The Best Moment in Backspacer

[Mike]

actually (where is McP when you need him) Backspacer produced pearl jam's two largest hits in many years, and when you control for the decline in record sales it was one of their best selling albums in many years.

Just Breathe is Pearl Jam's second most listened to song on Spotify and it is constantly in Pearl Jam's Top 5 songs on last.fm. (With Sirens in Spotify's Top 10 and on place 6 at last.fm) Even 5 years later it seems to be pretty popular.

[VinylGuy]

Another thing i forgot and i miss on the live versions; the aahhh ahhh in the chorus of Got Some.

And Matt´s drumming.

[Kevin Davis]

I was kind of stunned at how turned off many RM'ers were by the Fixer. I thought that song was a slam dunk, other than those slightly annoying processed uh huh huh huh's.

I thought and still think very highly of "The Fixer" -- I think it's easy (and fun, I can admit) for people to decontextualize and meme-ify that "fight to get it back again," reducing it to the level of an insipid sports chant, but the lead-in of that "when something's gone"/"when something's lost" does frame the refrain with a certain urgency -- I do feel like the song is swept along by this pressing undertone that the singer has in fact lost something, and that somewhere amidst the warm, positive feelings the song hopes to pass along, there is also a sense of desperation about it. That the "something" is unspecified and adaptable to each individual listener is a virtue of the pop format, and a credit to Eddie's craftsmanship of the song -- while he may have been singing about a Democratic Senate or his stock in Pearl Jam, Inc., another person's "loss" could just as easily be something from any range of depths, and I think it's in its ability to translate that the song achieves the "merit" that pop music of its ilk has the potential to. Criticizing it for whatever commercial motivations may exist behind its creation is fine if that's your thing, but from my perspective it seems to have generated more memes and animated GIFs over the years than it has any interesting insight into the work.

Long-term, I prefer the band more introverted and a little mysterious -- but for the most part, I think their pop experiments are usually pretty successful. I maintain that the "Amongst the Waves"/"Unthought Known" twofer is the sopping low point of "Backspacer." The rest of it, "Supersonic" included, is okay by me.

[Birds in Hell]

I really love the fixer. The guitar part really dos it for me. Such an interesting riff and rhythm nicely tied together by matt cameron and eds vocal lines. ITs a really strange guitar riff if you break it out. The song really isnt dumb and lowest common denominator.

Who you are is a way more simple tune with some interesting drums. I love who you are, but its hardly a tricky song - musically speaking.

I can broadly get behind this. I wouldn't say I love it but I'm fonder of it than some, I really like Matt's initial musical idea that the song was built around. As Strat points out, that riff is pretty weird (and definitely not Foo Fighters-esque).

[Alex]

I really love the fixer. The guitar part really dos it for me. Such an interesting riff and rhythm nicely tied together by matt cameron and eds vocal lines. ITs a really strange guitar riff if you break it out. The song really isnt dumb and lowest common denominator.

Who you are is a way more simple tune with some interesting drums. I love who you are, but its hardly a tricky song - musically speaking.

I can broadly get behind this. I wouldn't say I love it but I'm fonder of it than some, I really like Matt's initial musical idea that the song was built around. As Strat points out, that riff is pretty weird (and definitely not Foo Fighters-esque).

and?

[Jorge]

As Strat points out, that riff is pretty weird (and definitely not Foo Fighters-esque).

What is "weird" about the riff? What makes it not Foo Fighters-esque?

That kind of crunchy palm muting in an odd time signature would fit right in One By One.

[Alex]

i think we can all consider the birds in hell account to have sealed its fate. he had a good run. or should i say a good loping, monstrous gait.

[stip]

i bet stip eats chicken wings with a knife and a fork

I once came in second in a chicken wings eating contest.

[stip]

I was kind of stunned at how turned off many RM'ers were by the Fixer. I thought that song was a slam dunk, other than those slightly annoying processed uh huh huh huh's.

I thought and still think very highly of "The Fixer" -- I think it's easy (and fun, I can admit) for people to decontextualize and meme-ify that "fight to get it back again," reducing it to the level of an insipid sports chant, but the lead-in of that "when something's gone"/"when something's lost" does frame the refrain with a certain urgency -- I do feel like the song is swept along by this pressing undertone that the singer has in fact lost something, and that somewhere amidst the warm, positive feelings the song hopes to pass along, there is also a sense of desperation about it. That the "something" is unspecified and adaptable to each individual listener is a virtue of the pop format, and a credit to Eddie's craftsmanship of the song -- while he may have been singing about a Democratic Senate or his stock in Pearl Jam, Inc., another person's "loss" could just as easily be something from any range of depths, and I think it's in its ability to translate that the song achieves the "merit" that pop music of its ilk has the potential to. Criticizing it for whatever commercial motivations may exist behind its creation is fine if that's your thing, but from my perspective it seems to have generated more memes and animated GIFs over the years than it has any interesting insight into the work.

Long-term, I prefer the band more introverted and a little mysterious -- but for the most part, I think their pop experiments are usually pretty successful. I maintain that the "Amongst the Waves"/"Unthought Known" twofer is the sopping low point of "Backspacer." The rest of it, "Supersonic" included, is okay by me.

Amongst the waves gets a pass from me because I do really love the two verses. I've been listening to backspacer the last couple of days thanks to this thread and Unthought Known is frustrating. It's such a half baked song, but had they fleshed it out it could have been pretty great

[VinylGuy]

I agree...UK is really frustrating...might be the only song i dont really want to listen even on a boot.

ATW is not bad at all. Some good moments there.

[Alex]

i bet stip eats chicken wings with a knife and a fork

I once came in second in a chicken wings eating contest.

are you telling me the origin story of mecca's chicken bone suicide forest?

[tommymtcom]

I agree...UK is really frustrating...might be the only song i dont really want to listen even on a boot.

ATW is not bad at all. Some good moments there.

ATW would be a lot better without those muted chorus guitars. Who the hell made that call?

[VinylGuy]

I agree...UK is really frustrating...might be the only song i dont really want to listen even on a boot.

ATW is not bad at all. Some good moments there.

ATW would be a lot better without those muted chorus guitars. Who the hell made that call?

Agree.

[stip]

i bet stip eats chicken wings with a knife and a fork

I once came in second in a chicken wings eating contest.

are you telling me the origin story of mecca's chicken bone suicide forest?

No, that's an altogether different tale.

[VinylGuy]

i love Speed of sound...i adore it.

the "whisper in the dark...." part is beautiful.

[Tuolumne]

I agree...UK is really frustrating...might be the only song i dont really want to listen even on a boot.

ATW is not bad at all. Some good moments there.

Not sure I agree w/ Stip. The whole point of Backspacer is brevity, "fully fleshing out" UK would potentially make it a song that belongs on another album (like say Riot Act or No Code). The way it is on Backspacer, it hits that emotional peak quickly and then moves onto the next tune, just as it is supposed to be on this album. If it was "fully fleshed out", I wonder if it would stall the momentum of the album. The thing I love about the album is it's over before you know it and you want to go back to the top again.

But that's the 2 sided coin that is Backspacer. As much as I dig the album, I don't believe it to have any of my top 15 songs, yet I still put it in my top 4 for albums. What I love about the album is it punches you and moves to the next tune. I almost always listen to this album straight all the way through or almost all the way through. Many of their other albums contain specific songs I go back to way more than anything on Backspacer, but I rank Backspacer high because the songs work together so well as a full album, with The Fixer being a lynchpin as a fresh new feel. Unthought Known accomplishes what it needs to on the album for me.

[VinylGuy]

That makes sense. Still, that song feels like a half baked demo. Not a finish piece....there is something good in the bridge, and live used to be cool...but with LB and LBC now, specially with the new intro, i dont know why we need that.

[Kevin Davis]

If it was "fully fleshed out", I wonder if it would stall the momentum of the album

Well, it already stalls the momentum of the album -- but I would agree that what it needs isn't necessarily "more composition." "Cold Confession" strikes me as a good example of how a song like "UK" -- repetitions of simple ideas, with little to no "intra-compositional" variation -- can work, with the band in that "put on a low flame and let it simmer" mode, such that the performance almost becomes more of an incantation than a song. There's a segment from the "Water on the Road" DVD of Eddie playing "UK" on just an acoustic that seems to tap into this spirit a bit, in a way that the full band arrangement, which insists on pushing towards a crescendo that the composition doesn't support, struggles to achieve.

Neither "UK" nor "ATW" are without strengths, or are incapable of being supported by stronger songs -- but back to back, they're not fit to be dual centerpieces of the the type of swift-moving, loose-limbed pop record "Backspacer" aims to be. They're anchors.

[Birds in Hell]

As Strat points out, that riff is pretty weird (and definitely not Foo Fighters-esque).

What is "weird" about the riff? What makes it not Foo Fighters-esque?

That kind of crunchy palm muting in an odd time signature would fit right in One By One.

I'll defer to you in that case, I never got around to listening to One By One.

All I meant by that is that it doesn't strike me as a particularly brawny rock song, unlike Force of Nature's stodgy thump. It's glossy and slick but pleasingly unorthodox when you break it down.

I think a weird Matt Cameron power-pop number imbued with a Cheap Trick vibe is a fantastic idea in theory, I just wish the end result was more satisfying.

[Birds in Hell]

I think I'll give Backspacer a listen later, it's been a good while.