Red Mosquito

McParadigm wrote:Lightning Bolting

mastaflatch wrote:

stip wrote:

mastaflatch wrote:

stip wrote:

mastaflatch wrote:also, there's got to be a major difference between a ramshackle 60s cover that was recorded live on a soundcheck then released as a fan club single then off to the airwaves and became a hit by popular demand then put on a benefit album for Kosovar refugees and a song that uses the very musical stereotypes and idiosycrasies that PJ tried to shack off for most of their career. those hair metal mannerisms were what the Seattle scene stood against in the beginning and that stance surely appealed to me.

i'm not going to diss the song's lyrics or overall musical performance of the band but it's a clear and conscious choice from this band and BO'B and it's some kind of artistic u-turn that can't go unnoticed.

It's a song that probably wouldn't have appeared on earlier records, although pj deteactors in the early years considered pj one small remove from hair metal anyway.

My larger point was that I see no reason to think that the existence of stuff like red dot, soon forget, or wasted reprise were somehow keeping songs like sirens off the record, or that they are incompatible

i get what you're saying and you may be right. that being said, Ed claimed, when promoting LB and to ackowledge the corporate rock/hair metal roots of Sirens, that they'd stop caring what Mark Arm thought about their songs. so there's that stance that may (or may not) signify that current PJ doesn't care either about what they used to be. there's got to be something to think about when the band you used to love is now recording a power-ballad single that the singer can barely handle live just weeks after its release.

I think the fact that they aren't letting their sound be determined by what some random guy thinks is cool is great. They've been out of high school for a long time. What that has to do with whether or not Eddie can handle a song live don't know.

releasing their most commercial song yet, that's a huge departure - or a stylistic regression? - as a single that their frontman can't convincingly reproduce live speaks volumes as to where the band is, the importance they put in being a great band. i don't think there was this kind of occurences (downtuning newly-released songs) before Backspacer. now it's almost like it's their modus operandi.

Lament wrote:I don't think the songs are very good. And I don't really buy the idea that it's a different approach, or that they're breaking new ground or experimenting or anything like that. It's a rock album made by a rock band with songs that I don't enjoy (except for Got Some).

Heathen wrote:This is the closest we'll ever come to sucking each other's cock.

digster wrote:There's nothing necessarily wrong with trying to write radio hits provided you can do it well. Pearl Jam haven't really offered much evidence that they can do it well. I don't really care what their motivation is, whether it's writing songs to hit the charts or make Mark Arm happy, provided the end result is something worthwhile.

VinylGuy wrote:I still dont get the hatred Backspacer gets. Maybe because of the fixer video or the Target thing? Because even if you dont like it musically or lyrically, it was a very different approach for the band.

And yes, they gained a lot of new fans with this one.

VinylGuy wrote:The Fixer live is pretty cool, specially if you are there. Its really fun.

stip wrote:

digster wrote:There's nothing necessarily wrong with trying to write radio hits provided you can do it well. Pearl Jam haven't really offered much evidence that they can do it well. I don't really care what their motivation is, whether it's writing songs to hit the charts or make Mark Arm happy, provided the end result is something worthwhile.

Well, they have managed to score some pretty big radio hits. Isn't that evidence?

stip wrote:

digster wrote:There's nothing necessarily wrong with trying to write radio hits provided you can do it well. Pearl Jam haven't really offered much evidence that they can do it well. I don't really care what their motivation is, whether it's writing songs to hit the charts or make Mark Arm happy, provided the end result is something worthwhile.

Well, they have managed to score some pretty big radio hits. Isn't that evidence?

digster wrote:

stip wrote:

digster wrote:There's nothing necessarily wrong with trying to write radio hits provided you can do it well. Pearl Jam haven't really offered much evidence that they can do it well. I don't really care what their motivation is, whether it's writing songs to hit the charts or make Mark Arm happy, provided the end result is something worthwhile.

Well, they have managed to score some pretty big radio hits. Isn't that evidence?

I meant write good songs when trying to write radio hits. I wasn't meaning to bring up chart positions or anything.

McParadigm wrote:

theplatypus wrote:Backspacer is Pearl Jam with a tan, and a shitty goatee, and frosted tips.

Which is still better than Pearl Jam pulling its wagon into town and going "Whatever it was you liked, we can still do that! Really! I swear! Mid-90's crunch? Anthemic balladry? Wave-like structures that build and then restart? Meandering mood pieces with cryptic lyrics? Oh god please still like us because we can almost write songs that remind you of way better songs from before..."

Give me Pearl Jam trying a really shitty thing over Pearl Jam Lightning Bolting all over any day of the week.