Is he being ironic? Trying to conceal his embarrassment? Why is he involved in this debacle? Has he been taken hostage? In 200 yearsвЂ™ time, when the mystifying Mona Lisa has perished beyond restoration and the public can no longer countenance tediously two-dimensional portraits, La GiocondaвЂ™s place in the Louvre will be taken up by a holographic ad infinitum loop of Smith repeating the words вЂњI вЂ¦ IвЂ™m actually a big fan of Korn вЂ¦ theyвЂ™re a phenomenal live bandвЂќ. More fascinating is the interview snippet where Smith extols KornвЂ™s virtues. At one point, Robert Smith mooches onstage resembling The Last Days of Elizabeth Taylor for a medley in which the CureвЂ™s In Between Days segues into nu-metal turkey Make Me Bad. With Jonathan DavisвЂ™s whiny, whispered singing and his bandвЂ™s lack of refinement starkly exposed, Korn: MTV Unplugged almost transgresses the boundaries of unintentional hilarity to become a masterpiece of a misstep. Instead, they chose Incubus, Staind and, ropiest of all, Korn. Unplugged even neglected to book the superior nu-metal bands such as Deftones and Kittie. Nu-metal was a genre less suited to acoustic reinterpretation than Michael Bay is to direct Phantom Thread II. Taking the riffs and roars of metal, adding the scratches and raps of hip-hop, and upping the misogyny quota of both, a scene was born wherein shorts were acceptable stagewear. Poorer still were the next generation of angst-ridden white boys. Then horn-voiced Katy Perry arrived after one album to perform lounge-jazz versions of her clumsily problematic songs I Kissed A Girl and Ur So Gay.

Unplugged had once semaphored an act rising to significance. Unfortunately, MTVвЂ™s curatorial nous went awry. The show allowed older statesmen such as Neil Young to reach a younger audience, too, but letвЂ™s not be rockist because it wasnвЂ™t only white guitar dudes who shone: Mariah Carey stormed it thanks to her invincible vocal range Jay-ZвЂ™s appearance marked the latest chapter in hip-hopвЂ™s infiltration of the mainstream.

Alice in Chains had their own Woody Guthrie moment via a bass guitar emblazoned with a slogan denouncing MetallicaвЂ™s short hair. Pearl Jam made a feminist statement when their singer scrawled вЂњpro-choiceвЂќ on his arm in magic marker. It was where Nirvana offered up obscure cover versions and the adorable sight of Dave Grohl trying his damnedest to drum quietly. This includes the acoustic performance show MTV Unplugged, which, for a while, showcased stripped-back and often surprising performances from a range of worthy musicians. From Toys R Us to the state of Gary LinekerвЂ™s upper lip and chin, many things fared better in the 90s.

Korn unplugged album