Nirvana

Nirvana

"'Hurry up'? Is that what you said?" Kurt Cobain quizzes a holler. Fourteen years after its original airdate (Dec. 14, 1993, four months before the grunge god pulled the trigger), MTV's most popular acoustic trip hits DVD. Performing only one of Nirvana's hits ("Come as You Are"), Unplugged in New York is more a historic snapshot than an immaculate collection of rarities and covers. Adding two songs to the taping ("Something in the Way," "Oh, Me"), plus rehearsals and a rare televised glimpse of the Meat Puppets, the digitized version is full-screen (only) and uncut, which sometimes makes for painfully long pauses between songs but allows for stage banter that many never saw in Nirvana's all-too-short existence. Why would a band renown for its live antics take it down to the bare bones? "To show off our softer side," Krist Novoselic replies in the extras' short interviews. "Like scented toilet paper."