Lightning Bolt: the official album thread

[harmless]

Pearl Jam at the height of their popularity wrote songs with hooks aplenty. These LB songs are no less or no more 'pop' sounding that their biggest hits from Ten and Vs. Alive, Evenflow, Jeremy, Once, Daughter, Animal, etc. are all songs with catchy melodies and sing-along choruses/verses.

With huge walls of distorted guitar and an angry Ed able to reach a high register with unrivalled power. They were "alternative", even if that's just a commercial label to sell CDs. This isn't.

For real, it's not even a question. Sure, the new stuff is more commercially appealing than Riot Act/Binaural (people want entertainement more than anything else), but it has nothing to do with the early albums. As our new friend would say, it lacks "balls".

The songwriting has everything to do with the early albums. The happy, uplifting music combined with dark/serious/sarcastic lyrics is a PJ trademark. Not something they invented but something they used extensively in writing their best songs.

Happy, really? Ten's music sounds happy to you? Immortality sounds happy?

Yeah, it really wasn't at all happy until Yield. They were a generally very nihilistic band until Yield, and that's what put me off that album initially. I thought they'd been hanging out with Bono too much.

[harmless]

Those (us trolls) who want more of the middle period stuff definitely don't seem to care much about angry Ed. That's more for the S/T aficionados.

I think you could replace 'angry' with 'dour', 'introverted', 'idiosyncratic', etc. etc.

[Release_Me]

Not discussing the middle period here, that was subdued and mumbly Ed. You can have him if you want

The comparison I was making was between the style of songwriting on these new songs and their earliest hits. And I can see many similarities. We can always argue that the early songs were superior. But that I put down to young Ed being more of a listening spectacle than old Ed, not the songwriting or music as such.

[harmless]

"Subdued and mumbly" for very good reasons.

[stip]

"Lightning Bolt" I haven't made up my mind on yet. It's just sorta there. Which is pretty much exactly how I still feel about "Unthought Known," four years on.

it's better in most ways. there are obviously flaws to approaching songs by likening them to other songs, but picture Unforgettable Fire era U2 sitting down to write A Sort of Homecoming and writing Given to Fly instead.

This might end up being my favorite pearl jam song since WWS.

[Heathen]

Subdued is a quality, not a flaw.

[harmless]

Subdued is a quality, not a flaw.

[stupidmop]

I've got nothing against catchy, in fact the only part if LB I like is the chorus. But if you can't hear a difference between these songs and ten/vs I don't know what to tell you. They were catchy without being bland or inane or whatever. And its not just that the songs were agressive or angry or whatever, breath exudes more joyful abandon than any of backspacer, and I find evenflow downright danceable. You strip the vocals off it and its still danceable.

I don't even know how this newer stuff is more commercial like everyone keeps saying, what audience is this rock-lite stuff aimed towards? I don't know anything about charts but if I'm thinking of the most popular rock musicians/ bands right now I've got qotsa, arctic monkeys and like jack while or something.

[harmless]

Riot Act is largely a dour, stoner-rock record which thematically emerges from the event at Roskilde.

[harmless]

I've got nothing against catchy, in fact the only part if LB I like is the chorus. But if you can't hear a difference between these songs and ten/vs I don't know what to tell you. They were catchy without being bland or inane or whatever. And its not just that the songs were agressive or angry or whatever, breath exudes more joyful abandon than any of backspacer, and I find evenflow downright danceable. You strip the vocals off it and its still danceable.

I don't even know how this newer stuff is more commercial like everyone keeps saying, what audience is this rock-lite stuff aimed towards? I don't know anything about charts but if I'm thinking of the most popular rock musicians/ bands right now I've got qotsa, arctic monkeys and like jack while or something.

Foo Fighters. This stuff doesn't sound like Foo Fighters.

This is classic rock, with hints of alternative. As always. Classic rock isn't cool or commercial and this album won't fly off the shelves... which I'm thrilled about.

[Heathen]

I've got nothing against catchy, in fact the only part if LB I like is the chorus. But if you can't hear a difference between these songs and ten/vs I don't know what to tell you. They were catchy without being bland or inane or whatever. And its not just that the songs were agressive or angry or whatever, breath exudes more joyful abandon than any of backspacer, and I find evenflow downright danceable. You strip the vocals off it and its still danceable.

I don't even know how this newer stuff is more commercial like everyone keeps saying, what audience is this rock-lite stuff aimed towards? I don't know anything about charts but if I'm thinking of the most popular rock musicians/ bands right now I've got qotsa, arctic monkeys and like jack while or something.

dads, moms

[harmless]

Even if Ed is pitching to middle-America moms and dads, he's not going to reach them, just as he's not going to reach any demographic he pitches for now... because they don't care. Which is great evidence for the fact that he should do what he wants, even if we don't like it. This stuff WOULD reach middle-America dads and moms, even a Christian audience, if it didn't all have the sarcasm / irony, snide remarks about religion and reflections on death and guns (even if the guns are just in the artwork this time). I would buy that this was bland rock 'n roll if the lyrics were different and they weren't trying to put that audience off with the artwork.

[stip]

I've got nothing against catchy, in fact the only part if LB I like is the chorus. But if you can't hear a difference between these songs and ten/vs I don't know what to tell you. They were catchy without being bland or inane or whatever. And its not just that the songs were agressive or angry or whatever, breath exudes more joyful abandon than any of backspacer, and I find evenflow downright danceable. You strip the vocals off it and its still danceable.

I don't even know how this newer stuff is more commercial like everyone keeps saying, what audience is this rock-lite stuff aimed towards? I don't know anything about charts but if I'm thinking of the most popular rock musicians/ bands right now I've got qotsa, arctic monkeys and like jack while or something.

it's more U2 and REMish, which are influences they started moving towards more aggressively on Backspacer. At least that's what I'm hearing. Even if you're not getting parallels with the songs the sensibility is the same. REM wrote some very dark songs, but there was a janglyness to them that separated them from other mopey/naval gazing acts that would have been their peers. That even if the music is DESCRIBING a burden it shouldn't BE a burden (what the mid period records, especially Riot Act and Binaural, are missing for me). And then later on, an ability to aggressively go after big sentiments without sounding cheesy in the process. Pearl Jam always had the later. It's the former that I think really help categorize the new records. We keep using words like poppy and fun, but I think they miss what is at the heart of these songs.

I love REM and quite a bit of U2. I think songs like Born to Run, with all its triumphal excess, are the heart of what rock music should be (or what I want it to be). The early records came from that place. The mid period records lost it, and the esteem with which they are held really depends on how much you either A: didn't give a shit about it or B: liked what replaced it. The later records recapture that spirit but without the angst and anger and aggression of a young band railing against a world they don't really understand yet.

I miss that. Pearl Jam 1991-1994 was the pinnacle of rock music for me. But it's not coming back because it can't come back. These aren't the same people. They shouldn't be. If they learned nothing over 20 years they would not be worth listening to anyway. But I think these recent songs show some potential to recapture the spirit of Born to Run without the lashing out. And 20 years in I'll take it and be grateful for it

[stip]

I've got nothing against catchy, in fact the only part if LB I like is the chorus. But if you can't hear a difference between these songs and ten/vs I don't know what to tell you. They were catchy without being bland or inane or whatever. And its not just that the songs were agressive or angry or whatever, breath exudes more joyful abandon than any of backspacer, and I find evenflow downright danceable. You strip the vocals off it and its still danceable.

I don't even know how this newer stuff is more commercial like everyone keeps saying, what audience is this rock-lite stuff aimed towards? I don't know anything about charts but if I'm thinking of the most popular rock musicians/ bands right now I've got qotsa, arctic monkeys and like jack while or something.

dads, moms

or people who ceased being 16 at some point?

[harmless]

'Getaway' is as good as any "filler" song they've ever done, in my opinion.

[harmless]

I've got nothing against catchy, in fact the only part if LB I like is the chorus. But if you can't hear a difference between these songs and ten/vs I don't know what to tell you. They were catchy without being bland or inane or whatever. And its not just that the songs were agressive or angry or whatever, breath exudes more joyful abandon than any of backspacer, and I find evenflow downright danceable. You strip the vocals off it and its still danceable.

I don't even know how this newer stuff is more commercial like everyone keeps saying, what audience is this rock-lite stuff aimed towards? I don't know anything about charts but if I'm thinking of the most popular rock musicians/ bands right now I've got qotsa, arctic monkeys and like jack while or something.

dads, moms

or people who ceased being 16 at some point?

I'm a stepdad. My wife is a mum. It's a strange criticism that we should stop listening to bands we love just because we've made "the wrong life choices".

[Heathen]

I've got nothing against catchy, in fact the only part if LB I like is the chorus. But if you can't hear a difference between these songs and ten/vs I don't know what to tell you. They were catchy without being bland or inane or whatever. And its not just that the songs were agressive or angry or whatever, breath exudes more joyful abandon than any of backspacer, and I find evenflow downright danceable. You strip the vocals off it and its still danceable.

I don't even know how this newer stuff is more commercial like everyone keeps saying, what audience is this rock-lite stuff aimed towards? I don't know anything about charts but if I'm thinking of the most popular rock musicians/ bands right now I've got qotsa, arctic monkeys and like jack while or something.

dads, moms

or people who ceased being 16 at some point?

what's the difference? you don't have to take 'dad' as an insult

[stupidmop]

S/t makes me think of foo fighters, as in there's nothing wrong with it, it just doesn't really grab me. Generic perhaps I dunno.
I guess the problem lies in what kind of classic rock they're going for, I've never really liked the who, I only know as much songs as i do by them because of pj.


I don't really believe that they're going for a specific audience or whatever, BoB might be though, because why would you? I dunno I don't get this shit.

[stip]

S/t makes me think of foo fighters, as in there's nothing wrong with it, it just doesn't really grab me. Generic perhaps I dunno.
I guess the problem lies in what kind of classic rock they're going for, I've never really liked the who, I only know as much songs as i do by them because of pj.


I don't really believe that they're going for a specific audience or whatever, BoB might be though, because why would you? I dunno I don't get this shit.

I never liked the who either. So we have that in common! The who, neil young, kiss, the ramones--none of those prominent early influences.

[Release_Me]

Pearl Jam at the height of their popularity wrote songs with hooks aplenty. These LB songs are no less or no more 'pop' sounding that their biggest hits from Ten and Vs. Alive, Evenflow, Jeremy, Once, Daughter, Animal, etc. are all songs with catchy melodies and sing-along choruses/verses.

With huge walls of distorted guitar and an angry Ed able to reach a high register with unrivalled power. They were "alternative", even if that's just a commercial label to sell CDs. This isn't.

For real, it's not even a question. Sure, the new stuff is more commercially appealing than Riot Act/Binaural (people want entertainement more than anything else), but it has nothing to do with the early albums. As our new friend would say, it lacks "balls".

The songwriting has everything to do with the early albums. The happy, uplifting music combined with dark/serious/sarcastic lyrics is a PJ trademark. Not something they invented but something they used extensively in writing their best songs.

Happy, really? Ten's music sounds happy to you? Immortality sounds happy?

Yeah, it really wasn't at all happy until Yield. They were a generally very nihilistic band until Yield, and that's what put me off that album initially. I thought they'd been hanging out with Bono too much.

Happy was probably a bad choice of words. Uplifting, catchy, etc. would be more appropriate words depending on the song. Yield was just the first time Ed was not depressed. I'm not saying PJ only made that type of song, they have always had their moody side starting from Ten (Release, Black, etc). But even there, the early moody tracks like Immortality are much more easy listens than what came later in the middle period. They still had hooks and didn't plod along or meander like some of the stuff they did later.

We have just listened to the rockers or up-tempo numbers from LB so it makes sense to compare them to Alive, Evenflow, Animal, etc. which all are extremely catchy tunes and if you listen to other album tracks, like Glorified G for example, they also sound very 'poppy' (if you take out what Ed is singing). Even something like Rearviewmirror, Last Exit or Corduroy is downright catchy. The thing in common with all these songs is that they have memorable melodies. Pearl Jam was never averse to writing these kinds of tunes. Combined with angsty Ed, that made for memorable songs.

The songwriting style I'm hearing on the LB tracks so far is reminiscent of this but Ed is not angsty anymore. I am fine with that. As long as the moodier songs on the record harken back to their early albums rather than the middle period, I will probably love LB.