Pearl Jam - C or D?

lol @ Pearl Jam or their fans being "conservative" or "Republican", these guys are about as left as any mainstream rock is right now and so are most of their fans. I mean, when they played Lolla in Chicago a few years back they wrote and performed an anti BP Oil song that night because of the (at the time) ongoing issue of BP wanting to dump more waste into Lake Michigan. That argument is just plain silly and shows someone with little understanding of the band and a wide majority of their fans. I'm sure they do have their share of right-wingers in the audience, but every time I've seen them perform and Eddie's pulled out an anti-war, anti-Bush, or liberal talking point there had been way more cheers than anything else. Its not like these guys are Kid Rock or the Dixie Chicks.

Anyway... the PJ20 soundtrack thing is really good, some fantastic performance on the first disc. I'm glad to finally have a "proper" recording of the Unplugged "Black" to replace dodgy boots I've had. I wish they'd release the whole performance now though.

I'll concede this: when I saw them in 2003, the audience response to Vedder's Bush remarks was at best tepid, and downright hostile an hour earlier during Sleater Kinney's performance (one neanderthal in front of me: "Where the fuck did they get these dykes?"). But this show took place at the height of Bush's popularity.

Yeah I guess there are a couple of those bootlegs from circa 2000 and later that featured some tepid responses to Vedder rants now that I think about it. But, still, I don't think its fair to say the band draws in a higher concentration of conservatives than any other popular touring band.

If anything I'd say they do, or did, attract a certain "bro", frat boy element, not necessarily conservative but at the very least ignorant or politically apathetic. They just want to make out with their girl to "Better Man" & hi-five during "Evenflow".

and why not indeed.

Evenflow has probably inspired more high-fiving than volunteering at soup kitchens, it is true.

I saw Pearl Jam play one of the Vote for Change shows in Grand Rapids, MI, and when the band gave a shout-out to the Dixie Chicks, who were playing ... I want to say Cleveland? Anyway, when they thanked the Dixie Chicks a good portion of the crowd booed, though Vedder chastised them for booing. PJ fans total mix of earnest alt-fans and frat bros.

"Evenflow has probably inspired more high-fiving than volunteering at soup kitchens, it is true."

this might be one of those "is lincoln's head facing left or right on the penny" kind of questions, but without looking,
can you remember if the cover of ten is a group-high five or locked hands?

Is it just me or is Pearl Jam's live stuff a lot sloppier now than it was during the first third of the career?

oh and: facing right, hi-five, brah

Their lives shows in the last eight years have been tremendous.

What is it that people like about Pearl Jam? The rock beat? That "grungy" guitaur? Or the heartfelt lyrics? Why does PJ irritate me like my place of employment? Is it because they are bland like khakis? Where is the beef?
― Worker Drone, Wednesday, May 29, 2002 5:00 PM (9 years ago) Bookmark

well, it reminds me of Jeanne Fury's remark. She dislikes Pearl Jam in part because they're such bro in contrast to the "femme" Kurt Cobain.

*such bros

Did we ever do a S/D on their live releases? I could have sworn there was something, but didn't see it in search.

there is something effortlessly masculine about pearl jam. maybe this quality is crucial to the riddle of their fratservative appeal?

http://nogoodforme.filmstills.org/images/EddieVedderAnthonyKiedisKissing.jpg

For sure, the band is not afraid of guitar solos and drum fills. Those things are sort of by default "masculine."

also masculine: kissing a dude in a backwards baseball cap. (to be fair, grohl probably rocked the backwards cap, too, but then again foo fighters is almost on mascu-parity with pearl jam)

That's Anthony Kiedis, by the way.

When Rolling Stone ran the photo someone wrote a letter: "Please cancel my subscription."

didn't jeff ament regularly rock the backwards cap? i have the impression he sometimes wore a fur cap for some reason.

http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/_/5073/Jeff+Ament.jpg

Ugh – he probably smells like an unwashed Pekinese.

may your first hat be a masculine hat...

I saw Pearl Jam cover Fugazi's "Suggestion" once in '93 or '94.

xp http://sowhat.no.sapo.pt/kiss.jpg

http://flavorwire.com/207658/here-is-a-video-of-kurt-cobain-and-eddie-vedder-slow-dancing

was this at the event where axl rose demands satisfaction from kurt over a courtney snap?

I love that clip

yes (to Philip)

Matt Cameron's solo demo that became "The Fixer" is so cool to hear, i had no idea how much of that song came directly from him

matt's brought so much to the band... hope he never goes back to soundgarden full-time, much as i loved soundgarden.

and that clip of eddie and kurt is wonderful - cannot wait to see this movie...

Cameron has definitely helped bring the band together as a unit, especially in their songwriting. Good collaborative vibes. And he sings great harmonies, too. Love the Cameron.

Matt Cameron's great but so much more suited to Soundgarden imo (although since both bands are older and not as constantly active as they used to be i see no reason why he can't juggle both). i feel like he fits into Pearl Jam's social dynamic more than their music, i'm still constantly comparing how he plays songs from the first 5 albums to the studio versions and often not favorably.

Matt Cameron's solo demo that became "The Fixer" is so cool to hear, i had no idea how much of that song came directly from him

Most of the verses and chorus, according to that new coffee table book. Vedder transformed it into a pop song.

if you listen to "Need To Know" on the PJ20 soundtrack, it's pretty much the music that's the same, the vocals don't much at all like what ended up as "The Fixer"

wrrrrrrrororororroror /yarl

Mr Veg stumbled onto this and we watched some of it last night. It's pretty great!

My favorite thing about their South American shows is that they always frontload the setlist with all the songs they know the crowd chants the best to...like they even chant the guitar break in Do The Evolution and Eddie just rolls right along with it

Anyway, good show, no surprises on the setlist but they look like they're having fun

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orgWG3clWlo

Never been more than a casual fan, but just watched PJ20 on Netflix. Kinda hard not to admire the way they've done it as a band.

It's not that this band is incapable of writing a memorable tune, they just don't have enough great ones IMO. Too many songs/riffs that are not quite there.

i disagree but w/e

So much of this band is not quite there, but its ability to connect despite that sort of redefines "there." It's almost as if it's never been able to go the full R.E.M., whether by design or by default, but usually does fine with what it has.

you're gonna have to define "the full R.E.M." here

Hmm. I guess PJ has yet to abandon hard rock? They've never had to release a "return to rockin'" album. In some ways, the electric guitars and big drums are like a comfort blanket, but maybe they prevent the band from doing more interesting things.

Just spitballin' here.

PJ always had much more of a default meat and potatoes hard rock thing than R.E.M., though. plenty of quiet songs and acoustic shows, but those were always clear deviations from the rockin' norm. Eddie goes off with his ukulele if he wants to do something quiet.

I do think it's true that they could stand to take a few more chances - they've not released an even mildly "experimental" (by mainstream rock band terms) record since, I dunno, Binaural? I did appreciate how snappy the last one was, mind.

Pearl Jam's default hard rock may not have hindered the group but may have hampered it. What made REM so great was its ability to make an album like Out of Time or Automatic the norm. Pearl Jam has yet to release its own paradigm shifting album, but it may be too late for that.

Like, you can hear the band (or at least Vedder?) pushing against constrictions, but it's subtle, unlike REM, or Radiohead, or even U2, who have made radical reinvention the norm.

fwiw there's definitely a pretty wide perception that the more offbeat sounds on the albums from Vitalogy through Binaural were too out there for most of their audience and deliberately pared down their fanbase, and every album since then has had lots of 'their most radio-friendly/Ten-like album in x years' reviews.