Five Against One - The Pearl Jam Story... who's read it?

I_GOT_no_IDea

hey, i just read "five against one - the pearl jam story" (by kim neely) which my lovely wife got me for christmas. some amazing, controversial, heart-breaking, enlightening stuff in there. as far as early band poitics and tension is concerned, a lot of the material comes from dave a's viewpont - definitely paints him in a light of having been bullied out of the band by eddie because of their differing stances on fame and self-promotion. the section on eddie's upbringing brought tears to my eyes and i have a better understanding now as to the meanings behind songs like alive, once, release, daughter, rearviewmirror, etc. the other aspect i found interesting was the explanation of the way that the member's of pearl jam came together in the first place - it's always fascinated me to explore bands' "family trees" and discover who played for who and who went on to play for what other bands we know - the malfunkshun/green river/mother love bone/soundgarden/pearl jam/mudhoney connections are cool to name just a few. a great read, even if i take some of it with a grain of salt...
is there anything simliar that anyone knows of that discusses the band's history from 1998 to the present? i know superficially what went on in that time, cos that's when i've followed them most closely, but it'd be great to get some deeper insights into the bandmember's thoughts and feelings during the various reaffirming ups and devastating downs in the last 11 years.

redeye

yea, ive read it, great book

Marcus Maximus

me

OGT92

yes

Johnny Abruzzo

My wife got it for me for Christmas, as well. Haven't read it yet - looking forward to it.

youngster

Take it for what it's worth, but Wikipedia has a pretty detailed description of their 98-present years. I thought about this a few months ago reading the Spin article but I find it kind of hypocritical of Ed to be pissed at Dave A for buying a new car with his Ten/VS money, yet in the article the author says he was visting at one of Ed's Seattle homes. It's not cool to buy a car with your own money, but it's cool to buy numerous houses? Just seems hypocritical to me.

joebot

Read it, liked it, but so much has happened since that book.

The Eddie - Dave A thing, how i would of loved to been privy to their awkward relationship. Interesting how you can work so well with someone musically and just don't dig them as a person.

AKRounder85

Haven't read it but took a short read into it at Borders. There's a more recent book called Pearl Jam and Eddie Vedder: None Too Fragile (release 2007 i think) which spans more years than Five Against One (1998 i think). I havent read either in its entirety but seems that while None to Fragile spans more of their career Five Against One gets deeper into detail and goes over things in more of a fine-tooth-comb kinda way for the 7 years it does go over. But i'd prolly but None too Fragile cause its more up to date and still seems pretty detailed itself.

Thats my observation from a guy that goes into Borders and reads a bit and leaves w/o buying shit

CJMST3K

cropduster82 wrote:

I thought about this a few months ago reading the Spin article but I find it kind of hypocritical of Ed to be pissed at Dave A for buying a new car with his Ten/VS money, yet in the article the author says he was visting at one of Ed's Seattle homes. It's not cool to buy a car with your own money, but it's cool to buy numerous houses? Just seems hypocritical to me.

http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/pea ... ystery_man

"Vedder's authority was clear to all in 1994, when drummer Dave Abbruzzese was abruptly fired from the band. "Dave was too much the rock star," says a source close to the band. "He was giving cover-story interviews to drumming magazines. He was happy, he was achieving his dream. That bugged the fuck out of Eddie. I witnessed Eddie drawing mustaches on Dave's face on the cover of Modern Drummer.""

Assuming Rolling Stone indeed had a source inside the band, that means that...

This is not ok...




But apparently this is perfectly fine....






Glad they're consistent.

SW36403

I read it a few years ago - it was pretty good. Most of the info in the book can be found on one or all of the PJ fan sites and Wiki - but it's nice to have it all in one place. I have 2 other Pearl Jam books that I havn't gotten to yet: "Pearl Jam" by Mike Wall and "Pearl Jam & Eddie Vedder - None Too Fragile". Unfortunately (or VERY fortunately) the only book I'm reading lately is "So You're Going to be a Dad". So maybe I'll get to the other 2 trying to get the newest, littlest PJ fan to sleep some nights.
My wife also bought me the "Leatherman" book for x-mas. Anyone else get that?

SW36403

... and there had to be more to the Eddie vs. Dave thing than just Dave buying a new Mercedese.

LloydXmas

AKRounder85 wrote:

Haven't read it but took a short read into it at Borders. There's a more recent book called Pearl Jam and Eddie Vedder: None Too Fragile (release 2007 i think) which spans more years than Five Against One (1998 i think). I havent read either in its entirety but seems that while None to Fragile spans more of their career Five Against One gets deeper into detail and goes over things in more of a fine-tooth-comb kinda way for the 7 years it does go over. But i'd prolly but None too Fragile cause its more up to date and still seems pretty detailed itself.

Thats my observation from a guy that goes into Borders and reads a bit and leaves w/o buying shit

I've been dying to read a good book about pearl jam.. I might have to look these two up

DriftEd

Dont bother reading None too Fragile. The info is like a cliffs notes version of what you can read in Five Against One. Five Against One is a nice detailed account of the bands history. None too Fragile does have some nice pics however.
As far as comparing Ed's or anyone elses attitudes now towards Matt C as opposed to Dave A, it was almost twenty years ago, people change and Im guessing that there was more to it than the whole car thing. After all Glorified G is a song written about an actual conversation between Dave and Ed, to me they seem to have had strains in thier relationship in a few regards.

Snoopy Died For Our Sins

yup......

"sorry is the fool who trades his soul for a corvette..."

CJMST3K

Snoopy Died For Our Sins wrote:

yup......

"sorry is the fool who trades his soul for a corvette..."

but...

"Who set the standard, born to be rich?
Such fine examples, skinny little bitch
Model, role model, roll some models in blood
Get some flesh to stick, so they look like us
I shit and I stink, I'm real, join the club
I'd stop and talk, but I'm already in love"



...the times, they are a changing.

skyeriverwinter

CJMST3K wrote:

Snoopy Died For Our Sins wrote:

yup......

"sorry is the fool who trades his soul for a corvette..."

but...

"Who set the standard, born to be rich?
Such fine examples, skinny little bitch
Model, role model, roll some models in blood
Get some flesh to stick, so they look like us
I shit and I stink, I'm real, join the club
I'd stop and talk, but I'm already in love"



...the times, they are a changing.

:shock:

dbodner

CJMST3K wrote:

cropduster82 wrote:

I thought about this a few months ago reading the Spin article but I find it kind of hypocritical of Ed to be pissed at Dave A for buying a new car with his Ten/VS money, yet in the article the author says he was visting at one of Ed's Seattle homes. It's not cool to buy a car with your own money, but it's cool to buy numerous houses? Just seems hypocritical to me.

http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/pea ... ystery_man

"Vedder's authority was clear to all in 1994, when drummer Dave Abbruzzese was abruptly fired from the band. "Dave was too much the rock star," says a source close to the band. "He was giving cover-story interviews to drumming magazines. He was happy, he was achieving his dream. That bugged the fuck out of Eddie. I witnessed Eddie drawing mustaches on Dave's face on the cover of Modern Drummer.""

Assuming Rolling Stone indeed had a source inside the band, that means that...

This is not ok...




But apparently this is perfectly fine....






Glad they're consistent.

Probably has more to do with time than consistency. They were at a VERY different place back during the Vs era than they are now. I have a feeling if they had Vs level success now they'd probably handle it slightly differently (and, probably, better).

I'm currently reading "Grunge is Dead", not a direct pearl jam book but about the entire scene. Funny getting some of the other major players perspectives. Despite the Green River breakup, Steve Turner seems to still be really good friends with Stone and Jeff. And while Kurt obviously had his issues with Pearl Jam, it's interesting reading quotes form Grohl and Krist, who both seem very fond of the band (both as people and as musicians).

I'll have to check those two books out.

StuffnJunk

the best part of Five Against one is the in depth description of the Vs sessions...and thats about it.....the part about Eddie's childhood goes on way too long....as fascinated as i am by the man, i really don't care that much about his pre-Pearl Jam days

on the other hand, Grunge is Dead has a lot of info about PJ....its an oral history, the whole book is just quotes from Seattle musicians, and there is quite a bit about PJ straight from Eddie and Jeff's mouths, along with people who work with them, right up to the modern era...some interesting bits, like how there is some tension between PJ and Brad over having to share Stone.....get that book!!!

also a very funny Andy Wood story.....Andy spread a rumor about some guy, he said he walked in on the guy and the guy was fucking a bag of marshmallows while smelling a can of tuna fish

wolfamongwolves

AKRounder85 wrote:

Haven't read it but took a short read into it at Borders. There's a more recent book called Pearl Jam and Eddie Vedder: None Too Fragile (release 2007 i think) which spans more years than Five Against One (1998 i think). I havent read either in its entirety but seems that while None to Fragile spans more of their career Five Against One gets deeper into detail and goes over things in more of a fine-tooth-comb kinda way for the 7 years it does go over. But i'd prolly but None too Fragile cause its more up to date and still seems pretty detailed itself.

Thats my observation from a guy that goes into Borders and reads a bit and leaves w/o buying shit

"None Too Fragile" came out around the same time as "5 against 1" - 1997 or 1998, not 2007. That might have been a reprint you've seen

YoullseeDragons

Good book. I was thinking about reading it again.
It's time for an updated book about the band.

spearhead

The thing I liked most about Five Against One was how it put Pearl Jam's rise to fame in context with what was going on in the fast exploding Seattle music scene of the time ... the SubPop story especially, and how that label and so many of the bands and people in the scene at the time really came together for a brief moment in history, really created a magical thing that is an important part of American Rock 'n' Roll history...the way the scene was eventually exploited by so many of the bigger labels and the inevitable leeches and poseurs and hangers on who come with the territory of such success is also a great part of the story, and it helps to highlight just how remarkable Pearl Jam's personal story really is...take the other shit with a grain of salt, the stuff about Ed and Dave or some of the other personal stuff about Ed.

doompony

i personally hated the book... it's been years and years since i read it though so who knows what i'd have thought now... but doesn't it rely heavily on info provided by dave a and ed's stepdad? two people who for all we really know dislike him? i'm not saying this automatically makes it untrue, but jeez... where's the love?

as for dave, shit.. if he was irritating as a person to ed, what can you do?

CJMST3K

doompony wrote:

as for dave, shit.. if he was irritating as a person to ed, what can you do?

would you say the same for any of the other members?

doompony

CJMST3K wrote:

doompony wrote:

as for dave, shit.. if he was irritating as a person to ed, what can you do?

would you say the same for any of the other members?

nope. because the other 3 were founding members.

CJMST3K

doompony wrote:

CJMST3K wrote:

doompony wrote:

as for dave, shit.. if he was irritating as a person to ed, what can you do?

would you say the same for any of the other members?

nope. because the other 3 were founding members.

would you say that of matt cameron?

doompony

alls i know is, i've lived with people who have irritated the shit out of me and it is REALLY hard to not passive aggressively torture them. add on top of that the intense weirdness to be insta-famous and your headspace being fucked up and you have yourself a situation

doompony

CJMST3K wrote:

doompony wrote:

CJMST3K wrote:

would you say the same for any of the other members?

nope. because the other 3 were founding members.

would you say that of matt cameron?

if matt was irritating, sure. but judging from all the interviews i've seen of the 2 of them together, i get the impression that ed's quite the cam fan

CJMST3K

doompony wrote:

CJMST3K wrote:

doompony wrote:

nope. because the other 3 were founding members.

would you say that of matt cameron?

if matt was irritating, sure. but judging from all the interviews i've seen of the 2 of them together, i get the impression that ed's quite the cam fan

fair enough. though that would also mean that Stone could fire Ed, since Stone was in the band before Ed.

...and yes, the choice of drummers have been dictated by ev, hence Jack and Matt.

Snoopy Died For Our Sins

CJMST3K wrote:

Snoopy Died For Our Sins wrote:

yup......

"sorry is the fool who trades his soul for a corvette..."

but...

"Who set the standard, born to be rich?
Such fine examples, skinny little bitch
Model, role model, roll some models in blood
Get some flesh to stick, so they look like us
I shit and I stink, I'm real, join the club
I'd stop and talk, but I'm already in love"



...the times, they are a changing.

I couldn't agree with you more! (really) :oops:

I_GOT_no_IDea

doompony wrote:

i personally hated the book... it's been years and years since i read it though so who knows what i'd have thought now... but doesn't it rely heavily on info provided by dave a and ed's stepdad? two people who for all we really know dislike him? i'm not saying this automatically makes it untrue, but jeez... where's the love?

as for dave, shit.. if he was irritating as a person to ed, what can you do?

it's true, DP, that the book does rely heavily on material from interviews with dave a and eddie's stepdad - that's why i take those respective sections of the book (ie. the majority) with a grain of salt. interesting though, to get their perspectives. mr mueller, for example, gives the impression that whilst he is defensive about his own reputation, he is accepting of eddie's attitude to him, so must feel some remorse for the poor decision-making and lack of judgement and lack of due care that he displayed at various times during the time from eddie's birth to when eddie left with his mum (we assume as a consequence of the final straw -finding out that his "dad", who he already felt was neglecting him emotionally and physically following a bitter divorce anyway, was not really his dad). when you read this book, you tend to feel more sympathetic to the stepfather, for despite his poor choices, did care a lot about eddie's well-being. it's the same old story of kid's being emotionally torn-apart by their parent's increasingly bitter feud, and no matter how hardline or overcompensatory either parent is towards their child, there's often so much resentment and confusion on behalf of the kid that the relationship is doomed. it's interesting that mr mueller expresses that there were so many times during ed's childhood that they wanted to tell him who his real dad was. the fact that they had plans for eddie's real father, rapidly deteriorating with MS, to come and live with them so they could care for him and let him spend time with his son - is a heart-wrenching insight into the good intentions without sufficient action that plagued their parenting - one can't help thinking, as you read this stepfather's account, what could have been if they told eddie the whole story early on. for one thing, we wouldn't have ever heard the songs that were born out of the emotional turmoil created by these misgivings. pearl jam may not have even come into being. with respect to dave a - whilst it's one guy's opinion, it is interesting to see how he felt about it all. the other, more objective sections of the book (for example, the development of the seattle music scene during the 80's into what it was when bands like soundgarden, mudhoney, pearl jam and alice in chains exploded onto the world stage) are better from a comprehensive, multi-source, informative point of view.

Isaac

I read the book when it was pubbbbed... an interesting writing but...

Keep in mind that the author... along with Dave A. had a falling out with the band... agenda and # of readers had to do with at least some of the stories... right?

In fact I remember a 10C question regarding the lightbulb part of the book... the 10C replied "don't believe what you read"... this was in 1999 right after the book was published...

Kim was one of the people that PJ talk about "taking advantage of their access to the band"... and one of the reasons they shut down media wise.

As far as the modern drummer discrepancy... look at the difference in the year of publication between the Dave A. and Matt C. covers...