Era of the moment: 1999-2000

[dimejinky99]

This post Yield period onto Binaural I think is the biggest turning point in the bands career, even before Roskilde, something profound had changed. I've never been able to put my finger on what it was. It's palpable though. And not just in retrospect.

[nightmareblack0206]

This post Yield period onto Binaural I think is the biggest turning point in the bands career, even before Roskilde, something profound had changed. I've never been able to put my finger on what it was. It's palpable though. And not just in retrospect.

New drummer PLUS they grew up

[nightmareblack0206]

Keep in mind Eddie was like 30 in 94.....THESE GUYS ARE UP THERE

[liebzz]

The drummer was a big difference. However you feel about the fit of each drummer for the band, Matt Cameron and Jack Irons do not sound alike.

[warehouse]

The drummer was a big difference. However you feel about the fit of each drummer for the band, Matt Cameron and Jack Irons do not sound alike.

whats weird is that i think some of the songs on binaural are more fit to jack irons than to matt cameron.

[nightmareblack0206]

Dave A fit this band like a glove

[Lament]

This post Yield period onto Binaural I think is the biggest turning point in the bands career, even before Roskilde, something profound had changed. I've never been able to put my finger on what it was. It's palpable though. And not just in retrospect.

My half-baked/probably totally wrong theory (and I agree with what you're saying):

Moreso than the Yield era marking the end of a chapter (perhaps even the first chapter) of the band, it was the first time they arrived at a point where the Pearl Jam story could have effectively been over with a happy ending. There was nothing to fight back against, no artistic statement needed to be made in response to a perception people had of them or a pattern/rut they felt a need to fight out of. There's almost like a "Pearl Jam Summer Camp" feel to their actions in 1999, be it seeing a true side-project for the first time in a few years (the second Three Fish record), Ed Vedder's Excellent Adventures (showing up here, there, and everywhere with C-Average or Pete Townshend or whoever else asked him to grace a stage with his blonde hair), or the cherry-on-top/biggest hit ever/holy shit Pearl Jam is #2 on the Hot 100 Last Kiss phenomenon. It was like a victory lap of sorts.

I think when they went into make Binaural they reached a point where they realized that they were back at the start again, and for the first time ever didn't have any obvious direction to go in. They were never going to be able to use their own survival/existence as justification for making a record the way they did in the first phase of their career. Really, every album to that point in some way HAD been about that. Ten was in so many ways fueled by the ashes of Mother Love Bone. Vs. & Vitalogy sounded like a band determined not to implode the way so many people just assumed they world. No Code felt like an attempt to declare that they could exist outside of the whole phenomenon of the early 90's and truly be an artistic entity, and Yield finally sounded like a band who felt like they were really comfortable with just being who they were and existing on their own terms. There's no obvious next step; it's a story that feels like it's already had a happy ending. I think at a certain point during the making of Binaural they realized this, and I think it's what changed them. I think that's why they started off by acting like they wanted to make the most grand sonic statement of their career only to pull back from it in the final stages and present something that sounds at times caught between different worlds (I don't mean this as an indictment, I love Binaural).

There's so much confusion and such an identity crisis with the band in the post-Yield/pre-Avocado period and this is the most logical explanation I've ever been able to come up with for it. By the time Avocado comes around they seem to have an idea of what THEY think people expect Pearl Jam to sound, look, and act like and spent that whole era "being Pearl Jam." This is what makes Binaural and Riot Act such fascinating eras, despite their flaws. All of the alternate journeys they could have embarked on as a band are hidden in those records, but it's like they're too timid to really embrace any of them. 2000-2003 is almost like you have the five members of Pearl Jam in a band that for the first time has no clue of what being in Pearl Jam means, and they're all too afraid to admit to each other that maybe being in Pearl Jam doesn't mean anything. There was no longer a "watching a car crash" drama or storyline hanging around them to keep much of the public caring (which, despite the narrative much of their fans want to drive home, I do believe was and is important to them). They probably stopped and looked around at the world of music and didn't see an obvious place for themselves. I think going through that probably played a part in how gung-ho they seem to be now about carrying forth full-speed ahead once they hit on the whole "people are just thrilled we're still around, let's celebrate" era we seem to be in now. I think they're afraid of ever ending up in the place they found themselves in while making Binaural and fighting with until some point in the 2003 tour.

Apologies if none of this make sense.

[Birds in Hell]

Absolutely fantastic post.

[bodysnatcher]

wow, great post. i can completely get on board with that theory

[WtOB?]

Ed was also going through a divorce during that period and Stone also mentioned something about other relationship problems during the Binaural period too, which could have further added to the identity crisis.

[digster]

I think when they went into make Binaural they reached a point where they realized that they were back at the start again, and for the first time ever didn't have any obvious direction to go in. They were never going to be able to use their own survival/existence as justification for making a record the way they did in the first phase of their career. Really, every album to that point in some way HAD been about that. Ten was in so many ways fueled by the ashes of Mother Love Bone. Vs. & Vitalogy sounded like a band determined not to implode the way so many people just assumed they world. No Code felt like an attempt to declare that they could exist outside of the whole phenomenon of the early 90's and truly be an artistic entity, and Yield finally sounded like a band who felt like they were really comfortable with just being who they were and existing on their own terms. There's no obvious next step; it's a story that feels like it's already had a happy ending. I think at a certain point during the making of Binaural they realized this, and I think it's what changed them. I think that's why they started off by acting like they wanted to make the most grand sonic statement of their career only to pull back from it in the final stages and present something that sounds at times caught between different worlds (I don't mean this as an indictment, I love Binaural).

Spot on. The run from Ten --> Yield, while never meaning to be conceptual in any fashion, is actually a pretty succinct narrative when put in the context of what the band was going through at the time. Binaural definitely feels like the sonic equivalent of a band wandering in the woods without a flashlight, trying to find the next road to go down.

[WtOB?]

I think when they went into make Binaural they reached a point where they realized that they were back at the start again, and for the first time ever didn't have any obvious direction to go in. They were never going to be able to use their own survival/existence as justification for making a record the way they did in the first phase of their career. Really, every album to that point in some way HAD been about that. Ten was in so many ways fueled by the ashes of Mother Love Bone. Vs. & Vitalogy sounded like a band determined not to implode the way so many people just assumed they world. No Code felt like an attempt to declare that they could exist outside of the whole phenomenon of the early 90's and truly be an artistic entity, and Yield finally sounded like a band who felt like they were really comfortable with just being who they were and existing on their own terms. There's no obvious next step; it's a story that feels like it's already had a happy ending. I think at a certain point during the making of Binaural they realized this, and I think it's what changed them. I think that's why they started off by acting like they wanted to make the most grand sonic statement of their career only to pull back from it in the final stages and present something that sounds at times caught between different worlds (I don't mean this as an indictment, I love Binaural).

Nice post, dime!

[dimejinky99]

Great post Lament. I wanted to say it was way more than about drummers and you said it way better than any of us could have. Fair play

[dimejinky99]

I think when they went into make Binaural they reached a point where they realized that they were back at the start again, and for the first time ever didn't have any obvious direction to go in. They were never going to be able to use their own survival/existence as justification for making a record the way they did in the first phase of their career. Really, every album to that point in some way HAD been about that. Ten was in so many ways fueled by the ashes of Mother Love Bone. Vs. & Vitalogy sounded like a band determined not to implode the way so many people just assumed they world. No Code felt like an attempt to declare that they could exist outside of the whole phenomenon of the early 90's and truly be an artistic entity, and Yield finally sounded like a band who felt like they were really comfortable with just being who they were and existing on their own terms. There's no obvious next step; it's a story that feels like it's already had a happy ending. I think at a certain point during the making of Binaural they realized this, and I think it's what changed them. I think that's why they started off by acting like they wanted to make the most grand sonic statement of their career only to pull back from it in the final stages and present something that sounds at times caught between different worlds (I don't mean this as an indictment, I love Binaural).

Nice post, dime!

No no. Not me. That was Lament.

[Lament]

Phew! I'm glad that made sense to other people. I was worried it was gonna come out like a bunch of gibberish.

(And thanks for the kind comments)

[WtOB?]

I think when they went into make Binaural they reached a point where they realized that they were back at the start again, and for the first time ever didn't have any obvious direction to go in. They were never going to be able to use their own survival/existence as justification for making a record the way they did in the first phase of their career. Really, every album to that point in some way HAD been about that. Ten was in so many ways fueled by the ashes of Mother Love Bone. Vs. & Vitalogy sounded like a band determined not to implode the way so many people just assumed they world. No Code felt like an attempt to declare that they could exist outside of the whole phenomenon of the early 90's and truly be an artistic entity, and Yield finally sounded like a band who felt like they were really comfortable with just being who they were and existing on their own terms. There's no obvious next step; it's a story that feels like it's already had a happy ending. I think at a certain point during the making of Binaural they realized this, and I think it's what changed them. I think that's why they started off by acting like they wanted to make the most grand sonic statement of their career only to pull back from it in the final stages and present something that sounds at times caught between different worlds (I don't mean this as an indictment, I love Binaural).

Nice post, dime!

No no. Not me. That was Lament.

Heh, I know. I was just teasing digster for fucking up his quoting.

[dimejinky99]

Glad we found a new voice of reason in Lament, now that Stip has beshat us all with his cheap trickery.

[WtOB?]

Stip has really been self-pwnt here, it seems.

[nightmareblack0206]

Lament always blesses us with a long insightful opinionated posts. At least twice a week

GREAT POST

[liebzz]

That was a great post, and spot on really. I always thought that because Binaural was made in 2000 that was my reasoning behind lumping the first 5 albums as separate from the last 4, but this all makes sense to me in a way I never thought of.

Also fascinating, if you think about this break, is how this next album is sort of their new Binaural opportunity. They have not released an album since 2009, and now have the opportunity to really sketch a new path. We could see a Stones-like rehash of familiar material presented slightly differently, a Springsteen-esque return to form where the music once again becomes absolutely vital, or even a total left turn risk. But this is really the first time since 99-00 where the band really is tasked with setting the stage for the next era of their careers.