The most embarrassing thing from PJ’s career - RESULTS

[tragabigzanda]

pearl jam sucks now

[LoathedVermin72]

I will stick with my original choice of the "mosquito bites" rant as the most embarrassing moment

seconded, surprised this isn't in the poll

Meh. She wanted to objectify herself in a public place. Just as an artist no longer controls the narrative once they put their product out there, I think it’s unreasonable to expect some level of sensitivity around bodily autonomy when you’re flashing your tits in front of 10,000 people unsolicited.

"If every girl who pulled her top up educated herself and voted!"

That's where the cringe really hits

Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s an idiotic thing to say. But I see two obvious idiots in this situation.

this is a bizarre take, man

[96583UP]

indeed, 'she was dressed like she wanted it' is not the correct answer

[96583UP]

a real rock n roll social liberal would have been more like 'Fuck yeah!!! Rock n Roll baby!!!!! <guitar solo rifff>'

instead we got whatever weird hybrid of body shame + liberal superiority hypocrisy that the balding smoker guy spewed out reflexively (showing us where his unconscious biases rest)

[Ello Sailor]

If LV really digs into how much of an idiot Trag is he's going to hightail it out of this place. We need a filter of sorts. Something mightier than the foe.

[tragabigzanda]

pearl jam sucks now

[LoathedVermin72]

I will stick with my original choice of the "mosquito bites" rant as the most embarrassing moment

seconded, surprised this isn't in the poll

Meh. She wanted to objectify herself in a public place. Just as an artist no longer controls the narrative once they put their product out there, I think it’s unreasonable to expect some level of sensitivity around bodily autonomy when you’re flashing your tits in front of 10,000 people unsolicited.

"If every girl who pulled her top up educated herself and voted!"

That's where the cringe really hits

Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s an idiotic thing to say. But I see two obvious idiots in this situation.

this is a bizarre take, man

Maybe if I’m lucky my own daughter will be on Girls Gone Wild someday

hard to take this as anything other than crypto-misogyny

[Bammer]

Please add stip as an option for next year’s poll

Stip was an option in one of the polls that he killed after it was up for only like 6 hours

[tragabigzanda]

pearl jam sucks now

[LoathedVermin72]

I will stick with my original choice of the "mosquito bites" rant as the most embarrassing moment

seconded, surprised this isn't in the poll

Meh. She wanted to objectify herself in a public place. Just as an artist no longer controls the narrative once they put their product out there, I think it’s unreasonable to expect some level of sensitivity around bodily autonomy when you’re flashing your tits in front of 10,000 people unsolicited.

"If every girl who pulled her top up educated herself and voted!"

That's where the cringe really hits

Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s an idiotic thing to say. But I see two obvious idiots in this situation.

this is a bizarre take, man

Maybe if I’m lucky my own daughter will be on Girls Gone Wild someday

hard to take this as anything other than crypto-misogyny

You are encouraged to use my Red Mosquito posts to fulfill what narrative makes you happy

did you get weirder in the last few years or something

[tommy]

I will stick with my original choice of the "mosquito bites" rant as the most embarrassing moment

seconded, surprised this isn't in the poll

Meh. She wanted to objectify herself in a public place. Just as an artist no longer controls the narrative once they put their product out there, I think it’s unreasonable to expect some level of sensitivity around bodily autonomy when you’re flashing your tits in front of 10,000 people unsolicited.

"If every girl who pulled her top up educated herself and voted!"

That's where the cringe really hits

Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s an idiotic thing to say. But I see two obvious idiots in this situation.

this is a bizarre take, man

Maybe if I’m lucky my own daughter will be on Girls Gone Wild someday

hard to take this as anything other than crypto-misogyny

You are encouraged to use my Red Mosquito posts to fulfill what narrative makes you happy

did you get weirder in the last few years or something

I think the Trump/Biden/Covid years have been hard on us all.

[Strat]

Team Trag.

[warehouse]

I'm familiar with the band. I actually think this is more natural to who the band is than some of the stuff Ed did in the early '90s like becoming a huge fan of Fugazi, moonlighting with The Frogs, not releasing music videos, etc. Things like that actually struck me as someone pining for credibility and a need to be "alternative" in the eyes of his peers (e.g. Cobain) and critics. That may have made him and the band more "authentic" in the eyes of others but it never impressed me.

These guys are a mainstream, popular band. They play arenas and stadiums and there's no delusion to me what I'm following. They're not some mom-and-pop show. Whenever I watch something like that Zane Lowe interview at their warehouse, the thing that stands out to me is that they are a freakin' business operation. They have employees and hundreds of people that rely on them for their livelihood. It's a money-making operation with a profit motive. It may not have dawned on you but that's what it is and they're not hiding from it anymore. And I think a big part of why they're not hiding from it is because it's mostly socially okay to take that approach now vs. the early 1990s.

So, no, I'm not embarrassed by the commercial. Thanks for telling me how I should feel though, LOL.

i don't think EV was being insincere w/ his fandom of Fugazi or the frogs or mudhoney or bad religion or any other obscure band he brought up. i know it's hindsight, but if anyone was looking for alternative cred it was kurt cobain.

and none of this is about making money, it's specifically partnering with a big box store.

[bodysnatcher]

wtf is wrong with Target? Good prices.

[tragabigzanda]

pearl jam sucks now

[E.H. Ruddock]

Grout of my mind

[tragabigzanda]

pearl jam sucks now

[sweeper]

and none of this is about making money, it's specifically partnering with a big box store.

It's related. The reason they did that Target deal is Target paid them a guaranteed amount of money that exceeded the amount they would have earned by not having the exclusive. Target paid them upfront for 1 million albums without PJ actually needing to sell a single unit. They hadn't sold 1 million copies of an album since Yield. I wouldn't be surprised if there was some other exclusivity fee involved too. So, basically, in an era where album sales were declining across the board, they were able to secure a deal that mitigated that.

That's probably the definition of "selling out" to some people but it doesn't bother me at all. As other have noted, they also did it on their own terms. They had the carve-out for 800+ indie stores to be able to sell the record. This deal was probably a boon for those stores since they now faced less competition (e.g. Best Buy) for who was selling it. So, yeah, they had to make a quick commercial promoting the album as part of the deal. Fwiw, that commercial barely even aired. It was like 1 or 2 times total. I wouldn't be surprised if few people here ever even saw it live.

Part of the backdrop on this too was it was on the relative heals of the Sony record deal being done. The band felt like they got screwed on that deal, as most musicians always do on their first contract. They saw an opportunity to be in a position of strength and took it. I think they also looked at Target and felt the values of the company aligned with their own values, for whatever that's worth.

[tragabigzanda]

pearl jam sucks now

[bodysnatcher]

so, sweeper works for Target, right?