What are Pearl Jam's "Eras"?

[Norah]

Public: 1990 - 1995
Retreat: 1996 - 1999
Withdrawn: 2000 - 2005
Rebirth: 2006 - 2008
Content: 2009 - present

This is pretty spot on.

Yeah the above is about right.

PJ have reacted to certain events (in a completely understandable way) like TM, Roskilde and the Iraq war/Bush admin. The content era coincides with the reissues and the start of regular festivals and from memory the start of the Obama admin.

Make America Pearl Jam Great Again.

You're right, we need a Clinton in the White House again. Pearl Jam depends on it.

[daft twat]

I would imagine for many of us the eras are actually a reflection of our lives.

ten - vitalogy: high school. we're angry, depressed, self-aware, want to be noticed, yet want to be left alone. we're all eddie.

no code and yield: college. like our favorite band, we're experimenting with new shit while every other douchebag is listening to limp bizkit.

binaural - avocado: college grads, and we think we're going to effect change, but we're really just going to sign a few petitions while we're at concert festivals and vote for change tours and assume other people are going to make shit happen. we're not voting for bush, though, goddammit.

backspacer-lightning bolt: we have kids now. we've worked at jobs longer than we were in school. we get together with our old friends about as often as our favorite band gets together to make music, and when it does happen, we and the band seem to agree that they should play the old shit, and with enough alcohol, it takes us back for a couple hours.

[Kaius]

Ha. Yeah.

[LetMeSleep]

So will PJ have the mid life crisis leave the wife and buy a motorcycle prove-themselves-as-vital-moment soon?

[Birds in Hell]

we get together with our old friends about as often as our favorite band gets together to make music, and when it does happen, we and the band seem to agree that they should play the old shit, and with enough alcohol, takes us back for a couple hours.

This sounds horrible.

Er, no offence.

[stip]

I kind of split it up into two or three. I think the first part of their career ended pretty succinctly with Yield, and Binaural was at least an attempt at something new. With Yield, lyrically the band puts the rest the ghosts that had plagued it since at least Vs. and musically, they make peace with their dual desires to be open and accessible with their desire to challenge their listeners. It's kind of been confusion since then, with Binaural and Riot Act making sense musically, both those records leading to Avocado in terms of lyrics, but the connecting threads holding their five last records together are a lot weaker than the first five.

This also reminds me that PJ made five records from 1991-98 and five records since. They have REALLY slowed down.

Or they never really made that peace in the first place


I can't yell at you for finishing your thread anymore though.

[stip]

Musically I tend to break it down like this:
Ten through Merkinball is "early Pearl Jam"
"Gremmie Out of Control" (summer 1996) through "Someday at Christmas" (Christmas 2004) is "middle period"
Everything after is PRAMG/late PJ/ whatever

You can make more specific sub-eras but in my mind these are the major parameters.

While every album has its own identity, and with the caveat that I think the first 9 albums are pretty much one extended story, this seems right to me.

[daft twat]

we get together with our old friends about as often as our favorite band gets together to make music, and when it does happen, we and the band seem to agree that they should play the old shit, and with enough alcohol, takes us back for a couple hours.

This sounds horrible.

Er, no offence.

It isn't because PJ isn't the focus anymore. I'm personally too distracted by teaching, running, raising my kids, etc. I'm going to the MSG and Wrigley shows this year, but I'm not standing in merch lines or fretting about set lists. I'm going to the shows with a friend, but I'm spending the days showing my kids these great cities. We're going up the Statue of Liberty and checking out that Titanasaurus. PJ is dessert.

[B]

Public: 1990 - 1995
Retreat: 1996 - 1999
Withdrawn: 2000 - 2005
Rebirth: 2006 - 2008
Content: 2009 - present

This is pretty spot on.

I like it because I never bought into PRAMG. Avocado sounds like what comes after, but it's lyrically like what came before. It doesn't lump well with either. And "rebirth" really speaks to what they thought they were doing at the time. Even if the posters on this board don't agree.

[E.H. Ruddock]

oh good

[digster]

I kind of split it up into two or three. I think the first part of their career ended pretty succinctly with Yield, and Binaural was at least an attempt at something new. With Yield, lyrically the band puts the rest the ghosts that had plagued it since at least Vs. and musically, they make peace with their dual desires to be open and accessible with their desire to challenge their listeners. It's kind of been confusion since then, with Binaural and Riot Act making sense musically, both those records leading to Avocado in terms of lyrics, but the connecting threads holding their five last records together are a lot weaker than the first five.

This also reminds me that PJ made five records from 1991-98 and five records since. They have REALLY slowed down.

Or they never really made that peace in the first place


I can't yell at you for finishing your thread anymore though.

I can't stand the writing in that. It's like looking back on high school journal entries. I think I'll be content to wait till your guided tour, and just constantly pop up to tell you you're wrong.

Still, I think it's hard to argue that some things go away forever after Yield. The Eddie who was wracked by the consequences of fame and suffering under the confusion and anxiety permeating No Code, that guy never shows up again really. There's darkness and confusion in Binaural and Riot Act, but it feels different.

[Norah]

rank the eras

[Bammer]

I see a lot of opinion here but not enough conflict.

Let's get to it with the insults, team.

[tragabigzanda]

pearl jam sucks now

[B]

I worked hard on a guide of the various Eddies, ostensibly for ranking purposes. Was a little disappointed that it never took off, so I'll share it here:

http://forums.theskyiscrape.com/viewtop ... wk#p590943

[numbers]

1. Withdrawn
2. Retreat
3. Public
4. Rebirth
5. Content

[epilogue]

Public: 1990 - 1995
Retreat: 1996 - 1999
Withdrawn: 2000 - 2005
Rebirth: 2006 - 2008
Content: 2009 - present

This is pretty spot on.

Yeah the above is about right.

PJ have reacted to certain events (in a completely understandable way) like TM, Roskilde and the Iraq war/Bush admin. The content era coincides with the reissues and the start of regular festivals and from memory the start of the Obama admin.

Yep.

Team CooperTim

/thread

[Fuzzcharger]

2006 onwards - propping up retirement fund era.

[BurtReynolds]

So will PJ have the mid life crisis leave the wife and buy a motorcycle prove-themselves-as-vital-moment soon?

Lightning Bolt

[ABNorman]

Yeah, let's just adopt CopperTom's eras as the official RM guide.