“I’ve seen a million faces and I’ve rocked them all!”: Was Bon Jovi’s 1989 acoustic performance really the inspiration for MTV Unplugged?

In 1989, Bon Jovi were pretty much the biggest rock band in the world. But were they really responsible for MTV’s Unplugged series?

Let’s rewind to 6 September 1989 and the MTV Video Music Awards, staged at the Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles.

It was a truly star-studded event, at which the biggest winners were Madonna and Paula Abdul, both of whom scooped up four awards.

For Michael Jackson it wasn’t such a great night. The self-styled King Of Pop had the most nominations - nine in total - but carried off only one award for Best Special Effects in the video for Leave Me Alone.

Madonna and Paula Abdul were also among the many artists who performed live at the event.

Other notable performances included Axl Rose singing with Tom Petty on the latter’s Free Fallin’, and Def Leppard making their last live appearance with guitarist Steve Clark before his death in 1991.

But most memorable of all was the short acoustic set from the two leading stars of Bon Jovi - singer Jon Bon Jovi and guitarist Richie Sambora.

They played just two songs. Two monster hits. A brief version of Livin’ On A Prayer and then Wanted Dead Or Alive.

But was this really “The Acoustic Performance That Changed MTV” - as claimed in the title of this YouTube clip?

Bon Jovi - The Acoustic Performance That Changed MTV – Remastered in HD - YouTube

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The truth is that MTV already had the Unplugged series in production by the time of the 1989 awards show.

The first Unplugged episode aired in November 1989 and featured Squeeze, singer-songwriter Syd Straw and The Cars’ guitarist Elliot Easton.

Later episodes in the first series featured Sinead O’Connor, Aerosmith, Stevie Ray Vaughan and more.

So it’s not as if Jon Bon Jovi and guitarist Richie Sambora invented the Unplugged format on that night in ’89.

But it was a great performance that surely convinced the powers at MTV of the value in Unplugged.

And it also suggested that the guy sitting next to Jon Bon Jovi might just have been the best singer in the band…