How About a Pearl Jam Obscure Fact Repository

OceansJenny

Amazing thread!! Missed it the first time around, really enjoyed reading it. Pleatherman - you da man.

Here’s a tidbit I haven’t seen on the boards before. Anyone heard of 1989’s Tin Machine (prominently featuring David Bowie) being the testament to the grunge wave coming?

Despite the constant drubbing throughout the 90's and 2000's though, both Tin Machine and Tin Machine have started to become Vindicated by History in recent years, with music analysts noting how the album and its follow-up, in true Bowie fashion, predicted the rise of grunge as a mainstream force in the 1990's. As a testament to its influence, co-producer Tim Palmer recalled to Tin Machine guitarist Reeves Gabrels that he caught the members of Pearl Jamlistening to "Heaven's in Here" during the mixing for Ten.

pleatherman

Temple of the Dog's Times of Trouble and Pearl Jam's Footsteps is a testimony of Chris and Eddie's unique artistic identities to transform the same instrumental piece into two fairly distinct songs.  Shawn Smith also reportedly sang over this Stone Gossard composition.
Before any of those versions formed, however, Andy Wood began to bring the song to life.

https://youtu.be/AyE6q19P5oM

pleatherman

One benefit to solo or side-projects is they create a safe haven for music that never integrates fully to the Pearl Jam catalog.  A couple obvious examples are Jeff Ament finishing 'The Forest' for his first solo album when it was not completed for the Avocado record, or the lone performance of 'Falling Down' from 06/20/95 reincarnated five years later as 'Distress' on The Rockfords debut album.

This brings me to another well-known matter, the Binaural demo 'Puzzles and Games.'  For the uninitiated, I will let Ed do the explaining (taken from Revolver Mag. 2000)-
"Chris Cornell was over the other night. My brother had sent me some early demos by Nick Drake, and Chris and I were sitting there, listening. All the places where you would naturally go up to perk up a song or create a dynamic, he would almost consciously take it down and add tension. He'd avoid the obvious. It's less spoon-fed and less appealing at first, but you listen and go, 'Wow, there's a lot of dignity in that vocal.  We try to do that as a band, take the less traveled route.  With 'Light Years,' Mike McCready had written some music. We were excited about it for a while, but when we got down to recording it, it was too nice, too right there - it was a little too close to 'Given to Fly.' We changed the tempos, and then one night Mike and I, after working on it all day and getting frustrated, just flipped it backwards, and in about 35 minutes it became 'Light Years,' with words and everything. It still has a fairly contagious chorus and melody, but it's just sideways enough to make me happy."

But with the creative process, come casualties.  In this case, the pretty-sounding guitar melody of the verses from 'Puzzles and Games' became forfeit.  Yet, a few years later Mike McCready's side-project, the Rockfords, once again swoops in and the unused portion of 'Puzzles and Games' casts a new song called 'So Young.'  It can be found on the "Waiting..." EP, and also their live album.


https://youtu.be/ucKIGRbnsfk

nuzzer1

pleatherman said:

One benefit to solo or side-projects is they create a safe haven for music that never integrates fully to the Pearl Jam catalog.  A couple obvious examples are Jeff Ament finishing 'The Forest' for his first solo album when it was not completed for the Avocado record, or the lone performance of 'Falling Down' from 06/20/95 reincarnated five years later as 'Distress' on The Rockfords debut album.

This brings me to another well-known matter, the Binaural demo 'Puzzles and Games.'  For the uninitiated, I will let Ed do the explaining (taken from Revolver Mag. 2000)-
"Chris Cornell was over the other night. My brother had sent me some early demos by Nick Drake, and Chris and I were sitting there, listening. All the places where you would naturally go up to perk up a song or create a dynamic, he would almost consciously take it down and add tension. He'd avoid the obvious. It's less spoon-fed and less appealing at first, but you listen and go, 'Wow, there's a lot of dignity in that vocal.  We try to do that as a band, take the less traveled route.  With 'Light Years,' Mike McCready had written some music. We were excited about it for a while, but when we got down to recording it, it was too nice, too right there - it was a little too close to 'Given to Fly.' We changed the tempos, and then one night Mike and I, after working on it all day and getting frustrated, just flipped it backwards, and in about 35 minutes it became 'Light Years,' with words and everything. It still has a fairly contagious chorus and melody, but it's just sideways enough to make me happy."

But with the creative process, come casualties.  In this case, the pretty-sounding guitar melody of the verses from 'Puzzles and Games' became forfeit.  Yet, a few years later Mike McCready's side-project, the Rockfords, once again swoops in and the unused portion of 'Puzzles and Games' casts a new song called 'So Young.'  It can be found on the "Waiting..." EP, and also their live album.


https://youtu.be/ucKIGRbnsfk

Amazing! Hands down my favorite b-side. Thanks for sharing!

mfc2006

So much fun revisiting this thread.

pleatherman

Did Pearl Jam Sell The Rights To Their Music Catalog?

(Disclaimer:  The fact is I do not have a ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ answer to that question)

During the past few years, it seemed every other week a news story pops up about a musician or band selling their music copyrights, songwriting catalogs, or publishing rights.  These blockbuster deals have consumed the catalogs of everyone from Bob Dylan, to Sting, to Alice In Chains, and even Andrew Watt.

Before such deals turned into trendy headlines, however, Pearl Jam and Universal Music Publishing Group announced in 2016 they reached an “exclusive worldwide publishing agreement.” https://themusicnetwork.com/pearl-jam-signs-globally-with-universal-music-publishing/  That verbiage is almost identical to many press releases surrounding acquisitions of back catalogs.  Of course, what is missing is the attention-grabbing astronomical payout that transforms any news item into potential viral content.  I would never want to spread false info, but would be amazed if Pearl Jam sold their catalog and nobody noticed because at the time this was not considered clickbait or the semantics of the announcement allowed it to fall under the radar.

In the article announcing the agreement Kelly Curtis refers to Universal as “partners”, while UMPG Chairman is quoted in saying “We are delighted that they have entrusted us with their amazing catalog”.  Even the once independent Monkeywrench Records is now just a label owned by Universal.  Non-disclosure agreements may prevent us from knowing the true extent of Universal “representing” PJ and EV’s past, present, and future catalog.  Perhaps it was one of the last masterstroke negotiations Curtis finalized to give even greater financial stability for his clients as he wound down an amazing career as Pearl Jam’s manager.

Also worth noting a music deal of this sort could be one of the more viable options for a band of Pearl Jam’s stature that chose not to go fully independent.  If I could make an uneducated guess, I would think it is a sort of hybrid deal, that allows the band members to continually receive royalties and have compete control over how the catalog is presented for the public, even if all the songs fall under UMPG’s domain.  But that is pure conjecture on my part.  I suppose the most telling piece of evidence would be if this agreement has an expiration date.  Hopefully someone more savvy than myself can interpret this arrangement with better insight.  

(2nd Disclaimer:  I might have a wild imagination.)

I may have forgotten to add an actual obscure fact, so here is one.  ‘Missing’, the song, off the 2018 Holiday single is erroneously labelled as taken from Seattle 8/10/18.  That particular version is actually recorded in Chicago on 8/18/18.

pleatherman

"Fallout Today" is a musical offshoot of "Say Hi"

Unless my ears deceive me, it sounds like Eddie Vedder's tribute to Eli, entitled "Say Hi", from the Matter Of Time EP generated the new song, "Fallout Today" off Earthling.  It might not be noticeable at first, yet as both songs progress the guitar lines appear quite similar.  What is most undeniable is the vocal melody contained in the verses of "Fallout Today" and "Say Hi", respectively.  While I always considered "Dear Mind" and "Comes Then Goes" to share a similar vocal melody at the opening line of each song, they both branch out rather distinctly thereafter.  But the vocals in the entire verse of "Say Hi" (0:35) align neatly with "Fallout Today" (0:07) until the chorus takes over.  This isn't a criticism at all.  I am just happy both songs exist.  Since the release of Gigaton, EV's musical output has been quite prolific!

https://youtu.be/btQ6soCIEio https://youtu.be/AfweG8nsg7I

pleatherman

Who Created the First Solo Album in Pearl Jam?
'Earthling' marks another addition to Pearl Jam's solo output.  Works by each individual bandmate have been churning out steadily for years now.  When did this all start, and who was first out of the gate?  Well, it appears that the first Pearl Jam member to showcase solo material also happened to be the last to join the band.  In 1987, Matt David Cameron, under the name M.D. Cameron released a couple solo cassettes.  Make no mistake, these were conceived as more than mere homemade demos.  The music was recorded at Reciprocal Studios by Jack Endino.  And the art was even drawn by renowned comic artist Bill Sienkiewicz.

JeBurkhardt

pleatherman said:

"Fallout Today" is a musical offshoot of "Say Hi"

Unless my ears deceive me, it sounds like Eddie Vedder's tribute to Eli, entitled "Say Hi", from the Matter Of Time EP generated the new song, "Fallout Today" off Earthling.  It might not be noticeable at first, yet as both songs progress the guitar lines appear quite similar.  What is most undeniable is the vocal melody contained in the verses of "Fallout Today" and "Say Hi", respectively.  While I always considered "Dear Mind" and "Comes Then Goes" to share a similar vocal melody at the opening line of each song, they both branch out rather distinctly thereafter.  But the vocals in the entire verse of "Say Hi" (0:35) align neatly with "Fallout Today" (0:07) until the chorus takes over.  This isn't a criticism at all.  I am just happy both songs exist.  Since the release of Gigaton, EV's musical output has been quite prolific!

https://youtu.be/btQ6soCIEio https://youtu.be/AfweG8nsg7I

I picked that up as well last night. I have tried to avoid listening to the album as a whole until I get the vinyl in the mail, but last night while I was making dinner, I pulled it up online and listened to it. It took me a few seconds to realize what I was hearing sounded a lot like Say Hi. 

LastStopOnTheWestCoastLine

I identified Say Hi as soon as I heard Fallout Today. One thing I didn't see mentioned above is Say Hi is pretty much a rip-off of Norwegian Wood.

pleatherman

Before Pearl Jam's Alive, the song Dollar Short by Mother Love Bone existed.  These are the lyrics, excerpted from "Landrew's Lovenotes:  A Collection of Lyrics from Andrew Wood."  Dated July '89, prior to the recording of their only full-length album, Apple.  Despite that, and the fact the song debuted in concert, Stone does not think they ever recorded a proper version.  Perhaps one day a live bootleg will surface.  Meanwhile, this can tide us over.

pleatherman

The above photo is a rather iconic performance shot of the band, provided to the press around the Vitalogy era.  However, the below picture proves the band photo is actually the result of some manipulation.  The odd part is you can still see Mike working the pedals in the group picture while simultaneously dropkicking mid-air.

I narrowed it down to 2 theories.  My first is this is a composite picture cut and pasted together.  My other theory involves a cover-up following Dirty Frank's gruesome killing spree.   Naturally, the remaining members of Pearl Jam, with the help of the Illuminati, needed to mass produce decoy McCreadies in the likely scenario he gets eaten again.  Need further proof?  No problem.

pleatherman

"Garden" is the first politically-charged song Pearl Jam released.  Written as a response to George H.W. Bush's speech justifying the first Gulf War, the lyrics provide a glimpse of Ed's indictment behind the fallacy of war.  The content may be more oblique than "World Wide Suicide" but at the core, "Garden" lends itself as a protest song.  Rather than participating in a conflict for the sake of "our modern needs", a decision is reached not to fight- "I won't be taken, yet I'll go..."

PJ5a1

Not sure how random this is but...

I love how each PJ vinyl record has some form of message/code etched in on each side 

In the recent First Press release, the clue etching on each record reads "Black Belt Levi" 

This is a nod to Black Belt Mastering and Levi Setlz for their audio mastering/cutting of the record. 

lastexitlondon

pleatherman said:

"Garden" is the first politically-charged song Pearl Jam released.  Written as a response to George H.W. Bush's speech justifying the first Gulf War, the lyrics provide a glimpse of Ed's indictment behind the fallacy of war.  The content may be more oblique than "World Wide Suicide" but at the core, "Garden" lends itself as a protest song.  Rather than participating in a conflict for the sake of "our modern needs", a decision is reached not to fight- "I won't be taken, yet I'll go..."

I didnt know this
 Thanks. Needed now in Ukraine 

pleatherman

Since Pearl Jam still might not even be aware of this next fact, that makes it super-obscure.  According to an anecdote by Dave Hillis, the recording engineer on ‘Ten’, Pearl Jam designed the sessions to capture the band playing the basic tracks live, simultaneously in the same room.  Besides overdubs, leads, vocals etc., they almost managed to stick to that plan.  But it derailed once they got to “Even Flow.” The song was already a point of contention as they struggled with countless takes to accurately capture the groove around the fluctuating tempos.  Finally, by 3am, long after producer Rick Parashar left for the day, the band nailed the track.  It was complete.  The only problem was the tape ran out during the performance.  Hillis managed to splice it with a different version before the band could hear the playback.  He hid this truth not only from Pearl Jam but also Parashar.  

Of course the tradition continued years later when the 8/25/98 and 8/31/98 live performances of “Even Flow” were melded into the LO2L version.

jjflash

Keep 'em coming @pleatherman  Awesome thread!!

pleatherman

jjflash said:

Keep 'em coming @pleatherman  Awesome thread!!

Thanks for the encouragement.  Here are a few quick bits.

• Kristen Barry's house (a fellow Seattle musician) is the location where Stone, Jeff, Mike, and Matt first convened to begin work on Gossard's summer 1990 demos that would eventually morph into the first Pearl Jam songs.
• Even prior to the Momma-son trilogy, these are the songs Eddie dubbed onto cassette as a means of a first impressions to his future bandmates.

1. Homeless
2. Sick o' Pussies
3. What the Funk
4. Daddy Could Swear 

• Jeff booked studio time in 1993 with the intention of him and Eddie playing on each other's material in 8 hour shifts.  This method proved promising after they finished a demo for 'Nothingman', but afterwards Eddie was not able to complete any further material.  So instead, Jeff continued to work on the song 'Laced' and Three Fish were soon created.

• The amount of completed outtakes varies from album to album.  Unreleased music from Vitalogy seem especially rare due to various internal and external forces that prevailed during the making of that record.  The expanded reissue only suits to reinforce that notion.  However, Ed's preliminary track list below reveals a couple Vs. era contenders marked for inclusion on Vitalogy.  Besides 'Hard to Imagine', the song 'Telephone' is also written and subsequently crossed out.  Otherwise known as 'Ring the Telephone', or 'I Won't', the lyrics for the song are posted elsewhere in this thread.  Appears the song got bumped for 'Immortality.'

• According to Eddie, the album title 'Backspacer' was inspired by an old typewriter key.  Perhaps there was more than one source though.  A year before the album was released, Matt Cameron shared a piece of music entitled 'Backspace' on his MySpace page.  If you have not heard it before, just listen to a few seconds for it to be evident why that title was chosen.  Could be coincidence, although Eddie does have a history of appropriating song titles from Matt (e.g. the time he asked Matt to change the title of 'Undone' to 'You Are' so Ed could use it for his own song.  Oh, also [Take the] Long Way.)

https://youtu.be/38E96h3ZKmc

• While on the subject of appropriation, do you notice anything that may have partially influenced the band's vision for an album cover possibly twenty years down the line? 

  

pleatherman

Hypothesis:  Pearl Jam did NOT play their first show as Mookie Blaylock. 

I used to accept as common knowledge that Ed, Jeff, Mike, Stone, and Dave played the Off Ramp on 10/22/90 under the moniker Mookie Blaylock.  But now I am not convinced that is true.  While several articles claim the band was called Mookie Blaylock for their first show, I find a stunning lack of evidence to support that.  No handbill or announcement for the show has circulated and chances are they were a last minute addition, anyways.  A commemorative set list for the concert with the name Mookie Blaylock written at the top exists, but that was created years later.  Any postcards or demo tapes from 10/90 make no mention of Mookie Blaylock.  I suppose a band name was superfluous when writing music in the basement and opening a show for your friends’ bands.  That necessity arose, however, when the situation became more serious and they were offered a supporting slot on the Alice in Chains tour.  Which also happens to be around the time the name Mookie Blaylock gains visibility.  This quote from Jeff Ament might sum it up best:

"We were about to go on a tour and still didn't have a name and needed one quickly. We were told it didn't need to be the name that we were going to use forever, just something for the tour. Someone saw the Mookie Blaylock card and said, 'How about Mookie Blaylock?' We decided to go with it ..."

Conclusion:  The band was nameless during the first month or so of its existence.  Once they adopted the Mookie Blaylock name, it was retroactively attached to their earliest demos and 10/22/90 show.  Then again, this thought only occurred to me today so please feel free to make a rebuttal.

heartofadog

What a great thread. Just read through all 13 pages of it.