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A PJ rant...
Pearl Jam has always been a commercial band. Their aim has always been mass consumption. They were built to be huge. In fact, only in the first few of their nearly 20 years did they even attempt to claim otherwise. This is simple naivete. They had no way of realizing how big they would really be, but they wanted to be popular. This is no different than the Who, Neil Young, Nirvana, Joan Baez, Grateful Dead, Sex Pistols, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen....
Rock and Roll is for babies. It started as a youth movement... and every real development since has been as well. Yes, youth is innocent and real.. but.. the goal is in every way all American narcissistic commercial image pimple-cream selling bullshit. This is why Kurt blew his face off. RnR is what happened when Industry people realized that the teenage market was a total fucking gold mine. Stupid kids, blinded by hormones, misplaced anger, and repressed sexuality will buy anything they think might make it more bearable... it hasn't changed. In fact, this principle has become, in my mind the definition of rock and roll. If pearl Jam didn't want to be huge rock stars, they would be.... I dunno.. playing a set starting with "bugs" and ending with "hummus".... in somebody's basement in Cleveland. The band has in fact produced an amazing amount of material in reaction to these issues.
The thing is, PJ came up (partly) on punk rock from the 70's and were rebelling against the empty sentiments of 80s' pop... They're left-leaning and believe in using their platform to advocate action...
but they are selling a product on the mass market. I consider my own politics, in some ways, to be more radical than anything PJ ever endorsed. It's unlikely that I'd ever be artistically interested in a project as unabashedly commercial as Pearl Jam. But I love all kinds of music from Michael Jackson to Chinese opera... I'm sure the band does as well, but they've chosen balls-out good time hard rockin' all american rock and fucking roll as their medium.
It's a good thing.
They're a huge light in my life and I appreciate what they do.
Maybe we should all stop holding them up to ridiculous standards that are actually opposed to the very thing they are.. and what we all enjoy them being.... Mother Fuckin' Rock Stars.
It's a treat to enjoy a huge rock spectacle and know that the people behind it are aware of these paradoxes and whatnot...
Let's be glad we have PJ and stop comparing them to Nickecreed or whatever... it's really not the same thing, even if they (lurch) "sound similar" to other crappy modern rock music.
In addition.. "Got Some" is a rip on "gut Feeling" by Devo... "Given To Fly"- going to California... "Yellow Ledbetter"- Little wing... who cares if RnR is "original"? half the mainstream rock songs recorded between '55 and '09 share the same basic musical ideas... gimmee a break...
(adding this quite a while later.... i was drunk when I posted this. I'll leave it up to remind myself not to post when inebriated... yes, I am a fan of rock n roll and PJ in particular)
Rock and Roll is for babies. It started as a youth movement... and every real development since has been as well. Yes, youth is innocent and real.. but.. the goal is in every way all American narcissistic commercial image pimple-cream selling bullshit. This is why Kurt blew his face off. RnR is what happened when Industry people realized that the teenage market was a total fucking gold mine. Stupid kids, blinded by hormones, misplaced anger, and repressed sexuality will buy anything they think might make it more bearable... it hasn't changed. In fact, this principle has become, in my mind the definition of rock and roll. If pearl Jam didn't want to be huge rock stars, they would be.... I dunno.. playing a set starting with "bugs" and ending with "hummus".... in somebody's basement in Cleveland. The band has in fact produced an amazing amount of material in reaction to these issues.
The thing is, PJ came up (partly) on punk rock from the 70's and were rebelling against the empty sentiments of 80s' pop... They're left-leaning and believe in using their platform to advocate action...
but they are selling a product on the mass market. I consider my own politics, in some ways, to be more radical than anything PJ ever endorsed. It's unlikely that I'd ever be artistically interested in a project as unabashedly commercial as Pearl Jam. But I love all kinds of music from Michael Jackson to Chinese opera... I'm sure the band does as well, but they've chosen balls-out good time hard rockin' all american rock and fucking roll as their medium.
It's a good thing.
They're a huge light in my life and I appreciate what they do.
Maybe we should all stop holding them up to ridiculous standards that are actually opposed to the very thing they are.. and what we all enjoy them being.... Mother Fuckin' Rock Stars.
It's a treat to enjoy a huge rock spectacle and know that the people behind it are aware of these paradoxes and whatnot...
Let's be glad we have PJ and stop comparing them to Nickecreed or whatever... it's really not the same thing, even if they (lurch) "sound similar" to other crappy modern rock music.
In addition.. "Got Some" is a rip on "gut Feeling" by Devo... "Given To Fly"- going to California... "Yellow Ledbetter"- Little wing... who cares if RnR is "original"? half the mainstream rock songs recorded between '55 and '09 share the same basic musical ideas... gimmee a break...
(adding this quite a while later.... i was drunk when I posted this. I'll leave it up to remind myself not to post when inebriated... yes, I am a fan of rock n roll and PJ in particular)
Your light made us stars
Post edited by Unknown User on
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Amen to that.
i'm gonna be an asshole and admit i only skimmed it and that sentence stood out.
Wow, what an intriguing commentary. Here I thought Pearl Jam was some garage band that nobody ever heard of until they sold-out to Target in an attempt to be huge on the charts like Nickelback. Your rant has opened my eyes. You should start a band and call it "Rant Against the Machine"
Pearl Jam bootlegs:
http://wegotshit.blogspot.com
If i were to judge them by that then the only one that´s screwed is me. Hopefuly, i´ll see them this coming tour in the usa.
Thank You! I agree! Short and Sweet.
"Empty pockets will Allow a greater Sense of wealth...." EV/ITW
www.seanbrady.net
yes "Rock n Roll" has entered mainstream culture... but I think true Rock n Roll comes with something to say... an attitude... (its tricky though now, because rock n' roll has become a cliche of itself... eg, wal-mart sells AC/DC shirts)
you say that the subject matter of much of PJ's music is pain and angst in order to take advantage of the youth's willingness to hear it... essentially accusing PJ of being opportunistic, if not manipulative... I think a better explanation is that mr. Vedder also struggled with these feelings... so much so that chose to deal with them thru music... I've always seen it as a gift to the youth who are experiencing the same issues... not as a way of robbing them while they are vulnerable.
Yes, I think Pearl Jam wanted to be popular... but not without any strings attached... they want popularity on their terms... they did not want to be turned into a commodity ... I don't think it is selling out for an artists to want their music to connect with people... anyone who says PJ's music does not come from their souls is blind or stupid... personally, I like Pearl Jam because largely because I connect to the passion and attitude, to suggest that PJ (or anyone who puts their soul into their art) is just motivated by greed is wrongheaded and a shame.
Yeah PJ are huge, why is that? because they were and remain fucking brilliant, they got our attention. Sure they struggled with that for a little while, but isnt it reasonable to expect a gas station worker/surfer dude, to dream of being a rock star, make the transition and then get totally freaked out by it. The average Joe in the street achieving his dreams is so rare, and so life changing, I can imagine I would struggle to keep a lid on it also.
I get fed up to the back fucking teeth of all the bullshit nonsense of them selling out....Its boring, unnecessary and has no bearing whatsoever on the music they give us still. If they wanted to play to the radio they could just go ahead and release their own American Idiot. As we all Know Vedder and the biys have the melodies and the tunes to reach out to the mass market on a massive scale if they really wanted to..But no they stick to the music they are comfortable with and we like it. Why cant it just be as simple as that
Its so easy to slam the band for wanting to make a profit off their talent. In fact it fucking well stinks, those same people who do that, I bet they really go to work for for free too
PJ has pulled back from the maintream, nobody has every compared them to Nickelback and they're not really a good time rock n roll band. PJ substituted less friendly songs for singles on their albums til Riot Act.
I think PJ takes it's ideals alot more serious than you think.
Spot on!
http://www.strummersphotography.com
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I think its the fact that people make statements about the band as if they know them, and know their beliefs, and know what they are all about. We only know what we are told, which to be quite blunt is very little and rightly so. Its about the music, and the live experience. End of. If they make money, fucking great. Hats off to them.
If they want to use their profile to raise awareness of their ideals, then great but we dont have to buy into it.
Pearl Jam are my heroes but I'm sure we wont see eye to eye on everything.
and I'm sure that as much as they for example want the world to be green and carbon neutral, they still drive a car. Its called reality.
here's my rant...i get kinda tired of people ranting, and i ignore people who rant, but i love the internet still.
pj are just a band who play rock music...it ain't more complicated than that(to me). i don't care about anything else...as long as their music runs through my veins then i will be sheep
baaaaa
On +2.
I wasn't the same 18 years ago but there are some things that I still believe and hold onto.... just in different ways.
I would imagine that is the same with PJ.
I am really tired here and do not remember where the source is, but EV said back then you break things to make your point, but now you propose better business plans so it would still allow businesses/corporations to make profit - AS LONG AS they do not harm the land or culture.
That is the best I can remember what EV said in an article interview.
I wonder if anyone here is just exactly like they were 18 - 20 years ago?
Oh. One or two I can think of....
EV: It's your band.
~Q Magazine
"Kisses for the glow...kisses for the lease." - BDRII
No, I didn't mean to imply that they're opportunistic or anything- just trying to point out some paradoxes in rock music. Basically, I'm responding to that element in the PJ community who get so worked up about the band's integrity (recently about the Target thing), being questionable. Just wanted to point out that rock music's integrity is questionable in the first place. If anyone is looking for hard core anti-commercial rebel music, they might want to look somewhere other than to a band that is essentially a Big American Rock Band with mass appeal. I absolutely believe in Ed's sincerity- it's a big part of why I love the band. There's little doubt that this is a band who've gone to great lengths to maintain integrity and dignity despite the fact that, like you said "wall mart sells AC/DC shirts". I was just trying to look at it with a different perspective, I guess..
YES,,THIS SO..TRUE
"..That's One Happy Fuckin Ghost.."
“..That came up on the Pillow Case...This is for the Greek, With Our Apologies.....”