Song of the Moment: Sirens

[numbers]

I like Boom, sure every once in a while he does something undignified to one of their songs live, but he's also brought the ability to do a lot of cool stuff live that they otherwise wouldnt have been able to. Plus, Riot Act.

[Jorge]

I can't fathom having a producer play piano all over your records when you have a piano player already.

Totally agree. It makes zero sense to me. I thought people were making it up for the longest time.

Yeah, but Boom isn't a member of Pearl Jam.

YOU SURE ABOUT THAT?

[stip]

I hate both I am mine and lbc. Bleh.

You will, of course, be shocked to learn that I am mine is my favorite song from riot act AND binaural

[WaitingForBluey]

After that comment about this song being a response to the mass shootings I just can't get that image out of my head. I think that it fits the song perfectly. After the Newtown shootings I just felt a lot of anxiety about my children and their general safety growing up in this fucked up world. But I overcame that just by enjoying the time that I have now to cherish my family and enjoy the blessings that I have in my life. Ed certainly sounds like he's coming from a similar place. From that perspective, as a response to the mindless violence around us, the song feels much more powerful. And it also seems kind of strange that it was released right around the same time as the navy yard shootings.

[stip]

I have to admit, I'm not a fan of the reasoning behind "you've got to be in that type of relationship for it not to be cheesy." I think it's kind of a knock on the song if it needs to be that exclusionary to thrive.

You don't have to be. But it probably helps. I suppose an even better song wouldn't require it, but it also needs to be a god song to feel anything

[Harry Lime]

I like Boom, sure every once in a while he does something undignified to one of their songs live.

I don't look at these threads enough to know, but is the more notorious moment in Boom's live Pearl Jam career take place during "In My Tree" at Madison Square Garden? That live version went from being celestial to "what the fuck, Boom?" in one second.

[stupidmop]

I hate both I am mine and lbc. Bleh.

You will, of course, be shocked to learn that I am mine is my favorite song from riot act AND binaural

I wish i was

I can't fathom having a producer play piano all over your records when you have a piano player already.

Totally agree. It makes zero sense to me. I thought people were making it up for the longest time.

Yeah, but Boom isn't a member of Pearl Jam.

YOU SURE ABOUT THAT?

Matt needs to introduce the rest of the band to that fountain of youth he's found. Isn't he the oldest?

[Birds in Hell]

Forgive me for my lack of brevity here....
But it appears to me that I am moving in the exact opposite direction from most of the people on this board. I feel like I was a PJ apologist pretty much from the beginning. For every Small Town and Betterman the band released, my discomfort with being a PJ fan grew by leaps and bounds. It was slowly apparent to me that PJ would never have the type of "indie-credibility" (as in anything the "cool" hipsters would accept into their little club of "all that which does not suck") that bands like Nirvana and Radiohead had, and probably will always have. For some reason, that's all I really wanted for the band.

Back then I was more of an indie/punk/hardcore/emo kid than an alternative/mainstream/classic rock fan. My friends and I listened to a lot of Fugazi, Sonic Youth, Pixies and stuff like that. Some of my friends appreciated Ten and maybe Vs, but the by the time Vitalogy came out I was made to be ashamed of my loyalty to PJ. I started to sneak it in whenever I could. With every new Pearl Jam album, probably all the way through S/T, I would look for signs that PJ was weird enough or experimental enough or whatever to gain that elusive "indie-credibility" status. There's no doubt that my mindset tainted my first listening experience with every single album from Vitalogy to S/T. Why the fuck should I care if Pitchfork gave a new Pearl Jam album a positive review? I don't know. But for some stupid reason I did care. The indie hipster in me just couldn't let Pearl Jam be Pearl Jam.

By the time Backspacer started to arrive, something started to shift though. I started to think "who gives a shit if people don't like this? I'm totally cool with this." Maybe it was me just growing up and getting older, or my taste in music was changing rapidly (listening to alt-country, funk, reggae, afrobeat and on and on), or I just didn't have the energy to apologize for Pearl Jam anymore. But as soon as I heard Sirens it was a total confirmation for me. Like a huge declaration. I feel a great sense of relief now. Sirens was the nail in the coffin that took that old way of thinking and laid it down to rest for good. Now I could care less what people think of PJ and what the reviews will say about Lightning Bolt because PJ is still just doing their thing and I dig it and that's enough me. No longer uncomfortable to be a Pearl Jam fan after 20 years.

Solid, solid post.

I've always been proud to be a fan, an felt sorry for people who arent

I have friends who know I like Pearl Jam but they're (usually) kind enough not to mock me too mercilessly for it.

It's not the sort of thing I'd probably voluntarily divulge unless I knew I was in safe waters, however. It's easier to just avoid the discussion unless it directly comes up.

[dprival78]

how many phone books is eddy standing on in that photo?

[EJ]

I hate both I am mine and lbc. Bleh.

You will, of course, be shocked to learn that I am mine is my favorite song from riot act AND binaural

I wish i was

I can't fathom having a producer play piano all over your records when you have a piano player already.

Totally agree. It makes zero sense to me. I thought people were making it up for the longest time.

Yeah, but Boom isn't a member of Pearl Jam.

YOU SURE ABOUT THAT?

Matt needs to introduce the rest of the band to that fountain of youth he's found. Isn't he the oldest?

Pretty sure Ken has at least a decade on the next oldest guy.

[gems and rhinestones]

I can't fathom having a producer play piano all over your records when you have a piano player already.

Totally agree. It makes zero sense to me. I thought people were making it up for the longest time.

Yeah, but Boom isn't a member of Pearl Jam.

YOU SURE ABOUT THAT?

Yep we're sure.

http://pearljam.com/band/

[Waverider]

Hmmm...."Mind your manners" utube video at 880,000 views....while "Sirens" is at 840,000. Aug.23rd for MYM, and 2 days ago for Sirens.....that says something.

[Dr. Van Nostrand]

Hmmm...."Mind your manners" utube video at 880,000 views....while "Sirens" is at 840,000. Aug.23rd for MYM, and 2 days ago for Sirens.....that says something.

It apparently means sirens is almost better then MYM

[Jorge]

Hmmm...."Mind your manners" utube video at 880,000 views....while "Sirens" is at 840,000. Aug.23rd for MYM, and 2 days ago for Sirens.....that says something.

Not really, as the video for "Sirens" is the only way to officially listen to the song without buying it on iTunes.

You need to combine the views of the "Mind Your Manners" music video to the views from the video they used to premiere the song, which is currently at 1,698,642

[Thejambi]

Hmmm...."Mind your manners" utube video at 880,000 views....while "Sirens" is at 840,000. Aug.23rd for MYM, and 2 days ago for Sirens.....that says something.

Not really, as the video for "Sirens" is the only way to officially listen to the song without buying it on iTunes.

You need to combine the views of the "Mind Your Manners" music video to the views from the video they used to premiere the song, which is currently at 1,698,642

Wow and here I thought I liked Sirens more.

[Dr. Van Nostrand]

Hmmm...."Mind your manners" utube video at 880,000 views....while "Sirens" is at 840,000. Aug.23rd for MYM, and 2 days ago for Sirens.....that says something.

Not really, as the video for "Sirens" is the only way to officially listen to the song without buying it on iTunes.

You need to combine the views of the "Mind Your Manners" music video to the views from the video they used to premiere the song, which is currently at 1,698,642

Wow and here I thought I liked Sirens more.

Its all right there in the numbers, you definitely like MYM more

[AllNiteThing]

Hmmm...."Mind your manners" utube video at 880,000 views....while "Sirens" is at 840,000. Aug.23rd for MYM, and 2 days ago for Sirens.....that says something.

Not really, as the video for "Sirens" is the only way to officially listen to the song without buying it on iTunes.

You need to combine the views of the "Mind Your Manners" music video to the views from the video they used to premiere the song, which is currently at 1,698,642

Wow and here I thought I liked Sirens more.

Its all right there in the numbers, you definitely like MYM more

Which one should I like if I want to be a fanboi?

[Dr. Van Nostrand]

Hmmm...."Mind your manners" utube video at 880,000 views....while "Sirens" is at 840,000. Aug.23rd for MYM, and 2 days ago for Sirens.....that says something.

Not really, as the video for "Sirens" is the only way to officially listen to the song without buying it on iTunes.

You need to combine the views of the "Mind Your Manners" music video to the views from the video they used to premiere the song, which is currently at 1,698,642

Wow and here I thought I liked Sirens more.

Its all right there in the numbers, you definitely like MYM more

Which one should I like if I want to be a fanboi?

How did you feel about each of them on your first listen?

[Thejambi]

Hmmm...."Mind your manners" utube video at 880,000 views....while "Sirens" is at 840,000. Aug.23rd for MYM, and 2 days ago for Sirens.....that says something.

Not really, as the video for "Sirens" is the only way to officially listen to the song without buying it on iTunes.

You need to combine the views of the "Mind Your Manners" music video to the views from the video they used to premiere the song, which is currently at 1,698,642

Wow and here I thought I liked Sirens more.

Its all right there in the numbers, you definitely like MYM more

Which one should I like if I want to be a fanboi?

How did you feel about each of them on your first listen?

We are really breaking down the walls of subjectivity here.

[AllNiteThing]

Hmmm...."Mind your manners" utube video at 880,000 views....while "Sirens" is at 840,000. Aug.23rd for MYM, and 2 days ago for Sirens.....that says something.

Not really, as the video for "Sirens" is the only way to officially listen to the song without buying it on iTunes.

You need to combine the views of the "Mind Your Manners" music video to the views from the video they used to premiere the song, which is currently at 1,698,642

Wow and here I thought I liked Sirens more.

Its all right there in the numbers, you definitely like MYM more

Which one should I like if I want to be a fanboi?

How did you feel about each of them on your first listen?

Both of them are...