Duncan Sheik — "Barely Breathing"
Duncan Sheik's brooding acoustic single became one of the defining adult-alternative hits of 1997 — and one of the longest-charting songs in Billboard history, quietly clinging to the Hot 100 for more than a year.
#Acoustic
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Dashboard Confessional
One guy, one acoustic guitar, and a room full of teenagers singing "Screaming Infidelities" louder than he could. Chris Carrabba was the poster boy of early-2000s emo, and the sing-along at a Dashboard show was the whole point.
Dave Matthews Band — "Satellite"
The song that began as a guitar finger exercise—a delicate, circular picking pattern Dave Matthews practiced until it turned into a melody. Quiet, hypnotic proof that the band could hold a room without a single big chorus.
"Hey There Delilah" by Plain White T's
One guy, one acoustic guitar, and a song about a girl who turned him down. Two years after it appeared on an album, it was the #1 song in America — and the real Delilah had to live with being everyone's idealized dream girl.
John Mayer
"Your Body Is a Wonderland" was the song every college guy with an acoustic guitar learned in 2002, and the one Blender later put on its worst-songs list. In between, Mayer quietly turned into a serious blues guitarist, one Rolling Stone later ranked among its 250 greatest.
MTV Unplugged
The stool, the acoustic guitar, the candles: the MTV series that had rock stars strip their hits down to wood and strings, and turned a few of those nights into era-defining albums. Eric Clapton's 1992 set became the best-selling live album ever, and Nirvana's November 1993 session, staged with lilies and black candles "like a funeral," became the band's farewell.
Eagle-Eye Cherry — "Save Tonight"
Four chords, a campfire strum, and a chorus anyone could sing on the first listen — Eagle-Eye Cherry's "Save Tonight" was the acoustic one-hit wonder of 1998, an easygoing plea to make the most of a last night together.
Shawn Colvin — "Sunny Came Home"
Pretty, gentle, and secretly about a woman burning her house to the ground — Shawn Colvin's "Sunny Came Home" swept the 1998 Grammys, winning both Record of the Year and Song of the Year.