Dark Matter: Official Album Thread

[E.H. Ruddock]

I don’t think it’s a competition? I think it’s trying to rally artists together to bring costs down

[96583UP]

i don't expect Ed to carve out some of his $MM+ so that people can see the show for $50 less

those hawaiian beach homes don't pay for themselves

beware the leveling spirit of the masses

the minority of the opulent must be protected against the tyranny of the majority

[Jorge]

I don’t think it’s a competition? I think it’s trying to rally artists together to bring costs down

Seems like a strange question to me, but in any case, if the price gouging is worse than ever relative to incomes (and it is, by a lot) then this "one time" seems like it makes sense to speak out. Interesting that PJ isn't. I would imagine they would.

[tragabigzanda]

pearl jam sucks now

[WaitingForBluey]

Been in the fan club since 1994

Happily requested Vegas and Fenway shows

Love the new song

Don’t mind the drums or production

Happy my fav band is still alive and well and creating new music

Happy that a super fan got to make this record.

And Cheerio to you too good neighbor

[WaitingForBluey]

I had spent the majority of my fandom in the "PJ should be what I want them to be" mindset. Ugh... Seriously, like from '94 all that way up to where I could stop keeping track of such absurdity.

What an epic waste of time!

[stip]

I love Robert and The Cures, but yeah, I don't remember him being a classically political musician; maybe I'm wrong

I don't know what that entails but I think calling out price gouging and predatory business practices (and, more importantly, actively opting out of them) is a good thing overall, especially since it directly benefits fans by making the shows accessible to more people than the very wealthy

oh it's definitely a good thing, and I applaud it, but this is one time; and PJ have had many "one times" in their past, so if I cared enough (I don't) I'd be interested in seeing if Smith's historical record of sticking it to the Man is better than Pearl Jam's

if there is a concerted effort to push back from the industry i would hope pearl jam would support it. but i think the 95-96 tour left some deep wounds. i understand why they wouldnt want to fight that fight again, even though i would love to see them do it.

they raise and donate a lot of money and use their platform in ways that are socially and politically responsible even if they aren’t challenging the larger systemic architecture they operate in

[stip]

I love Robert and The Cures, but yeah, I don't remember him being a classically political musician; maybe I'm wrong

I don't know what that entails but I think calling out price gouging and predatory business practices (and, more importantly, actively opting out of them) is a good thing overall, especially since it directly benefits fans by making the shows accessible to more people than the very wealthy

oh it's definitely a good thing, and I applaud it, but this is one time; and PJ have had many "one times" in their past, so if I cared enough (I don't) I'd be interested in seeing if Smith's historical record of sticking it to the Man is better than Pearl Jam's

if there is a concerted effort to push back from the industry i would hope pearl jam would support it. but i think the 95-96 tour left some deep wounds. i understand why they wouldnt want to fight that fight again, even though i would love to see them do it.

they raise and donate a lot of money and use their platform in ways that are socially and politically responsible even if they aren’t challenging the larger systemic architecture they operate in

[Tj]

A very dark matter indeed

[oneway23]

I love Robert and The Cures, but yeah, I don't remember him being a classically political musician; maybe I'm wrong

I don't know what that entails but I think calling out price gouging and predatory business practices (and, more importantly, actively opting out of them) is a good thing overall, especially since it directly benefits fans by making the shows accessible to more people than the very wealthy

oh it's definitely a good thing, and I applaud it, but this is one time; and PJ have had many "one times" in their past, so if I cared enough (I don't) I'd be interested in seeing if Smith's historical record of sticking it to the Man is better than Pearl Jam's

if there is a concerted effort to push back from the industry i would hope pearl jam would support it. but i think the 95-96 tour left some deep wounds. i understand why they wouldnt want to fight that fight again, even though i would love to see them do it.

they raise and donate a lot of money and use their platform in ways that are socially and politically responsible even if they aren’t challenging the larger systemic architecture they operate in

Unfortunately, as we know, no one stood beside them. The result? They looked inward for ways to use their platform to control what they could control.
Again, many people seem to conveniently neglect to mention that, prior to this tour, their prices were below industry average for a band of their stature for decades.

[VinylGuy]

Also music shows, festivals, soccer games , nba games… they are not for the popular demand anymore.

It’s getting worse and worse. We’ll see what happens in the next couple of years.

[lecherouslittlestump]

in the meantime what we know is the following

1. The band asked Watt to produce their album based on Eddie’s positive experiences working with him
2. They wrote songs as a unit rather than bringing in near complete compositions
3. The band was very proud of the outcome
4. The band has said that Watt has a deep knowledge of their catalog and would use it to help communicate musical ideas to the band during the writing and recording
5. The one song we have heard thus far has roots in many other moments from the bands history
6. Watt was considered a significant enough collaborator that he was given some writing credits


Conclusions that can be speculatively drawn from this include:

1. Watt was given a writing credit because the band thought he was a collaberative partner in the process and wanted to recognize that (moreso than past producers)
2. Watt insisited he be given one (unlike past producers - really BoB is the only one with the clout to have demanded this)

and less likely

3. The band went to Watt to ask him to write them some hit songs with top 40 potential. that would be the outcome you seem to be leaning towards (I am not trying to strawman you - if there is more to it then please elaborate). Or Pealr Jam are a bunch of doddering old men being taken advantage of by a slick producer (predatory is a strong adjective) But there doesnt seem to be evidence supporting that in pearl jam’s actions beyond the writing credit itself . This seems to be where you are, and other than a deep, abiding, and documented dislike of Watt Im not sure how you got there

quit being so goddam reasonable!

trag chose the year 2024 for his PJ purity test

not the one where they started using Ticketmaster
not the one where they sell Merchandise at increasingly absurd prices ('it keeps us alive')
not the one where they played private corporate office party gigs
not the one where they befriended sports-venue owning billionaires
not the one where Ed severely tempered down his political talk so as not to offend those sports-venue owning billionaires
not the one where their album was a frankenstein of clips written in silos and then stitched together by the soundman

but the one where they played live in a room together and had a young person help bring out their best and gave him a credit for doing so

that was a bridge too far
the horror

btw US aggregate inflation is up over 20% since 3 years ago so people biiishing about ticket prices need to get the big picture. This isn't a PJ-specific thing

They could bless the pro tools sessions with the years of the Virgin Mary. If Serban Ghanea mixed it then why the hell am I listening to it?

Who the f is Serban Ghanea and why do you keep mentioning them?

[oneway23]

Who the f is Serban Ghanea and why do you keep mentioning them?

An audio engineer who has mixed a ton of pop records. Mixed DM

[Ms Harmless]

I don’t think it’s a competition? I think it’s trying to rally artists together to bring costs down

of course it's not a competition, I'm responding to the idea that PJ is not doing it enough compared to Robert Smith's one tweet here

[Ms Harmless]

PJ is speaking out about plenty of current issues at this very time; the most encouraging one for me personally is trans rights; both Mike and Jeff seem much more interested in that than half of this forum

[Ms Harmless]

I'd rather they do that, and continue running the Wishlist foundation, than make my ticket cheaper

[Ms Harmless]

fighting Ticketmaster was cool but it didn't save any lives, relax

[RockPusher]

These guys are 60 and sound like they’re at least 20 years younger. If Watt is their Viagra, as someone delicately put it, then wam bam THANK YOU man!

[Jorge]

I'd rather they do that, and continue running the Wishlist foundation, than make my ticket cheaper

I don't think they run the Wishlist foundation

[Ms Harmless]

I'd rather they do that, and continue running the Wishlist foundation, than make my ticket cheaper

I don't think they run the Wishlist foundation

well then it's run for them, I don't know, but that's splitting hairs