frontman Eddie Vedder scrawled "PRO-CHOICE" down his arm in marker while the band performed a spirited breakdown.

Availability: A DVD of the performance (plus an unaired version of the beautiful "Oceans") was included in Legacy Recordings' Ten box set from 2009. That same audio was later released on vinyl for Record Store Day in 2019 and on CD the following year. (An additional, unused cover of Neil Young's "Rockin' in the Free World" from the set is also a fan favorite.)

Queensrÿche (rec. at Warner Hollywood Studios, Los Angeles, CA - 4/27/1992; aired 7/22/1992)

Queensrÿche today might evoke hazy memories of the time in the early 2010s that the band split apart so bitterly that two versions were competing for attention (one of which featured singer Geoff Tate and a murderer's row of hard rockers including Quiet Riot's Rudy Sarzo and former AC/DC drummer Simon Wright). But back in 1992, after fourth album Empire and single "Silent Lucidity" became unlikely mainstream hits, the group ably adapted their metal-adjacent sound for something really special in this episode.

Availability: Portions were released on the video album Building Empires, and some tracks was included as B-sides to 1997 single "Sign of the Times." That previously available audio ("Silent Lucidity," "The Killing Words" and "I Will Remember") was also included as bonus material on a remaster of that single's parent album, Hear in the New Frontier, reissued in 2003.

John Mellencamp (rec. at Warner Hollywood Studios, Los Angeles, CA - 4/27/1992; aired 8/12/1992) mislabeled under Season 1

Two of the nation's biggest heart-on-sleeve rockers of the previous decade taped Unplugged specials with very different results. Mellencamp's was what you probably expected: a hits-packed set with his road band that came close to the end of a tour in support of his latest album, 1991's Whenever We Wanted. Bruce Springsteen, by contrast, promoted the dual release of Human Touch and Lucky Town at the same venue, but abandoned the acoustic formula after one song, choosing to spotlight his ensemble for that tour - which only featured one of the members of The E Street Band he'd been touring with for two decades prior.

Availablility: It's perhaps ironic, then, that Mellencamp's episode was merely fragmented out over time. The show's version of "Pink Houses" appeared on catchall compilation The Unplugged Collection Volume One in 1994, and "Small Town" was released three years later on the video MTV Unplugged Finest Moments Volume One. Two different performances - one of Whenever single "Love and Happiness" and late '80s favorite "Jackie Brown" - made it onto a DVD to promote the release of 2007's Freedom's Road alongside a pair of late '90s performances from Unplugged's sister show VH-1 Storytellers. (Springsteen's In Concert/MTV Plugged, meanwhile, got its own dedicated audiovisual release. Ain't that America...!)

Annie Lennox (rec. at Montreux Jazz Festival, Montreux Casino, Switzerland - 7/3/1992; aired 8/26/1992)

Often, the audience on MTV Unplugged was as intimate as the performance itself. Annie Lennox's set was a little different in that regard: recorded at the Montreux Jazz Festival a year before it moved from the Swiss town's casino to a nearby convention center, the audience could top out around 1000 patrons. And they were feeding off Lennox's transcendent vocal energy that an acoustic backing band (complete with a melodica!) couldn't lessen on renditions of tracks from her hit solo debut Diva ("Why," "Walking on Broken Glass") and favorites from her decade as the voice of Eurythmics.

Availability: The release of Lennox's Unplugged set was actually kind of robust - at least, if you knew where to look. The set's broadcast versions of "It's Alright (Baby's Coming Back)," "Walking on Broken Glass," an impassioned cover of "River Deep, Mountain High," "Here Comes the Rain Again" and "Why" were all released on various CD singles to promote Diva, most notably a triple-disc package for the single "Cold" in Europe that added the unaired "The Gift," "You Have Placed a Chill in My Heart," "Feel the Need" and "Don't Let Me Down."

SEASON 4

Arrested Development (rec. at The Ed Sullivan Theater, New York, NY - 12/17/1992; aired 3/31/1993)

MTV's occasional difficulty with spotlighting artists of color and non-rock genres is the stuff of legend - and in some ways, Unplugged was no different. Before alternative hip-hop group Arrested Development took the stage at the end of 1992, there's only been one show in the program that drew from the genre: a revue offering performances from some of the period's biggest MCs including LL Cool J, De La Soul and A Tribe Called Quest. But Arrested Development's was the first single-artist rap episode, and had the good fortune to be released just weeks after the group became the first rappers to win a Grammy Award for Best New Artist. Though it only features two of the group's three Top 10 hits - "Tennessee" was likely AWOL since Dionne Faris had already departed the group - it's still an intriguing reconfiguration of what rap could sound like in concert.

Availability: The set was released on CD, though it was a much softer seller than the ones that came before or since.

k.d. lang (rec. at The Ed Sullivan Theater, New York, NY - 12/16/1992; aired 3/28/1993)

After nearly a decade of smoldering country, k.d. lang went in a new torch song-inspired direction on 1992's Ingénue, ending up with her biggest hit in both America and her native Canada ("Constant Craving") and nominations for Album, Record and Song of the Year (she won one for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance). Her resultant Unplugged performance captures the spirit of that era of her worthy career.

Availability: For many years, lang's solo performance was somewhat overshadowed by a later Unplugged episode she'd guest on (which we'll cover next week). For many years, the only thing available from the original was her version of the rarity "Barefoot" that appeared on The Unplugged Collection Volume One. Finally, in 2017, eight versions of tracks from Ingénue were included on a 25th anniversary edition of that album.

Rod Stewart (rec. at Universal Studios Hollywood, Universal City, CA - 2/5/1993; aired 5/5/1993)

Not content to see fellow Brits McCartney and Clapton get all the attention, Rod Stewart became another legendary British rocker with a memorable Unplugged set, not only recruiting a large acoustic band and string section, but also reuniting with Faces guitarist Ron Wood for much of the set. The result is a winning mix of favorites from his catalogue and covers of Van Morrison ("Have I Told You Lately") and Sam Cooke ("Havin' a Party").

Availability: Unplugged...and Seated (a reference to a comment he made on-air about singing Faces' "Stay with Me") was another smash album from the program, reaching No. 2 in England and America. The album also spun off three U.S. Top 40 hits: "Have I Told You Lately" (No. 5 in the U.K. and the U.S.), "Reason to Believe" (ironically overshadowed on initial studio release by B-side "Maggie May" decades earlier) and "Havin' a Party." It was so popular that, in 2009, it was reissued as a CD/DVD set that not only featured the episode on video, but two further unreleased tracks from the performance.

Uptown Show: Jodeci, Father MC, Mary J. Blige, Christopher Williams and Heavy D (rec. at Universal Studios Hollywood, Universal City, CA - 2/6/1993; aired 5/31/1993)

MTV Unplugged's next foray into hip-hop showcased multiple artists that actually spanned rap and R&B, but were all united under one label: Uptown Records. Emerging soul talents including Jodeci and Mary J. Blige rubbed elbows with comparative veterans of the game like Heavy D & The Boyz, Father MC and singer/actor Christopher Williams.

Availability: The entire broadcast was released on CD and videotape as Uptown MTV Unplugged, which would've seemed like a victory lap had Jodeci's impassioned cover of Stevie Wonder's "Lately" not reached the Top 5 of the Billboard Hot 100 and topped the magazine's R&B survey. (That album also included an unusual studio bonus track: "Next Stop Uptown," performed by everyone who appeared on the special.

Soul Asylum (rec. at Sony Music Studios, New York, NY - 4/21/1993; aired 6/20/1993)

Edgier rock bands showing a different side and an unexpected cover or guest would usually be a hallmark of your typical MTV Unplugged episode. Minneapolis alt-rockers Soul Asylum, who were finally finding success after nearly a decade as an indie act, used their slot and exercised the rare option of "both," covering the 1967 chart-topper "To Sir, with Love" with help from Lulu, the woman who took it there.

Availability: A few tracks, including "Somebody to Shove," "Stranger" and "Closer to the Stars," made it to singles, EPs and the band's 2000 compilation Black Gold: The Best of Soul Asylum. Then, for Record Store Day 2023, the band blessed a double vinyl featuring the complete set, remixed from the original multitrack tapes.

Duran Duran (rec. at Sony Music Studios, New York, NY - 11/17/1993; aired 12/15/1993)

The former Fab Five - then a quartet of original members Simon Le Bon, Nick Rhodes and John Taylor plus former touring guitarist/Missing Persons co-founder Warren Cuccurullo - were on an absolute high in '93 after "Ordinary World" and "Come Undone" became unlikely U.S. Top 10 hits off their seventh studio release Duran Duran (The Wedding Album). The general vibe of the album foregrounded acoustic instrumentation, especially "Ordinary World," and the group had taken to playing an early promotional tour in a stripped-back setting, so they were practically rehearsing for this episode, performing not only the singles from The Wedding Album but many of their biggest '80s hits that helped define MTV in the first place, all in appropriately acoustic style (complete with a string section!).

Availability: One of the most frustratingly unavailable Unplugged sets - one fans certainly hope will see the light of day if the group ever reissue The Wedding Album.

Nirvana (rec. at Sony Music Studios, New York, NY - 11/18/1993; aired 12/16/1993) mislabeled under Season 1

A fitting closer for the second part of our Unplugged retrospective, Nirvana's 1993 episode completely upended expectations. Kurt Cobain, suffering from intense drug withdrawals, insisted on using some effects pedals, played none of the band's major singles, sprinkled in striking covers (David Bowie's "The Man Who Sold the World," Lead Belly's "Where Did You Sleep Last Night") and insisted on augmenting the trio of him, bassist Krist Novoselic and drummer Dave Grohl with touring guitarist Pat Smear and members of tourmates the Meat Puppets (who contributed several songs to the set list). Cobain died less than six months after the episode aired, and it remains as fitting an end to a short, brilliant, troubled career as could be.

Availability: The first posthumous Nirvana release was planned to be a double live album, Verse Chorus Verse, featuring curated concert tracks alongside the MTV Unplugged set. When compiling it proved to be too emotionally taxing for Novoselic and Grohl, MTV Unplugged in New York became the latest album from the series to top the charts, also winning the group their only Grammy. A 2007 DVD included the concert footage in stereo and 5.1 surround, along with two tracks not used in the broadcast, an MTV retrospective documentary and selections from the pre-show rehearsal.