Red Mosquito

cutuphalfdead wrote:

Mine wrote:

Rangi Guy wrote:

Mine wrote:

McParadigm wrote:Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder Slams 'Crap' Pop Music, Calls 'Lightning Bolt' Their Best Record!

Eddie Vedder was hailed as the voice of his generation. It is clear that it is not the current generation of MTV fans. After watching the recent MTV awards, the Pearl Jam frontman has choice words.

The enigmatic singer of Pearl Jam, which produced some of the biggest hits of the 90s like "Jeremy," "Black" and "Alive" was a staple of the MTV awards almost two decades ago.

In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, the 48 year-old Vedder notes that times have definitely changed: "These pop songs almost feel like tabloid journalism, in a way. It's crap that people seem to like. And I don't know if it has meaning. I don't know if one of the pop songs of the summer has any fiber in it. People are consuming it, and is it healthy? I don't know. Maybe it's some kind of way of taking themselves away from their problems. Maybe there's some healthy property or some restorative property that I'm not receiving. It seems like it has a really high fructose content."

While he questions the state of pop music today, he still continues to make records. In fact, he still tries to make the best record! Rolling Stone talked with Eddie to promote the band's latest album, "Lightning Bolt." Vedder calls it their best:

"I say this in the least-competitive way possible, but we're trying to make not just the best Pearl Jam record, but just the best record. It's about getting to the next level of communication, or just trying to crack a code into some higher plane of playing music. Because when we're making a record, I'm more of a listener than a player. That whole time, you're staying in this weird, objective place, like you're writing from a hot-air balloon, looking at the landscape and trying to zero in. You're trying to create a giant crop circle, and that's the mystery behind it. Like, how would you make that if you were on the ground?"

It was noted that most of the songs on the new album explored the theme of mortality. When he was teased that it was a sign of growing old, Vedder gave an explanation that hit the nail on what exactly YOLO (You Only Live Once) means:

"They say to write what you know. I think that's maybe one thing that we all know [laughs]. It's living while you're alive, and living to the day you die, and being cognizant of the end, and you might lead a more appreciative life, if that's part of your approach."

While most of today's young musicians espouse the same YOLO motto to promote debauchery and irresponsible behavior, Vedder's message is the exact opposite. Yes, you only live once, that is why you have to make it worthwhile. He has set an example, as he has already quit most of the vices associated with Rock star behavior and focused on his family and the music.

I remember this. It was one of the 1st articles that came out around the time LB was released.
To be fair he didn't call it their best.

Rolling Stone talked with Eddie to promote the band's latest album, "Lightning Bolt." Vedder calls it their best:

we're trying to make not just the best Pearl Jam record, but just the best record.

doesn't mean he thinks they succeeded

If Lightning Bolt is what we get when Pearl Jam tries to make the best record possible then it really is over.

Mine wrote:I don't think PJ will release another really good album - ever.

Birds in Hell wrote:Where to from here?

BurtReynolds wrote:maybe they shouldnt try to make the best album ever.

EJ wrote:They need to make an album that would impress with Josh Homme.

Sgt. Crackpot wrote:

EJ wrote:They need to make an album that would impress with about Josh Homme.

Birds in Hell wrote:It won't happen.

The band's view of No Code, Binaural and Riot Act as "the bad Pearl Jam albums that nobody likes" and S/T, Backspacer and Lightning Bolt as "the good Pearl Jam albums that everyone enjoys" seems fairly established by now.

From the band's perspective, they feel they figured out a way to pull themselves out of what they saw as a kind of decline; why would they turn back now?

cutuphalfdead wrote:

McParadigm wrote:

cutuphalfdead wrote:If Lightning Bolt is what we get when Pearl Jam tries to make the best record possible then it really is over.

That has to be just a BS "easy nugget for the press to headline" promotion thing, doesn't it?

Please God say that it is.

He could have been saying that they're not thinking of making a "pearl jam" record specifically but just making a record, and of course they're trying to make the best one possible.

Birds in Hell wrote:It won't happen.

The band's view of No Code, Binaural and Riot Act as "the bad Pearl Jam albums that nobody likes" and S/T, Backspacer and Lightning Bolt as "the good Pearl Jam albums that everyone enjoys" seems fairly established by now.

From the band's perspective, they feel they figured out a way to pull themselves out of what they saw as a kind of decline; why would they turn back now?

Birds in Hell wrote:

Mine wrote:I don't think PJ will release another really good album - ever.

I'll be moderately surprised if they go to the trouble of making another record.

So much of what they've done over the last three album cycles strikes me as an intentional "course correction" from where they were in the 1999-2004 period.

For better or worse, I think they've succeeded. Where to from here?

BurtReynolds wrote:

Birds in Hell wrote:It won't happen.

The band's view of No Code, Binaural and Riot Act as "the bad Pearl Jam albums that nobody likes" and S/T, Backspacer and Lightning Bolt as "the good Pearl Jam albums that everyone enjoys" seems fairly established by now.

From the band's perspective, they feel they figured out a way to pull themselves out of what they saw as a kind of decline; why would they turn back now?

Maybe the frequent comments of "more of the same" in many of the LB reviews will snap them out of it?