As in, if you were scouting talent, what bands would you sign to do Unplugged if MTV suddenly started showing music again?

I'd start with System of a Down, then My Chemical Romance

I'd have to go with Ra and the followed by Index Case (band most likely none of you have heard of. From Iowa.)

Ra would be interesting. As would System of a Down.

I'd like to see the Foo Fighters do it, simply because they have a lot of good acoustic stuff as it is and it would be neat seeing Dave Grohl there again for old time's sake.

I think Grohl would change the set around, too. The last Unplugged's I saw had them playing from a short stage with the windows open. Like it was a regular MTV performance. I just watched Nirvana's appearance last night, and though it's the same studio, they put curtains on the windows, and created a stage in the middle of the room.

Though I'll admit, Unplugged was ruined when they had Dashboard Confessional play. The dude only had one "plugged" album at that point

Tegan and Sara.

Fuck all of you. They played awesomely last night.

Who are they?

Two lesbian (I think.) sisters from Canada who do happy acoustic/electric pop songs.

I think the whole concert last night was streamed online, actually.

Anyway, their new CD "the Con" is one of the best pop CD's I've heard in a while, and their older stuff is good too. A nice change of pace from the kind of mopey stuff I usually listen to.

I've probably heard it and never known.

Mike Farris. I know, I know...you don't know who he is. Here he is playing, well, unplugged:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8BM8M671T8

Dammit....isn't MTV still doing Unplugged? We've finally gotten over that "Korn/Whiny Chick from Evanescence Unplugged Song" that was fucking up the airwaves about a year ago.

There's no way MTV would ever go for it, but Booker T & the MGs are still pretty much alive and well.

Yeah, I think they still do unplugged occasionally. Korn did one last year and had the Cure come on to do a "mashup" (god, I hate that word) of one of Korn's songs and Inbetween Days.

It was not so much.

Beck
Colin Hay from Men at Work
Foo Fighters would be awesome,
Local H
Matt Good
Neil Young
Weezer
Maynard doing acoustic Tool/APC/covers would be pretty nice

looking through my music, like 90% of everyone I listen to is either dead, or already does just mostly acoustic stuff...

Jimmy Eat World would be a good choice, I think. Their songs lend themselves fairly well to acoustic versions, and they're pretty well known.

Both Weezer and Jimmy Eat World are really good choices.

The thing that irks me about Unplugged is that some people don't realize that you DO have to change your songs up a bit to fit the format. That's why Jay-Z & LL Cool J worked REALLY well. Even Nirvana & Alice In Chains made creative choices in their music. Granted, their stuff wasn't THAT different, but they still took some risks. That's why Korn was SUCH a bad choice. They basically played their songs just the same as they always did, just without the electric guitars

Or MTV could just start playing old MGs videos...or old Stax videos in general. I'd watch.

Or MTV could start playing videos. I'd watch that over "Room Raiders" anyday

Now we're just talking crazy.

One of my faveorite TV moments of the past year is Justin Timberlake (of all people) busting on MTV on their awards show for not playing music. They had two skanks from some "reality" show introduce him and he was drunk enough to think that saying it was a good idea. Funny shit.

I think some of Kanye's stuff would be great "unplugged", if done right.

I think that would actually be an awesome show. Kanye West Unplugged. Get someone like Robert Randolph & the Family Band to back him up.

Try to get Lauren Hill to sing the vocals on "All Falls Down", since she was the original sample used before he had to change it.

WMD: I think there was a Stax special, this summer, on one of the extra music channels on digital cable. Like BET Jazz, VH1 Classic, or something. Or maybe PBS.

With all those extra channels, there's really no need for MTV to play any videos. Losers were whining for years about the lack of "Headbanger's Ball" on MTV...when MTVX had been running metal videos 24/7 from 1999-2002. But they started producing a shitty "Headbanger's Ball" on MTV2 in 2003 and MTVX went away. Now instead of 24 hours of everything from Arch Enemy to Yes, they have 2 shitty hours a week of guys screaming like Scooby Doo, hosted by a douchebag, and with 10 minutes of commercials every two songs.

It was on PBS. I haven't seen it yet, but have heard a lot about it.

Pretty sure they're still doing Unplugged, just not often at all. I think the most recent one was Alicia Keys (2 years ago or so), and before that it was Jay-Z, which seems around 2001 or 2002.

I think they just don't have any artists worth doing the show around, and don't want to whore out their concept to just anyone like Fall Out Boy & Rihanna. Of course, MTV has never minded whoring anything else out.

Back to the lecture at hand: I pretty much don't listen to anything new nowadays, so it is hard for me to give much of a good answer. One thing that came to mind is Muse, just because it'd be interesting how they get around all of the electronica/synth kind of shit in their music.

They'd have to have a full string section.

I suppose Amy Winehouse could be interesting in a train wreck sort of way.

Judging by the Bridge School Benefit concert bootleg I heard, Nine Inch Nails unplugged would be amazing.

Trent on piano and a full string section. Hell yes.

No doubt there, and I'm not even a big NIN fan. That music does lend itself well to live orchestration.

I wouldn't mind a Metallica: Unplugged myself.

Nothing Else Matters, Enter Sandman, Master Of Puppets, Sanitarium, ... And Justice For All, Saint Anger

Yeah...

Well, maybe not Saint Anger.

Or, and please don't laugh, but somebody like Rob Zombie: Unplugged -- just for the trainwreck potential.

In the vein of reunions (since the original KISS reuniting for Unplugged led to successful world tours after that): Guns N Roses (not bloody likely, I know) and Soundgarden (Maybe more likely?

Have The Rolling Stones ever done unplugged or U2?

not that I know of, but that would be interesting

I'm sure the Cure have done one, but on the off chance they haven't, they'd be perfect. The acoustic versions of songs they released as a bonus with their "Greatest Hits" are awesome.

I have no idea if he could even do an acoustic set but if so...

"Weird Al" Yankovic.

Along similar lines, but I know it can be done (saw them do an acoustic mini-set), They Might Be Giants.

I seriously think a Marilyn Manson Unplugged would work. I'd be up for an all acoustic version of The Beautiful People.

Manson's barely listenable to begin with. Him doing his stuff acoustic would be awful.

Lfv is correct.

AFTER THREE LONG YEARS I'VE FINALLY GOT THE VALIDATION I SO DESIRED FROM WMD!

This is like Dr. Cox giving JD a pat on the back on Scrubs! I'm not going to cry, I'm not going to cry...

The Scrubs parallel was exactly what I was gonna mention before you did. Congrats, you can have my validation too, if you even wanted it.

You're slowly becoming a man, LFV. Slowly.

Who was the first free voice anyway?

Abe Lincoln

Oh--I thought it might have been George Washington or someone else from that time period.