Vitalogy: Official Album Thread

[Ms Harmless]

Stupid Mop is wonderful.
It’s eerie, and mysterious, and unusual, and thought-provoking, and off kilter, and it evokes a lot of different emotions.
These are all the things that constitute an art piece.
Stupid Mop is an outstanding art piece on Vitalogy.
I like to think of it as Pearl Jam’s version of Ken Kesey visiting an insane asylum and conceiving One Flew Over A Cuckoo’s Nest.

completely agree, and "Bugs" is almost a prologue (I love Cuckoo's Nest!)

[Val]

Stupid Mop is wonderful.
It’s eerie, and mysterious, and unusual, and thought-provoking, and off kilter, and it evokes a lot of different emotions.
These are all the things that constitute an art piece.
Stupid Mop is an outstanding art piece on Vitalogy.
I like to think of it as Pearl Jam’s version of Ken Kesey visiting an insane asylum and conceiving One Flew Over A Cuckoo’s Nest.

completely agree, and "Bugs" is almost a prologue (I love Cuckoo's Nest!)

Remember when Ratched caused Billie’s death?
We were all Je Suis McMurphy back then. I’d have died trying to kill her, if i had to.

[Jorge]

Hey, spoilers!

[Val]

Hey, spoilers!

What

[Ms Harmless]

Stupid Mop is wonderful.
It’s eerie, and mysterious, and unusual, and thought-provoking, and off kilter, and it evokes a lot of different emotions.
These are all the things that constitute an art piece.
Stupid Mop is an outstanding art piece on Vitalogy.
I like to think of it as Pearl Jam’s version of Ken Kesey visiting an insane asylum and conceiving One Flew Over A Cuckoo’s Nest.

completely agree, and "Bugs" is almost a prologue (I love Cuckoo's Nest!)

Remember when Ratched caused Billie’s death?
We were all Je Suis McMurphy back then. I’d have died trying to kill her, if i had to.

yep

[stip]

I actually do like Bugs, for all my issues with Stupid Mop.

[Val]

Come to think of it, Stupid Mop is like that because it’s the only way it can be.
I hear that child’s voice and the only conclusion I draw from what I’m hearing is someone is abusing her.

“My spanking…”

Someone regularly beats her up. She tries to sweep the corridors spotless and shiny in hopes that when “they” see how clean the floors are, then maybe they won’t hurt her.
But that stupid old sponge mop, it leaves muddy traces on the floor, because it’s old, and filthy, and porous. That mop is her biggest enemy. “Dumb old sponge mop!” What are you doing, you’re putting me in the way of danger, you dumb old sponge mop!..

“She prides herself on her cleaning habits”, chimes in the voice of an adult, obviously an administrator or head nurse, and you can almost picture him smirking. The bastard.

“My spanking… it makes me feel loved.”

Victims of abuse will confuse their tormentors for benefactors. How many times have we heard that story…

And then the ending. The only escape for the defenseless.

That’s why Stupid Mop is so jarring and almost cacophonous. It is MEANT to evoke sensations of fear, helplessness, hatred and dispair. It’s not just a song, it’s a reflection of a personal horror and of a depressing realization of one’s inability to fix the many blood chilling wrongs of society.

It was supposed to repulse you.

[Ms Harmless]

Come to think of it, Stupid Mop is like that because it’s the only way it can be.
I hear that child’s voice and the only conclusion I draw from what I’m hearing is someone is abusing her.

“My spanking…”

Someone regularly beats her up. She tries to sweep the corridors spotless and shiny in hopes that when “they” see how clean the floors are, then maybe they won’t hurt her.
But that stupid old sponge mop, it leaves muddy traces on the floor, because it’s old, and filthy, and porous. That mop is her biggest enemy. “Dumb old sponge mop!” What are you doing, you’re putting me in the way of danger, you dumb old sponge mop!..

“She prides herself on her cleaning habits”, chimes in the voice of an adult, obviously an administrator or head nurse, and you can almost picture him smirking. The bastard.

“My spanking… it makes me feel loved.”

Victims of abuse will confuse their tormentors for benefactors. How many times have we heard that story…

And then the ending. The only escape for the defenseless.

That’s why Stupid Mop is so jarring and almost cacophonous. It is MEANT to evoke sensations of fear, helplessness, hatred and dispair. It’s not just a song, it’s a reflection of a personal horror and of a depressing realization of one’s inability to fix the many blood chilling wrongs of society.

It was supposed to repulse you.

and that's why it concludes so perfectly what is essentially a concept album about the body, and abuses / exploitations of the body

[Ms Harmless]

Vitalogy is PJ being experimental before Binaural and Riot Act ever came along, and maybe moreso than either of them

[Val]

Vitalogy is PJ being experimental before Binaural and Riot Act ever came along, and maybe moreso than either of them

Just an emotional storm of an album.
Unparalleled even by the boys themselves.

[Ms Harmless]

Vitalogy is PJ being experimental before Binaural and Riot Act ever came along, and maybe moreso than either of them

Just an emotional storm of an album.
Unparalleled even by the boys themselves.

agreed!

[stip]

the problem is it sucks to listen to. All of that can be true (and is) but it is an unpleasant listening experience. It's probably important that it exists, but I only need to hear it maybe once a decade, if that.

[tragabigzanda]

pearl jam sucks now

[blueviper]

I’ll never forget when I first bought Vitalogy and let it play while going to bed. I woke up to Stupid Mop and thought I was having a nightmare.

[Strat]

My wonderful mother drove me to the midinght sale.....i listened to Vitalogy all the way home and fell asleep to it.

Brought it to school the next day and listened at my locker in between classes and when i excused myself to the bathroom.

What a weird 13 year old i was.

[Strat]

Wow, rush of memories just came flooding back to me. I can feel/smell/sense the hallway at my school. I can smell the packaging.

They let students play music over the school PA giving the 5 minute warning to head to homeroom....

I played Tremor Christ.

what a cool 13 year old i was.

[Birds in Hell]

They let students play music over the school PA giving the 5 minute warning to head to homeroom....

This sounds fraught with danger.

[Strat]

They let students play music over the school PA giving the 5 minute warning to head to homeroom....

This sounds fraught with danger.

American is a wild place

[Jaeti]

It’s a goddamn blast to listen to. So much feeling in Jack’s performance. When Jeff’s bass drops in..

Jack?

[Ms Harmless]

Jack plays on Stupid Mop