The Man Who Sold The World in a Cardigan Sweater

Time has validated what has become one of the most epic live rock performances since the Beatles performed live on the rooftop of Abbey Road Studios. I might be a smidge obsessed with the "Get Back" documentary right now (and hopefully not just because I was a captive audience: trapped under a cat while flat on my back recuperating from hip surgery) but I think not. If anything, I finally realized the pure talent, hard work and musical cohesion it takes to put together a show under the unblinking eye of a live camera. The Beatles did it. So did Nirvana. On December 16, 1993 at Sony Music Studios in New York City, they performed 14 songs live, 6 of them covers. One of those covers was "The Man Who Sold The World" originally by David Bowie. Watching Kurt, effortlessly wield his acoustic axe through the set clad in his grunge uniform of shapeless, colorless, cigarette burned cardigan, tee shirt and Converse Chucks with Pat Smear, Chris Novoselic, two of the Meat Puppets and a chrysalis version of Dave Grohl, his wild hair restrained in a pony tail. It was beautiful. Tragic. And to this day is still inspiring. I will confess to hitting replay a couple of times on
'Lake of Fire' trying to exorcise the devil of our day to day tedium. MTV's greatest legacy. Check it out.


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