2012-2013 'Grunge' Revival???

toungblood

rummy wrote:

Are the Foos bigger than PJ? I've never thought so but maybe I'm not being very objective here.

Objectively, I would say so as they are more main stream, they get more air play for sure & promote their music. Wasting Light was a huge album/tour combined w/ the back & forth promotional video, plus the Foo's Wembly concert gets a lot of air play.

Foo's Better...I'd say no. But they have a big catalog & following for sure.

JTH

toungblood wrote:

rummy wrote:

Are the Foos bigger than PJ? I've never thought so but maybe I'm not being very objective here.

Objectively, I would say so as they are more main stream, they get more air play for sure & promote their music. Wasting Light was a huge album/tour combined w/ the back & forth promotional video, plus the Foo's Wembly concert gets a lot of air play.

Foo's Better...I'd say no. But they have a big catalog & following for sure.

Also, Dave Grohl is definitely a high-profile "rock star" who always seems to have his name/face in the news with all the other projects he's involved with.

DriftingByTheStorm

rummy wrote:

Are the Foos bigger than PJ? I've never thought so but maybe I'm not being very objective here.

if you asked anyone else in the world besides those on this message board, yes.
Remember, Dave Grohl was in Nirvana.
What is Pearl Jam's claim to fame?

DewieCox

rummy wrote:

Are the Foos bigger than PJ? I've never thought so but maybe I'm not being very objective here.

Yeah, and I'd say quite a bit bigger. Didn't check album sales, but I think it's safe to assume Foo's sell alot more. Foo's always have 3 tunes from every album get tons of radio play, compared to PJ having the occasional fluke like Last Kiss or Just Breathe. Foo's don't curtain off upper sections in the smaller cities they play.

I like some Foo tunes, but I think as a whole they're pretty repetetive and Dave Grohl is funny sometimes, but he's worn on me. Back and Forth and Sound City make him seem pretty egocentric.


And I don't think Foo Fighters being bigger than PJ has anything to do with Nirvana, other than probably getting some breaks early on.

rummy

Fair enough (and thanks for the feedback).

I don't dislike the FF's (enjoyed the singles from their first few albums) but I really have paid much attention to them over the past decade.

For the recorded: I was a pretty big PJ fan in the 1990's, admittedly lost some interest in the early 2000's, my interest was revived somewhat in 2006 and then in exploded in 2011. I mention my own historical interest with the band because all along I still credited them as being one of the biggest, most creditable bands ever and the majority of the rock bands that followed were simply derivatives of them.

Anyway, I'm a bit off topic.

I think a lot of revivals occur 20 or so years after they initially occurred. For example, Led Zeppelin seems to be really popular in the early-1990's. Maybe it has something to do with an approaching R&R HoF eligibility.

nickburrows14

F#cking hate the word Grunge.

toungblood

@ rummy
I think the 20 Year thing has more to do with parents introducing their kids to their music along with music that perpetuates teen angst. Zepplin, AC/DC made the generational jump. I think PJ will as well.

McCreedy would have a fit if PJ was nominated before Kiss was inducted & Eddie might have a similar response to any award as he did to their grammy.

@ Dewie Cox
Agree 100% that Nirvana had little to do w/ the Foo's success & that Dave Grohl can be a complete dick at times. Many front men suffer from the ego trip.

rummy

As solid as (many think) the Foos first album is, I truly believe that its popularity definitely benefited from it being a "Nirvana drummer" release. Right or wrong, that's how I recall it being promoted back in '95.

That said, the Foo Fighters would have likely sunk into oblivion if they did follow up this release with more stellar tracks (and clever music videos).

Pap

tremors wrote:

It's not grunge man, it's South Seattle Street Funk

jumbojet

DewieCox wrote:

Yeah, and I'd say quite a bit bigger. Didn't check album sales, but I think it's safe to assume Foo's sell alot more. Foo's always have 3 tunes from every album get tons of radio play, compared to PJ having the occasional fluke like Last Kiss or Just Breathe. Foo's don't curtain off upper sections in the smaller cities they play.

I like some Foo tunes, but I think as a whole they're pretty repetetive and Dave Grohl is funny sometimes, but he's worn on me. Back and Forth and Sound City make him seem pretty egocentric.


And I don't think Foo Fighters being bigger than PJ has anything to do with Nirvana, other than probably getting some breaks early on.

Wikipedia puts Foo Fighters album sales 10 million, while for Pearl Jam it is 31.5 mln. US numbers.

For sure Wikipedia figures are not 100% reliable, but the difference is undeniable.

DS107374

JTH wrote:

Don't forget Mudhoney.

Vanishing Point came out in April.

I loooooooove this album.

The Final Course is a great, great song.

DS107374

rummy wrote:

Are the Foos bigger than PJ? I've never thought so but maybe I'm not being very objective here.

I don't think so. I think that PJ and the Foos are still on two different levels. Pearl Jam is a bigger band. Almost U2-esque or Springsteen-esque in stature. Slow down, I'm not comparing them to U2 music-wise, just stature-wise. I don't think any comparison to Bruce Springsteen should be looked at as a negative either. I think that the Foos are a big band like Coldplay is a big band they just are not at epic status.

I might be biased because I am not the biggest Foos fan out there and I think that they're as good as their going to get but I definitely don't feel they're bigger than PJ. Take your typical radio station for example anywhere around the country; Foo Fighters go on tour, or have a new single, or are actually in town and you'll get some coverage but it's the same as every other rock band. Pearl Jam does any of the above and it's an event.

DewieCox

jumbojet wrote:

DewieCox wrote:

Yeah, and I'd say quite a bit bigger. Didn't check album sales, but I think it's safe to assume Foo's sell alot more. Foo's always have 3 tunes from every album get tons of radio play, compared to PJ having the occasional fluke like Last Kiss or Just Breathe. Foo's don't curtain off upper sections in the smaller cities they play.

I like some Foo tunes, but I think as a whole they're pretty repetetive and Dave Grohl is funny sometimes, but he's worn on me. Back and Forth and Sound City make him seem pretty egocentric.


And I don't think Foo Fighters being bigger than PJ has anything to do with Nirvana, other than probably getting some breaks early on.

Wikipedia puts Foo Fighters album sales 10 million, while for Pearl Jam it is 31.5 mln. US numbers.

For sure Wikipedia figures are not 100% reliable, but the difference is undeniable.

About 2/3 of PJ's album sales came from 2 albums 20 years ago, and skimming through the individual albums sales on wiki, Foo's have well over 10mil in sales.

If you're trying to say that PJ is bigger than Foo Fighters, in 2013(and I'd even go back close to a decade), with all due respect, you're out of your gourd.

Foo Fighters do monster tours, from coast to coast, every time they put out an album, and fill up venues. PJ is very selective with the spots they play and still have trouble filling venues in all but the biggest cities.


PJ has never sold out a venue that holds 80,000. Foo Fighters did it 2 nights in a row.

JTH

DS107374 wrote:

I think that the Foos are a big band like Coldplay is a big band they just are not at epic status.

I'm not quite sure what you mean by epic status, but right now, Foo Fighters and Coldplay are both definitely bigger than PJ.

jumbojet

DewieCox wrote:

jumbojet wrote:

Wikipedia puts Foo Fighters album sales 10 million, while for Pearl Jam it is 31.5 mln. US numbers.

For sure Wikipedia figures are not 100% reliable, but the difference is undeniable.

About 2/3 of PJ's album sales came from 2 albums 20 years ago, and skimming through the individual albums sales on wiki, Foo's have well over 10mil in sales.

If you're trying to say that PJ is bigger than Foo Fighters, in 2013(and I'd even go back close to a decade), with all due respect, you're out of your gourd.

Foo Fighters do monster tours, from coast to coast, every time they put out an album, and fill up venues. PJ is very selective with the spots they play and still have trouble filling venues in all but the biggest cities.

PJ has never sold out a venue that holds 80,000. Foo Fighters did it 2 nights in a row.

I just wanted to do the work to find out some numbers for sales records. I do not have any theory as to who is bigger.

I do not have much info about Foo FIghters, to tell the truth. Thanks to the posts here, I am curious and I will dig more about them. We, PJ fans, are taught to not give much shit about Grammies but 4 Grammies out of 7 records deserve some respect, in any case.

The Foo Fighters site sucks by the way.

DewieCox

DS107374 wrote:

rummy wrote:

Are the Foos bigger than PJ? I've never thought so but maybe I'm not being very objective here.

I don't think so. I think that PJ and the Foos are still on two different levels. Pearl Jam is a bigger band. Almost U2-esque or Springsteen-esque in stature. Slow down, I'm not comparing them to U2 music-wise, just stature-wise. I don't think any comparison to Bruce Springsteen should be looked at as a negative either. I think that the Foos are a big band like Coldplay is a big band they just are not at epic status.

I might be biased because I am not the biggest Foos fan out there and I think that they're as good as their going to get but I definitely don't feel they're bigger than PJ. Take your typical radio station for example anywhere around the country; Foo Fighters go on tour, or have a new single, or are actually in town and you'll get some coverage but it's the same as every other rock band. Pearl Jam does any of the above and it's an event.

In my experience, absolutely none of this rings true. If it was, when they have all those historic, fundraising, once in a lifetime shows, with all the legends, wouldn't PJ be getting an invite? U2 and the Boss are headlining those events.

I'm not the biggest Foo's fan either. I'm more critical of them and Dave Grohl than just about anybody when it comes to their music, but they are enormous.

I haven't listened to the radio regularly for a long time, but I think hanging around here and seeing posts any time PJ is mentioned on tv or radio is greatly skewing your view on them. I'd guess Mind Your Manners is already out of the rotation on most radio stations and a string of Foo Fighters singles will dominate the radio for a year or more.

DS107374

DewieCox wrote:

DS107374 wrote:

rummy wrote:

Are the Foos bigger than PJ? I've never thought so but maybe I'm not being very objective here.

I don't think so. I think that PJ and the Foos are still on two different levels. Pearl Jam is a bigger band. Almost U2-esque or Springsteen-esque in stature. Slow down, I'm not comparing them to U2 music-wise, just stature-wise. I don't think any comparison to Bruce Springsteen should be looked at as a negative either. I think that the Foos are a big band like Coldplay is a big band they just are not at epic status.

I might be biased because I am not the biggest Foos fan out there and I think that they're as good as their going to get but I definitely don't feel they're bigger than PJ. Take your typical radio station for example anywhere around the country; Foo Fighters go on tour, or have a new single, or are actually in town and you'll get some coverage but it's the same as every other rock band. Pearl Jam does any of the above and it's an event.

In my experience, absolutely none of this rings true. If it was, when they have all those historic, fundraising, once in a lifetime shows, with all the legends, wouldn't PJ be getting an invite? U2 and the Boss are headlining those events.

I'm not the biggest Foo's fan either. I'm more critical of them and Dave Grohl than just about anybody when it comes to their music, but they are enormous.

I haven't listened to the radio regularly for a long time, but I think hanging around here and seeing posts any time PJ is mentioned on tv or radio is greatly skewing your view on them. I'd guess Mind Your Manners is already out of the rotation on most radio stations and a string of Foo Fighters singles will dominate the radio for a year or more.

I understand where you're coming from but using the 12/12/12 concert as most recent example, Ed was there and while I don't necessarily think that headlining makes that big of a deal I would be remiss if I didn't mention that so was Springsteen. U2 wasn't.

I do not hang out around here, I've been a member for a very, very long time yet I am rarely on this board so my perspective isn't skewed by this forum. What might skew my perspective is that I live in an area that has a radio station that absolutely adores Pearl Jam (Just south of Philly - WMMR). I am sure that Pearl Jam is the most played artist on that station or it is very close to being so. And I can tell you through my wife, who actually hears that station at work all day that Mind Your Manners is still very much in rotation.

I'm not disputing that Foo Fighters are a big band but I do not believe that they are as big as Pearl Jam. Pearl Jam is a national treasure, certainly on the Mt. Rushmore of American bands and Foo Fighters is not.

DewieCox

DS107374 wrote:

I understand where you're coming from but using the 12/12/12 concert as most recent example, Ed was there and while I don't necessarily think that headlining makes that big of a deal I would be remiss if I didn't mention that so was Springsteen. U2 wasn't.

I do not hang out around here, I've been a member for a very, very long time yet I am rarely on this board so my perspective isn't skewed by this forum. What might skew my perspective is that I live in an area that has a radio station that absolutely adores Pearl Jam (Just south of Philly - WMMR). I am sure that Pearl Jam is the most played artist on that station or it is very close to being so. And I can tell you through my wife, who actually hears that station at work all day that Mind Your Manners is still very much in rotation.

I'm not disputing that Foo Fighters are a big band but I do not believe that they are as big as Pearl Jam. Pearl Jam is a national treasure, certainly on the Mt. Rushmore of American bands and Foo Fighters is not.

Ed was there and kicked ass, and by alot of accounts got bumped from a solo set by Kanye. Still, PJ didn't perform at the Concert for New York, Live 8 or any of the Katrina benefits, though I think they did feed a live performance of GTF in to one of them. My point is, PJ isn't held with near the esteem that U2 and Springsteen are. When those big shows are announced those guys are pretty much locks, along with The Who, Stones and McCartney. Hell, even Bon Jovi has been at quite a few of them.

WMMR and Philly is truly a hotbed for PJ. I can't argue that they give and get alot of PJ love, but that's the exception and not the rule.

I think big(not better mind you) is something that's pretty easily definable. Foo Fighters sell more albums, sell more tickets, get more airplay, and generally are in more peoples' conscience. I don't think it's really that close at this point and with some research, there are probably a few other active rock bands bigger than PJ.

Now if you wanna put PJ on a US Mt Rockmore, you'll get no big argument from me, but I think we'd be in the vast minority...with acts like CCR, Petty, Hendrix, The Doors, Allman's, Springsteen, Nirvana, RHCP, Grateful Dead it's kinda hard to say PJ is a lock. I don't think many people share your sentiment that PJ is a national treasure, outside of this board.

Spartanacus

I obviously agree they are a national treasure, and they are on my Mt. Rushmore of music. As much as I would love to also include AIC, SG, and Nirvana in my top 4, I will have PJ represent my Seattle favorites, and choose Bob Marley, Led Zeppelin, and The Beatles to fill out the other 3 spots.

I also think PJ is happy with who they are, how big they are perceived, and I believe that they are in full control of it. If they wanted to outdo perceived 'bigger' groups like U2, Coldplay (gag), etcetera, etcetra, they would and they could.

Let's not forget that these are the same guys who shunned the spotlight decades ago when it got too bright for them...people don't change THAT much.

They are in full control of their destiny and while they may not go down as the 'biggest and best' ever, they are in my book (and a lot of your's), and I think they know it.

Their legacy will be consistent great music, great live shows (the best), and last but not least...great fans!

MayDay10

I would love a huge festival that brought out all these surviving and good 90s bands

Pearl Jam
DMB
Soundgarden
Foos
AIC
RHCP
Smashing Pumpkins