Post-Riot Act Moneygrab

[Wendy Carlos's Twin]

I wouldn't care about them grabbing for money if the quality of their product was any good.

[McParadigm]

The more money one has, the more freedom they have to escape the clutches of a capitalist system that forces/encourages/coerces people to do things they don’t like for a buck.

The more I prostitute myself, the less I'll need to prostitute myself

[stip]

Id like to come back to the No Code era moneygrab with the album artwork. I haven't thought about that in years until today, but man that pissed me off back in the day. I wasn't going to keep buying No Codes to collect them all, but i REALLY wanted to see those liner notes. It was probably the most I was ever annoyed by them (as opposed to 10c)

[stip]

I wonder if I could get Eddie to come play our commencement.

[McParadigm]

Id like to come back to the No Code era moneygrab with the album artwork. I haven't thought about that in years until today, but man that pissed me off back in the day. I wasn't going to keep buying No Codes to collect them all, but i REALLY wanted to see those liner notes.

The worst thing, really, is that at some point they were all like, "Hey, let's form a band. We'll write songs, play shows, and just generally earn a living."

What a bunch of assholes. Why couldn't they have chosen victimless careers? Like loan shark or AIDS provider?

[stip]

Those who are pointing fingers and saying that “everyone is a sellout and you’d do the same thing” are missing the point. I don’t have 80 millions dollars in my bank account. Or even a million, for that matter. The more money one has, the more freedom they have to escape the clutches of a capitalist system that forces/encourages/coerces people to do things they don’t like for a buck. If Salesforce.com called me today and offered to pay me a million bucks to sing a couple of songs at their convention, I’d do it on a heartbeat. If I had 80 million bucks in the bank, I’d turn them down. Really, I would. The more money you have, the more freedom you have to “be yourself.” I think what makes me and a lot of others uncomfortable is that THIS represents Eddie Vedder at his most free? Salesforce dot com? Yuck.


...

There’s no confirmation of any sort that this was a charity, gig, by the way. Is there any evidence of that? And for those saying that if this was for charity, it’s okay, I say that Eddie Vedder can go out and raise almost any amount of money for charity he wants. Because of his fortune and fame, he can raise a million bucks for his charity of choice tomorrow. Salesforce dot com is just one way to do it. So let’s say he is being charitable. This is the way he chooses to do it, with the freedom he has? Again, yuck.

I was huge into the anti-corporate aesthetic in the 90s. There was an innocent nobility to it (although compromised in PJ's case, because they were still a part of the machine--but the same is true of Nirvana and everyone else). And then, maybe, they decided that it was so pervasive that it wasn't a battle they wanted to fight anymore (and the key move there is really all the way back in 1998 when they decide to go back to Ticketmaster). Or maybe they decided that none of this was a big deal. My politics don't really leave much space for me to get all worked up about image, and so I don't really care when the band doesn't worry about it anymore either.

You know what's a shame--that once they were independent they didn't aggressively pursue meaningful alternatives for musical distribution. That's too bad. But the rest of this is just superficial window dressing. It's bumper stickers and t-shirts.

Finally, I don’t think I’m an obsessed Vedder stalker, as Stip insinuated. I read the music-related parts of this board and post here on occasion when something so inspires me. In part that’s because I was banned from the old board and kicked out of the Ten Club by Tim B for posting something about how reprehensible I thought the dog collars were

yeah, those dog collars were great for RM traffic.

Some might say (not me, of course) that maintaining a separate web site dedicated to discussing PJ, posting here thousands and thousands of times and being Superinvolved in all things Ed/PJ is closer to the stalker-y thing Stip was getting at. I disagree, but since Stip is casting stones about obsessive behavior, a look in the mirror might not hurt.

I'm gonna have a hard time pretending that I'm anything other than I'm a pretty obsessive fan with the music. However, when they do things I don't like or release songs I don't care for, I'm pretty good at not taking it personally.

I'm a lot more likely to get pissed off at RM than pearl jam.

[stip]

Id like to come back to the No Code era moneygrab with the album artwork. I haven't thought about that in years until today, but man that pissed me off back in the day. I wasn't going to keep buying No Codes to collect them all, but i REALLY wanted to see those liner notes.

The worst thing, really, is that at some point they were all like, "Hey, let's form a band. We'll write songs, play shows, and just generally earn a living."

What a bunch of assholes. Why couldn't they have chosen victimless careers? Like loan shark or AIDS provider?

you know, if Andy Wood hadn't died none of this would be a problem for any of us right now.

[bodysnatcher]

Id like to come back to the No Code era moneygrab with the album artwork. I haven't thought about that in years until today, but man that pissed me off back in the day. I wasn't going to keep buying No Codes to collect them all, but i REALLY wanted to see those liner notes. It was probably the most I was ever annoyed by them (as opposed to 10c)

You just had to go around to used CD stores, find the liner packets you didn't have, and still them out of the sleeve. Not too hard

[philpritchard]

I'm the same way. If I was Eddie I'd laugh in their faces. Why would I waste my time with this shit? more money!? why?

eh, its just something I'll never understand about being rich, which is probably why I'm not rich.

I'm sure there are plenty of reasons.

What I don't get is how people read into these things as if they know the details of the situation. I mean, I probably fall into the same category as you: I wouldn't bother with it if money were no issue for me. But if a good friend was involved and asked me to play? Maybe I would consider it. If the company was going to make a substantial donation to a charity I support? Why the hell not? There are so many things that could be happening here that we simply don't know. Of course, it could be the exact opposite and they just offered him a whole bunch of money and he jumped at the opportunity. It just seems a little ridiculous to simply assume that's the case and immediately pass judgement and claim "MONEYGRAB MONEYGRAB MONEYGRAB!"

Going "Well, there are so many possible scenarios so let's assume the best and move on" is really no less of a logical leap than going "Well, there are so many possible scenarios so let's assume the worst and laugh about it."

Although one is substantially more fun.

I didn't say we should assume the best. I said it's unfair to assume the worst. But people do enjoy being pissed off about things, and who am I to stand in the way of that?

I bet RM is secretly owned by the band and every time they ask for donations to support the site they're just using it for more tambourines. Ugh, I hate what this band has become!

[McParadigm]

But people do enjoy being pissed off about things

The mere fact that you call it that tells me that you're not ready.

[malice]

But people do enjoy being pissed off about things

The mere fact that you call it that tells me that you're not ready.

although i can vouch for the validity of the statement when taken outside the context of a post riot act money grasp thread

[matt reeder]

Id like to come back to the No Code era moneygrab with the album artwork. I haven't thought about that in years until today, but man that pissed me off back in the day. I wasn't going to keep buying No Codes to collect them all, but i REALLY wanted to see those liner notes. It was probably the most I was ever annoyed by them (as opposed to 10c)

You just had to go around to used CD stores, find the liner packets you didn't have, and still them out of the sleeve. Not too hard

Or barring that, go to used CD stores and buy the copy or two in the bargain bin. That's what I did.

[given2trade]

I just like watching Stip drive himself crazy defending their every move.

Isn't it awesome? Definitely the best part of this thread.

[given2trade]

Small my table, fits just 1
went to Target, bought a bigger one

seriously lol'd

[Coach]

If there's legit PJ/Ed fans in the crowd, then what's the big deal? Is it hypercritical vs. "old school 1990s Ed," of course, but things change. He certainly can't sing like that late 90s roar anymore. Get all the $$ you can Ed.

[stip]

Id like to come back to the No Code era moneygrab with the album artwork. I haven't thought about that in years until today, but man that pissed me off back in the day. I wasn't going to keep buying No Codes to collect them all, but i REALLY wanted to see those liner notes. It was probably the most I was ever annoyed by them (as opposed to 10c)

You just had to go around to used CD stores, find the liner packets you didn't have, and still them out of the sleeve. Not too hard

Or barring that, go to used CD stores and buy the copy or two in the bargain bin. That's what I did.

While this was the height of my BMG scamming days, none of this ever occurred to me.

[dimejinky99]

Well said Coach.

[Coach]

Well said Coach.

Thanks dime

[stip]

I just like watching Stip drive himself crazy defending their every move.

Isn't it awesome? Definitely the best part of this thread.

I'd vow to stop posting in this thread, but no one would believe me, including myself.

[Birds in Hell]

Id like to come back to the No Code era moneygrab with the album artwork. I haven't thought about that in years until today, but man that pissed me off back in the day. I wasn't going to keep buying No Codes to collect them all, but i REALLY wanted to see those liner notes. It was probably the most I was ever annoyed by them (as opposed to 10c)

I can't really see how that's comparable to anything being discussed in this thread.

Aside from the fact that including different content or packaging in various editions of a release is a pretty long-standing tradition in the music industry, I never felt as though I should buy more copies of No Code to get all the lyric sheets. It felt as though not knowing which Polaroids you would get was part of the "puzzle", such as it was. I hadn't even considered looking for the others.

I’m not sure I’d even count PJ as one of my top ten favorite bands. In fact, I’m sure of it.

Me too, no question.

I think it would be something of a misconception, though a relatively understandable one, for someone to presume that posting on a Pearl Jam messageboard is an indicator of fervent devotion to the band above all others.

I like Pearl Jam a lot but there's many bands whose work is more meaningful to me and plenty I think make better music; they, however, don't have messageboards that feature Kevin Davis, theplatypus, McParadigm, etc. It's the posters and the level of discussion that keeps me returning here, not Pearl Jam.

For someone who is genuinely that devoted to Pearl Jam, I can see how these sort of things could be more easily ignored; "they've given me so much, isn't this all rather small beer?" I doubt there's anything The Cure or Neil Young could do that would really bother me at this point, for instance, but I don't feel the same need to cut Pearl Jam as much slack. There's almost a protectiveness to the way stip (for example) treat the band that not everyone is going to share.