Pearl Jam - C or D?

In conclusion: classic, classic, classic.

Love them or hate them, this is totally untrue. From their first record on up through the most recent, they've always written lots of highly melodic pop tunes. In terms of music science, you just can't fucking dispute that.

I was actually talking to somebody at the TV On the Radio show this past Friday who was wearing a Pearl Jam t-shirt. He was a big fan and said they still put on a good show (not that I'd ever seen them live anyway).

I guess I'll go with classic.

I'll always have a big soft spot for them, and I revisit them every so often with some fondness.

tvotr and pj are not so far away from each other. except pj have more memorable songs. so far.

xpost - I see little similarity between tvotr and pj. I'm with you on the second sentence, though.

That's for sure.

I suppose you could say that about a lot of "rock" bands, though.

I don't know, I think the guy just likes Pearl Jam, amongst many other types of bands and genres of music. We only discussed Pearl Jam when I noticed his t-shirt. The rest of the time, we talked about any number of other bands.

The Gen-X Bruce Springsteen.

Anyway, Ten has its moments, the best of which, you're right Dan, is "Black." I didn't really follow them much after that.

Also, out of curiosity, does anyone here rate the guitarists and/or rhythm section?

This seems like a very valid point to me, even though it seems like a vague statement. Something about it intuitively makes sense.

The vocal drone thing was actually kind of cool, thinking about it now. They did have a distinctive sound that way. Do you think that approach might have been influenced by Jane's at all? I'd like to hear the collaboration with Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (to whom I'm listening now.)

I've also realized I like in retrospect: The Tragically Hip.

1. Porch
2. Oceans
3. In My Tree
4. Who You Are
5. Do the Evolution
6. All Those Yesterdays
7. Corduroy
8. Bugs
9. Present Tense
10.Given to Fly

Their music: classic. Stone Gossard's record label: classic. Eddie Veddar's duet with Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (who he studied with at one point) on the Dead Man Walking soundtrack: classic.

However, calling Pearl Jam a "grunge" band: DUD!!!!!

Allegedly the new album's cover.

Still OTM nearly 4 years later.

"all these...
i got bugs
i got bugs in my room
bugs in my bed
bugs in my ears
their eggs in my head
bugs in my pockets
bugs in my shoes
bugs in the way i feel about you
bugs on my window
trying to get in
they don't go nowhere
waiting, waiting...
bugs on my ceiling
crowded the floor
standing, sitting, kneeling...
a few block the door
and now the question's:
do i kill them?
become their friend?
do i eat them?
raw or well done?
do i trick them?
i don't think they're that dumb
do i join them?
looks like that's the one
i got bugs on my skin
tickle my nausea
i let it happen again
they're always takin' over
i see they surround me, i see...
see them deciding my fate
oh, that which was once...was once up to me...
now it's too late
i got bugs in my room...one on one
that's when i had a chance
i'll just stop now
i'll become naked
and with the...i'll become one"

Oh yeah!! Now I'm ready for some shots and good times!

Otherwise, Pearl Jam is a horrible, horrible nightmare.

Most of Vitalogy, No Code, and Yield sound great.

Yup. But I'll stand by the quiet songs on the first one.

I don't understand the Pearl Jam hatred. Compared to other bands on the radio like Nickelback, Creed and Fuel, they're the Beatles, Elvis and Dave Clarke 5 combined.

They're also one of the best cover bands around, with killer versions of Let My Love Open the Door, and tons of others. Eddie Vedder does a great version of X's Poor Girl, backed by teh Supersuckers.

I got a ticket to see Pearl Jam in Dublin this summer. 127 euro, which I've been told is cheap (nowadays maybe). It's the most I've ever spent on a concert ticket

basically the only tix that are affordable anymore are for underground metal shows, and even these are at prices that woulda made people wince like 20 years ago

"$30 for a death metal show?!!!"

I considered going to a jazz show that's happening tonight (Joshua Redman came to Montana!) but tickets were $60. Also it would mean being in a crowded room full of strangers and I'm still not doing that. I haven't been to a live show since February 2020.

seems like a pretty big difference between pearl jam gouging fans and working independent bands trying to survive in an era when playing shows is literally the only way to make any money

otm, yes, ticket prices are up but let's not conflate the two.

I'm somewhat heartened to see Pearl Jam seems to be getting some pretty significant blowback from fans over these prices, if reddit and other forums are anything to go by.

Old enough to remember this lol:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lR8Uook5Cq0

To be clear, there are so many factors right now that I don't think the ticket prices in 2024 are 100% Pearl Jam's fault. It's just jarring to see the costs given how much work they put into fighting the good fight back when.

Even Springsteen finally and unapologetically hiked ticket prices. But don't discount (no pun intended) the impact of scalpers and bots and secondary.

I also just generally don't think these kind of ticket prices are sustainable. I kind of understand the first major tour for big artists/bands since the pandemic, but I just don't see how it's going to hold up at this level long term when every major touring act is $150+ just to get in the door.

xxxxpost was anybody actually comparing the two? nobody I saw actually suggested independent bands were guilty of anything or even that the causality was the same.

The big ticket tours are now astronomically priced to where the average fan can't attend without putting it on a credit card or making monthly payments on it, and that's if they can even get through the flawed Ticketmaster queues. that's the biggest problem and the byproduct of an essential monopoly in the industry that has been allowed to continue unchecked, combined with Ticketmaster intentionally flipping fans the bird after their huge settlement by deliberately making the fees almost half the ticket cost.

my point about underground metal shows is they're affordable in that the average person can go to them, which is awesome, but that even some of these have ballooned in recent years, to where someone who went to 3 a month might be going to 1 a month now. that isn't the band's fault, that's just garden variety inflation, and not the industry-level dickery or outright gouging that some bands are complicit in.

In 1993 Pearl Jam played the exact venue that Coachella would eventually take place (I believe it was called "The Polo Fields at Indio" at the time?) as Ticketmaster had no domain over that venue and PJ sold ~25k tickets at $18 w/o the usual 30% TM fee.

Within a year, Ticketmaster had gained domain of that venue.

We've discussed this on ilx a lot, but the fundamental truth is as far as supply and demand goes, these bands by and large could probably price their tickets at whatever they want. There is only one Pearl Jam, there is only one Taylor Swift, there is only one Beyoncé, and so on, and they can all only play one show at a time. Finding a mere 20 or 50 or 70,000 people to pay high prices for those shows, that's actually not a particularly big lift. But yeah, even small club shows, $30 a ticket, plus fees, seems pretty common these days, if not low. Shit adds up.

and for bands that are struggling I expect increases to continue because touring overseas got way more expensive after the pandemic, some bands just outright can't afford to do it at all anymore. and many instances of bands showing up and having a band member detained and having visa denied because 'reasons'.

fortunately devoted fans in any scene often go to great lengths to hear the music they love. I remember being at some show (I think Nile maybe, or Venom Inc) where the guy behind me said "shit I shouldn't be here tonight, now I don't have rent money - oh well, landlord is gonna wait, i'm not missing this band." - hifive! though when you get to three digits it's harder. I think I paid almost $150 for Iron Maiden in 2022, but...worth it. even if I had to put it on Klarna

Pearl Jam one is bizarre because I saw them just under a decade ago and the prices, even for an arena tour, were nothing like this

Pertinent question, have you checked out tickets for Iron Maiden in 2024? Have they gone up in just 2 years?

The Cure proved you can successfully push back as an artist, so I'm giving side-eye to just about everyone now.

Someone in my work Slack is helping a friend sell a pair of tix for Kylie Minogue in Las Vegas; in addition to the ticket price, the venue imposes a $500 food/beverage minimum for the table – which I thought was pretty funny. (I looked it up, and turns out that's just for a 2-person table; the minimum escalates to $1,000 for four seats, and higher for more.)

On the other end of things, I saw that Matthew Sweet was coming to town, and tickets are $35, and ... that feels about right! But I bet he could have pitched a "Plays 'Girlfriend' In Its Entirety" concert and charged more.

well, it's finally happening. i just put on Pearl Jam. loving feeling like i'm in junior high again.

I like the new album much more than I expected to. still need to get to know it for a bit longer but so far so good!

I know all the attention is over at the Swift thread, but I was hoping to see VG's preliminary thoughts on this one, I'm cautiously optimistic now!

it's pretty good

I heard the single, or what must be the single, a few days ago in the car and had no idea it was them. It sounded like some sort of other alt rock song from the late '90s.

yeah the single was like the least-best song as it turns out

it's very 90's grunge sounding, and i love it

yeah they’re not reinventing the wheel really at all, just maybe leaning harder into what they’ve always done well ie melodic rock

This interview w Jeff Ament on his favorite bass players is pretty good

https://www.guitarworld.com/features/jeff-ament-11-bassists-who-shaped-my-sound

Faves on Dark Matter so far:
React, Respond
Won’t Tell
Setting Sun

the only one i don’t love & i feel SO mean for saying this is “Something Special” which is obviously for his/their daughters & i’m happy for all you dads but it’s a bit too campfire or something likr cant you put this on another ukulele album or something I KNOW I KNOW I AM MEAN I AM SORRY