Era of the moment: 1999-2000

[stip]

we'll have to see what the 10th album sounds like but if it is really different I guess we can make the argument that PJ likes to close out the eras of their careers with uplifting(ish) records. Each leg of the journey has a happy ending.

I do think that the first era (Ten--Yield) is about them, while the second leg (Binaural--Backspacer) is about the world external to them, although in both cases it's a matter of which you privilege/emphasize. In both cases there's a balance between how the context they find themselves in affects who they are.

[EJ]

I dunno, I really don't picture these guys writing music in terms of perceived "eras."

[Heathen]

I dunno, I really don't picture these guys writing music in terms of perceived "eras."

Yeah I'm not buying it either.

[liebzz]

I think the albums do fall into what I've always perceived as a period or era in their careers - it's how Ten sounds nothing like Backspacer, and there's a lot of space in between.

For me, Ten and Vs. always seemed like the initial balls to the wall rockfest of a band just spilling their guts on record. Then Vitalogy-Mirrorball-No Code being more of records reacting to that, becoming more mature, taking some chances. Yield to me stood alone as they seemed to be a band coming up for air. The Binaural and Riot Act struck me as connected in that they are the most experimental Pearl Jam records that thematically touch at societal anger. S/t and Backspacer to me fit together in that they seem like Pearl Jam just trying to re-establish straight ahead rock roots with a very crisp and clean sound and headspace. And there, to me, you have their varying career arcs, eras, periods, whatever you'd like to call them. I have trouble thinking of this band existing in a vacuum where time has given them some unbroken continuous stream of consciousness.

[dimejinky99]

we'll have to see what the 10th album sounds like but if it is really different I guess we can make the argument that PJ likes to close out the eras of their careers with uplifting(ish) records. Each leg of the journey has a happy ending.

I do think that the first era (Ten--Yield) is about them, while the second leg (Binaural--Backspacer) is about the world external to them, although in both cases it's a matter of which you privilege/emphasize. In both cases there's a balance between how the context they find themselves in affects who they are.

Get off the pot Stip. you have been usurped. No more shenanigans from you young man.

[warehouse]

the scary part is im 99% certain stip doesnt use any drugs

[Lament]

I do think that the first era (Ten--Yield) is about them, while the second leg (Binaural--Backspacer) is about the world external to them, although in both cases it's a matter of which you privilege/emphasize. In both cases there's a balance between how the context they find themselves in affects who they are.

Out of curiosity, do you really consider Binaural-Backspacer to be leg two? I feel like Binaural and Riot Act are kind of false starts, and that Avocado is where a potential second act starts (the "being Pearl Jam" one I mentioned earlier).

[VinylGuy]

for me its:

ten -vitalogy

no code - binaural

RA-Backspacer

[nightmareblack0206]

I agree Lament. S/T was the intro to the second act

[nyquillyn]

My eras would be:
Ten - Riot Act: Good PJ
S/T - beyond: Not so good PJ

[stip]

I dunno, I really don't picture these guys writing music in terms of perceived "eras."

Yeah I'm not buying it either.

Oh I agree that they didn't directly write in terms of eras. frankly that would be lame. But nevertheless their seems to be a narrative (it's the narrative of their lives) that seems to cycle through periods that have starting and stopping points.

[stip]

I do think that the first era (Ten--Yield) is about them, while the second leg (Binaural--Backspacer) is about the world external to them, although in both cases it's a matter of which you privilege/emphasize. In both cases there's a balance between how the context they find themselves in affects who they are.

Out of curiosity, do you really consider Binaural-Backspacer to be leg two? I feel like Binaural and Riot Act are kind of false starts, and that Avocado is where a potential second act starts (the "being Pearl Jam" one I mentioned earlier).

that's hard to answer without seeing whether this new record feels like a phase 3 start or not. All of my categorizations are made with hindsight. I also see the whole thing as part of a larger arc (I've talked about that somewhere--probably in some guided tour introduction). I think that Binaural is at least in part a reaction to premature conclusions reached in Yield--that the journey was declared over before it really was. But If I was going to divide this into chapters and eras Yield makes sense as a stopping point.

I see the Binaural---Backspacer run as both its own internal arc and with backspacer offering the kind of conclusion that was never really reached with Yield (I think Yield is an album made by a group of people trying to convince themselves that everything is okay. I think Backspacer is an album made by a group of people who finally believe it. this is not a shot at Yield by the way--I think a lot of the more interesting moments and tensions in Yield derive from not quite believing what you so badly want to be true).


I also see this run of four records responding much more directly to the world around them than the previous records--and the way in which the world impacts their understanding of themselves. Let me see if I can find a place where i said more about this.

[bodysnatcher]

If PJ albums chapters in a book, I'd consider "Ten" to be the preface instead of Chapter 1

[stip]

yeah, this is from the backspacer thread. I'm not going to say it better (or at least any more thoroughly) than I did here

Although the songs on Backspacer are comparatively simple (and certainly shorter) than a number of the more artsy moments in their catalog, this is not a simple record, and its simplicity is deceptive. The songs feel light, but not because they are devoid of substance or good ideas. It’s because Backspacer, more than any other Pearl Jam record (even Yield, which is probably the record that Backspacer most closely resembles) is the first time Pearl Jam ever sounded unburdened. There are scattered moments here and there throughout their catalog that touch on this(most notably Given To Fly) but Backspacer is the first time Pearl Jam ever really dwells for an extended period of time on what it might be like to actually feel free—freedom as something immanent and present, rather than freedom as an aspiration. In that respect Backspacer represents Pearl Jam doing something genuinely new, thematically and even musically.

More than many bands, Pearl Jam albums are in conversation with each other. They tell a continuing story—not a narrative per se, but they chronicle the emotional development of the band, and each album is enhanced by situating it within that larger context. And so before we start to tackle Backspacer it is worth taking a few moments to reprise what’s come before.

Ten, as I’ve argued before, is an album about betrayal—a sense of being robbed or cheated of something you’re entitled to by the people and institutions that should be protecting you: your parents, your partners, your teachers, your society. It responds to that betrayal by finding solidarity in opposition—if we cannot trust everyone else we can at least make common cause with our fellow victims. There is anger on Ten for certain, but it is a bewildered anger, with the hostility cut by the pervading sense of confusion and the desire to rise above it. Vs. and Vitalogy expand these themes, although in different ways. While on its quieter moments (think Daughter, Small town, Indifference) Vs. finds itself in the same emotional space as Ten (more reflective, perhaps,) the rest of that record is pure anger and aggression. Vs, responds to betrayal with rage, although it cuts this with an undercurrent of solidarity that makes the approach more compelling than pure rage, and more substantive than simple angst. But in important ways this approach is a non starter, and Vitalogy marks the first major pivot in the conversation.

Vitalogy lashes out in much the same way Vs. does, but while Vs. swings wildly everywhere (perhaps because it can’t find a suitable target) Vitalogy narrows its focus to the commodification of music and art, not because being famous is such a pain in the ass, but because this commodification cuts off and makes profane one of the few sacred things left to us. Music has always been a means of transcendence for Pearl Jam—a way to rise above and to set yourself free—as well as a way to give voice to solidarity. Close that off and what’s left for us?

There’s never really any official resolution to this question, but Pearl Jam makes their peace with it (to an extent ) on the next two records. There is a line in an R.E.M. song (Ignoreland) that goes “I feel better for having screamed, don’t you?” and that seems to be the case for Pearl Jam, at least for a while. No Code, the most meditative moment in their catalog, dials back the rage and sees the band move away from asking the questions to providing the answers (or trying to). Eddie in particular moves away from a lyrical perspective that privileged solidarity in an uncertain world to one that strives to be a source of wisdom—someone who HAS experienced what you’re going through and knows what to do, rather than someone who has no answers but promises to experience it with you. Yield is a more complicated record. It continues down the path begun on No Code, but there is something slightly unsettling or uneasy about Yield, despite the seemingly sunny disposition on the record. Yield is an album about acceptance and escape, and while they try to make this process as active as possible, there is an element of disengagement to it that runs counter to the previous direction of the band. It probably makes more sense to understand Yield as an aspirational record, one that aims at a target it never quite manages to hit.

I’d argue that absent some clear cut trauma a group of artists that had actually experienced the serenity Yield promises could not have made Binaural two years later, a record that can perhaps best be described as haunted. While there is a placidity to Yield, Binaural is categorized by its claustrophobia—it’s sense that something is wrong, that walls are closing in, and its inability to figure out precisely what is causing it or what to do about it. Binaural is the first time Pearl Jam surrenders the sense of agency that had animated all its previous records (even the escapism of Yield had an active component to it).

It is not surprising that, coming off the sense of creeping, impending doom that runs through Binaural the response to the trauma of 9-11 (or, more concretely, the way 9-11 hijacked the American conscience and the way its moment of transformative desolation was exploited)would be the defeatism of Riot Act, where, despite the occasional glimmers of hope (front ended on the record or consigned to b-sides) Pearl Jam finds itself, if not quite giving up, wondering whether the fight can be won, and whether it is even worth engaging in the first place. Riot Act t is easily the low point in their catalog (thematically, not necessarily artistically), and the place where the process of disengagement that is begun, however subtly on Yield, ends up bottoming out.

If Binaural and Riot Act are the sound of someone drowning, the triumphant harshness of S/T is the sound of that first aggressive breath you take after surfacing. It’s not fair to call S/T a midlife crisis, since it’s far too concrete a record for that (an embattled response to a very real problem), but it certainly sees the return of an anger that hadn’t really been present since the days of Vs( although with a thematic focus the previous record lacked). It’s not necessarily surprising that they chose to self title this record, as it attempts to recapture the fighting spirit that is at the heart of what the band stands for. But the effort is imperfect. There are moments (parachutes and the wasted reprise come to mind) that come close to synthesizing the anger of the younger pearl jam and the wisdom of the old, but they never quite manage to strike the balance, and Inside Job, the track that needs to tie it all together, clearly falls flat (the first time the band ever really failed itself on the critical thematic track of a record). But it certainly signals where the band wants to go—the realization that anger only gets you so far, that solidarity has to be grounded in love, rather than opposition, and that one can simultaneously struggle while still being at peace—that you can accept the world (and yourself) for the way it is while still trying to change it.

Backspacer picks up where Inside Job leaves off, and accomplishes over the course of a record what Inside Job failed to do at the end of S/T. For the first time Pearl Jam doesn’t just glorify struggle—it celebrates life. For the first time we engage not because the struggle grants meaning, but because there is something precious that we need to defend. There is no narrative arc to Backspacer. It doesn’t try to tell a story. Instead it tries to capture a feeling, or even better a moment—that moment of liberation where you realize how blessed you are that you have both something to give and something to lose.

[stip]

If PJ albums chapters in a book, I'd consider "Ten" to be the preface instead of Chapter 1

musically I could probably agree with that. Thematically I wouldn't.

[Lament]

that's hard to answer without seeing whether this new record feels like a phase 3 start or not. All of my categorizations are made with hindsight. I also see the whole thing as part of a larger arc (I've talked about that somewhere--probably in some guided tour introduction). I think that Binaural is at least in part a reaction to premature conclusions reached in Yield--that the journey was declared over before it really was. But If I was going to divide this into chapters and eras Yield makes sense as a stopping point.

I see the Binaural---Backspacer run as both its own internal arc and with backspacer offering the kind of conclusion that was never really reached with Yield (I think Yield is an album made by a group of people trying to convince themselves that everything is okay. I think Backspacer is an album made by a group of people who finally believe it. this is not a shot at Yield by the way--I think a lot of the more interesting moments and tensions in Yield derive from not quite believing what you so badly want to be true).


I also see this run of four records responding much more directly to the world around them than the previous records--and the way in which the world impacts their understanding of themselves. Let me see if I can find a place where i said more about this.

How do you feel about the idea that as opposed to being three different parts of a story/arc, Binaural, Riot Act, and Avocado are actually them (subconsciously) trying to make the same album (their statement on the outside world) until they found a way they felt suited them? Like they tried to make it as brooding, twisted sonic adventurers on Binaural but didn't feel that suited them so they tried it as a ramshackle, exhausted, garage band on Riot Act. Feeling that didn't suit them either, they finally made it as a muscular, polished arena act and finally found a voice and identity they were comfortable with and allowed them to move on to Backspacer.

I'm not saying this is necessarily what I believe (though I do believe that in the grand sceme of things Binaural and Riot Act are retrospectively viewed as false starts in their eyes), but I think it's an interesting way to look at those the post-Yield albums. I agree that the next record will tell a lot about where they think they are; Is there unfinished business after Backspacer or do they feel like there's carte blanche for a new iteration of the band?

[stip]

that's hard to answer without seeing whether this new record feels like a phase 3 start or not. All of my categorizations are made with hindsight. I also see the whole thing as part of a larger arc (I've talked about that somewhere--probably in some guided tour introduction). I think that Binaural is at least in part a reaction to premature conclusions reached in Yield--that the journey was declared over before it really was. But If I was going to divide this into chapters and eras Yield makes sense as a stopping point.

I see the Binaural---Backspacer run as both its own internal arc and with backspacer offering the kind of conclusion that was never really reached with Yield (I think Yield is an album made by a group of people trying to convince themselves that everything is okay. I think Backspacer is an album made by a group of people who finally believe it. this is not a shot at Yield by the way--I think a lot of the more interesting moments and tensions in Yield derive from not quite believing what you so badly want to be true).


I also see this run of four records responding much more directly to the world around them than the previous records--and the way in which the world impacts their understanding of themselves. Let me see if I can find a place where i said more about this.

How do you feel about the idea that as opposed to being three different parts of a story/arc, Binaural, Riot Act, and Avocado are actually them (subconsciously) trying to make the same album (their statement on the outside world) until they found a way they felt suited them? Like they tried to make it as brooding, twisted sonic adventurers on Binaural but didn't feel that suited them so they tried it as a ramshackle, exhausted, garage band on Riot Act. Feeling that didn't suit them either, they finally made it as a muscular, polished arena act and finally found a voice and identity they were comfortable with and allowed them to move on to Backspacer.

I'm not saying this is necessarily what I believe (though I do believe that in the grand sceme of things Binaural and Riot Act are retrospectively viewed as false starts in their eyes), but I think it's an interesting way to look at those the post-Yield albums. I agree that the next record will tell a lot about where they think they are; Is there unfinished business after Backspacer or do they feel like there's carte blanche for a new iteration of the band?

Binaural and Riot Act could certainly be false starts. I don't know that i'd agree with Riot Act (I would with Binaural) but I can see how that makes sense. And since this is all hindsight my inital instinct was to incorporate backspacer into the previously existing arc. It might be entirely possible that I would want to readjust this when we see what happens next, although I'm not sure I'd agree that S/T and Backspacer are written in the same voice (If that's what you are implying)

[stip]

I also think the music on Riot Act and S/T may be musical responses to the the politics of the time more than something reflecting internal band dynamics or a creative journey. Something I would not say about Binaural.


I've always thought there was an interesting parallel with Springsteen, REM, and Pearl Jam with their bush era albums. Each releases a downcast, where am I and what the hell just happened, album (Devils and Dust, Riot Act, Around the Sun) in the early years of the Bush era, and then as the country starts to turn his back on him and they see the cracks and fissures, a much angrier and aggressive album that finds the voice it needs to respond to the last several years (Magic, S/T, Accelerate)

[Norah]

this thread is starting to piss me off

[Lament]

I've always thought there was an interesting parallel with Springsteen, REM, and Pearl Jam with their bush era albums. Each releases a downcast, where am I and what the hell just happened, album (Devils and Dust, Riot Act, Around the Sun) in the early years of the Bush era, and then as the country starts to turn his back on him and they see the cracks and fissures, a much angrier and aggressive album that finds the voice it needs to respond to the last several years (Magic, S/T, Accelerate)

Huh, I'd never really noticed/thought about that (and those are three of my all-time favorite acts). I like that a lot. You could probably to a certain extent even pull Working On a Dream/Backspacer/Collapse Into Now into the parallels, though not as strongly as the first set of two. That's interesting...