Post-Riot Act Moneygrab

[harmless]

MEGASHARK VS. GIANT OCTOPUS

[McParadigm]

All of that wrapped up in a nice little bow by Jorge's incessant love of posting about other people's posting habits.

[BurtReynolds]

This will be quite a show.

[stip]

Here you go platy.

I think the 10c sending out announcements for those 7inch singles after they sold out was pathetic. Everything related to the Lbolt vinyl was ridiculous. 10cs management is often rude and disrespectful to their fans.

The exclusive bonus content was lame.

I'd like to see them work with a new producer

Mikes solos were not that memorable on Lbolt

Eds vocal affectations sometimes bother me

Most of the stuff 10c puts out I'd never buy and it all seems overpriced

If pearl jam has unpaid internships I'd be pissed


That might be it

[Jorge]

All of that wrapped up in a nice little bow by Jorge's incessant love of posting about other people's posting habits.

ooo you were holding on to that one for a while

[southp]

Thinking about it more, it's pretty cool that Pendulum of all songs appears in a network drama. It's one of the least commercial songs on the album. If ABC or CBS or whoever wants to pay for a PJ song, I never would've expected that one - it's a great way to expose people to some of the songs with more depth.

Personally I haven't heard a single snippet of LB played for any promotional or TV purposes other than the World Series. So whatever the complaint is here, I'm certainly not feeling it. If it means they can continue to make more new music that sounds like Lightning Bolt and less like Riot Act, then I'm happy.

[southp]

The exclusive bonus content was lame.

Whaaa?? There was exclusive content?

[stip]

Oh wait. They shouldn't drop guitars

[Norah]

If it means they can continue to make more new music that sounds like Lightning Bolt and less like Riot Act, then I'm happy.

Your opinion is wrong and you should feel bad, Paul!

[southp]

Oh wait. They shouldn't drop guitars

Yeah...cause they're expensive.

[southp]

If it means they can continue to make more new music that sounds like Lightning Bolt and less like Riot Act, then I'm happy.

Your opinion is wrong and you should feel bad, Paul!

I do. All day long Pete.. all day long.

p.s. I hope you spin that RA vinyl I sold you a few years ago? It better not be sealed still or else you haven't a leg to stand on!

[Norah]

If it means they can continue to make more new music that sounds like Lightning Bolt and less like Riot Act, then I'm happy.

Your opinion is wrong and you should feel bad, Paul!

I do. All day long Pete.. all day long.

p.s. I hope you spin that RA vinyl I sold you a few years ago? It better not be sealed still or else you haven't a leg to stand on!

It gets spins, or at least it did before I slowed down spinning records. I put on a few LPs a couple weeks ago and had what sounded like inner groove distortion problems. I probably need a new cart. The problem is, I don't know what the fuck I'm doing.

[Jorge]

Here you go platy.

I think the 10c sending out announcements for those 7inch singles after they sold out was pathetic. Everything related to the Lbolt vinyl was ridiculous. 10cs management is often rude and disrespectful to their fans.

The exclusive bonus content was lame.

I'd like to see them work with a new producer

Mikes solos were not that memorable on Lbolt

Eds vocal affectations sometimes bother me

Most of the stuff 10c puts out I'd never buy and it all seems overpriced

If pearl jam has unpaid internships I'd be pissed


That might be it

Come on. Most of these aren't even about the band. And the ones that are sound like you're forcing it: "Ed's vocal affectations sometimes bother me", "Mike's solos were not that memorable".

[Norah]

Stip, it feels really good to get mad at Pearl Jam. Try it.

[harmless]

inner groove distortion

This sounds like the name of a mid-nineties acid jazz band.

[EJ]

shit is hot fire in here now. love it.

[stip]

I'm not going to get into yet another conversation about how much Pearl Jam's music has changed to become more palatable. But that's my opinion. If you still like it (I do too, sometimes) that's all well and good, but I really see no reason to avoid the fact that the music is different anymore. Honestly, an attitude that "yeah, it's changed but that's OK because we're older" would be more admirable than outright denial that Pearl Jam have begun to make more effort to reach out to a more general and less discerning fanbase via more accessible tunes.

I'm not denying that, nor have I ever. I celebrate it. They no longer want to make obtuse, joyless music. A changed direction, or wanting more people to hear your music (which was probably more inspired by 2004 than anything else) is hardly the same thing as compromised artistic integrity, or writing songs you wouldn't write primarily for the sake of making more money off of them.

Show me how to make the leap from point a to point b.

It often is the same thing, stip. Because if you want 'more people to hear your music', and if you don't really care to define who those people are, there will necessarily be some sacrificing your personal artistic drives for that greater aim.

But I don't need to show you anything. I'm not even being disparaging about Pearl Jam at this point, and yet your flat out denial that anything has changed other than Pearl Jam 'wanting to branch out' means that my responses to you are sounding more and more hostile. It's difficult to even *like* Pearl Jam's new music at all when you're not even allowed to admit the obvious.

to go back to the main event:

I agree that pearl jam is trying to reach more people with their music. Some of that is marketing. Some of that is writing more accessible songs (although it's not like songs like Daughter, Black, Betterman, etc are anything other than songs destined to be massive radio hits). We both agree on this.

We may disagree about the quality of those songs. I THINK you'd agree that writing songs that are meant to appeal to a broader audience are not intrinsically better or worse.

So if people don't like pearl jam as much anymore there are three possibilities

1. They just don't like the songs because they no longer have the ability to write good music (not much to be said here)
2. They just don't like the artistic direction (more open, accessible, immediate) of the new music and so don't like the results (or they are fine with the direction and just think some songs aren't well executed)
3. They think the artistic direction is compromised because the desire to be popular is causing them to write music that is less good.

I think you're at least partially at 3. Some of this is still going to be a subjective reaction to the music, and there's not much to talk about there. But the motivation for why they have chosen this direction might matter.


Three possibilities.

1. As musicians they like having more people hear their music, especially following a long decline.

2. As activists they realize that they can do more good for their causes if they are a band that leaves a larger cultural footprint

3. Or they just want to make more money, to the point that they are prepared to compromise their art. I don't buy this at all, which is why I am now labeled as an apologist. Here's why:


-Pearl jam is already an incredibly wealthy band made up of people who do not seem to live particularly extravagant lifestyles
-the bulk of the money they make from merchandising (which requires appeals to the direhards who would probably have been just as happy with the pre-06 direction) or the live shows (which were not struggling). It is NOT coming from the radio hits or the album sales that the allegedly compromised music would boost.

So there's no real reason to buy into that third possibility.



apology complete.

[Norah]

I enjoyed the term direhard.

[harmless]

Pearl jam is already an incredibly wealthy band made up of people who do not seem to live particularly extravagant lifestyles

Compared to whom?

[stip]

Here you go platy.

I think the 10c sending out announcements for those 7inch singles after they sold out was pathetic. Everything related to the Lbolt vinyl was ridiculous. 10cs management is often rude and disrespectful to their fans.

The exclusive bonus content was lame.

I'd like to see them work with a new producer

Mikes solos were not that memorable on Lbolt

Eds vocal affectations sometimes bother me

Most of the stuff 10c puts out I'd never buy and it all seems overpriced

If pearl jam has unpaid internships I'd be pissed


That might be it

Come on. Most of these aren't even about the band. And the ones that are sound like you're forcing it: "Ed's vocal affectations sometimes bother me", "Mike's solos were not that memorable".

which things should I be mad at?

I really like the last two albums. More than the 5 albums that preceded it. A lot more than 3 of them. I was prefectly critical of Riot Act and Binaural on this board when they were the new albums. And I'm pretty clear regarding precisely WHY i like these new albums. It's not because it's new pearl jam. Ole was disappointing. I don't listen to the side projects. Uke songs had 2 songs I really liked and I never listen to the rest of the album. I'm more than willing to criticize the music when I don't like it.


The business practices? I think they seem pretty intelligent given the changed climate in the industry

Wanting more people to hear their music? They are fucking musicians

Believing that they don't care about music anymore and only care about making money. Waiting on proof that stretches beyond someone not liking the current output.

Thinking that people complaining about the setlists is tiresome? it is.

Ed getting caught on camera like 5 times in 13 years not being nice to someone who was eventually fired. People should try not to be dicks. It's not cool when they are. But sometimes being a dick does not make you one.


What else am I not righteously angry about?