An MTV Unplugged performance from The Rolling Stones had been planned though was eventually rejected by the Mick Jagger-fronted group.
The (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction hitmakers were tipped for a stripped-back performance on the music channel’s stage, following in the footsteps of greats like Bob Dylan and Nirvana. But the performance never came to be, with the band instead releasing Stripped in 1995. Jagger has since shared the reason The Rolling Stones did not take up MTV on their offer of a stripped-back set, suggesting it was too saturated by other acts at the time. The “intimate thing” did not entirely appeal to Jagger and the band, and instead they opted to do it themselves, only better.
In an interview with Rolling Stone Magazine founder Jann Wenner, Jagger confirmed he and the band were not keen on heading to New York City just to perform the Unplugged show. He said: “Because everyone has done it, and I didn’t want to particularly come to New York and do Unplugged in the middle of the European tour.
“And I felt that we would take the best element from Unplugged, the intimate thing of it, without actually doing it completely unplugged.” Even then, issues around what the set for their Unplugged show may feature were a worry for Jagger, who noted the inevitability of hits being included in their set.
The group were in the middle of their Voodoo Lounge tour and did not sound all too keen to postpone dates for the sake of an MTV performance. Jagger added: “Any live record would be bound to contain a lot of old material.
“There’s a danger that you would fall into it – as I’ve said in this interview quite a few times. I don’t think there’s any virtue in being completely, only contemporary, but I think you do have to balance the two.
“The Rolling Stones should do something adventurous for their next album, but I never thought you could, around the time of the tour, do a completely groundbreaking record. It would have been nice, but I don’t think that was possible.”
The Rolling Stones would follow up Voodoo Lounge with their next studio album, Bridges to Babylon, in 1997. That would mark the band’s last studio release for eight years, until A Bigger Bang dropped in 2005.
The Jagger-fronted group has been active ever since, releasing Hackney Diamonds in 2023 and reportedly preparing another album for release in 2026. The group were allegedly set to perform across the UK this summer, but plans have seemingly fallen through. It is not yet known if the group will tour next year.
A tour of the United States in July 2024 is the most recent appearance from The Rolling Stones on stage, with their hits-laden set featuring the likes of Let it Bleed and (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction along with contemporary selections from Hackney Diamonds.
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