Song of the Moment: Mind Your Manners

[Norah]

It goes without saying that we're all very excited about this.

It does?

I'd hope that anyone still posting in this forum is at least a bit excited about new music becoming just a little more concrete.

First, he said "very excited" not "at least a bit excited". Second, for the first time I'm really not excited about new Pearl Jam music. I really hope they prove me wrong, but I'm not holding out for it.


I think if my main problem with Pearl Jam was just that I didn't like Backspacer, I could still be excited about the next record. But my problems with them run a lot deeper than that. It's their entire approach as a band these days. Backspacer sucked, Ole sucked, their live shows very often suck now too. It doesn't seem like a one off bad album anymore, the shitty output seems to me more like a symptom of a band that doesn't put the effort in the way they used to. Even the way they talk about their processes (well we got together just the 4 of us and put a few tracks down, then ed will put his fixin on them, then throw some lyrics on it, then we'll call it a song and not rehearse for the tour), it's almost like they've just become a factory for songs that sound like Pearl Jam. It's very hard to get excited about new music by that band.

[Norah]

I would say my excitement level for new Pearl Jam does not exceed a passing interest at this point.

[WtOB?]

"Mind Your Manners" sounds like something Kat would say on the Pit. Maybe they got her to co-write and it's about all the people she's banned.

[Kevin Davis]

the juxtapositon of the sing songy feel of world wide suicide with the dark content of thephrase. I actually think it's a pretty good song title.

It didn't bother me at all once I'd heard the song. On paper devoid of context though it just seemed like they were letting antisocial teenagers compose their song titles.

Some song titles I really like are "Last Exit," "Strangest Tribe," "Sleight of Hand," "Evacuation," and "In the Moonlight." I really, really liked the title "Brain of JFK" when it used to appear that way on bootlegs prior to official release, I never understood why they dropped the last two initials.

"All Those Yesterdays," without hearing the song, looks like the title of a shitty folk song that Joan Baez would have sung.

[Norah]

Mind Your Manners is about rock and roll concert etiquette, inspired by Doug Railroad.

[WtOB?]

I'll be more excited for the full album release date than the single, especially with this title.

[Jorge]

I would say my excitement level for new Pearl Jam does not exceed a passing interest at this point.

I don't believe you.

[LetMeSleep]

I would say my excitement level for new Pearl Jam does not exceed a passing interest at this point.

I don't believe you.

It used to go like that, but now it goes like this.

[Norah]

I would say my excitement level for new Pearl Jam does not exceed a passing interest at this point.

I don't believe you.

Whatever.

[Kevin Davis]

I would say my excitement level for new Pearl Jam does not exceed a passing interest at this point.

I don't believe you.

It used to go like that, but now it goes like this.

Play fucking loud!

[Dr. Van Nostrand]

Damn, how did i miss this all day, can't wait

[epilogue]

Guys, seriously, I just don't see why this is such a terrible song title.

[Jorge]

Guys, seriously, I just don't see why this is such a terrible song title.

It just sounds a little un-Pearl-Jam-y.

[epilogue]

Guys, seriously, I just don't see why this is such a terrible song title.

It just sounds a little un-Pearl-Jam-y.

Does it though?

Out of My Mind, Spin the Black Circle, Of The Earth, Amongst the Waves, Man of the Hour, Hard To Imagine...

Seems to fit just fine to me. Plus look at the shit they've liked to cover: Know Your Rights, I Believe In Miracles, The Seeker.

[BurtReynolds]

no song title is inherently bad, but I can only see one of two directions this thing is going:

1: a happy fun pop song, something that PJ is terrible at.
2: a song with deep layers of sarcasm and wit, concepts almost completely foreign to The Most Earnest Band in the Universe.

or maybe the song title isnt in the lyrics. then all bets are off. so three things then.

[epilogue]

I figure it'll be a more awkward, more poppy, less reverent Whipping. With a bit of a reggae backbone.

[Jorge]

Guys, seriously, I just don't see why this is such a terrible song title.

It just sounds a little un-Pearl-Jam-y.

Does it though?

Out of My Mind, Spin the Black Circle, Of The Earth, Amongst the Waves, Man of the Hour, Hard To Imagine...

Seems to fit just fine to me.

What do you see in common between those titles?

I mean, if Pearl Jam had song titles like "Learn to Listen", "Respect Your Elders" and "Mind Your Ps and Qs", I'd agree with you.

[Jorge]

To be clear, I don't think this is a bad song title, nor do I think song titles can be indicative of the overall quality of a song. I'm just saying its unPearlJamness is what some people might be reacting negatively to-- kind of like how we all let out a collective "WTF" when "Johnny Guitar" was announced.

[epilogue]

Guys, seriously, I just don't see why this is such a terrible song title.

It just sounds a little un-Pearl-Jam-y.

Does it though?

Out of My Mind, Spin the Black Circle, Of The Earth, Amongst the Waves, Man of the Hour, Hard To Imagine...

Seems to fit just fine to me.

What do you see in common between those titles?

I mean, if Pearl Jam had song titles like "Learn to Listen", "Respect Your Elders" and "Mind Your Ps and Qs", I'd agree with you.

What do I see in common?

They're all potentially fucking stupid titles that seem to stive to be heavier than they the sum of their parts. Pearl Jam has always been chalk full of either ambitious, pretentious, lame, boring or faux-wise titles. They also have a lot of titles regarding authority (Leash, State of Love and Trust, Dissident, Man of the Hour, etc.)

I'm just saying that Mind Your Manners doesn't seem out of place to me.

[epilogue]

To be clear, I don't think this is a bad song title, nor do I think song titles can be indicative of the overall quality of a song. I'm just saying its unPearlJamness is what some people might be reacting negatively to-- kind of like how we all let out a collective "WTF" when "Johnny Guitar" was announced.

I get what you're saying. I just disagree. This one is much more in keeping with latter day PJ than Johnny Guitar, I think.