LOW VOLTAGE, HIGH POWER

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The program gradually began attracting better guests and a bigger following. Irish vocalist Sinead O'Connor was featured in a 1991 show, and progressive rockers R.E.M. appeared later that same year. Other A-list musicians--Sting, Eric Clapton, Arrested Development--soon followed. Older performers went on Unplugged to revive careers, younger rockers to boost new ones. When Pearl Jam paid a visit in 1992, it was largely unknown; its Unplugged appearance was an important milestone in the band's drive toward megastardom. Aging soulman Rod Stewart's acoustic set spawned an Unplugged album that sold 3 million copies. Coming full circle, folk-rock trailblazer Bob Dylan, who enraged music purists when he plugged in his acoustic guitar 30 years ago, will release an Unplugged CD in April. (In 1993 Dylan released an acoustic CD that hardly anyone bought, but the new, brand-name effort should sell better.)

The performers are growing more eclectic, the sales booming. Tony Bennett's Grammy-winning MTV Unplugged has been the No. 1 album on Billboard's jazz charts for nearly 40 weeks. Although the punk-band Nirvana became defunct after the death of lead singer Cobain, the group's posthumously released MTV Unplugged in New York has sold 3 million copies so far and remains in the Top 20 of Billboard's pop-album charts. "You can't get around the fact that some people are just put off by certain genres of music, be it jazz or grunge," says Danny Bennett, executive producer of his father's Unplugged album. "But when they hear Kurt Cobain or Tony Bennett stripped down, all they hear is the talent. And then they can connect with it."

Merely an association with the Unplugged name has become an important marketing tool. No Quarter: Jimmy Page & Robert Plant Unledded, an MTV-supported reunion of two Led Zeppelin members, is a tired album--the musical equivalent of microwaved leftovers--but it has nonetheless sold more than a million copies. And the Eagles' Hell Freezes Over, a wimpy, coldhearted reunion album that was put together, in part, by Unplugged staff members and heavily promoted on MTV, has sold a robust 4 million.

To be sure, the folks at MTV did not invent acoustic music. But by championing the sound, Unplugged has had widespread impact throughout the music industry. Radio stations have sponsored Unplugged-type concerts, and pop stars who have never been on Unplugged--soul singer Vanessa Williams, for example--have released albums that echo the show's soft-pop, pared-down sound. Andre Harrell, head of Uptown records, sees the unplugged style spreading. "Jodeci, in its upcoming album, is doing an acoustic song," he says. "Babyface did an acoustic-guitar song, When Can I See You. I'm sure some of that was inspired by Unplugged." Even the Rolling Stones, the nearly fossilized progenitors of eardrum-rending rock, are rumored to be planning an acoustic album.