10 Greatest MTV Unplugged Episodes
2. Eric Clapton
Going into the '90s, Eric Clapton seemed to have fully settled into dad rock territory. Aside from the massive guitar god status he had in his '60s prime, songs like Wonderful Tonight and Tears in Heaven made Slowhand into the pop superstar for weepy housewives and wedding receptions the world over. However, that didn't mean he still didn't have respect for what came before him.
Instead of tearing through a weepy acoustic set, Clapton's unplugged performance feels like a crash course in everything that he had learned up to this point as a guitar player. While there are a few more intimate moments here and there, the best parts of the evening come when Clapton lets loose with some of the more freewheeling blues songs in his repertoire like Nobody Loves You When You're Down and Out, as he fully settles into his seasoned bluesman approach.
The highlight of the night though comes when he recontextualizes his classic Derek and the Dominoes track Layla, turning the classic '70s guitar riff into a bluesy lament that is hooky enough to rival the original in terms of raw musicianship alone. Even though the start of the '90s felt like a virtual wasteland for decent rock music, this was a reminder that we still had a rock god among our ranks.