Dark Matter: Official Album Thread

[blueviper]

Trag dedication to using Wotman instead of Watt has been admirable.


Reminds me of back in the day when right wingers loved to use Barack Hussein Obama in full.

[Strat]

Fuck eds happiness, really.

[Strat]

Trag dedication to using Wotman instead of Watt has been admirable.


Reminds me of back in the day when right wingers loved to use Barack Hussein Obama in full.

[stip]

Better Man is the only old compositon i could find being closer to what he is trying here yes.

Agree with that.

around the bend? its not bright and cheerful but its in the ballpark

mileage will vary on ALL of these - whether you like them immediately, they grow on you, or they never click. I and others are just pushing back on the idea that its new. this has been in the DNA for a long while

[Jaeti]

I like pearl jam

THIS

[Strat]

how bad it sounds is pretty new though.

[Jaeti]

I think what people are really responding to is the shift in the blunt sentimentality of the lyrics. Looking superficially at the general concept of "Vedder-penned ballads," then yes, things are pretty much the same as they've always been. But the type of on-the-nose sentiment on display in "Something Special," "Future Days," "Just Breathe," etc., really wasn't part of the playbook prior to Backspacer (or thereabouts), even in similarly structured songs like "Thumbing My Way," which contains its share of classic new-agey Eddie-isms but is not the same category of thing that these other songs are -- straightforward, unambiguous, Hallmarky tributes to specific other people in his life. There is something conceptually and fundamentally different about how these songs register, beyond just being acoustic/ballad-type songs, and beyond just "I like those old songs and I don't like these new ones." No reason they can't still be enjoyable, but it feels disingenuous to say that they're basically no different than "Sometimes" or "Off He Goes."

THIS, too.

[Ms Harmless]

I think what people are really responding to is the shift in the blunt sentimentality of the lyrics. Looking superficially at the general concept of "Vedder-penned ballads," then yes, things are pretty much the same as they've always been. But the type of on-the-nose sentiment on display in "Something Special," "Future Days," "Just Breathe," etc., really wasn't part of the playbook prior to Backspacer (or thereabouts), even in similarly structured songs like "Thumbing My Way," which contains its share of classic new-agey Eddie-isms but is not the same category of thing that these other songs are -- straightforward, unambiguous, Hallmarky tributes to specific other people in his life. There is something conceptually and fundamentally different about how these songs register, beyond just being acoustic/ballad-type songs, and beyond just "I like those old songs and I don't like these new ones." No reason they can't still be enjoyable, but it feels disingenuous to pretend that they're basically no different than "Sometimes" or "Off He Goes."

oh, they are different, and I'm not trying to erase that difference entirely; but I think you've argued it well here, as opposed to literally just going "that song nice... this song suck"

Ed has completely taken the mask off his sentimentality and no longer cares if it sounds cool to you or I, as long as it communicates his heart; in a way, that's new and schmaltzy, in another way it's classic Ed

I would argue that it's not become the only possible Ed mode, if only because the Gigaton ballads were more classic (to me)

[Jaeti]

Trag dedication to using Wotman instead of Watt has been admirable.


Reminds me of back in the day when right wingers loved to use Barack Hussein Obama in full.

As well, THIS.

[digster]

it tells us a bit - that there has been more active interest in these songs since spotify came out, that these songs are so much higher than the other songs on their respectice records (and were not all singles) speaks to a wider audience being drawn to them. Not perfect by any means, but not nothing.

Eh, I'm just not sure about that. Lecherouslittlestump reminded me of Future Days showing up in a massively popular video game; who knows how many of those plays came from someone looking up what that song was one time? If that had happened in 2008 instead of 2023, we'd never know, because Spotify wasn't around then. It doesn't give you any context for why a number is what it is. Has anyone here ever heard Future Days pop up outside of the Pearl Jam bubble in the way something like Just Breathe did?

[Ms Harmless]

how bad it sounds is pretty new though.

totally it is; I don't hate Backspacer but I do think it signalled a major turn in their production sensibilities

[stip]

I think what people are really responding to is the shift in the blunt sentimentality of the lyrics. Looking superficially at the general concept of "Vedder-penned ballads," then yes, things are pretty much the same as they've always been. But the type of on-the-nose sentiment on display in "Something Special," "Future Days," "Just Breathe," etc., really wasn't part of the playbook prior to Backspacer (or thereabouts), even in similarly structured songs like "Thumbing My Way," which contains its share of classic new-agey Eddie-isms but is not the same category of thing that these other songs are -- straightforward, unambiguous, Hallmarky tributes to specific other people in his life. There is something conceptually and fundamentally different about how these songs register, beyond just being acoustic/ballad-type songs, and beyond just "I like those old songs and I don't like these new ones." No reason they can't still be enjoyable, but it feels disingenuous to say that they're basically no different than "Sometimes" or "Off He Goes."

i think they reflect his journey and where he is in his life, but the artistic instincts (if thats the right phrase and it may not be) are the same. The 2024 Eddie who wrote Something Special (or lets use, say, future days since we know it in full) and the one who wrote around the bend are the same person responding to a different context. I see a continuium.

[stip]

it tells us a bit - that there has been more active interest in these songs since spotify came out, that these songs are so much higher than the other songs on their respectice records (and were not all singles) speaks to a wider audience being drawn to them. Not perfect by any means, but not nothing.

Eh, I'm just not sure about that. Lecherouslittlestump reminded me of Future Days showing up in a massively popular video game; who knows how many of those plays came from someone looking up what that song was one time? If that had happened in 2008 instead of 2023, we'd never know, because Spotify wasn't around then. It doesn't give you any context for why a number is what it is. Has anyone here ever heard Future Days pop up outside of the Pearl Jam bubble in the way something like Just Breathe did?

just once or twice. i’m not saying it was a massive hit, but 36 million plays
feels like more than video game hw. it may have embedded itself in some popular playlists, et c

[tragabigzanda]

pearl jam sucks now

[blueviper]

Yeah, this new song is doing nothing for me, and I have a daughter.


I think Eddie's "Skipping" song is a lot more resonant.

[lecherouslittlestump]

Yeah, this new song is doing nothing for me, and I have a daughter.


I think Eddie's "Skipping" song is a lot more resonant.

I was skipping
Skipping
Skipping forward back

[Kevin Davis]

Ed has completely taken the mask off his sentimentality and no longer cares if it sounds cool to you or I, as long as it communicates his heart; in a way, that's new and schmaltzy, in another way it's classic Ed

I would argue that it's not become the only possible Ed mode, if only because the Gigaton ballads were more classic (to me)

i think they reflect his journey and where he is in his life, but the artistic instincts (if thats the right phrase and it may not be) are the same. The 2024 Eddie who wrote Something Special (or lets use, say, future days since we know it in full) and the one who wrote around the bend are the same person responding to a different context. I see a continuium.

What's somewhat interesting is that Ed's writing in his rock songs -- "Who Ever Said," "Superblood Wolfmoon," etc. -- has gotten increasingly woolly and wordy, where his ballads have become increasingly straightfoward and unpoetic. It used to be the other way -- big, raw emotion in songs like "Not For You," "Corduroy," "Leash," etc., but a bit more obtuse on songs like "Immortality," "Sometimes," "Off He Goes," etc. I'm sure there are counter-examples on both sides, but there does seem to be an element of, whatever emotion he's feeling the biggest at the time just sort of comes out as this unfiltered thing, where the rest of it goes through a more self-conscious process.

[Kevin Davis]

Mike Watt slept over my house once.

You mean like in a plane, or on your roof?

[Ms Harmless]

Ed has completely taken the mask off his sentimentality and no longer cares if it sounds cool to you or I, as long as it communicates his heart; in a way, that's new and schmaltzy, in another way it's classic Ed

I would argue that it's not become the only possible Ed mode, if only because the Gigaton ballads were more classic (to me)

i think they reflect his journey and where he is in his life, but the artistic instincts (if thats the right phrase and it may not be) are the same. The 2024 Eddie who wrote Something Special (or lets use, say, future days since we know it in full) and the one who wrote around the bend are the same person responding to a different context. I see a continuium.

What's somewhat interesting is that Ed's writing in his rock songs -- "Who Ever Said," "Superblood Wolfmoon," etc. -- has gotten increasingly woolly and wordy, where his ballads have become increasingly straightfoward and unpoetic. It used to be the other way -- big, raw emotion in songs like "Not For You," "Corduroy," "Leash," etc., but a bit more obtuse on songs like "Immortality," "Sometimes," "Off He Goes," etc. I'm sure there are counter-examples on both sides, but there does seem to be an element of, whatever emotion he's feeling the biggest at the time just sort of comes out as this unfiltered thing, where the rest of it goes through a more self-conscious process.

good observation

[Strat]

Mike Watt slept over my house once.

You mean like in a plane, or on your roof?

Big Plane