Red Mosquito

A question: It´s common knowledge that the music tastes in this board are borderline snobbish, so, when someone asks you what´s your "favorite band" (I don´t know if that question still exists anyway), do you openly say Pearl Jam (sometimes with the obligatory footnote: "They are more than Ten, you know"), or in these days, they´re more like a guilty pleasure to you?

Guilty pleasure.

I don't say Pearl Jam because Pearl Jam is not my favorite band.

LoathedVermin72 wrote:I don't say Pearl Jam because Pearl Jam is not my favorite band.

Well, yeah. Do you mention them at all when discussing your favorite bands, though?

tommymtcom wrote:

LoathedVermin72 wrote:I don't say Pearl Jam because Pearl Jam is not my favorite band.

Well, yeah. Do you mention them at all when discussing your favorite bands, though?

Hmm...these days, probably not. Especially since their current output is so bad. If they did come up, it would be with a disclaimer that it would only be from 2003 and earlier.

I'm happy to say I love PJ. I'm not ashamed or embarrassed at all. I do usually say something like "Pearl Jam has been my favorite band since I was 12 years old, they will always be my favorite and have a special spot in my heart for them, but The National is my current favorite band. They are making my favorite music of any band currently."

It never seemed particularly "cool" to have Pearl Jam as a favorite band so I have no problem still saying it.

There are plenty of bands I enjoy listening to more on a consistent basis but Pearl Jam will always be my favorite band. I have too much history tied to their music and the Vitalogy through Binaural years was just so good.

I have no problem saying they're my favorite band, but I also tell people that the band isn't really an accurate representation of what I listen to, and that my fandom is largely sustained by the emotional attachments formed in high school 20 years ago that have allowed for an almost illogical love for them.

Rob wrote:I have no problem saying they're my favorite band, but I also tell people that the band isn't really an accurate representation of what I listen to, and that my fandom is largely sustained by the emotional attachments formed in high school 20 years ago that have allowed for an almost illogical love for them.

that's a pretty long and complicated response to say whenever someone asks you who your favorite band is

Pearl Jam are and will always be my "favorite band," a distinction which is largely irrelevant to how enthusiastic I am about listening to them at any given moment, and which is too rooted in life experience to ever really change -- at age 31, I simply don't process new music in a manner conducive to me developing that same kind of irrational commitment to another artist. I don't have any feelings of guilt or shame or whatever over my fondness for a rock band -- I am not usually among the "cooler" people in any given crowd anyway, so thankfully that's not an illusion I often feel pressured to maintain.

I definitely still refer to Pearl Jam as my favorite band. Even though I probably don't obsess over them as much as I did from 1991 to 2006. And I definitely don't obsess over them as much as St. Vincent or Tom Waits. But Pearl Jam is my all time favorite band.

For damn near 20 years, pearl jam was the coolest fucking band. Thats a long time. No matter my passion for their current output, pearl jam was, is and will be my favorite band. No problems saying that. ive been harassed for loving pearl jam since i was 12 years old. its cool.

Also, Tom Waits is my favorite band. The replacements are my favorite band. etc...

Pearl Jam was never my favorite band, but I liked them very intensely for a while, and I'm still very fond of a certain period of their history. The fact that I come to a message board and discuss their discography in such detail does put them in a somewhat exclusive category among the bands I listen to, along with only two or three other artists, of "large catalogues I am intimately and unnaturally knowledgeable of".

So when someone asks me about my favorite band, I never say Pearl Jam. If someone asks me if I like Pearl Jam, I say "yeah, the middle records".

theplatypus wrote:Pearl Jam was never my favorite band

This.

I still think of Pearl Jam as being my favorite band too. Most of my friends know I'm a big fan and that I travel around to see them play.

Follow-up question: To those who answered that PJ is not your favorite band, who is your favorite band(/artist)?

Brad
Mad Season
The Rockfords
Poh and the 4 fathers
Temple of the Dog
Three Fish
RNDM
C average
The Who

Kevin Davis wrote:Pearl Jam are and will always be my "favorite band," a distinction which is largely irrelevant to how enthusiastic I am about listening to them at any given moment, and which is too rooted in life experience to ever really change -- at age 31, I simply don't process new music in a manner conducive to me developing that same kind of irrational commitment to another artist. I don't have any feelings of guilt or shame or whatever over my fondness for a rock band -- I am not usually among the "cooler" people in any given crowd anyway, so thankfully that's not an illusion I often feel pressured to maintain.

This. I don't have the time to bother/care about how I and the band are perceived. Being 39, it's usually just accepted that I'd be into an older band. But I do say anything from country to metal.

LoathedVermin72 wrote:Follow-up question: To those who answered that PJ is not your favorite band, who is your favorite band(/artist)?

Qotsa, probably.

LoathedVermin72 wrote:Follow-up question: To those who answered that PJ is not your favorite band, who is your favorite band(/artist)?

Radiohead