Your Personal Pearl Jam Context...

[McParadigm]

I just wrote about this in another thread a week or so ago....

I can't speak for anybody else, but with Vitalogy Pearl Jam marked the first time that music became something more than just a reasonably-sized and ordinary part of my life. Suddenly, sound was the most important thing going...it was a part of how I defined myself. Through the No Code and Yield years, they continued to open my previously-incurious ears to what music could do and, along the way, introduced me to a lot of acts I might otherwise never have bothered with or even heard of.

Then, the process sort of started to work against them. Around the turn of the century, all these other acts I had been pointed towards or otherwise found (and continued to find) were putting out these amazing records...quite a few of which hit me harder than any Pearl Jam record ever had. And, as this band ultimately began to reduce its aims and lessen its output, I continued getting lost in other things.

Basically, the earlier records have become smaller and smaller parts of my musical world. I'm not really one for nostalgia. And the new ones either feel like retreads of ideas I've already put behind me, or like typical middle aged rocker stuff: artistically directionless commercial pandering. Not bad records at all, if you ask me...just insignificant ones.

Mostly, I don't have anything of note invested in this band anymore, but this is the only message board I've frequented in the last ten years, and I enjoy it here. There's an internal culture and oddness about this place that other boards I've seen lack. Additionally, I think a lot of Pearl Jam fans ended up exploring the same musical paths I did. Thank the band for that. It makes for a shared vocabulary that can be useful.

But there is always that little part of you that kind of wishes you could fall in love for the first time, again. So while I'm no longer invested in the music that is, or perhaps was, I can't help but find myself forever fantasizing about the music that could be...hoping that the next step will be the one that surprises me, the one that makes it all really matter again.

[Blenheim Augustine]

My context is pretty much the same as everyone else's who has posted - which is probably why this board has a certain vibe about it which makes me come back. I don't think I know even 1/100th of the information about any other band than I know about Pearl Jam and even though I'm not regularly listening to them anymore I keep updated in a way that I do for no other bands - perhaps it is just a nice comfortable habit that I don't want to lose.

I also tend to think that given the contexts outlined here, a lot of the current disappointment is not musical; while Backspacer is insubstantial I'd be able to cope with that a lot better if the band wasn't doing corporate gigs for IT companies. As an adult I understand that stuff gets complicated and principles change and are challenged but I had always felt Pearl Jam operated differently to other (big) bands - despite their fortunate position they now need to engage in the soul decapitating GuitarHero, make awful staged 'rock' videos, and ensure that nostalgia paraphernalia outweighs creative output. That stuff grates with me. The amount of crap that has been produced by the Ten Club surely discredits any work that they have done to minimise their carbon footprint. Ironically they have had to do more of the bullshit as a consequence of being on their own label.

[evenslow]

They're definitely my "personal favorite" band in that I follow what they do to a ridiculous degree.

They came out at a sweet spot for me age-wise and were the perfect bridge from classic rock to the modern era. When so many things that are important to you manifest themselves in a band, that doesn't go away easily. Right time, right place, right music.

Still get a real kick out of their new music, even if I know it's not the "best" of the particular year it comes out.

At the end of the day, it's just been a lot of goddamn fun for me to obsess over this band.

There are many bands that are "better" though. For me, best band ever is and always will be the Beatles.

[epilogue]

I don't think they are my favorite band anymore though I would be hard pressed to choose an alternative. Who can choose just one? Certainly not the best ever. They have definitely been the most important band in my life though. I've never cared about a band as much as I used to care about them. That sort of thing never goes away completely.

They were my introduction to (then) modern music, and for a decade thereafter they managed to release a string of records that each articulated nearly to the letter where I felt I was at that time in my life. Having already pegged Pearl Jam as my "favorite band" at that point, I suspect there may have been an element of self-fulfilling prophecy to that, but even with the benefit of hindsight I see so many things on every album up through "Riot Act" that was pretty much a mirror image of my life at the time. That's pretty strong relationship-building material.

Both of these quotes pretty much hit the nail on the head for me.

[Birds in Hell]

Pearl Jam occupy a strange place in my life.

Mine too.

I have an interesting relationship with Pearl Jam, one I don't have with any other band. Kevin likened his rekindled interest in Pearl Jam to catching up with an old friend; in my case, Pearl Jam were like a fairly warmly-remembered acquaintance who, upon running into years later, I discovered I had more in common with than I'd realised at the time.

Pearl Jam have never been my favourite band. While they were a constant presence throughout my teenaged years in the mid-to-late 90s, they always assumed something of a background role. While I had similar foundational, world-altering experiences as described already in this thread, none of them were by way of Pearl Jam. While I liked them a great deal, they weren't exceptionally meaningful to me - at least in comparison to other bands I was listening to at the time.

After I turned 17 or so, I simply lost track of them altogether. I'd moved on, filed them away with bands like Stone Temple Pilots or Smashing Pumpkins; teenage aberrations, unwelcome remembrances of unrefined tastes. I don't remember the releases of Binaural or Riot Act at all. Pearl Jam played here in 2003 and I don't believe I even knew about it, let alone had any interest in attending. They just weren't visible to me at all.

From this distant point in time I can't recall what prompted me to do so but, for whatever reason, one day in 2004 I felt a surprising compulsion to listen to Corduroy. I didn't even own a copy of Vitalogy any longer, so I remember having to find it on Limewire. I remember how genuinely and pleasantly shocked I was at what a great song it was. Within days I began feverishly catching up on what I'd missed and rediscovering what I'd previously discarded. Shortly enough, I was intimately familiar with their catalogue, had begun amassing piles of live recordings and made hesitant forays into the various online fan communities.

That fire to catch up on lost time has understandably dimmed since but there's still something about Pearl Jam's best work that continues to resonate with me eight (or so) years down the line. I can't imagine now passing up the chance to catch the band play live or not being interested to hear their new material so, despite the long courtship, I guess in a sense they finally won me over.

[William Bloke]

I'm a child of the 80s I guess, having become both a teenager and an adult in that most glorious of decades, and as such you'd think that I would have been spot-on the target demographic of a Pearl Jam fan from the outset. In truth though they were barely a blip on my radar all through the 90s.

Living in Oz, and from '93 in remote rural Oz, I just didn't know a lot about them to be honest. Like spenno, PJ played in my hometown in 2003 and I had not a clue. BUT, fast forward to 2006 and I was like a giddy school girl walking in to see them play at Subiaco Oval, having discoverred the band of my life in the preceding 3 years. The opening drum blasts of "Go" were a moment in time I won't ever forget.

I remember browsing through the local record store sometime in 2004 and coming across the 'Lo2L' CD. I liked the cover and the fact it wasn't a standard jewel case. I think I'd heard 'Betterman' in the shops that day and remember thinking that "Pearl Jam have some good songs", so I bought it. I must have played that disc at least 20 times over the next few weeks. I remember spinning my wife out when we had people over and the 'desert island albums' converstaion came up and I said that Lo2L was one of mine - she looked at me strange - Pearl Jam??.

From there I grabbed what I could as I could find it, a most enjoyable process of discovery.

The thing that struck me the most though, apart from the music of course, was the way the band held themselves on stage and their live performances and the way they looked after their fans. Changed set lists every show! No bullshit lasers or flying pigs, just heads down rock and roll! I still think that is an amazing legacy and thank them for it.

My favourite band? Perhaps. They certainly were from 2004 through 2009 or so. Even today they wouldn't be a bad choice I guess.

Certainly I'm richer for having the privilege of being an obsessed fan for the period that I was. Even if these days they are perhaps more of a habit than anything else, they are a habit that still has the ability to really bring me great joy. And I would still take Lo2L on that desert island.

[Sgt. Crackpot]

I think a large part of for me is that I have more of an emotional/life attachment to the band. I don't think they're the best band in the world, but I've grown up along with their music.

I went through my typical brooding/moody/confusing years as a teenager through Ten, VS and Vitalogy. Then as I started to become a young adult and mature, I experienced No Code and Yield. The same goes for the rest of their catalogue, looking back I can always seem to associate each of their albums with a significant/memorable part of my life. Even Backspacer, which is certainly not high on my list of Pearl Jam albums in terms of the music, it's still memorable because my oldest son (who was about 2 at the time) absolutely loved The Fixer.

I hate to say it, but I think I take it for granted that Pearl Jam are still around making music. I've seen plenty of other bands that that I've liked, split up/implode/die/etc; and it's never really upset me. But Pearl Jam have been with us for so long, and have always 'been there' for us, so when they stop making music.. *shudder*.. I think I'll just go to pieces.

[Tj]

The best of all time no way, but this is my band. 1991 I saw the video for Alive I ran out and bought the cd I was 16. I liked Ten alot it was my most listen to album at the time. As 91 gave way to 92 and there popularity grew they were out there more then giving interviews doing the mtv ,rockline ,rollingstone type stuff. They had this message which really resonated with me at the time. I was hooked. I went all in. The reward 20 + years of being part of their journey and story. As they grew so did I. It has been great. I seperate the band from the music somehow. In the sense the band is just five guys I don't view as celeberties. They just make music , and that music is the soundtrack of my life
deep
leash
rvm
whipping
nothingman
present tense
pilate
all those yesterday
slieght of hand
unemployable
gone
the fixer
speed of sound

[Lament]

I just want to reiterate that I'm really enjoying everybody's contributions to this thread. Thanks, people.

[Sgt. Crackpot]

I just want to reiterate that I'm really enjoying everybody's contributions to this thread. Thanks, people.

Great thread!

[spike]

I just wrote about this in another thread a week or so ago....

I can't speak for anybody else, but with Vitalogy Pearl Jam marked the first time that music became something more than just a reasonably-sized and ordinary part of my life. Suddenly, sound was the most important thing going...it was a part of how I defined myself. Through the No Code and Yield years, they continued to open my previously-incurious ears to what music could do and, along the way, introduced me to a lot of acts I might otherwise never have bothered with or even heard of.

Then, the process sort of started to work against them. Around the turn of the century, all these other acts I had been pointed towards or otherwise found (and continued to find) were putting out these amazing records...quite a few of which hit me harder than any Pearl Jam record ever had. And, as this band ultimately began to reduce its aims and lessen its output, I continued getting lost in other things.

Basically, the earlier records have become smaller and smaller parts of my musical world. I'm not really one for nostalgia. And the new ones either feel like retreads of ideas I've already put behind me, or like typical middle aged rocker stuff: artistically directionless commercial pandering. Not bad records at all, if you ask me...just insignificant ones.

Mostly, I don't have anything of note invested in this band anymore, but this is the only message board I've frequented in the last ten years, and I enjoy it here. There's an internal culture and oddness about this place that other boards I've seen lack. Additionally, I think a lot of Pearl Jam fans ended up exploring the same musical paths I did. Thank the band for that. It makes for a shared vocabulary that can be useful.

But there is always that little part of you that kind of wishes you could fall in love for the first time, again. So while I'm no longer invested in the music that is, or perhaps was, I can't help but find myself forever fantasizing about the music that could be...hoping that the next step will be the one that surprises me, the one that makes it all really matter again.