Dark Matter (song)

[stip]

I find discussion about the song interesting when it's, you know, about the song

We haven't yet squeezed every conceivable angle out of this pretty decent song?
Can it even be called a late-career highlight?
It's been squeezed so dry even stip is tired of typing about it.

Don't worry. I'm just resting.

I would love it so much if you hyped your DM review to a feverish crescendo, only for it to be a dozen words total, and then made us all wait two to three months for the real meal.

Dark Matter: The TSIS Review

Hey, it's pretty good!

[bodysnatcher]

goddammit oneway

[oneway23]

goddammit oneway

What can I say? stip knows just what to say to woo me back.

[tragabigzanda]

pearl jam sucks now

[guitar_davey]

As the songs lyrics have settled in a bit the elements that really stick out to me are the verses, which have a slight air of mystery and discovery that I find compelling. Like a surprising self-diagnosis. I'm slightly disappointed in the Arrested the press sequence (delivery is good) just because it disrupts that flow and I like when Eddie's writing has a clear format with variations in each iteration (like the I Am Mine chorus).

But the chorus is really the highlight for me - the Vedderisms are good (it's strange these days when everyone else pays for someone else's mistakes is a very Eddie line), and the 'the blame takes shape' sequence is a nice riff on the dark matter imagery - something significant forming out of something substanceless and hidden - the invisible becoming visible, and how empowering it is to even see it, even if you can't do anything about it yet.

It's an idea that runs through a lot of their catalog - a legacy of their interest in Daniel Quinn for a while.

Do you mean that the "arrested the press" couplet is thematically jarring within the context of the song? I especially like that part.

[stip]

As the songs lyrics have settled in a bit the elements that really stick out to me are the verses, which have a slight air of mystery and discovery that I find compelling. Like a surprising self-diagnosis. I'm slightly disappointed in the Arrested the press sequence (delivery is good) just because it disrupts that flow and I like when Eddie's writing has a clear format with variations in each iteration (like the I Am Mine chorus).

But the chorus is really the highlight for me - the Vedderisms are good (it's strange these days when everyone else pays for someone else's mistakes is a very Eddie line), and the 'the blame takes shape' sequence is a nice riff on the dark matter imagery - something significant forming out of something substanceless and hidden - the invisible becoming visible, and how empowering it is to even see it, even if you can't do anything about it yet.

It's an idea that runs through a lot of their catalog - a legacy of their interest in Daniel Quinn for a while.

Do you mean that the "arrested the press" couplet is thematically jarring within the context of the song? I especially like that part.

No, it's thematically appropriate. I've got no problem with the lyrics as lyrics. But otherwise there is a common structure of

*Action taken against me
*Action taken against me
*....dark matter

a growing awareness of the ways in which they are being victimized and abused, and the language is internalizing and intimate.

Steal the light from our eyes
Drain the blood from our hearts
In all of this dark matter
Take the breath from our chest
Break the thoughts in our mind
We're losing time, dark matter


It's important that he's using we/us/our language - it's a political song and there is solidarity in being abused/mistreated.

The next time this shows up it's dealing more with social relationships between each other, but it follows the same structure.

Eroding away
We're pulling apart
In all of this dark matter

and then we get


I once heard it said
And it stuck in my head
Arrested the press
No one knows what happened next

which works in the context of the song's ideas - it's almost a concrete example of dark matter at work. But it does (for me) disrupt the flow and structure that had defined the verses earlier. I'd like another sequence like the ones we had gotten, or just abandoning the structure entirely for more concrete examples in part 1 and two. That it's not a three line sequence is also a little jarring.

Again, no problem with them as lyrics, but I personally really like it when lyrics are variations on a common structure, and I think Eddie does that well.

[stip]

Spoiler: show

it's a song about recovering agency

[guitar_davey]

As the songs lyrics have settled in a bit the elements that really stick out to me are the verses, which have a slight air of mystery and discovery that I find compelling. Like a surprising self-diagnosis. I'm slightly disappointed in the Arrested the press sequence (delivery is good) just because it disrupts that flow and I like when Eddie's writing has a clear format with variations in each iteration (like the I Am Mine chorus).

But the chorus is really the highlight for me - the Vedderisms are good (it's strange these days when everyone else pays for someone else's mistakes is a very Eddie line), and the 'the blame takes shape' sequence is a nice riff on the dark matter imagery - something significant forming out of something substanceless and hidden - the invisible becoming visible, and how empowering it is to even see it, even if you can't do anything about it yet.

It's an idea that runs through a lot of their catalog - a legacy of their interest in Daniel Quinn for a while.

Do you mean that the "arrested the press" couplet is thematically jarring within the context of the song? I especially like that part.

No, it's thematically appropriate. I've got no problem with the lyrics as lyrics. But otherwise there is a common structure of

*Action taken against me
*Action taken against me
*....dark matter

a growing awareness of the ways in which they are being victimized and abused, and the language is internalizing and intimate.

Steal the light from our eyes
Drain the blood from our hearts
In all of this dark matter
Take the breath from our chest
Break the thoughts in our mind
We're losing time, dark matter


It's important that he's using we/us/our language - it's a political song and there is solidarity in being abused/mistreated.

The next time this shows up it's dealing more with social relationships between each other, but it follows the same structure.

Eroding away
We're pulling apart
In all of this dark matter

and then we get


I once heard it said
And it stuck in my head
Arrested the press
No one knows what happened next

which works in the context of the song's ideas - it's almost a concrete example of dark matter at work. But it does (for me) disrupt the flow and structure that had defined the verses earlier. I'd like another sequence like the ones we had gotten, or just abandoning the structure entirely for more concrete examples in part 1 and two. That it's not a three line sequence is also a little jarring.

Again, no problem with them as lyrics, but I personally really like it when lyrics are variations on a common structure, and I think Eddie does that well.

Appreciate the thoughtful response!

[stip]

beats answering work e-mails

[guitar_davey]

beats answering work e-mails

OK, good, I'm not alone in doing this today.

[Ms Harmless]

As the songs lyrics have settled in a bit the elements that really stick out to me are the verses, which have a slight air of mystery and discovery that I find compelling. Like a surprising self-diagnosis. I'm slightly disappointed in the Arrested the press sequence (delivery is good) just because it disrupts that flow and I like when Eddie's writing has a clear format with variations in each iteration (like the I Am Mine chorus).

But the chorus is really the highlight for me - the Vedderisms are good (it's strange these days when everyone else pays for someone else's mistakes is a very Eddie line), and the 'the blame takes shape' sequence is a nice riff on the dark matter imagery - something significant forming out of something substanceless and hidden - the invisible becoming visible, and how empowering it is to even see it, even if you can't do anything about it yet.

It's an idea that runs through a lot of their catalog - a legacy of their interest in Daniel Quinn for a while.

Do you mean that the "arrested the press" couplet is thematically jarring within the context of the song? I especially like that part.

No, it's thematically appropriate. I've got no problem with the lyrics as lyrics. But otherwise there is a common structure of

*Action taken against me
*Action taken against me
*....dark matter

a growing awareness of the ways in which they are being victimized and abused, and the language is internalizing and intimate.

Steal the light from our eyes
Drain the blood from our hearts
In all of this dark matter
Take the breath from our chest
Break the thoughts in our mind
We're losing time, dark matter


It's important that he's using we/us/our language - it's a political song and there is solidarity in being abused/mistreated.

The next time this shows up it's dealing more with social relationships between each other, but it follows the same structure.

Eroding away
We're pulling apart
In all of this dark matter

and then we get


I once heard it said
And it stuck in my head
Arrested the press
No one knows what happened next

which works in the context of the song's ideas - it's almost a concrete example of dark matter at work. But it does (for me) disrupt the flow and structure that had defined the verses earlier. I'd like another sequence like the ones we had gotten, or just abandoning the structure entirely for more concrete examples in part 1 and two. That it's not a three line sequence is also a little jarring.

Again, no problem with them as lyrics, but I personally really like it when lyrics are variations on a common structure, and I think Eddie does that well.

Appreciate the thoughtful response!

actually, I'm not sure I get these lines:

"arrested the press... no one knows what's happening next"

those are the words that got stuck in Ed's head?

[stip]

I think it's the idea (broadly) that if you go after the press (in any number of ways) you render abuses of power invisible. It does stick out as the one concrete example in otherwise abstract song. But I read the line as him cynically recalling someone sharing this as a strategy for maintaining power (or unpacking how those in power hold onto it).

it's a very Bush era line. And in the US media consolidation and private ownership is a much bigger problem. It's an odd choice to hang your hat on in this song

[guitar_davey]

I think it's the idea (broadly) that if you go after the press (in any number of ways) you render abuses of power invisible. It does stick out as the one concrete example in otherwise abstract song. But I read the line as him cynically recalling someone sharing this as a strategy for maintaining power (or unpacking how those in power hold onto it).

it's a very Bush era line. And in the US media consolidation and private ownership is a much bigger problem. It's an odd choice to hang your hat on in this song

I took it as very Trump/far right specific. Going after the press, even to the point of being very threatening to journalists, seems like an especially trendy tool in their kit these days.

[Jaeti]

To be honest this entire thread is fucking boring

Since they've teased two stanzas of "Wreckage" lyrics on Instagram now, can we fire up that song thread as an escape hatch from this one?

[Ms Harmless]

I think it's the idea (broadly) that if you go after the press (in any number of ways) you render abuses of power invisible. It does stick out as the one concrete example in otherwise abstract song. But I read the line as him cynically recalling someone sharing this as a strategy for maintaining power (or unpacking how those in power hold onto it).

it's a very Bush era line. And in the US media consolidation and private ownership is a much bigger problem. It's an odd choice to hang your hat on in this song

I took it as very Trump/far right specific. Going after the press, even to the point of being very threatening to journalists, seems like an especially trendy tool in their kit these days.

"fake news!"

[Jorge]

One of the comments on the Justin Hawkins video says "Dark Matter" is "like a U2 song but not as good," which is just puzzling to me. Does anyone else think this sounds like... U2?

[stip]

One of the comments on the Justin Hawkins video says "Dark Matter" is "like a U2 song but not as good," which is just puzzling to me. Does anyone else think this sounds like... U2?

No. I can't think of a single analog. Pearl Jam has plenty of songs that try to reach similar emotional spaces to U2 songs, but the only time the music really feels like it gets close are the 'patterns' at the end of FoN, which always felt really U2 to me.

Maybe the Fixer?

[stip]

I think it's the idea (broadly) that if you go after the press (in any number of ways) you render abuses of power invisible. It does stick out as the one concrete example in otherwise abstract song. But I read the line as him cynically recalling someone sharing this as a strategy for maintaining power (or unpacking how those in power hold onto it).

it's a very Bush era line. And in the US media consolidation and private ownership is a much bigger problem. It's an odd choice to hang your hat on in this song

I took it as very Trump/far right specific. Going after the press, even to the point of being very threatening to journalists, seems like an especially trendy tool in their kit these days.

Fair point. But the Trump stuff always felt like bullying, even if the fascist elements are a huge fucking problem. Control over information as a political strategy (where you can't see the strings) is more of the W era. It's what came to mind for me first, but you're probably right in terms of what Eddie was thinking of

[Ms Harmless]

I don't know why it didn't occur to me before but also, the control and erosion of the free press directly links to (assists) the "unaccountable" in the bridge, so I suppose you could argue there's a loose chronology in Veddman's train of thought

[blueviper]

I've listened to Idles' "Grace", "Gift Horse", and "Dancer" and I think they aren't good.