10 Greatest MTV Unplugged Episodes

It's profoundly weird how the unplugged craze happened almost concurrently with the grunge revolution. Although some hair metal stalwarts like Aerosmith and KISS may have tried to maintain their integrity with their own unplugged performances, the focus of rock was shifting to the Pacific Northwest, with acts like Stone Temple Pilots gaining traction from their acoustic performances alone. Long before anyone else though, Pearl Jam got there first way back in 1992.

Even though Pearl Jam had already made a name for themselves with their unique brand of hard rock, the idea of them picking up acoustics almost came out as a fluke. Instead of the usual direction they had in mind, the germ of doing Unplugged came when their instruments didn't arrive on time during one of their tour stops, forcing them to pick up acoustics for songs like Garden and Jeremy. When they arrived in the MTV studio though, many were stunned with how organic songs like State of Love and Trust translated to acoustics, with Eddie Vedder having the same vocal force as he would when singing a hard rock song.

The crowning achievement of the night has to be Black, as Vedder reaches up into the highest parts of his register to deliver a vocal take that might be better than what was captured on the album Ten. Given that grunge was just starting to become a corporate entity, it's shows like these that reveal Pearl Jam as a pretty raw band when all the distortion is turned off.