Pearl Jam Reference in Stephen King's "Desperation"

vant0037
vant0037 Posts: 6,170
edited January 2012 in The Porch
I've been plowing through Stephen King's "Desperation" (fantastic, scary and gruesome novel) and came across a Pearl Jam reference on pg. 433. It's short, so I excerpted it here:

" 'Why don't you shut up?' Cynthia said softly.
'Another country heard from!' Johnny exclaimed. 'This young woman, this roadbabe with attitude, this flashing female flame of commitment, will now explain, complete with pictures and taped accompaniment by the noted rock ensemble Pearl Jam--'
'Just shut the fuck up,' Steve said."

Its funny how something like the name of your favorite band jumps off the page of a book you're engrossed in and socks you in the lip. When the letters "P, E, A, R, L, J, A, M" come together to form the words "Pearl" and "Jam," they stick out like sore thumbs to my eyes. Haha!

Great book!

Stephen-King--Desperation-Audiobook-Unabridged.jpg
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Comments

  • capthowdy1027
    capthowdy1027 Posts: 3,270
    Haha nice find, that's awesome.
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  • GS163319
    GS163319 Posts: 132
    The band (and potentially just Eddie's voice - been awhile) are some of the voices/ music people hear in their minds in Dreamcatcher.
  • vant0037
    vant0037 Posts: 6,170
    GS163319 wrote:
    The band (and potentially just Eddie's voice - been awhile) are some of the voices/ music people hear in their minds in Dreamcatcher.

    King does a great job of incorporating pop culture references into his writing and especially musical references. I've heard that the counterpart novel to "Desperation," which is "The Regulators" (written by King under pen name "Richard Bachman") also references Ed and PJ.

    Great author. I just burn through his books...
    1998-06-30 Minneapolis
    2003-06-16 St. Paul
    2006-06-26 St. Paul
    2007-08-05 Chicago
    2009-08-23 Chicago
    2009-08-28 San Francisco
    2010-05-01 NOLA (Jazz Fest)
    2011-07-02 EV Minneapolis
    2011-09-03 PJ20
    2011-09-04 PJ20
    2011-09-17 Winnipeg
    2012-06-26 Amsterdam
    2012-06-27 Amsterdam
    2013-07-19 Wrigley
    2013-11-21 San Diego
    2013-11-23 Los Angeles
    2013-11-24 Los Angeles
    2014-07-08 Leeds, UK
    2014-07-11 Milton Keynes, UK
    2014-10-09 Lincoln
    2014-10-19 St. Paul
    2014-10-20 Milwaukee
    2016-08-20 Wrigley 1
    2016-08-22 Wrigley 2
    2018-06-18 London 1
    2018-08-18 Wrigley 1
    2018-08-20 Wrigley 2
    2022-09-16 Nashville
    2023-08-31 St. Paul
    2023-09-02 St. Paul
    2023-09-05 Chicago 1
    2024-08-31 Wrigley 2
    2024-09-15 Fenway 1
    2024-09-27 Ohana 1
    2024-09-29 Ohana 2
    2025-05-03 NOLA (Jazz Fest)
  • Spiritual_Chaos
    Spiritual_Chaos Posts: 31,576
    vant0037 said:
    GS163319 wrote:
    The band (and potentially just Eddie's voice - been awhile) are some of the voices/ music people hear in their minds in Dreamcatcher.

    King does a great job of incorporating pop culture references into his writing and especially musical references. 

    "Mostly I think that people react sensitively because they know you’ve got a point"
  • TheLuckyOnes
    TheLuckyOnes Posts: 476
    Now that's cool
  • on2legs
    on2legs Posts: 16,020
    vant0037 said:
    I've been plowing through Stephen King's "Desperation" (fantastic, scary and gruesome novel) and came across a Pearl Jam reference on pg. 433. It's short, so I excerpted it here:

    " 'Why don't you shut up?' Cynthia said softly.
    'Another country heard from!' Johnny exclaimed. 'This young woman, this roadbabe with attitude, this flashing female flame of commitment, will now explain, complete with pictures and taped accompaniment by the noted rock ensemble Pearl Jam--'
    'Just shut the fuck up,' Steve said."

    Its funny how something like the name of your favorite band jumps off the page of a book you're engrossed in and socks you in the lip. When the letters "P, E, A, R, L, J, A, M" come together to form the words "Pearl" and "Jam," they stick out like sore thumbs to my eyes. Haha!

    Great book!

    Stephen-King--Desperation-Audiobook-Unabridged.jpg
    I’ve been working my way through a few Stephen King books this summer.  I’m nearly done with The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon.  If you’re recommending it maybe I’ll pick up Desperation next. 
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  • Tinaninea
    Tinaninea Posts: 36
    Desperation was a great book. I would suggest reading The Reglators first. They are sister books, they don’t have an “order” to read them in, but Desperation is better by a landslide. If you read it and then Regulators, Regulators is really going to let you down. And if you’re buying them, fork out the $ for the hardback, the cover art is worth it.
  • KB39167
    KB39167 Posts: 34
    Stephen King is one of my other fandoms and I’m pretty sure he references PJ in Dreamcatcher. If memory serves me correct an Army chopper unit is listening to them.  Forgive me I haven’t read it since 2001 and I’m at work unable to look it up

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