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...performers are growing more eclectic, the sales booming. Tony Bennett's Grammy-winning MTV Unplugged has been the No. 1 album on Billboard's jazz charts for nearly 40 weeks. Although the punk-band Nirvana became defunct after the death of lead singer Cobain, the group's posthumously released MTV Unplugged in New York has sold 3 million copies so far and remains in the Top 20 of Billboard's pop-album charts. "You can't get around the fact that some people are just put off by certain genres of music, be it jazz or grunge," says Danny Bennett...
Merely an association with the Unplugged name has become an important marketing tool. No Quarter: Jimmy Page & Robert Plant Unledded, an MTV-supported reunion of two Led Zeppelin members, is a tired album--the musical equivalent of microwaved leftovers--but it has nonetheless sold more than a million copies. And the Eagles' Hell Freezes Over, a wimpy, coldhearted reunion album that was put together, in part, by Unplugged staff members and heavily promoted on MTV, has sold a robust 4 million...
...sure, the folks at MTV did not invent acoustic music. But by championing the sound, Unplugged has had widespread impact throughout the music industry. Radio stations have sponsored Unplugged-type concerts, and pop stars who have never been on Unplugged--soul singer Vanessa Williams, for example--have released albums that echo the show's soft-pop, pared-down sound. Andre Harrell, head of Uptown records, sees the unplugged style spreading. "Jodeci, in its upcoming album, is doing an acoustic song," he says. "Babyface did an acoustic-guitar song, When Can I See You. I'm sure some of that...
...such as Mariah Carey and Mary J. Blige, the acts invited to come on the show have been white rock 'n' rollers. A few months ago, the New York City-based Black Rock Coalition held its own nontelevised "unplugged" in New York City to showcase minority talent ignored by MTV. Coletti defends his show's record and argues that rhythm-driven genres such as rap, R. and B. and reggae are often better suited for dance floors than for an acoustic showcase. "It's kind of hard, but not everyone is right for the show," he says. MTV officials point...
Unplugged is not a perfect show. MTV helped create the glitzy, surface-over-substance music-video age, and sometimes Unplugged succumbs to the very values it once reacted against. At points, the show's naked emotionality feels as false and forced as an arena full of headbangers holding their lighters aloft during a power ballad. Often enough, though, there are flashes of excellence. The best and most transporting performance in the new series of concerts was turned in by Etheridge. She walked onto a bare set with no string section, no drums, no backup-just her and her acoustic guitar...