This story begins about 10 years ago. The world was still shaking from the fall of the Soviet Union, Clinton was in office, X-Files was one of the most popular shows, Reality TV was non-existent, and Pearl Jam and Nirvana were kings of the Grunge/Alternative Rock music world.
MTV (back when it used to actually play good music videos) had this incredible idea of having popular rock bands play music in a “coffee house” type setting and – get this – play their music “unplugged”.
Now, I was about 14 and I was probably the biggest Pearl Jam fan you could find. I had the long hair, the flannel shirts and the “no-one understands me” mentality down. Pearl Jam – notorious for avoiding anything remotely commercial – agreed to get together with MTV and do an unplugged session. I taped it and literally watched it every single day.
Unfortunately, this was before the beauty of TiVo and so we had a collection of VHS tapes and the such. Much to my dismay, I had forgotten to label my new VHS tape ‘Alberto’ and my beloved Pearl Jam Unplugged was taped over for an episode of The X-Files.
It’s been 10 years and my mother has felt terrible about it since then and I’ve been searching high and low for a DVD or VHS of this proverbial Holy Grail.
Finally, lo and behold, by sheer accident, I found it this morning. I am seriously so unbelievably happy, I can’t even begin to express it. I FOUND THE PEARL JAM UNPLUGGED!!!!
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It’s strange to watch it again. I didn’t realize how much of what I liked about this band and their music is more a reflection of myself ten years ago than it is about the music at all. I remember thinking of how awesomely awesome and cool these guys were. Looking back at it, the whole long hair thing was pretty silly, but I am still really enjoying watching/listening to these guys again. That being said, I think I’ll go watch it again. :)