The Man Who Sold The World is a song that Nirvana covered at their 1993 MTV Unplugged concert. The original song came from David Bowie in the 1970s for the album by the same name. According to the list put up by Kurt Cobain, The Man Who Sold The World is the 45th best album that he has heard out of 50. The MTV live version of the song was later released as a promotional single for their unplugged album in 1991.
The original song by David Bowie was released in November 1970 in the US and then it was released in the UK by Mercury Records. The song was produced by Tony Visconti and the recording of the song took place in Trident and Advision Studios in London when the band was moving towards the end of their recording for the album. Bowie even recorded his vocals for the song on the final day of mixing for the album; the main tone that we get to hear in this particular song comes from a circular guitar riff, which was produced by Mick Ronson.
When the song was first released by David Bowie and Co, it went unnoticed for a long time. Then, in 1974, Scottish singer Lulu covered the song, and the producers of the recording were Bowie and Ronson. That version of the song hit No. 3 on the UK Singles Chart, and from here, the song was able to gain mainstream attention.
Then in 1993, the song was once again performed by some other band but this time it was a famous rock band from the US called Nirvana, who performed it live on MTV Unplugged session. That live version became so popular that people started to believe that Nirvana was the original creator of this song.
For this guitar song lesson we have asked Mike Walker to be your guitar instructor. Mike has divided the unplugged version of Man Who Sold The World in 4 different segments so you get to learn all the intricate parts of the song that makes it so unique and mesmerizing.
After you complete this song lesson, make sure to check out other similar songs like Brown Eyed Girl by Van Morrison, Everything I Do by Bryan Adams, and For What It’s Worth by Buffalo Springfield from our playlist of English guitar song lessons. So, Join Torrins now to grab the opportunity to learn from some of the best music instructors from around the world while sitting in the comfort of your home.
