half the man I used to be...

On a whim I bought the Alice in Chains MTV Unplugged DVD with some birthday money my mom sent me. I didn't have cable back when this came out in 1996 and never had the opportunity to see it live, though I bought the CD after Staley was found dead in 2001.

Back when I was 16, I never really knew just how bad Layne Staley was into the drugs--I think I was too wrapped up in Smashing Pumpkins at this time--or how amazing his voice was despite it. Throughout this gut-wrenching performance Staley sits completely still with his mouth half-open. And inexplicably he sounds like a God. Just as good as Cobain did. But even Cobain wasn't as fucked up then as Staley is here. I'm not sure what it is about this performance and the Nirvana Unplugged, but they make me more nostalgic (in a depressing way) than anything else.

I suppose it's at least partly because of the realization that there are NO good mainstream bands right now. They are all terrible. Nirvana, Alice in Chains, Stone Temple Pilots, Soundgarden, The Smashing Pumpkins and Pearl Jam all, in their best moments, belong on a plane with Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath. You can't say that about anyone right now. Sure, NIN and Radiohead are still kicking, and the White Stripes have their moments, but none of these bands are accompanied by the sense of urgency that accompanied the grunge bands. They could write angry and catchy pop songs that were honest to God amazing.

Don't get me wrong, there's some great underground music, but nothing that will turn the mainstream on it's head. That's when something special happens.

Think about it. What mainstream band right now would you want to see do an Unplugged? I'll give a list of semi-realistic (in an alternate reality) contenders I wouldn't mind hearing--though I can guarantee it'll never happen (all the bands are "past relevance" or not on a major except for the overlaps, which just happen to be ones that are realistic and ones I wouldn't mind seeing):

Radiohead
Arcade Fire
David Bowie
Christina Aguilera
John Legend
White Stripes
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
TV on the Radio
Beastie Boys
Flaming Lips
Beck
Tom Waits
Mos Def (w/the Roots)
Devendra Banhart
Bright Eyes
Animal Collective
Modest Mouse
Sleater-Kinney

Instead, if they brought it back for real, it'd look like this:

Coheed and Cambria
Kanye West
Linkin Park
Jack Johnson
Kelly Clarkson
White Stripes
Bloc Party
Michael Buble
Coldplay
John Legend
Black Eyed Peas
Bright Eyes
Modest Mouse
Foo Fighters

Wouldn't it be something though, if MTV decided to genre-fy the "collective" movement and do grunge-like Unpluggeds with TV on the Radio, Arcade Fire, Wolf Parade, Islands, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Devendra Banhart, Man Man and the Animal Collective? Most of the bands probably wouldn't even participate--which is totally admirable and understandable.

But, really, how awesome would a Xiu Xiu unplugged be?

That's it. I'm starting my own music network.

P.S. When the fuck are the Unplugged DVDs for Nirvana, Pearl Jam, STP, Bjork and Hole coming out?

P.S.S. Don't you think the world would be a much better place if Staley had died sooner and Chris Cornell joined Alice in Chains? It wouldn't be a perfect fit, but it'd be a hell of a lot better than Audioslave...

P.S.S.S. HOLE did an Unplugged???

P.S.S.S.S. I know it's an STP lyric. It just fit.

P.S.S.S.S.S. I almost put Thursday for a band I'd like to hear do an unplugged, because they're a pop emo band that still interests me to some extent. But Geoff Rickly can't sing.

P.S.S.S.S.S.S. All I'm saying is, if MTV wanted to, they could be cool again. Not cool with idiot teens, but COOL.

P.S.S.S.S.S.S.S. I'm going to see Les Savy Fav, The Hold Steady and Thunderbirds Are Now! tonight. In L.A. The only bad thing is it's at the Avalon, but oh well...