Dark Matter (song)

General Pearl Jam discussion.
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Dark Matter Initial Reactions

5 Stars
33
17%
4 Stars
92
48%
3 Stars
56
29%
2 Stars
8
4%
1 Star
3
2%
 
Total votes: 192

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oneway23
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Re: Dark Matter (song)

Post by oneway23 »

Ms Harmless wrote:
rick malone wrote:Did you notice how PJ and Foo Fighters are never in the same place at the same time? Clever management.
I expected this to end with "are we sure they aren't the same band?" and not "clever management"
Expectations subverted
We still make records to be listened to — not that everyone will listen to a record track one to twelve in a row or side A or Side B — but we still make 'em in case somebody does want to listen to it like that, that's how we make em…
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Re: Dark Matter (song)

Post by BurtReynolds »

elliseamos wrote:Hi, Burt!
HOWDY
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Re: Dark Matter (song)

Post by BurtReynolds »

oneway23 wrote:
BurtReynolds wrote:A lot of it was pj's own narrative. They leaned into it pretty hard. Shit, Green River is more relevant than MLB.
Difference is, the MLB story had the "shoulda coulda woulda,...on the cusp" angle to it...Very similar to the myth that propelled the 'Mats cult status after their demise. If ONLY they hadn't botched SNL...If only, if only...

Never bought that about the 'Mats, much as I adore 'em, but, it was a similar form of reflexive journalism that cultivated the narrative .
In any case, I always thought it was mostly nonsense. At best MLB would have been another mediocre late 80s rock band that would have been washed out with all the others when the grunge tide hit. Plus, it was only two guys out of the five.
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oneway23
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Re: Dark Matter (song)

Post by oneway23 »

BurtReynolds wrote:
oneway23 wrote:
BurtReynolds wrote:A lot of it was pj's own narrative. They leaned into it pretty hard. Shit, Green River is more relevant than MLB.
Difference is, the MLB story had the "shoulda coulda woulda,...on the cusp" angle to it...Very similar to the myth that propelled the 'Mats cult status after their demise. If ONLY they hadn't botched SNL...If only, if only...

Never bought that about the 'Mats, much as I adore 'em, but, it was a similar form of reflexive journalism that cultivated the narrative .
In any case, I always thought it was mostly nonsense. At best MLB would have been another mediocre late 80s rock band that would have been washed out with all the others when the grunge tide hit. Plus, it was only two guys out of the five.
Pretty much...spot on, Burt.
We still make records to be listened to — not that everyone will listen to a record track one to twelve in a row or side A or Side B — but we still make 'em in case somebody does want to listen to it like that, that's how we make em…
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Re: Dark Matter (song)

Post by spike »

Bammer wrote:Back to the Foo Fighters.

It’s probably been mentioned but they are only who they are because of Nirvana. You have to factor that in.

Pearl Jam wasn’t immediately supported by this massive existing Mother Love Bone fan base all over the world.
Let’s not assume a massive amount of Nirvana fans made the leap. If anything, it seems what the Foos do would piss off Nirvana fans.
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Re: Dark Matter (song)

Post by oneway23 »

spike wrote:
Bammer wrote:Back to the Foo Fighters.

It’s probably been mentioned but they are only who they are because of Nirvana. You have to factor that in.

Pearl Jam wasn’t immediately supported by this massive existing Mother Love Bone fan base all over the world.
Let’s not assume a massive amount of Nirvana fans made the leap. If anything, it seems what the Foos do would piss off Nirvana fans.
At that time, in that moment, the Foos were the right amalgamation of influences with a smidge of resilient positivity. People were drained by many of the generation's faces dropping...It was an effective combination, at least for the first couple.

Anecdotal, yes, but, almost every band I knew in HS accepted the Foos with open arms and added their songs to the Nirvana covers they had all been doing.
We still make records to be listened to — not that everyone will listen to a record track one to twelve in a row or side A or Side B — but we still make 'em in case somebody does want to listen to it like that, that's how we make em…
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Re: Dark Matter (song)

Post by Ms Harmless »

oneway23 wrote:
Ms Harmless wrote:
rick malone wrote:Did you notice how PJ and Foo Fighters are never in the same place at the same time? Clever management.
I expected this to end with "are we sure they aren't the same band?" and not "clever management"
Expectations subverted
he was so preoccupied with whether he something else, he didn't stop to think if he
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oneway23
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Re: Dark Matter (song)

Post by oneway23 »

Ms Harmless wrote:
oneway23 wrote:
Ms Harmless wrote:
rick malone wrote:Did you notice how PJ and Foo Fighters are never in the same place at the same time? Clever management.
I expected this to end with "are we sure they aren't the same band?" and not "clever management"
Expectations subverted
he was so preoccupied with whether he something else, he didn't stop to think if he
Image
We still make records to be listened to — not that everyone will listen to a record track one to twelve in a row or side A or Side B — but we still make 'em in case somebody does want to listen to it like that, that's how we make em…
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Re: Dark Matter (song)

Post by Bammer »

oneway23 wrote:
Bammer wrote:Back to the Foo Fighters.

It’s probably been mentioned but they are only who they are because of Nirvana. You have to factor that in.

Pearl Jam wasn’t immediately supported by this massive existing Mother Love Bone fan base all over the world.
Great point, Bammer...

There was obviously some pre-existing industry support for MLB given their tragedy, but, nothing akin to the outpouring of public support Dave had. There was plenty of skepticism, too. The drummer a guitar player and a frontman? OK, sure. Every drummer is a failed frontman, after all, right? LOL. To be fair, he still needed to have the goods when his time came.
You could also probably argue that Pearl Jam never hits it so big in the first place without Nirvana I guess.
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Re: Dark Matter (song)

Post by oneway23 »

Bammer wrote: You could also probably argue that Pearl Jam never hits it so big in the first place without Nirvana I guess.
Could...One critical aspect I think maybe gets overlooked here, also, is the effect Soundgarden had when they signed to A&M. That kicked a lot of doors down for pretty much all who followed.

I know that's a side conversation, but, that had a huge impact at the time, with reverberations lasting years.
We still make records to be listened to — not that everyone will listen to a record track one to twelve in a row or side A or Side B — but we still make 'em in case somebody does want to listen to it like that, that's how we make em…
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Re: Dark Matter (song)

Post by epilogue »

Ms Harmless wrote:
oneway23 wrote:
Ms Harmless wrote:
rick malone wrote:Did you notice how PJ and Foo Fighters are never in the same place at the same time? Clever management.
I expected this to end with "are we sure they aren't the same band?" and not "clever management"
Expectations subverted
he was so preoccupied with whether he something else, he didn't stop to think if he
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tragabigzanda
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Re: Dark Matter (song)

Post by tragabigzanda »

pearl jam sucks now
Last edited by tragabigzanda on Thu January 01, 2026 7:30 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Val
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Re: Dark Matter (song)

Post by Val »

Just listened to it in my car again and the enjoyment level hasn’t dropped.
Such a good rock song and the performance is top notch
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elliseamos
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Re: Dark Matter (song)

Post by elliseamos »

Val wrote:Just listened to it in my car again and the enjoyment level hasn’t dropped.
Such a good rock song and the performance is top notch
This has been my experience.

Trag you're currently at 2 or 1?
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Re: Dark Matter (song)

Post by RockPusher »

I've heard this song probably around 30 times now, and it still feels fresh. I have an open mind and have tried to objectively analyze whether production values are hurting my experience of it. I can feel that criticism when I listen to Angry by the Stones, so I get it in general and in particular with Watt. Thankfully, there is no such interference happening for me with this track. The music comes thru, and I am happy.
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Val
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Re: Dark Matter (song)

Post by Val »

RockPusher wrote:I've heard this song probably around 30 times now, and it still feels fresh. I have an open mind and have tried to objectively analyze whether production values are hurting my experience of it. I can feel that criticism when I listen to Angry by the Stones, so I get it in general and in particular with Watt. Thankfully, there is no such interference happening for me with this track. The music comes thru, and I am happy.
The drumming is groovy and creative
The vocal part is mature and musically sound
The pre-chorus is near damn epic
The solo is peak Mike stuff

So it’s a bit overpolished and the drums sound a bit artificial — big deal!
It’s still a good, solid, hard hitting rock song to make anyone proud :peace:
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Re: Dark Matter (song)

Post by stip »

one of the reasons the drums may not be standing out to me as problematic is the you are style electric/robotic sheen on the guitars. it does all feel of a piece. its not like the rest of the song is aiming for a naturalism that the druns get in the way off

I almost certainly would not have pegged them as a possible issue if not for the conversations here
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Re: Dark Matter (song)

Post by tragabigzanda »

pearl jam sucks now
Last edited by tragabigzanda on Thu January 01, 2026 7:30 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Dark Matter (song)

Post by Strat »

tragabigzanda wrote:
elliseamos wrote:
Val wrote:Just listened to it in my car again and the enjoyment level hasn’t dropped.
Such a good rock song and the performance is top notch
This has been my experience.

Trag you're currently at 2 or 1?
I'm at a 2.
Only based on production and nothing about the song itself which i think you actually like?

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Re: Dark Matter (song)

Post by Ms Harmless »

stip wrote:one of the reasons the drums may not be standing out to me as problematic is the you are style electric/robotic sheen on the guitars. it does all feel of a piece. its not like the rest of the song is aiming for a naturalism that the druns get in the way off

I almost certainly would not have pegged them as a possible issue if not for the conversations here
same

I'm actually wondering if they'll sound more natural on other songs, making this one sound more purposefully "You Are" (or DOTC in terms of artificial drums) in comparison; it's interesting that acoustic drums only start to dominate in DOTC part way through, a good portion of the beginning is drum machine / samples, and yet the vast majority here don't see that as a negative; is that in part because there are different drum-mixing approaches across the album? so we can allow ourselves a little electronic as a treat?
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