Punk and Pearl Jam: A definitions thread

[WtOB?]

I actually really like Jar Jar Binks.

[Sgt. Crackpot]

I actually really like Jar Jar Binks.

It's OK man, there is help available for special people like you.

[harmless]

I know

[WtOB?]

I actually really like Jar Jar Binks.

It's OK man, there is help available for special people like you.

I don't really like Jar Jar Binks. No one likes Jar Jar Binks.

[dimejinky99]

Awww, it's a lovely Star Wars romance moment.

Funny you mention that. I just got this. It's hysterical and too cute

[stip]

yup, I relate to that first joke now.


Okay, so here is the obviously follow up question. What pearl jam songs do you consider punk songs (or punk influenced) and what songs do you consider, for lack of a better term, near-punk (influenced by a major offshot)

Lukin, Comatose, Supersonic, Mind Your Manners?

[zatara]

Pearl Jam without McCready and with Jack Irons is punk.

W.M.A is punk ethically.

[epilogue]

I don't think punk rock can truly be defined. When it started there wasn't a mold or a set of rules, or a sound, or a blueprint. The bands weren't influenced by punk rock because it didn't exist, so it was a pure thing. So, a lot of the bands sounded different. I think it's more of an attitude(I know, sounds cliché) and almost a set of morals and general way of being. Most of the first punk bands didn't sound anything like each other. It wasn't until the 2nd wave of punk influenced punk bands that a "sound" was developed. To me, what makes certain PJ songs punk or punk influenced is the intention and attitude behind them, more than the sound.

I don't know, I'm drunk, so hopefully all of that made sense with the thread, haha.

A very similar argument can be made of 'grunge'. Not a style but a set of styles and an attitude thrown together by a set of bands in a time and place. One of the sounds in grunge was punk. Nirvana majored on the sound and PJ flirted with it. It's the same to this day and I don't think this is PJ 'trying to do punk' any more than any other Seattle song was any other band 'doing' punk.

The four big grunge bands had some dirt in their sound. Nirvana (punk/raw) & AiC (sludge) more than PJ & SG, but all four had it. And then there was the anger, present in all four but often of different natures and expressed differently. PJ had the most righteous anger. AiC's the most desperate. Nirvana's anger always came off as a bit nihilistic for my tastes.

Really nice post.

Though, in my younger and more formative years, nihilism was right where I was at. So, Nirvana has always tasted just fine to me. Pearl Jam has been the longer lasting and more fulfilling affair. But Nirvana was my first grunge love. Kurt's death about as profound an affect on me as any stranger's death can have on a young man of 13. It would be melodramatic and disingenuous to say that "Pearl Jam saved my life!" But they sure helped me (and allowed me) to deal with some fairly complex emotions. They gave me an outlet, and some room to think and feel. And I never felt judged by them.

Honestly, Pearl Jam and I have had a rather healthy relationship.

[epilogue]

yup, I relate to that first joke now.


Okay, so here is the obviously follow up question. What pearl jam songs do you consider punk songs (or punk influenced) and what songs do you consider, for lack of a better term, near-punk (influenced by a major offshot)

Lukin, Comatose, Supersonic, Mind Your Manners?

I would add Spin the Black Circle and Satan's Bed for sure. Probably Last Exit, too. Habit, Green Disease, Life Wasted maybe. Got Some and The Fixer both have strong New Wave influences, I think. So you can count those of offshot-inspired. Maybe, maybe Hitchhiker. Though I'm sure a half decent argument could sway me against that one.

[harmless]

yup, I relate to that first joke now.


Okay, so here is the obviously follow up question. What pearl jam songs do you consider punk songs (or punk influenced) and what songs do you consider, for lack of a better term, near-punk (influenced by a major offshot)

Lukin, Comatose, Supersonic, Mind Your Manners?

I would add Spin the Black Circle and Satan's Bed for sure. Probably Last Exit, too. Habit, Green Disease, Life Wasted maybe. Got Some and The Fixer both have strong New Wave influences, I think. So you can count those of offshot-inspired. Maybe, maybe Hitchhiker. Though I'm sure a half decent argument could sway me against that one.

A few things off Lost Dogs? Hitchhiker, Gremmie (surf rock/Beach Boys -- offshoot) and Leaving Here (same again, but also Eddie Cochran -- an early influence on punk and new wave, if I'm getting my music history right). Last Kiss is more straight-up 50s rock n roll, but it all added to the sound.

[epilogue]

yup, I relate to that first joke now.


Okay, so here is the obviously follow up question. What pearl jam songs do you consider punk songs (or punk influenced) and what songs do you consider, for lack of a better term, near-punk (influenced by a major offshot)

Lukin, Comatose, Supersonic, Mind Your Manners?

I would add Spin the Black Circle and Satan's Bed for sure. Probably Last Exit, too. Habit, Green Disease, Life Wasted maybe. Got Some and The Fixer both have strong New Wave influences, I think. So you can count those of offshot-inspired. Maybe, maybe Hitchhiker. Though I'm sure a half decent argument could sway me against that one.

A few things off Lost Dogs? Hitchhiker, Gremmie (surf rock/Beach Boys -- offshoot) and Leaving Here (same again, but also Eddie Cochran -- an influence on punk and new wave, if I'm getting my music history right).

I was avoiding the covers, but yes. Definitely Gremmie and Leaving Here. What about U? It's soupy sentimentality, but I think musically there's a bit of a punk backbone.

[harmless]

yup, I relate to that first joke now.


Okay, so here is the obviously follow up question. What pearl jam songs do you consider punk songs (or punk influenced) and what songs do you consider, for lack of a better term, near-punk (influenced by a major offshot)

Lukin, Comatose, Supersonic, Mind Your Manners?

I would add Spin the Black Circle and Satan's Bed for sure. Probably Last Exit, too. Habit, Green Disease, Life Wasted maybe. Got Some and The Fixer both have strong New Wave influences, I think. So you can count those of offshot-inspired. Maybe, maybe Hitchhiker. Though I'm sure a half decent argument could sway me against that one.

A few things off Lost Dogs? Hitchhiker, Gremmie (surf rock/Beach Boys -- offshoot) and Leaving Here (same again, but also Eddie Cochran -- an influence on punk and new wave, if I'm getting my music history right).

I was avoiding the covers, but yes. Definitely Gremmie and Leaving Here. What about U? It's soupy sentimentality, but I think musically there's a bit of a punk backbone.

I hear slightly earlier, Eddie Cochran again. But yes. I wish they'd do more Eddie Cochran / Chuck Berry / Roy Orbison (?) ripoffs, basically. Hope to see one or two on the new album.

[epilogue]

yup, I relate to that first joke now.


Okay, so here is the obviously follow up question. What pearl jam songs do you consider punk songs (or punk influenced) and what songs do you consider, for lack of a better term, near-punk (influenced by a major offshot)

Lukin, Comatose, Supersonic, Mind Your Manners?

I would add Spin the Black Circle and Satan's Bed for sure. Probably Last Exit, too. Habit, Green Disease, Life Wasted maybe. Got Some and The Fixer both have strong New Wave influences, I think. So you can count those of offshot-inspired. Maybe, maybe Hitchhiker. Though I'm sure a half decent argument could sway me against that one.

A few things off Lost Dogs? Hitchhiker, Gremmie (surf rock/Beach Boys -- offshoot) and Leaving Here (same again, but also Eddie Cochran -- an influence on punk and new wave, if I'm getting my music history right).

I was avoiding the covers, but yes. Definitely Gremmie and Leaving Here. What about U? It's soupy sentimentality, but I think musically there's a bit of a punk backbone.

I hear slightly earlier, Eddie Cochran again. But yes. I wish they'd do more Eddie Cochran / Chuck Berry / Roy Orbison (?) ripoffs, basically. Hope to see one or two on the new album.

Oh, sure, sure. I can totally hear that. I don't know that I've really noticed that before, but yes.

[harmless]

yup, I relate to that first joke now.


Okay, so here is the obviously follow up question. What pearl jam songs do you consider punk songs (or punk influenced) and what songs do you consider, for lack of a better term, near-punk (influenced by a major offshot)

Lukin, Comatose, Supersonic, Mind Your Manners?

I would add Spin the Black Circle and Satan's Bed for sure. Probably Last Exit, too. Habit, Green Disease, Life Wasted maybe. Got Some and The Fixer both have strong New Wave influences, I think. So you can count those of offshot-inspired. Maybe, maybe Hitchhiker. Though I'm sure a half decent argument could sway me against that one.

A few things off Lost Dogs? Hitchhiker, Gremmie (surf rock/Beach Boys -- offshoot) and Leaving Here (same again, but also Eddie Cochran -- an influence on punk and new wave, if I'm getting my music history right).

I was avoiding the covers, but yes. Definitely Gremmie and Leaving Here. What about U? It's soupy sentimentality, but I think musically there's a bit of a punk backbone.

I hear slightly earlier, Eddie Cochran again. But yes. I wish they'd do more Eddie Cochran / Chuck Berry / Roy Orbison (?) ripoffs, basically. Hope to see one or two on the new album.

Oh, sure, sure. I can totally hear that. I don't know that I've really noticed that before, but yes.

It's weird. I wouldn't have wanted that kind of song before but having heard MYM, now I do.

[epilogue]

I'm all about themes and concepts, but mostly I just want a group of songs that hang well together. And if they can do it, the more influences, the more genres, the better. But that's a secondary characteristic for me.

[harmless]

I'm all about themes and concepts, but mostly I just want a group of songs that hang well together. And if they can do it, the more influences, the more genres, the better. But that's a secondary characteristic for me.

Yeah. Tbh at this point they could do an entire album of fast punk songs, and as long as they were as good as this, I'd think it was something new from PJ and I'd dig it. And I never thought I'd be saying that.

[epilogue]

I'm all about themes and concepts, but mostly I just want a group of songs that hang well together. And if they can do it, the more influences, the more genres, the better. But that's a secondary characteristic for me.

Yeah. Tbh at this point they could do an entire album of fast punk songs, and as long as they were as good as this, I'd think it was something new from PJ and I'd dig it. And I never thought I'd be saying that.

And I'm not sure if that says more about you and I or more about the band. But either way...

[Lament]

For some reason Tremor Christ seems to have a PiL vibe to me. Like, there's some Flowers of Romance-era stuff going on there. But I'm probably insane in thinking that...

[epilogue]

I'd love to hear them open a show I was at with Tremor Christ. Then maybe go right into Mind Your Manners.

[Lament]

I'd love to hear them open a show I was at with Tremor Christ. Then maybe go right into Mind Your Manners.

In the right setting, Tremor Christ would be such a killer opener. It's kinda the furthest PJ ever went into dabbling with postpunk. Which is a shame, cause Ed seems to have been into postpunk back in the day.