Red Mosquito

McParadigm wrote:

worldwithyourheart wrote:

McParadigm wrote:

worldwithyourheart wrote:I'm sure these guys are set for life, but don't make it out as if they are filthy rich. They're not. Do you think Boom is? What about the roadies, 10C staff, etc. Maybe the band wants to keep the machine going because they feel obligated and care about the people who have helped them.

I could just read this all day long.

you think you know and like to speculate and criticize, but you really have no idea in the end.

Holy shit. I *do* like to speculate and criticize! I like the living SHIT out of it!

How did you do that? Do you...I mean...are you spying on me?

I just want to compliment you on your nice caps, italics, boldness, and friendly attitude here...

Iholdthepain wrote:

McParadigm wrote:

worldwithyourheart wrote:

McParadigm wrote:

worldwithyourheart wrote:I'm sure these guys are set for life, but don't make it out as if they are filthy rich. They're not. Do you think Boom is? What about the roadies, 10C staff, etc. Maybe the band wants to keep the machine going because they feel obligated and care about the people who have helped them.

I could just read this all day long.

you think you know and like to speculate and criticize, but you really have no idea in the end.

Holy shit. I *do* like to speculate and criticize! I like the living SHIT out of it!

How did you do that? Do you...I mean...are you spying on me?

I just want to compliment you on your nice caps, italics, boldness, and friendly attitude here...

I know!!!!!

McParadigm wrote:

worldwithyourheart wrote:

McParadigm wrote:

worldwithyourheart wrote:I'm sure these guys are set for life, but don't make it out as if they are filthy rich. They're not. Do you think Boom is? What about the roadies, 10C staff, etc. Maybe the band wants to keep the machine going because they feel obligated and care about the people who have helped them.

I could just read this all day long.

you think you know and like to speculate and criticize, but you really have no idea in the end.

Holy shit. I *do* like to speculate and criticize! I like the living SHIT out of it!

How did you do that? Do you...I mean...are you spying on me?

EJ wrote:

stip wrote:

BurtReynolds wrote:As long as the music is still good, amirite? amirite!?

I'm still confused about "pearl jam" investing in anything. Are they some sort of investment group now? If so, please give me some pointers on how to best avoid partnering with a silly rock band to invest in anything, except maybe a business that sells vinyl rereleases to mentally ill people with entirely too much money.

you are rite. Or if they're doing something unethical or supporting something particularly bad.



Unless dropbox was desperate for capital I don't see what pearl jam inc is bringing to the table for them, unless it's just a guy using his business to fulfill a childhood fantasy. Condi rice brings a lot more to the table. Seeing members of my favorite band sitting on the board does not inspire me with confidence

what instrument did you play in Angry Flannel?

I handled merchandising for the fan club

malice wrote:

McParadigm wrote:

worldwithyourheart wrote:

McParadigm wrote:

worldwithyourheart wrote:I'm sure these guys are set for life, but don't make it out as if they are filthy rich. They're not. Do you think Boom is? What about the roadies, 10C staff, etc. Maybe the band wants to keep the machine going because they feel obligated and care about the people who have helped them.

I could just read this all day long.

you think you know and like to speculate and criticize, but you really have no idea in the end.

Holy shit. I *do* like to speculate and criticize! I like the living SHIT out of it!

How did you do that? Do you...I mean...are you spying on me?

It's almost like he was able to draw conclusions after a period of observation.

This is so weird.

How do we know they didn't just invest in this company to make some money that they could donate to charities?

(Please quote this post in 3-4 pages when someone restates it as a fact. Thanks.)

Why is everyone so mad at them for the Dropbox thing? It was all done for charity. (See how I do?)

see, it was for charity! so could everyone please back off

Mine wrote:

Lament wrote:Honestly the simplest explanation for everything is that Eddie Vedder stood for things because Pearl Jam hit the scene at a time when standing for things was good for your career. He'll probably continue to do so because it's part of his persona. The Rolling Stone article from 1996 is probably way more accurate than people want to believe.

I don't have an issue with people expressing any criticism and most are at least in part valid. But why does it have to be about Vedder alone, when he's one of the 5 people of the band. It just sounds like resentment towards him.
For instance the fact that Tim Bierman really likes to point out how his friend Jeff Ament brought him in to run the 10C to make it financially viable always brings a sarcastic expression to my face because of how cynically ironic it is. But RM ignores it because it's Ament not Vedder.

You think he's that cynical? Musicians were standing for things since forever, it's not the best career move either since you systematically turn part of your audience off by doing so - and Ed is no exception here.

Maybe people single out Ed because he's the one with the microphone who made a lot these statements that people here feel he's betrayed. Or wrote most of the lyrics that now bother some people in this thread.

I think the other four members of the band (well, let's say three since there are only four Pearl Jam-lifers) are probably not very different from Vedder. All you have to do is look at their careers before Pearl Jam. Jeff and Stone made a pretty dramatic shift in everything (sound, look) when they went from Green River to Mother Love Bone (the former a band whose break up was brought on by Ament's dogged pursuit of fame). Mike was in LA trying to play hair metal at a time when that was the most crass, debaucherous scene in music history, wasn't he?

As for risking his career by standing for things...well, some of the biggest rock stars in the world in the time leading up to and including when Pearl Jam broke were Bono, Michael Stipe, Sting, Bruce Springsteen, Peter Gabriel. So I don't buy for one second the idea that standing for things in the early 90s was not a good career move. I'd argue it was the best career move you could make. There was no quicker way to earn cred, and with the barbs being tossed at the band (and specifically Ed) coming from Seattle at the time, I don't think there's any great leap in thinking perhaps that's what drove a lot of his stances and actions.

That being said, I'm sure there are things he cared about, and cares about. But if you're asking me to guess which one of these is closest to true:

1. Ed & Pearl Jam used to stand for a lot of great and brave things but now they're just a hypocritical, cynical money-making machine.

2. Ed & Pearl Jam have just gone through normal changes in practice and have actually never done anything they really were ever against and it's just people wanting to be mad at them for one reason or another. We don't even know why they do these things they're being criticized for, it's probably to pay for all of the 10C to be able to feed their kids or to donate money to save dying orphans from being eaten by Dick Cheney.

3. Ed & Pearl Jam have probably always been more or less the same way they are now, they've just let it max out in the last ten years and stopped trying to hide it. In fact, a lot of the things they were praised by so many of us for doing back in the day came from more cynical places than we'd like to admit, and the detractors they've had along the way were probably more right than anyone would have admitted at the time. I bet they wished they could've sold Pearl Jam themed Chicago Bears jerseys at Soldier Field in 1995.

I'm going with #3 every time,

stip wrote:see, it was for charity! so could everyone please back off

They're actually the ones who got Rice on the board so that she could help make money to donate to charities as penance for her part in the Bush Administration. She's really sorry for everything she was a part of now cause they sat her down and had her listen to Riot Act & S/T.

There is a rumor they will be playing a private show at the Halliburton/BP Baby Seal Cook-off Jamboree this year. Can anyone get me tickets?

No, but I have an inside track on getting some signed variants of the official show poster if you're interested. It's an Ames Bros. one.

Lament wrote:

stip wrote:see, it was for charity! so could everyone please back off

They're actually the ones who got Rice on the board so that she could help make money to donate to charities as penance for her part in the Bush Administration. She's really sorry for everything she was a part of now cause they sat her down and had her listen to Riot Act & S/T.

stip wrote:The question I'd ask is 'should pearl jam stop making harmless and inessential things that a narrow set of intense fans really loves to have?' If your answer is yes, what are you basing that off of besides 'I don't like it.'?

I think playing in a band is always essentially a creative endeavour; it's impossible to separate Pearl Jam as a business entity from Pearl Jam as musicians.

Everything that comes out with the Pearl Jam name attached is, on some level, a reflection on them and their art, even moreso now as the buck always stops with them and not a third party (Sony, etc). T-shirts, figurines, dog collars, Faithfull Ale, Facebook posts: all of this is inseparable from Pearl Jam as a creative entity.

If people think those things are unappealing or poorly-chosen, that can't help but reflect on the band. Not to the same degree as awful music, of course, but I can understand the temptation to lump them together if you discern a general downwards trend.

stip wrote:It's a non-essential product made for hobbyists. I'd be bothered if they stuck a new song on it to make people feel like they HAD to buy it.

Honestly, I'd find no issue with a limited-run 7" of songs completely unavailable elsewhere. That would actually be pretty cool.

I'm starting to think they're never going to produce the official Pearl Jam corduroy jacket that comes with a 1-track CD featuring a special re-recorded version of Corduroy in one of the pockets and "You can buy AND put on my clothes!" embroidered on the inside along the collar.



All of this stupid shit they keep making, and they can't make the ONE thing I want.

Lament wrote:I'm starting to think they're never going to produce the official Pearl Jam corduroy jacket that comes with a 1-track CD featuring a special re-recorded version of Corduroy in one of the pockets and "You can buy AND put on my clothes!" embroidered on the inside along the collar.



All of this stupid shit they keep making, and they can't make the ONE thing I want.

Does the jacket have built in speakers?

Not the one I want, but I'm sure if the 10C did make it they'd fuck it up and put speakers in it. And make the CD a poorly pressed 7" single.