Nirvana or Pearl Jam......who had a better unplugged?

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  • ONCE DEVIDED
    ONCE DEVIDED Posts: 1,131
    Eric clapton
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  • Hugh Freaking Dillon
    Hugh Freaking Dillon Posts: 14,010
    Nirvana, but unfortunately, this is almost like comparing apples to oranges. Nirvana's was at the height of their career. PJ's was at the beginning of theirs. They had a limited amount of original songs to choose from.

    PJ's was almost like just another performance, whereas Kurt put a whole ton of thought into the ambience and tracklist. Pearl Jam were playing just another show, just with acoustic instruments.

    Even if PJ had done theirs after Vitalogy, Nirvana's still may have been better, but it would have been closer.
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  • Hugh Freaking Dillon
    Hugh Freaking Dillon Posts: 14,010
    titchinello wrote:
    what about tesla - 5 man acustical jam, any love for that here. i think its an amazing acustic album ??

    they never get the credit they deserve for being the pioneers of this whole "unplugged" movement. Saw them a few years ago do that show again in a small club, and it was killer.
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  • DewieCox
    DewieCox Posts: 11,432
    Hugh Freaking Dillon wrote:
    titchinello wrote:
    what about tesla - 5 man acustical jam, any love for that here. i think its an amazing acustic album ??

    they never get the credit they deserve for being the pioneers of this whole "unplugged" movement. Saw them a few years ago do that show again in a small club, and it was killer.

    It's always that performance of Wanted Dead or Alive from the (suprise, suprise) MTV awards that gets the credit.
  • 88keys
    88keys Posts: 151
    facepollution wrote:
    WTF?! Really? I'd say the EXACT opposite! Nirvana's sounds way closer to an acoustic performance, the drumming is significantly more restrained, the cello etc......

    I guess you don't recall Cobain using a distortion pedal on "The Man Who Sold the World".
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  • pjradio
    pjradio Posts: 6,704
    They are ALL good....why pick?....just enjoy...(insert smartass comeback here _______)
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  • 88keys
    88keys Posts: 151
    edited January 2012
    As was stated many times already, it's hard to compare the two because of where the bands were at the time they recorded their repective Unpluggeds. Nirvana was the biggest band in the world when their's aired December of 1993. Pearl Jam was just breaking out when their's aired in May of 1992. Also, somone correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't Pearl Jam's Unplugged edited down to a half hour version that pretty much only consisted of Alive, Black, Jeremy and Porch? I don't recall MTV ever aring it in it's entirety. And even if they did, they never include the awesome version of Rockin in the Free World they did after Porch. Plus, they also performed Garden and Leash, which were never recorded. The lucky ones in attendance will forever be the only people who got to hear those two performances.

    Overall, I will always choose PJ's unplugged over Nirvana's.

    Aerosmith and Stevie Ray Vaughan had memorable Unpluggeds as well.
    Post edited by 88keys on
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  • Tboz51
    Tboz51 Posts: 2,808
    Oh god dumb question. I mean Nirvanas last 6 albums have been so amazing. I mean since 1994 Nirvana have amazingly grown as a band.

    Give it a rest.
    "Honesty will always be construed as negative to a dumbass"
    :-)
  • cjw0984
    cjw0984 Posts: 30
    Maybe I'm alone but I don't view it in terms of better or worse when it comes to the Unplugged performances of all bands. I am very much a fan of multiple bands Unplugged sessions. Alice in Chains, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots, 10,000 Maniacs, Eric Clapton, etc...I just miss the series in general. I always wanted to hear a Soundgarden and NIN Unplugged. Those more hard bands with innovative front men could have really created a great twist on the Unplugged show.
    Just another kid of the 90's who loves Pearl Jam.
  • eladder
    eladder Posts: 414
    Pj was newer and that was apparent which made it rawer, more energetic, and better.

    Nirvanas was when they were already established.

    What if pj did an unplugged after no code? Probably better or as good as their first but definitely would be different. Lets compare apples to apples people.
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  • eladder
    eladder Posts: 414
    Pearl jam rocked unplugged. Best version of a hard song like porch was unplugged. Says a lot. If pj did unplugged later in their career like when nirvana did they would have killed like at bridge school with daughter, walking the cow, patriot, around the bend, etc. And the black version on unplugged was SICK.
    He was ok but wondering about wandering
  • igotid88
    igotid88 Posts: 28,886
    Mamasan23 wrote:
    My vote definitely goes to PJ...seriously one of the best versions of Porch EVER.

    Yes I'm biased. No I don't really like Nirvana. In fact, the only album of theirs that I own is the Unplugged...but I still don't think it's better than Pearl Jam's.

    yup
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  • igotid88
    igotid88 Posts: 28,886
    Would have liked to have seen a PJ unplugged during No Code or Yield
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  • AzWicker
    AzWicker Posts: 1,162
    frazba wrote:
    ...I also often wonder what would have come of Nirvana had Kurt not passed away, would they still hold a place dear to our hearts like PJ obviously do or would they have become a sad parody of themselves like so many other once great bands have done?...

    I bet you could look at Axl with Chinese Democracy for your answer.
    Ed: 2011-07-09 2012-11-04
    PJ: 2011-09-03 2011-09-04
  • Staffan
    Staffan Posts: 606
    Well, I'd rather watch Eddie writing on his arm and falling off his chair then watching the heroin trainwreck called Kurt Cobain........that said doesn't mean that Nirvana unplugged was all bad, but Pearl Jam was jus a lot better.
    Everyday................is Pearl Jam Day.

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  • TroubledSoul
    TroubledSoul Posts: 1,374
    nirvana

    but it's apples vs oranges.

    its just that nirvanas apple was shitloads better than pjs orange.
    Yeh I've seen Pearl Jam, too. But I can't remember the dates.
  • Catwoman1
    Catwoman1 Posts: 482
    edited January 2012
    facepollution wrote:
    I love Pearl Jam's, but it always felt so incomplete, I wished they had waited at least one more album before they did it.

    Nirvana's is my personal favourite, pretty tough to watch after Kurt died, but it is an incredible performance. That bit at the end of Where Did You Sleep Last Night, where the music cuts out, the intensity in his eyes is absolutely spine-chilling.

    I totally agree with you about how spine-chilling the end of Where Did You Sleep Last Night is. Everything about that show -- the black candles, the lilies, even ending the show with that incredible Lead Belly song -- is spine-chilling to me. It's hard not to think that Kurt was telling us it was over. What a swan song!
    Post edited by Catwoman1 on
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  • DewieCox
    DewieCox Posts: 11,432
    Does "It's apples and oranges" = "Nirvana's was better but I don't wanna admit it"?
  • TJ25487
    TJ25487 Posts: 1,501
    Well, after tallying up all of the scores in this thread, Pearl Jam Unplugged is the winner by a nose, followed by Nirvana and AIC as a distant third. Thanks for playing everybody. Now back to our original program.
  • CantKeepMeHere
    CantKeepMeHere Posts: 2,177
    the word BETTER is always a stumble for me - if we were using the word STRONGER than as a complete album I would have to go with Nirvana
    But if you compare Nirvana UnPlugged to say Pearl Jam Benny then yeah Pearl Jam would be a stronger acoustic album
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