Music and memories

A long time ago when I was in college, the M in MTV stood for music. Most of their shows were around music. Sure they had the Real World and Comedy shows and Springer on Spring Break but you got to see a lot of music videos and shows about music (and yes we walked uphill in the snow, barefoot to our one room schoolhouse...). I think one of my favorite shows of this time on MTV was Unplugged. Musicians playing their hits stripped down and acoustic (the music was stripped down, not the musicians). You got to see and hear the music without the aide of audio production that turns mediocre singers into superstars (not naming any names here [cough, boy bands, cough]).

I saw Extreme live in this period of time in a small dive in Alabama and they played More than Words for what they said was the first time live. An acoustic song was a big hit for them due to the success of Unplugged. Other bands quickly rushed to the studio to record and sell their acoustic hits. I think some of my favorite stuff on Unplugged was the faster, upbeat stuff that you dont think of as traditional acoustic music.

If you were around Upper Alabama (and around the Southeast) in this time period you may remember seeing N-Dangered. Brad Cotter that won Nashville Star a few years ago was a member but I think all of the other members are still around playing (not neccessarily together). They played mostly the faster stuff from Unplugged along with calls from Tracey for a "Social" after every other song. These guys rocked and I miss seeing them live.

Why, you may ask, am I rambling about the good old days that happened over a decade ago? A few weeks ago, I went to see Brothers of a Feather. You may know them better as Chris and Rich Robinson from the Black Crowes. I have seen the Crowes several times and unfortunately they have become more of a hippie jam band live than playing the stuff that I like. As Brothers of a Feather, they play acoustic versions of their old (ie, good) stuff and throw in some covers, too. Loved it! I felt like I was back, sitting on a stump at Brothers listening to N-Dangered. If only Chris had screamed out "Social!!!!" at least once during the show.