Pearl Jam - C or D?

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 really like courderoy. that's a good song.

i find them kinda loveable now, for just keepin' on keepin' on....but i don't really ever listen to them.

http://digicollage.com/music/pearl_jam.jpg

OK, I have to admit I really dig the opening trio on their new record. They've gone all Accelerate on us, 11 tracks in 36 minutes.

yeah, uptempo single and short running time have me feeling pretty optimistic about picking this up this weekend

That's right, I need to make sure I swing by Target on Sunday.

'Fixer' has a great Replacement-y feel that they haven't really done before...I'm really excited to hear the rest of the album.

yeah...the idea of PJ of all bands doing kind of a tight poppy almost new wave record is strangely appealing

what Simon said.

New album arrived today...the fast songs are awesome, so tight and rocking, like they're digging around in their rock/punk/metal roots finally. The slower tempo ones are pretty cool...only jarring note is the one that sounds like an outtake from Into The Wild. Not a bad thing, just kind of glaring. But overall, cool!! Can easily throw this on repeat. Easily, and happily. And occasionally dance while I'm doing it!

I like Pearl Jam but we all agree this is the worst album cover of 2009, right?

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/8c/Pearl_jam_backspacer.jpg

Must check this out, didn't care for the last couple.

i like the presence of multiple eugene levys on the sleeve... the album is ACE.

i fucking h8 Tom Tomorrow and his smug unfunny comix. on the other hand, i'm not sure Pearl Jam has ever had a good album cover.

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