B List: 10 Bands That Should Go Unplugged

9. Robbie Robertson

Recently, The Band guitarist has been teaming up with Dawes for television appearances in support of his new album, How to Become Clairvoyant. The thought of Robertson and the Laurel Canyon act playing a full set that includes songs from the LP, Band classics and a few Dawes gems makes us giddy.

8. The Strokes

Now that The Strokes have four albums under their belts, they certainly have a repertoire deep enough to choose an hours worth of material that would sound fantastic Unplugged. In particular, we’d like to hear how You Only Live Once, Reptilia and Last Nite would sound without the electric jangle that we’re all so familiar with.

7. Animal Collective

Considering AC’s heavy reliance on electronic equipment these days, we’d be interested to see how they would handle going unplugged. At the root of Animal Collective’s music are beautifully crafted songs that might shine in an acoustic setting.

6. Gorillaz

If the idea behind Unplugged is to put bands you wouldn’t normally expect to perform unplugged in an acoustic setting, is there a band which fits that description better than Gorillaz? Feel Good Inc., Clint Eastwood and Superfast Jellyfish are all tunes that would fit nicely into that format.

5. My Morning Jacket

MMJ frontman Jim James has played dozens of acoustic shows and has even invited his band mates to join him at a few of them over the years, but we’re looking for a complete unplugged performance from the group. Let’s see what happens to One Big Holiday or Off The Record when you take the electricity away.

4. Wilco

Last March HT faves Wilco added a mini-set of acoustic tunes to their shows with fantastic results. We particularly dug that they featured songs you wouldn’t normally expect to hear unplugged such as Spiders (Kidsmoke) and Outtamind (Outta Sight). Add Tweedy’s oft-hilarious banter to the mix and you have the formula for a great episode.

3. Beastie Boys

Some of the best episodes of Unplugged have featured rappers including past performances by Jay-Z, LL Cool J and A Tribe Called Quest. Now that the Beastie Boys are about to release a new album, we’d love to see them bust out acoustic instruments to rework a number of their best songs.

2. Arcade Fire

Earlier this year Grammy winners Arcade Fire visited L.A. radio station KROQ to perform a couple of tracks from The Suburbs unplugged and the results were amazing. Let’s get them on Unplugged to tackle songs from throughout their career.

1. Prince

While The Purple One recorded an acoustic performance for the half-hour The Art of Musicology special back in 2004,  Prince has never officially gone “unplugged.” As a mega-star with a huge repertoire of classics that would sound great sans electricity and a massive fanbase, Prince would be tops on our list if we were the producers of Unplugged.

What band(s) would you like to see go Unplugged?