[2] The song was popularized when Curt and his brother, Meat Puppets vocalist and bassist Cris Kirkwood, performed it with American rock band Nirvana at their MTV Unplugged appearance in November 1993.
Matthew Blackwell of Pitchfork wrote that the song's lyrics describe "striving toward the afterlife as scaling a grand plateau where 'holy ghosts and talk show hosts are planted in the sand/To beautify the foothills and shake the many hands.'
But our narrator remains unbothered; he knows that 'there’s nothing on the top but a bucket and a mop/And an illustrated book about birds,' nothing to meet the newly deceased at their goal other than mundanity.
"Plateau" was one of three songs from Meat Puppets II, along with "Oh, Me," and "Lake of Fire," covered by Nirvana at their MTV Unplugged concert at Sony Music Studios in New York City on November 23, 1993.
A DVD of the unedited performance was released in 2007, which also featured footage of the Kirkwood brothers rehearsing "Plateau" with Nirvana prior to the show.