Red Mosquito

The album title definitely has some connection with Ed's pro-surfer friend Mark Richards who's main sponsor back in the day was Lightning Bolt. So, there's our first surfing reference. Now, we just need the underlying message behind the title...

From Wikidealio:

In 1982 Richards' main sponsor, Lightning Bolt, suddenly dropped him. The reason was a mystery, he'd just won his fourth world title and was at the peak of his popularity, but they declined to renew for another year. The Lightning Bolt Australia division reckoned that treatment shabby and signed him up for several years. It turned out the parent company was in severe financial trouble, and it in fact folded, putting most of its Hawaiian staff out of work.

kreng wrote:

broken iris wrote:

B wrote:No one's calling this the second coming ... it's just a solid song.

Yeah. This will be much better live than Got Some, Comatose, or Save You. But hardly worthy of the 1994-2000 catalog.

Haha what The fuck. The song has been out for 6 hours. C'mon

I'm sorry but this is RM: you have to give snap judgments and decree from your ivory tower whether the song matched the lofty heights established in your infinitely more sophisticated head.

gems and rhinestones wrote:

theplatypus wrote:I know this is very cynical of me, but I can't help but think that some people are kind of forcing themselves to like this song. I think if you presented this same song with a different singer (say a Bob Mould or a Greg? Graffin) to a bunch of Pearl Jam fans, most of them would go "meh."

Couldn't the same thing be said about any song though? If the singers you mentioned sang for instance, Stairway To Heaven instead of Plant....or if one of the guitar players from Nickleback were playing on it instead of Page...

Think about it.

I think the real point is that there is literally nothing that this song is doing that is not a part of what those bands/people spent decades perfecting. If you had played this for me and said "Check out this Bad Religion cover that Pearl Jam did for a tribute record," I'd go "Huh...yeah, wow. Where is that song from? I don't remember it." And understand that I realize the enormous overlap that exists in rock music, and how little real stylistic variation there is out there...but this song draws in on its influences with an exactness that goes beyond even the most sycophantic homage. It doesn't do anything that makes it not be a song by those bands, except have a different name on the artwork.

That's fine, I suppose. Like I've said, I think the right context could make this song really work. I'll have to wait and see. But it seems silly to have such fervent support for a song on a board that rarely mentions all those acts that have spent many years doing the EXACT SAME thing, often better.

I think it just comes down to "I like to hear these guys play, and Eddie Vedder sing."

I think this is probably exactly the mentality.

McParadigm wrote:

I think it just comes down to "I like to hear these guys play, and Eddie Vedder sing."

I think this is probably exactly the mentality.

Its been that way for a long time.

theplatypus wrote:I know this is very cynical of me, but I can't help but think that some people are kind of forcing themselves to like this song.

And I can't help but think that this is a condescending comment. I imagine the vast majority here give honest opinions despite what others think.

I only hope they pull a "Five Against One" and rename this sucker at the last second. Maybe I'll just pretend they called it "X."

At least the cover isn't a photo of a piece of fruit, I guess...

Juvenal wrote:

theplatypus wrote:I know this is very cynical of me, but I can't help but think that some people are kind of forcing themselves to like this song.

And I can't help but think that this is a condescending comment. I imagine the vast majority here give honest opinions despite what others think.

yeah, that is just an asinine assumption of the platypus

EJ wrote:The album title definitely has some connection with Ed's pro-surfer friend Mark Richards who's main sponsor back in the day was Lightning Bolt. So, there's our first surfing reference. Now, we just need the underlying message behind the title...

From Wikidealio:

In 1982 Richards' main sponsor, Lightning Bolt, suddenly dropped him. The reason was a mystery, he'd just won his fourth world title and was at the peak of his popularity, but they declined to renew for another year. The Lightning Bolt Australia division reckoned that treatment shabby and signed him up for several years. It turned out the parent company was in severe financial trouble, and it in fact folded, putting most of its Hawaiian staff out of work.

great boards right there, He is missing the hard to find twin fin though

theplatypus wrote:I know this is very cynical of me, but I can't help but think that some people are kind of forcing themselves to like this song. I think if you presented this same song with a different singer (say a Bob Mould or a Greg? Graffin) to a bunch of Pearl Jam fans, most of them would go "meh."

This is literally what I've been thinking about every shit PJ song that everyone inexplicably likes. I'm glad people are starting to realize I was right.

EJ wrote:

McParadigm wrote:

I think it just comes down to "I like to hear these guys play, and Eddie Vedder sing."

I think this is probably exactly the mentality.

Its been that way for a long time.

That's how it is for me for the most part. It's not that I like every Pearl Jam song. But if you take a brand new song that I never heard before, have Pearl Jam play it, and have another band play it, I'd like the Pearl Jam version better.

Juvenal wrote:

theplatypus wrote:I know this is very cynical of me, but I can't help but think that some people are kind of forcing themselves to like this song.

And I can't help but think that this is a condescending comment.

It sure is.

McParadigm wrote:

sward wrote:

theplatypus wrote:I know this is very cynical of me, but I can't help but think that some people are kind of forcing themselves to like this song. I think if you presented this same song with a different singer (say a Bob Mould or a Greg? Graffin) to a bunch of Pearl Jam fans, most of them would go "meh."

Well...the alternative to this is that a lot of us really like it!

I'll admit that, when the positive response was way more than I could fathom it being, I did kind of go "I sure hope there are a lot more 80's hardcore fans on the board, spending their nights drooling over New Day Rising and Suffer, than I ever realized. Because the only alternative scenario I can think of is...."

you might not end up being a fan of a genre, but when an artist you like takes you there you could end up absorbing, in those limited doses, some of what it has to offer without becoming a convert. Maybe this is all the bad religion your average fan will ever need.

Has anyone pointed this out? From Two Feet Thick's website:

Take a look a the giant one-eyed bolt-adorned figure in the artwork that went along with the “Lightning Bolt” announcement today (see still frame in album announcement video above). Then ponder this: In greek mythology, Zeus set the Cyclops free and they rewarded him with the gift of thunder and lightning.

I think the album title makes much more sense in this context. Isn't one of the rumoured tracks called "Sirens"? Maybe there's something to this?

Sigerson wrote:Has anyone pointed this out? From Two Feet Thick's website:

Take a look a the giant one-eyed bolt-adorned figure in the artwork that went along with the “Lightning Bolt” announcement today (see still frame in album announcement video above). Then ponder this: In greek mythology, Zeus set the Cyclops free and they rewarded him with the gift of thunder and lightning.

I think the album title makes much more sense in this context. Isn't one of the rumoured tracks called "Sirens"? Maybe there's something to this?

There's such a fine line between clever and stupid.

doug rr wrote:

EJ wrote:The album title definitely has some connection with Ed's pro-surfer friend Mark Richards who's main sponsor back in the day was Lightning Bolt. So, there's our first surfing reference. Now, we just need the underlying message behind the title...

From Wikidealio:

In 1982 Richards' main sponsor, Lightning Bolt, suddenly dropped him. The reason was a mystery, he'd just won his fourth world title and was at the peak of his popularity, but they declined to renew for another year. The Lightning Bolt Australia division reckoned that treatment shabby and signed him up for several years. It turned out the parent company was in severe financial trouble, and it in fact folded, putting most of its Hawaiian staff out of work.

great boards right there, He is missing the hard to find twin fin though

And he does look like the dude from north shore

EJ wrote:

McParadigm wrote:

I think it just comes down to "I like to hear these guys play, and Eddie Vedder sing."

I think this is probably exactly the mentality.

Its been that way for a long time.

Nothing wrong with liking to hear these guys play.

Sigerson wrote:Has anyone pointed this out? From Two Feet Thick's website:

Take a look a the giant one-eyed bolt-adorned figure in the artwork that went along with the “Lightning Bolt” announcement today (see still frame in album announcement video above). Then ponder this: In greek mythology, Zeus set the Cyclops free and they rewarded him with the gift of thunder and lightning.

I think the album title makes much more sense in this context. Isn't one of the rumoured tracks called "Sirens"? Maybe there's something to this?

Maybe 12 songs really means "surprise double album!"

McParadigm wrote:

Sigerson wrote:Has anyone pointed this out? From Two Feet Thick's website:

Take a look a the giant one-eyed bolt-adorned figure in the artwork that went along with the “Lightning Bolt” announcement today (see still frame in album announcement video above). Then ponder this: In greek mythology, Zeus set the Cyclops free and they rewarded him with the gift of thunder and lightning.

I think the album title makes much more sense in this context. Isn't one of the rumoured tracks called "Sirens"? Maybe there's something to this?

There's such a fine line between clever and stupid.

I'm just trying to make the album title somewhat digestable.

stip wrote:Maybe this is all the bad religion your average fan will ever need.

Sigerson wrote:

McParadigm wrote:

Sigerson wrote:Has anyone pointed this out? From Two Feet Thick's website:

Take a look a the giant one-eyed bolt-adorned figure in the artwork that went along with the “Lightning Bolt” announcement today (see still frame in album announcement video above). Then ponder this: In greek mythology, Zeus set the Cyclops free and they rewarded him with the gift of thunder and lightning.

I think the album title makes much more sense in this context. Isn't one of the rumoured tracks called "Sirens"? Maybe there's something to this?

There's such a fine line between clever and stupid.

I'm just trying to make the album title somewhat digestable.

I would've preferred "Zeus Sets Cyclops Free." And, kept the same artwork.