Remember When Bob Dylan, the Original Unplugged Artist, Did ‘MTV Unplugged’ in 1994?

When the MTV Unplugged boom hit in the 90s, it made sense that the person who, more than anybody, once showed off the power of acoustic music would be drawn into its orbit. Bob Dylan taped his edition of the show in 1994 for broadcast and album release the following year.

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Dylan (sort of) adhered to the idea, calling back to the days before he famously went electric. His MTV Unplugged show is now regarded as one of the finest documents of his live brilliance.

High-Profile Bob

Consider the early 90s the victory lap period of Bob Dylan’s career. Struggling through a bit of a creative block, his recorded output at that time mostly consisted of a pair of well-received but little-heard acoustic guitar-and-vocal albums of old folk and blues songs. His well of original material had run a bit dry.

But as a concert performer, Dylan was scoring some major exposure. First, in late 1992, a group of music luminaries gathered at Madison Square Garden to honor Bob for the 30^th anniversary of his recording career.

Dylan had turned down the original Woodstock concert in 1969 to go play at a festival in Great Britain. But in 1994, he did a well-regarded set at the 25th anniversary show. Next up in this high-profile streak was the MTV Unplugged gig. He taped it over two nights at Sony Music Studios in New York in November 1994.

The Preparations

By the time Dylan got around to it, the Unplugged format was a highly sought-after spot for rock veterans. Eric Clapton and Rod Stewart were among those who used the acoustic shows as springboards for renewed relevance among modern audiences. Dylan couldn’t turn down this offer.

But he was also going to do it in his own idiosyncratic way if possible. Although many likely would have loved to see Dylan playing with just an acoustic guitar, he chose the fuller sound provided by his touring band. And he cheated the format a bit, as Brendan O’Brien played Hammond organ on the show.

Dylan also wanted to shake things up by playing nothing but old folk songs during the show. The show’s producers fought him on this note, and he relented. He ended up taking more of a greatest hits approach to the proceedings.

The Show

Still, Dylan managed to sneak in some surprises to the setlist. The tender ballad “Shooting Star” shone with melancholy beauty. He rambled through the then-recent single “Dignity” with wry playfulness. And he dusted off “John Brown”, an anti-war ballad that he never recorded for one of his own albums, for a stunning showstopper.

Elsewhere, he gave energetic readings to old warhorses like “The Times They Are A-Changin’”, “Desolation Row”, and “Like A Rolling Stone”. The performance ended with a somber, soulful reading of “With God On Our Side”, Dylan transforming briefly into the protest singer of old.

Although it didn’t produce any breakout hit singles a la Clapton and Stewart, the album based on the show sold well for Dylan. And his appearance, looking dapper in clothes he might have worn in his mid-60s rabble-rousing era, let everyone know he was hale, hearty, and ready for the creative resurgence that was just a few years off.

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