Track #38 - “Silent Lucidity” (unplugged version) by Queensryche (1992)

Recorded live for MTV Unplugged, April 1992

Available on the album Hear in the Now Frontier Remastered (1997); full studio version available on Empire (1991)

Music and lyrics by Chris DeGarmo

Performed by:

Geoff Tate – lead vocals

Chris DeGarmo – acoustic guitars

Michael Wilton – acoustic guitar

Eddie Jackson – acoustic bass

Scott Rockenfield – drums

Studio version: US Billboard Hot 100 - #9; US Billboard Mainstream Rock - #1

Hush now, don’t you cry

Wipe away the teardrop from your eye

You’re lying safe in bed

It was all a bad dream

Spinning in your head

Your mind tricked you to feel the pain

Of someone close to you leaving the game of life

So here it is, another chance

Wide awake you face the day, your dream is over

Or has it just begun?

The 1989 MTV Video Music Awards aired on September 6th of that year, from the Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles. Arsenio Hall was the host. Hall’s late-night talk show was nine months into its famous 5-year run that would make him a pop culture icon, so he was an obvious choice back then to host the MTV Awards, which by then had reached its own iconic status. The MTV Awards were becoming bigger than the Grammys, seen then as stodgy, conservative and behind the times. MTV in the late 1980s was important and influential to whether an artist and their music could become successful, so subsequently an MTV “moonman” statuette on your mantle was a status symbol and the show itself was an industry event. In 1989 we were still a few years away from Nirvana, Pearl Jam, et al, so Madonna and Paula Abdul snagged a few awards, and the Video of the Year, maybe in a bit of foreshadowing went to the “Godfather of Grunge”, Neil Young, and his video for “This Note’s for You”. While the actual awards were fun to watch and sometimes interesting to debate, the MTV Awards became known for their celebrity appearances and live performances, sometimes for better or worse. Andrew Dice Clay promptly got himself banned for life from MTV for his profanity-laden nursery rhyme stand-up routine, and guitarist Steve Clark performed live with Def Leppard for the final time before his death in 1991. But there was also Living Colour’s cover of the Cult’s “Fire Woman”, Axl Rose performed two songs with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and there were performances by Tone-Loc, Madonna, Bobby Brown and the Rolling Stones. There was one performance though that people still talk about, and that some music fans still argue literally launched another MTV show (it didn’t, but more on that). I’m talking about when Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora walked onstage, sat down on folding chairs and picked up acoustic guitars. The rest of Jon Bon Jovi’s band was nowhere to be seen, so what exactly were they going to play? As I watched this, I couldn’t decide if I was excited about this moment. Don’t get me wrong; I liked Bon Jovi. In the mid to late 1980s, especially if you lived in the New York area, it was hard not to. Remember when we talked about Billy Joel’s presence in the DNA of Long Island? Well, it was the same for Bon Jovi and New Jersey. Even the pop stations in New York played their records, and I can remember all my friends owning a copy of their pop-rock masterpiece, Slippery When Wet. In terms of hard rock with a bit of pop edge that you could still pump your fist to and sing along with, there was probably no one better than Bon Jovi. So, I guess that’s why I was watching with some trepidation here. Bon Jovi’s music wasn’t exactly quiet; there were no crunching heavy metal chords, but still, their songs forced you to get on your feet and just have a great time. However, as Sambora began to strum the first few chords of their monster hit, “Livin’ on a Prayer”, and Jon Bon Jovi bantered and snapped his fingers before singing about Tommy and Gina, I quickly changed my mind. By the time they played “Wanted Dead or Alive”, a song that never needed to be recorded with drums or electric guitar in the first place, I was all in. In fact, I was so into what they were doing that I decided at that moment that all bands should release two versions of every album: an electric version, and a second album with all acoustic versions of the same songs. I remember embracing the mood of it all, and how clean and raw it sounded, more than the songs themselves. Here are two guys from one of the biggest bands in the world, of course talented, playing and singing these songs without the aid of amplifiers or effects pedals, or percussion behind them to help keep time, and harmonizing and making those guitar chords sound perfect. I’ve mentioned before how much harder it is to play an acoustic guitar; the strings are less forgiving, and the neck is often wider, and it’s much easier to hear if there’s a mistake. You can sometimes cover up a missed chord on an electric guitar because of the distortion, but an acoustic guitar will quickly separate the good players from the truly great. Note: learning how to master either guitar is not easy, in case you were thinking you could quit your day job and head out on the road and fake everyone out with some wa-wa pedals. Watching Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora play like this reminded me just how tough it is to write, play and produce great music on a consistent basis. Since this was centuries before YouTube or even iTunes, I’d have to keep playing that performance over and over in my head and hope and pray that this was somehow released as a bonus track on a future Bon Jovi record, but that never happened. However, MTV was smart and already had the idea for their future Unplugged series in the works. Contrary to music legend, Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora’s acoustic performance on the MTV Awards in 1989 did not inspire MTV to create the Unplugged series. In fact, one of the producers of Unplugged, Bob Small, is quoted in the book I Want My MTV: The Uncensored Story of the Music Video Revolution, “Please do not credit Bon Jovi for creating Unplugged. Jon Bon Jovi thinks he was the inspiration for it. He wouldn’t even do the fucking show until almost 20 years later.” Wow, shots fired. Small and his partner, Jim Burns, actually got the idea after seeing Bruce Springsteen play a two-song acoustic encore at one of his concerts. When Bon Jovi played, Small and Burns already had acts lined up for their new show, but Bon Jovi was probably the spark that made them develop the show into the 90s mainstay that Unplugged became. Joel Gallen, the executive producer of Unplugged said, “As opposed to getting young, up-and-coming artists to do their songs acoustically, the real big win for Unplugged is we got the big, stadium, electric-arena-type acts to strip down and go acoustic. That’s the big win.” And so, that’s exactly how it went. From the first artist to appear, British new-wave song auteurs Squeeze, in November of 1989, it grew from there, with some artists asking to be on the show. Paul McCartney, Don Henley, Hall & Oates, Elton John, Crosby, Stills & Nash, and Aerosmith, among others, followed those first couple of years. MTV’s Yo! MTV Raps had a showcase during that time, featuring LL Cool J, MC Lyte, De La Soul and A Tribe Called Quest. Sting, R.E.M., and Elvis Costello would all appear in 1991. Then in 1992, there were artists whose Unplugged performances were probably in your CD collection. Eric Clapton’s release of his performance would eventually sell 26 million copies, earn an armload of Grammys, and introduce him to a whole new generation of listeners. Mariah Carey’s performance, released in June of 1992, sold 4 million copies, and her rendition of The Jackson 5’s “I’ll Be There” was a #1 single for two weeks and a radio staple that year. And while not officially released until 2020, Pearl Jam’s performance was a landmark; a grunge band stripped down and doing its best to redirect all that energy they usually pour out onstage, and succeeding in such a way it made you wonder how they just didn’t kick those stools over and plug their instruments in. Eddie Vedder looked like he wanted to jump out of his skin; in fact, he almost did, leaping on his stool and hastily scribbling “PRO CHOICE” on his arm as the band rollicked through “Porch”. In 1994, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, and then the Eagles reunited on Unplugged and released giant LPs of those performances. In late 1993 though, MTV would air what would be one of the final performances from Kurt Cobain and Nirvana, an acoustic performance taped in November. In what many think is the greatest Unplugged performance ever, Nirvana went against format and played mostly covers and deeper cuts, staying away from the “greatest hits” sets most artists usually put forth. The result was Cobain at his most raw and vulnerable; to see that performance now, and knowing he would be gone the following spring, almost makes him appear godlike in that performance. There is no way to convey how important that night in November in New York is to music, to the world, and how the subsequent album Unplugged in New York became a watershed piece of music in 90s lore, and how it may have begun to usher the grunge movement out the door. What started out as an idea from two MTV producers peaked that evening. Other artists followed; I will not bore you with a list, but it’s not an exaggeration to say that MTV’s Unplugged series had a significant impact on music and culture when it aired. Since Unplugged originally aired way before streaming and YouTube you had to check TV listings to know when the episodes would air, and unless the artist released the show on CD, you maybe got to hear their set once or twice. That probably added to how special they were. Now you can catch some of the older shows on Paramount TV, the parent company of MTV, or on YouTube, or you can get some of the audio recordings on Spotify or Apple Music. Back in the 90s though, you chased down the performances, and waited for them to be aired; and then you waited for iTunes to be invented if you wanted to hear some of those performances. But when one of your favorite bands of all time strips down their most popular song, and makes you appreciate it more than the original release, makes you speculate that they never needed the electric guitar solo and the full orchestra behind it, and it gets you riled up that people think they’re a one-hit wonder because of this one song, a power ballad of all things, and that they need to see the acoustic performance and they’ll see that these guys can flat out play, you chase down those MTV listings, and make every attempt to watch them play this particular song. And then it kind of fades away for years after those one or two viewings, and then finally there’s YouTube and you can see it on demand, and then there’s iTunes, and you can stream it and burn it onto a CD and put it on a playlist for your new girlfriend. But it still feels like this song can get taken away at any time, so you listen a lot, and you begin to think it puts the original studio version to shame. “Silent Lucidity” floored me the first time I heard the full electric studio version, but when I saw Queensryche take away all the big production and the orchestra, it was the same feeling I had when Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora strummed their way through “Wanted Dead or Alive”; they didn’t need all the pomp and circumstance. This song stood on its own without it.  And as I’ve listened to this acoustic version of their biggest song through the years, all I can think is, Am I the only person that thinks Queensryche is one of the best bands rock bands ever?  

Geoff Tate was born in 1959, in Stuttgart, West Germany. His family relocated to Tacoma, Washington shortly thereafter, and he began to play piano at a young age. When he was in high school, his grandmother asked him to house sit for her while she was on vacation for the summer. Tate quickly turned the house into a rehearsal space and a place to party for his friends who were in various bands. One evening someone brought over a copy of Rush’s groundbreaking album 2112, and the musicians began to noodle around, trying to learn the complex chord progressions. Tate began to sing along from the sofa, and the rest of the guys there realized he had some vocal talent. Tate sought out a well-known local vocal coach who took Tate under his wing, albeit sporadically, as the aspiring singer could only afford one lesson per month. Meanwhile, a few miles away in Bellevue, four musicians who had neighborhood and school connections had formed a cover band called The Mob: guitarists Chris DeGarmo and Michael Wilton, bassist Eddie Jackson, and drummer Scott Rockenfield. In need of a singer for a festival gig, the band reached out to Geoff Tate who was by now singing in a band called Babylon. He performed a few shows but left since The Mob did not have any original material and he did not want to perform only covers. In 1981, The Mob was ready to record a demo, and once again they recruited Tate to sing, now a member of the band Myth. The Mob shopped their demo for two years until finally, a small independent label called 206 Records (named for Seattle’s area code), agreed to distribute it. It was during this time that the band changed their name to Queensryche, and that Tate finally agreed to leave Myth and become their permanent lead singer. The band toured and opened for some of the biggest rock and metal acts of the day: Dio, Quiet Riot, Twisted Sister and Zebra. In 1984, they released their first full-length album, The Warning, which features the mind-blowing track, “Take Hold of the Flame”, and in 1986 they released the more polished Rage for Order. Both albums were well received and sold well, and the band began to produce a more progressive metal sound than the popular metal acts of the day. Queensryche toured heavily, opening for AC/DC, Bon Jovi, Ozzy Osbourne and Ratt. In 1987, Tate had an idea for a concept album with a story inspired by militants he had met while living in Montreal. While Queensryche’s previous albums were recorded with loose concepts in mind, this would be a rock opera, with a fully developed story and characters, in the vein of The Who’s Tommy. Tate went to the rest of the band with his vision and after some convincing, they began to write and record what would become Operation: Mindcrime. Released in May of 1988, the album centers on the story of Nikki, a heroin addict who is brainwashed by the mysterious Dr X to perform assassinations for underground revolutionaries. The situation gets complicated when Nikki falls in love with a prostitute turned nun, Sister Mary, and he begins to question what he’s doing for Dr X, and Dr X orders him to kill Mary (I know, it’s complicated…try to stay with me). It gets very dark, but the album earned universal acclaim for the songwriting, arrangements, and Geoff Tate’s vocals, and the progressive metal sound the band wanted was fully realized; it’s regarded now as one of the greatest metal albums of all time. Queensryche once again toured as an opener for many A-list metal and rock acts like Def Leppard, Metallica and Guns N’ Roses. With the success of Operation: Mindcrime under their belt, Queensryche returned to the studio to record the follow up album. Empire, released in August of 1990, would become their most commercially successful record, put them on the radio and heavy rotation on MTV, and make them a headliner on the road. In fact, if you turned on MTV in mid-1991 or so, you’d be hard pressed not to see a Queensryche video, that’s how big they got, for a time anyway. And for one young twentysomething who was drifting, Queensryche, Empire, and their monster song about dreams, became a life raft.

There was a time from the summer of 1991 until the spring of 1992 that I thought Empire somehow belonged only to me, that it was my album, despite 3 million other people owning it, and countless others hearing the songs on the radio and MTV. It was my soundtrack during that time; I listened to the CD when I was getting ready in the morning, and I listened to the cassette when I was driving. I listened to it when I was doing schoolwork. When the videos from Empire were on MTV, I stopped what I was doing to watch. Yes, I listened to other music, but I think it’s safe to say that I was mildly obsessed with Empire. And it’s not like the songs had anything to do with what was going on in my life at the time. Call it what you want: heartbreak, loss, family stuff, confused about the future, it was all there, but aside from Geoff Tate and company pining about love in “Jet City Woman” or “Another Rainy Night”, the songs on Empire are about serious stuff: homelessness, government spending, gun control. Not exactly issues I was thinking about when I was 21. But Empire spoke to me during that time; I still can’t explain it. And Empire sounds very different than Queensryche’s previous releases. Empire is slick, tight, well-produced and sharp; there are no round edges on Empire. It’s five guys being very serious about what they’re doing; everything is spot on, every note. It’s one of the few rock bands where everyone is a virtuoso; there are no weak links in the chain. Scott Rockenfield’s drum fills, and hi-hat rolls are perfectly planned, not an afterthought; Chris DeGarmo and Michael Wilton are both lead guitar players, and play variations on the same chord, filling every space with sound; Eddie Jackson is always in the pocket with his bass. And Geoff Tate’s vocals put him on the Rushmore of metal vocalists with Halford/Dio/Dickinson/Ozzy.  It’s the first album I remember feeling that way about, and saying to myself, “Man, this music is perfect.” And the first time I heard their power ballad, the song that would really put Queensryche over the top, the song that would make some people call them a “one-hit wonder” and get them caught up in the glam metal category (arggghhh), I thought it was a new Pink Floyd song, another band I associate with perfection. The first time I heard “Silent Lucidity” on the radio in early 1991, I thought someone was covering “Hey You” by Pink Floyd and had sped up the chords. Then I thought it was “Hey You” being played in reverse. Then I thought Pink Floyd had remixed “Hey You”. Finally, when I heard the first few lines…”Hush now don’t you cry, wipe away the teardrop from your eye…” I realized, OK, this is not Pink Floyd. I knew who Queensryche was; I had heard Mindcrime a couple of times in high school, but I wouldn’t say I was a fan back then. But this song, with its lyrics about sleep and dreams and rebirth, and its big orchestral arrangements was not what I associated with a progressive metal band. Still, it grabbed me; those lyrics got me every time I heard them. A few months later, after seeing “Silent Lucidity” daily on MTV, and then my brother telling me Queensryche were coming to Nassau Coliseum that summer, I bought the CD, and I listened and listened…and listened. Then we did in fact see them live that summer, and to that point, it was the best concert performance I had ever seen. Besides playing most of Empire, they played Operation: Mindcrime in its entirety right in the middle of their set. And of course, “Silent Lucidity”, their biggest hit, was the encore. And they were perfect, just like the record I was obsessed with. The album got even bigger for me after that show. I bought and started listening to Mindcrime front to back. I went back in the catalog, to Rage for Order and The Warning, wondering how I had missed out on this band in high school. Queensryche were my favorite band for a time, a long time, it felt like. But by the end of 1991, as award nominations were coming out and Queensryche were playing “Silent Lucidity” on award shows, sometimes I would say out loud, “This again?” When they played at the 1992 Grammy Awards, Todd and I were watching and he said, “Dude I am getting sick of this song.” And I kind of felt the same way; I was tiring of Queensryche’s biggest hit in a big way, sometimes skipping it when I listened to Empire. Did I hate “Silent Lucidity”? No, but I definitely felt like it was overplayed. I would never ditch my favorite record, but with alternative music getting bigger, my musical interests were being pulled in different directions. By that summer and fall, I was hearing Queensryche less and less on the radio and MTV; there were now other bands from the Seattle area making their way onto the charts and airwaves.

On April 27th, 1992, Queensryche made a stop at Hollywood Studios in Los Angeles to record a set for the MTV Unplugged series. They had been off the road for about three months, with the “Building Empires” tour having wrapped in January in Spokane, Washington. My guess is that they would have appeared on Unplugged earlier, when “Silent Lucidity” was a Top 10 hit, but the “Building Empires” tour kept them on the road for nearly 18 months and would sometimes play three nights in a row. I remember not hearing a thing about it. MTV released the performance that summer, in July, but like the Nirvana performance some two years later, I would miss it when it originally aired. I don’t remember exactly when I finally saw the unplugged version of “Silent Lucidity”, but by then I had graduated college, had my first job, and was onto alternative and grunge music; Empire was sort of in my rearview for now. But one night, it was probably late, and I was no doubt glassy eyed, but I was flipping channels and landed on MTV, and they played the unplugged version of “Silent Lucidity”, just that song, not the whole set. And I remember leaning forward, hearing those first few familiar chords along with the small audience who was there at the taping, and wanting to applaud in recognition with them; Queensryche was about to play their biggest song, without the orchestra and electric guitar solos. It was a typical Unplugged stage set; low light, the band relaxed and seated on stools closely together, and a toned-down drum kit. Guitarist Chris DeGarmo finger picked the intro, while Geoff Tate sang the first verse, then DeGarmo spun his stool around to play another guitar for the rest of the song. What I remember most besides those first few moments was how easy they made it look. Scott Rockenfield’s precision drumming, duplicating those big fills on only three drums and two cymbals; DeGarmo replicating his solo note for note, without effects or amplifiers; Michael Wilton and Eddie Jackson keeping time, and of course, vocalist Geoff Tate, sounding better than he ever had. You’d never know his voice had been performing night after night for over a year; he sounded like he was singing that song for the first time. And in a way, corny as it sounds, it felt like I was hearing “Silent Lucidity” for the first time. This is how this song should sound, every single time; no pomp and circumstance, no string section, no electric guitars. Just these five serious guys, playing like this, with no embellishments. The song ended, and the audience cheered, and when Chris DeGarmo strummed that last note with just his fingers, he took the pick out of his mouth and he just smiled, satisfied and you got the sense the rest of the band were also smiling, even though they weren’t in the shot. How could they not be? How could they not know they were amazing, stripping that big song down and playing it the way they did? I think I may have seen that video one more time, maybe twice. This was before YouTube kids; I couldn’t just pull it up on my laptop and watch it over and over. So, a couple of decades go by, and now there’s iTunes, and as I’m poking around, I find Queensryche’s catalog, and there’s a remastered version of their 1997 album Hear in the Now Frontier, which includes bonus tracks. Among them are recorded versions of the songs they performed at the Unplugged taping, and “Silent Lucidity” is right there, finally accessible to be played over and over again. And of course it ends up on many of my playlists. A few years later, as I was looking for songs to put on a mix CD for a new person in my life, I considered the unplugged version of “Silent Lucidity”, and in the end I put it on there, even though my future wife was not a metal fan. It just fit somehow with the rest of the songs I chose. And when she listened, and she asked me what that song was and who that band was, I told her some of the story I just told you, about how important that song and album were to me as a 21-year-old. Now, the stripped-down version holds an entirely different meaning. We listened to that first mix CD I made so many times that not only do I associate “Silent Lucidity” with my wife and that first year we dated, when I hear it now, I almost expect to hear the next song on the playlist right after (Smashing Pumpkins’ cover of “Landslide”). No song has changed its meaning and significance for me in the decades since I first heard it more than “Silent Lucidity”; it’s the big song that became a smaller song that became the more timeless version for me. I still love it when music blows my hair back, but I’ll take the quiet, unplugged version of any song over the electric version, every time. Does that mean I’m getting old? Hmmm…maybe, but maybe it just means I want to hear every note and see if these bands can really play. It’s also much easier to convince my wife to listen to the loud stuff if it’s unplugged. 😊

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So, most of the YouTube versions of Queensryche’s performance on Unplugged are not great; let’s just say they’re not in HD. But I’ve included the best one I could find below. The unplugged version of “The Lady Wore Black” is also included; that’s the first song singer Geoff Tate wrote the lyrics for when he joined the band. Enjoy! 😊

Next time…when this band put out this song in 1981, they were considered old. Guess what? They’re still at it.

P.S.

The album Empire has sold 3 million copies since its release and reached as high as #7 on the Billboard Album chart; it remains Queensryche’s most commercially successful album. “Silent Lucidity” was a #1 single on Billboard’s Mainstream rock chart and reached #9 on the Hot 100. It was also nominated for two Grammy Awards in 1992. In late 1991, Queensryche released Operation: LIVEcrime, a boxed set featuring the Operation: Mindcrime album recorded live on tour from their stop in Madison, Wisconsin. It was a VHS cassette and a CD, and I proceeded to wear both out; I listened and watched that video A LOT. It would be four years from the release of Empire before they put out the follow-up album, Promised Land, in late 1994. Expectations were, of course, very high, and of course, I was at the record store the day Promised Land came out. Queensryche held a listening party in Seattle for a small group of fans, and the reaction was mixed. A lot of the album was experimental and dark, and by now, the metal scene looked completely different, as grunge and alternative had taken hold and metal fans were getting their fix elsewhere. I thought Promised Land was good, but not as good as Empire. I did catch them live the following summer at Jones Beach Theatre, and they did not disappoint; they were still amazing to watch live. They released Hear in the Now Frontier in 1997 to mixed reviews. Their label EMI went bankrupt during this time, and at the end of that year, guitarist Chris DeGarmo announced he was leaving Queensryche to pursue other interests; he was replaced by Kelly Gray who was in Tate’s original band Myth in the early 80s. In 2000, Queensryche put out a greatest hits collection, and I saw them open for Iron Maiden that summer at Madison Square Garden; they also opened for the newly reformed Judas Priest at Jones Beach in 2005, a show I saw from the 5th row. During this time, Queensryche released more studio albums, including a sequel to Operation: Mindcrime, an album of cover songs (Take Cover), and a concept album called American Soldier, which focused on America’s involvement in wars from WWII to the war in Iraq. They also switched out Kelly Gray for guitarist Mike Stone. I gave most of these albums a listen, but by now my tastes had changed and they did not grab me the way earlier Queensryche records did. They are still regarded as one of the greatest metal bands ever, and when the best vocalists are debated, Geoff Tate is always in the conversation. I went back and listened to the first five albums a few times while I was writing this, and while the music still sounds like it came from the 80s, a lot of the lyrics are timely for the present, especially those from Operation: Mindcrime. Words from the opening track, “Revolution Calling”, stand out, as an example; “I used to trust the media to tell me the truth, But now I see the payoffs everywhere I look…Who can you trust when everyone’s a crook?” Modern reviews of Empire have also been generally positive, but there were critics who thought the lyrical content was too dark and referred to the band as “relentless killjoys.” Queensryche does come off as serious, and Empire is a serious record and as I mentioned, slickly produced. But the more I’ve thought about it, this might be why I was drawn to it back then; it sounded clear and provided some surety during a time when my life was murky. And as far as the band being too serious? Well, they were better players than most of the fading hair metal bands back then, that’s for certain. Who cares if they were too serious? That’s why it’s reckless and incorrect to lump them in with the glam metal scene; they were way better.

So, if you thought the Van Halen story had drama, what ended up happening to Queensryche was downright ugly. In April of 2012, the band fired both Geoff Tate’s stepdaughter from her role as fan club manager, and his wife Susan from her role as band manager, without Tate’s knowledge. Guitarist Michael Wilton would later contest that the rest of the band’s opinions no longer mattered, and it was being “run by the singer and his wife.” Tate confronted Wilton, and drummer Scott Rockenfield; punches were thrown and Tate spit on Wilton and Rockenfield. Tate’s behavior did not improve over the course of the band’s next three shows, and during an ensuing conference call the following week, Tate was dismissed. Lawsuits followed, and it got messy, until a settlement was reached in 2014 allowing Wilton, Rockenfield and bassist Eddie Jackson to retain the Queensryche name and logo, and Tate having the exclusive right to play both Mindcrime albums in their entirety during performances. Tate now tours with a band called Operation: Mindcrime and the remaining members are still called Queensryche, with singer Todd LaTorre having replaced Tate. Drummer Rockenfield would take a paternity leave in 2017 but did not return to the band. I have to be honest here: if both bands were playing separate venues in the same town on the same night, and I could only pick one, I don’t know that I could choose which show to go to. It doesn’t seem right that Geoff Tate sings with other players, and hearing the Queensryche classics being performed by another singer doesn’t seem right either. Might be better to just listen to the records from their classic lineup era, and be done with it, and try to forget that this thing called music that we all love is really a business.

MTV Unplugged ran as a regular show, hitting its peak in the 1990s. Since 2000, episodes have aired for special performances like Lauryn Hill, Alicia Keys, and Korn for example, and then ran for a short six-episode season in 2009, which featured Adele, Katy Perry, and Vampire Weekend. In 2020, MTV created Unplugged at Home which featured Marcus Mumford, Jewel and Wyclef Jean, among others, performing from their homes to encourage self-quarantine during the pandemic. And in 2007, it bears mentioning that Bon Jovi finally did record a proper acoustic set for MTV Unplugged, at Steiner Studios in Brooklyn. The guys that unofficially kicked off the “unplugged” revolution played 20 songs to promote their album Lost Highway, and they used the time to warm up for the ensuing tour. You can see that performance here. There’s also a great Ringer piece written by Rob Harvilla about the history and mystique of the MTV Unplugged series which you should check out.

OK, so about this playlist; I had been listening to Queensryche’s acoustic version of “Silent Lucidity” on Spotify for years. It’s on their giant compilation volume Revolution Calling, and the remastered version of Hear in the Now. I recently learned that the unplugged versions have been pulled down from Spotify, so I will be putting this playlist on Apple Music since the version is available there, at least for now. I’ll also create a playlist on Spotify, with the studio version of “Silent Lucidity” until the acoustic version is available again. I’ve also included Nirvana’s “The Man Who Sold the World” since there was no playlist to accompany that post, and 23 more of my favorite MTV unplugged or acoustic versions of otherwise “electric” songs. There’s also an awesome version of Liz Phair performing an acoustic version of her hit “Why Can’t I” on the Apple Music playlist; that version is exclusive to iTunes, so obviously it’s not available on Spotify. And I will also be moving the Spotify playlists over to Apple Music at some point in the near future. 😊 Did I miss any of your favorite unplugged performances? Let me know in the comments!

See you next time…

JS

9/1/2024