In 1989 MTV aired the very first MTV Unplugged show.
The first show featured the group Squeeze, singer-songwriter Syd Straw, and former lead guitarist for The Cars, Elliot Easton.
Since then, anybody that's somebody has been featured on the popular show.
It has been said that the inspiration for the show came from the popularity informal musical performances as was documented on The Beatles' "Let it Be" film as well as Elvis Presley's televised 1968 Comeback Special.
Over 100 performances have been filmed and, unfortunately, I have seen only a few.
My most memorable are Eric Clapton, Nirvana, and 10,000 Maniacs. The 10K Maniacs version of "Because the Night" reached number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100, which was the first time the group broke the top forty.
This song, however, was first written by Bruce Springsteen (another Unplugged alumnus).
In 1977 and 1978 he was writing material for his album, "Darkness on the Edge of Town". There were several songs that was written during that time that didn't make the album..."Because the Night" being one of them.
The Patti Smith group was in the studio next door and engineer/producer Jimmy Iovine was working on both albums. He gave her a tape of the song and it ended up becoming the first single released on their "Easter" album.
Although the song was never released on any of Springsteen's studio albums, he would perform it live, even during the "Darkness" tour in the late 70's.
Until the recent release of "The Promise" box set, the only commercially-released Springsteen version was found on the "Live 1975-1985" album.
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