5 Against 1 by Kim Neeley - Reactions!
Cartwright
Posts: 3
First time poster, long time reader, even longer time PJ fan.
I've known for a while that all the fans slagged this book and for that reason I never read it. The other day I said f#%k it (can u swear in this forum?) and bought it.
I thought the opening few chapters about the seattle punk scene was too long, I didn't give a shit who was in who's band throughout the 80's, the green river stuff was... bah! once the mother love bone stuff got going the book got going. While I knew most of the early days of PJ story I still found it very interesting.
I really really hated the Blood chapters. They felt really out of place. Everything was PJ related then suddenly it stops and becomes all about Eddie's childhood (as seen through the eyes of his estranged step-father). wtf? I don't care about his mother getting pregnant while she's not married, I don't care if Peter and Ed became good friends. It was like Peter Mueller used the book in an attempt to tell his side of the story, that's he's the good guy here, fuck off!
Once it got back on track with PJ's story it got better, though info on the Vitalogy and No Code albums was pretty lean. I didn't mind the book. I've heard it compared to that '96 Rolling Stone article on Eddie, but where that was a witch-hunt I thought this was pretty fair (most of the time).
I think Eddie's portrayal in the book would be pretty accurate. I like Eddie as much as the next guy but let's face it, he probably was like that. That's not a bad thing, that's just how he was. And the book gives quite plausible reasoning for his action. My perception of Eddie after reading the book was exactly the same as it was before reading it: Great singer, great lyricist, cool guy.
I'd like to hear other people's thoughts on the book (I know it's been out forever and everyone's probably forgotten it) but what did u guys think?
I've known for a while that all the fans slagged this book and for that reason I never read it. The other day I said f#%k it (can u swear in this forum?) and bought it.
I thought the opening few chapters about the seattle punk scene was too long, I didn't give a shit who was in who's band throughout the 80's, the green river stuff was... bah! once the mother love bone stuff got going the book got going. While I knew most of the early days of PJ story I still found it very interesting.
I really really hated the Blood chapters. They felt really out of place. Everything was PJ related then suddenly it stops and becomes all about Eddie's childhood (as seen through the eyes of his estranged step-father). wtf? I don't care about his mother getting pregnant while she's not married, I don't care if Peter and Ed became good friends. It was like Peter Mueller used the book in an attempt to tell his side of the story, that's he's the good guy here, fuck off!
Once it got back on track with PJ's story it got better, though info on the Vitalogy and No Code albums was pretty lean. I didn't mind the book. I've heard it compared to that '96 Rolling Stone article on Eddie, but where that was a witch-hunt I thought this was pretty fair (most of the time).
I think Eddie's portrayal in the book would be pretty accurate. I like Eddie as much as the next guy but let's face it, he probably was like that. That's not a bad thing, that's just how he was. And the book gives quite plausible reasoning for his action. My perception of Eddie after reading the book was exactly the same as it was before reading it: Great singer, great lyricist, cool guy.
I'd like to hear other people's thoughts on the book (I know it's been out forever and everyone's probably forgotten it) but what did u guys think?
Post edited by Unknown User on
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Comments
I do agree that the chapter about Ed's childhood was a tad long and got kind of boring after awhile when Peter was telling the story, but I understand why the info was put in there.
I understand the pre pearl jam history being there, it's kind of required and a good prelude for a build up to the rest of the story. I do wish they had made the no code- yield era longer, but the main focus of the book was during their mainstream years when they were in the eyes of the media non stop.
There is rumored to be a dutch book on pearl jam that explains the latter years from no code to riot act I think. It is written in danish though. (Is that their language?, I apologize if that's not what it's called, I don't mean any insult at all.
Overall, outstanding book, just a little long winded in some areas during Peter's story telling.
EV Solo: 7/11/11 11/12/12 11/13/12
I've always thought if I found it at a thrift shop or garage sale or the library, I would read it. After reading this board for the past few years, I've learned a lot. So I was never anxious to look for it.
I know that is not the answer you were looking for but I just had to post
And yes, you can say fuck on this board
I pretty much agree with you on your comments. Yeah, they went a little bit too long on the intro to the Seattle punk scene stuff, and they spent too much time on Ed's childhood/family issues. But overall, I found it a good read
Mansfield II '08
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I. LOVE. YIELD.
Danish is the official language in Denmark..
The language in the Nederlands is called the dutch language or something like that..
Copenhagen, Denmark 26/6 2007
Stockholm, Sweden 7/7 2012
Solna, Sweden 28/6 2014
That was a joke, right!?
Ah well, even if it wasn't, don't worry about it. Ed has made the same language mixup.
I think the book you're refering to is "I Pearl Jams fodspor" (In the footsteps of Pearl Jam) written by danish journalist and long time friend of the band Henrik Tuxen.
It follows the band from 96 up till now. It's main focus is the Roskilde accident, the victims and especially Ed and Stone's meetings with the families afterwards.
Henrik Tuxen is currently trying to find a publisher willingly to take the risk and publish the book in english.
Berlin 23-09-06
Copenhagen 26-06-07
:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-
"This is not wine that I'm drinking tonight. This is Gatorade!" EV-Copenhagen 26-06-07
http://forums.pearljam.com/showthread.php?t=250908
i find the current lack of an english translation of this book extremely frustrating.
when my ears ring, my heart beats
This is a true story:
'4,5 years ago I was in Australia for a couple of months, luckily PJ played there on the Riot Act tour. At day I hung around the arena with some other fans, all hoping to see the band arriving for the soundcheck. One day they did, they talked to us and signed our cd's etc. One girl had this Kim Neely book and handed it to Jeff so he could sign it. Which he did, not only he signed the book on the first page he also wrote a friendly message to that girl, and then he took that big black marker to cross out the name Kim Neely everywhere he could see it. We all laughed about it.
EV: Amsterdam II 2012, Amsterdam I/III 2017, Amsterdam I 2019
Brad: Zoetermeer & Utrecht 2013
Soundgarden: Pinkpop 2012, Amsterdam 2013, Utrecht 2014
The thing that bothers me the most is that Eddie relied on Stone to fire Dave. Seing how this hate towards dave was 99% an eddie thing, he should have stepped up and finished the job himself. Instead he acts like a baby and puts the burden on Stone's shoulder. I bet Stone didn't like that one bit!
aye the seattle scene info was a bit too much.....
all the info on ed's childhood was overly analysed....
vitalogy and no coed eras covered too quickley.....
maybe give it 4.5/10!
01/06/00 dublin
23/08/06 dublin
11/09/06 paris
18/06/07 london
17/08/09 manchester
18/08/09 london
It's all about the money. Tuxen wrote to me that he couldn't find a publisher that saw any profit in the book and that international payments would be a problem(?)
Hope he finds a solution, 'cause it's an interesting book.
Berlin 23-09-06
Copenhagen 26-06-07
:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-
"This is not wine that I'm drinking tonight. This is Gatorade!" EV-Copenhagen 26-06-07
Great story Joost!
Sorry, I havent been online on 'Dutch Ramblings' a lot....I will, I promise
and , what a shock!.. Eddie is human like the rest of us...!
Who can blame him for wanting a Keith Moon Like drummer (aka Jack Irons) being such a Who fan.
After reading that book, I re-focused on Dave A's drumming and it IS a little one dimentional compared to Jack and Matt C.
Everyone gets all upitty until they consider that Matt Chamberlain played on Ten ...and not Dave A...
My two cents..
EV intro to Chloe Dancer / Crown of Thorns
10/25/13 Hartford
Actually Dave Krusen played on Ten. Matt Chamberlain only did a month of touring for the band in the summer of '91.
If you hate something, don't you do it too
When will someone a great biography on this band - that covers the interesting period between VS & Riot Act...The band nearly broke up, but got through it and made it out the other side. Not very common these days...
However doubt it will happen - The band are private, and there's no way Gossard is going to admit what he thought about Vedder from the VS period through to Yield. They obviously didn't get on...
me bad..
That's what i meant to type..
EV intro to Chloe Dancer / Crown of Thorns
10/25/13 Hartford
He probably would have been fired anyway.
After a while I re-read and and decided it was more opinionated than I had first believed and moved on. . . Pearl Jam and it's members are human. There are some good stories in it though and overall I think it's a pretty good read.
Mine too!!!! I loved the note he sent with it. It makes me think about the "notes" I send along with gifts, my words seem so awkward and sophomoric compared to Eddie's (and I have a stupid degree in English!!!) He possesses an intangible gift for language that just can't be taught.
I recently read the Neely book and thought some of it was entertaining. But, IMHO too much of the book was alloted for Eddie's step-dad to tell his side of the story and defend his actions.
Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
"If I wanted you to understand, I would have explained it better"
Johan Cruijff
the story that sticks out in my mind as well is when vedder got the light off the space needle..almost unbelievable.
i cant remember..what did that note say that he sent with the bulb?
If you are complaining about the huge section on Ed, you must have forgotten that he was and is the frontman, and that in the mid 90s eddie was a fucking rock god.
Of COURSE you would have a huge section about the "enigma" that was Ed's childhood. It was the "legend" that 90% of ten is based upon. Why wouldn't any fan want to know about some of that stuff?
As for the early seattle scene section,
again, i see that as hugely informative.
In fact, it was one of my favorite sections.
It was not just a whose-who family tree.
The section was about commraderie, and understanding that the "seattle scene" was a culmination of punk, post-punk, political back lash and clamp down on clubs, and the bond that arouse between bands because of that.
That WAS the spirit that the media latched on to.
Oh look, Alice In Chains, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Mudhoney, Screaming Trees etc ... they all are so great, and they all seem to get along! (well ... almost. Except for some resentment from Arm & Lanigan, and Kurts little art-rock tiff with Ed) ... but the general consensus was, "Hey here is a family. They have some differences. But this is a true amicable culture of supportive bands that hang togeather."
Again, wouldn't any Pearl Jam & seattle fan want to read a little about how that culture was (to quote Jane's) "bread and spread" ?
If I opened it now would you not understand?