Celebration Rock with Steven Hyden (PJ Audio History)

[evenslow]

In the sliding doors version they break up after Vitalogy and eventually start rival factions of the band in 2010.

Pearl Jam Revisited is Ed, Mike, Jack, Simon Townshend and Boom
Real Pearl Jam is Stone, Jeff, Scott Stapp (who is eventually replaced by Steve Augeri who is eventually replaced by Arnel Pineda) and Dave A.

[Norah]

what breaks differently in the world where they end up there? Its an interesting and terrifying thought

They continue their Ticketmaster boycott and the 1998 tour doesn't happen.

[EJ]

No, they're not capturing the youth Zeitgeist, but I'd argue almost no one is these days. But they're longevity speak for itself. They'll never have anything close to a Ten-like hold on any kind of audience,

Who wants them to do this? That was almost a laughable idea even back in 1995.

I've never read or cared what Pitchfork thinks, but this quote that LMS posted a few pages back on their review of Lightning Bolt really captures my opinion of the band for the past 10 years:

"The Pearl Jam mythos as it exists today is undeniably wrapped up in their notoriously epic live shows, wherein the band is famous for loosening up and stretching out, but for whatever reason, that adventurous ethos rarely translates to their increasingly mannered albums. Pearl Jam on record have essentially been reduced to the rock ‘n’ roll version of wearing sweatpants: they’ve given up trying to impress anyone, so they may as well be comfortable. "

[Tuolumne]

In the sliding doors version they break up after Vitalogy and eventually start rival factions of the band in 2010.

Pearl Jam Revisited is Ed, Mike, Jack, Simon Townshend and Boom
Real Pearl Jam is Stone, Jeff, Scott Stapp (who is eventually replaced by Steve Augeri who is eventually replaced by Arnel Pineda) and Dave A.

The chances of this happening to bands is much much more likely than not. 90% of bands end up like this, anything otherwise is an exception. Luckily our band is an exception. It's not by accident. If they stuck with the "we're only gonna play for ourselves" line they'd be touring specifically to the Red Mosquito Forum and literally no one else. It's no accident they're playing huge audiences. They didn't stumble into this situation, it's all very deliberate. I'm fine with that. And yes, I'd say around the Riot Act tour is was very possible the band would have to scale down. I think they saved themselves on that tour through sheer brute effort, the arenas were sort of starting to dwindle. If that tour didn't please the fans, they woulda had to scale downward. But they had a good tour, we all enjoyed it, and they had something to build off of. I know some people think this is careerism talk, but what you have here is the difference between the stature they have now and the stature of Smashing Pumpkins and Alice in Chains and Stone Temple Pilots at this point. There is a big difference. Sure, it's fair to say they capitulated a little, but they could have gone full Aerosmith/Bon Jovi and hired songwriters and Mutt Lange or something. For a "commercial capitulation" they did it without sacrificing too much of their integrity. At the end of the day, they are a band who want an audience. They want to play to people. They didn't want to be in their 50s flogging it at Hollywood Casinos and Chocolate Festivals. They woulda hung it up before that. I'm glad it all worked out. I think they now have the opportunity to indulge if they want and do something "interesting" a la the middle-years. They can do it without the fear of tanking their careers and they can support some very worthy causes and movements they wouldn't have been able to support if they didn't "capitulate". And Backspacer is a phenomenal late-era gem and the effort and execution there is stunning.

[Chris_H_2]

Part 2 (vs): https://audioboom.com/posts/5727767-vit ... l-jam-s-vs

Part 3 (Vitalogy): https://audioboom.com/posts/5727775-vit ... s-vitalogy

[lecherouslittlestump]

u can write all the paragraphs you want, bs + lb still suck ass

[digster]

I think Tuolumne may be slightly overstating how a band in 2003 that had completed it's third run of arenas in the U.S. within six years, and had a catalog of records that had sold enough to ensure financial stability forever, was a hair's breadth away from commercial ruin and being second-billing at the Chocolate Festival.

[Tuolumne]

I'm constantly amazed how dangerously close Pearl Jam came to being stuck in the purgatory of the state fair circuit.

I guess it's humor? My reading of RM humor is clearly way off. That said, I really was exaggerrating about the Chocolate Festival.

[Hatfield]

I've gone through phases of disliking this place because of the intense negativity and almost comical way of hating anything the band does. Part of the issue is that we, this fringe of a fringe, have loved Pearl Jam's music so deeply that it leads to bigger disappointments when it doesn't hit that same chord with us that we know they should be able to hit.

For example, Ed's Ukelele Song was a huge let down for me, to the point that I don't listen to it. I wore out my live copy of his Wiltern show where he debuted many of those songs, but for whatever reason (production), they didn't translate as well to the album. That is a HARD feeling to deal with and it feels good to come on here and express it to people that I KNOW loved those Uke songs from 2002 as much as I did.

I don't read the board much, but it seems that people are able to express their positive views of the band more freely in the last couple of years. I'll end this with a positive...I still listen to LB and 10/22/14 fairly often and enjoy them both when I do. I can't wait for Pearl Jam to come back around (hopefully this fall) and put out another album as good or better than LB.


As for the first guest on this podcast (the RS interviewer from 2006)

[swan]

Klosterman is the guest on the Vitalogy episode. Can't wait to listen later today.

[VinylGuy]

I'm constantly amazed how dangerously close Pearl Jam came to being stuck in the purgatory of the state fair circuit.

I guess it's humor? My reading of RM humor is clearly way off. That said, I really was exaggerrating about the Chocolate Festival.

ey man, come back more often. I like your thoughts even if i dont agree everytime...i like to talk and discuss about this band.

[LoathedVermin72]

Fuck Pearl Jam

[LetMeSleep]

Fuck Pearl Jam

lol shit bad etc

[guestT]

Listening to the Vs. episode now. The production on this pod is horrendous. Industrial clanging in the background one minute, the "Sirens" intro looping the next. Terrible.

Substance-wise, 2nd ep seems to be better than the first, which was a bit too, "OMG can you believe we're talking about Pearl Jam? How gauche." for my taste.

[Chris_H_2]

i really like the war on drugs

[Strat]

i really like the war on drugs

I can't wait for their upcoming release

[Chris_H_2]

i really like the war on drugs

I can't wait for their upcoming release

me too. i adored the last album.

[Chris_H_2]

i love klosterman pointing out the irony of the band touring the usa behind vitalogy with respect to their lawsuit against ticketmaster. they were saying that ticketmaster held a monopoly over all the major concert venues and that it was impossible to tour and succeed. so they set out to put on a successful tour of non-ticketmaster venues, which would have invalidated their lawsuit.

[Chris_H_2]

i really like the war on drugs

I can't wait for their upcoming release

http://pitchfork.com/news/72369-the-war ... al_twitter

[Strat]

i really like the war on drugs

I can't wait for their upcoming release

http://pitchfork.com/news/72369-the-war ... al_twitter

Saw that but i hate that they call it a "new record". While it is technically true, i want ALBUM.

hopefully those details get announced soon.