unplugged

Unplugged

by Bob on August 7, 2007

Unplugged. This can mean a number of things. It can mean pulling out the electrical plug from an appliance from the socket. Or playing a musical instrument without any electrical amplification or other embellishments.

MTV started the formal "MTV Unplugged" sessions in 1989. They were mostly brilliant.

It's a real challenge for most musicians to make music without all the production overtones and amplification. Like singing unaccompanied, a cappella. Real talent shows in this case. Musician who hid behind amplification and back sounds have a hard time if they don't have natural talent. Maybe they won't even do an unplugged session for fear of what they might sound like.

But what happens when someone in society gets unplugged from a social support network in life ? This is a bad kind of unplugged. But it happens increasingly in our time. And it is usually a significant incident in our life. We are caught in a boat without a paddle in an ocean with nothing else in sight.

One prefers music to be played unplugged. Not that people are unplugged from a social network and milieu and safety net and get lost in the system.

Food for thought in a societal and sociological fashion.