"I was thinking that music should be banned from VH1, then I saw Pearl Jam"

merkinball

Don't know if anyone gets the 'Lefstez Letter', but it's a daily mailing list/blog that's put out which has great insight into the music biz, and all that's wrong (and right) with it. Anyway, he's got a great way of writing/perspective and this review is no different.

This just came through on the email side, not up on the blog yet. But you can access his blog at:

http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/




I was thinking that music should be banned from VH1, then I saw Pearl Jam.

I read this great quote. How did they decide to honor the Who? Well, they were thinking of someone else, but the Who were available. They were creating a TV show! Maybe that's how they ended up with this ridiculous cast.

I'll admit to liking "Learning To Fly", and Dave Grohl is certainly charismatic, but if the Foo Fighters aren't the most forgettable major act ever... Shit, Grand Funk RAILROAD had better material.

And aren't Incubus has-beens? Who's owed a favor here?

As for the Flaming Lips, Wayne Coyne's laughing all the way to the bank. He got to do his roll in a ball act on national TV!

Tenacious D did their cover of "Squeeze Box" o.k., but if Jack Black wasn't a movie star, they wouldn't have even made this bill.

And speaking of movie stars... I don't give a flying fuck what David Duchovny has to say about music. That's like asking Katherine Heigl who is going to win the World Series. As for the reverential talking heads... Can Cameron Crowe ever say anything NEGATIVE? He needs to if we're going to take his gushing seriously. Only Mick Jones had any cred, because he deigned to appear as himself, an old man, ravaged by age and time. That's what happens when you get old, you lose your hair and...your voice?

Pete Townshend is magic. You watch him windmill, you see his everyman countenance and you tell yourself...THIS IS ROCK AND ROLL!

As for Mr. Daltrey... I ultimately had to fast-forward, it was too painful.

And who chose their material? Although Roger sang the final number, from their recent album, well, it's a mediocre track. Only marginally worse than "Who Are You"? EVERYONE knows that the band took a huge slide downhill after "Quadrophenia", and if you're going to play later material, at least do "Eminence Front"...

I wanted the Who to be great. Adam Sandler had primed me, the lasers got my heart palpitating, and then they disappointed me. What can they do? They're old, and they're missing Keith Moon and the Ox. Who truly can't be replaced. If you ever saw them together, you know of what I speak. I'd rather see Pete solo. How about "A Little Is Enough"! But not many people will pay for that, so we end up on an endless victory lap, that despite Pete's simultaneously irreverent and sincere attitude, is creepy.

Speaking of the intro, Adam Sandler was FANTASTIC! He did more for the cause of music education than Guitar Hero and Rock Band combined! Yup, up there on stage solo, Adam picked the notes on his Les Paul and got the exact sound of "Magic Bus"! I was waiting for him to fuck up. But obviously, when not making movies, he's been PRACTICING! I'm sitting there, thinking... If I bought an electric guitar, if I got the right effects pedal, could I make this exact same sound? Couldn't be THAT hard, after all, Adam Sandler's doing it! This was a highlight, watch it! As for the new lyrics, pretty good. Adam was electric in a way the Who ultimately wasn't... But he was blown off the stage by Pearl Jam!

Actually, Pearl Jam was on first, before Adam. And there's something that bugs me about Eddie Vedder. He takes himself too seriously and I would like a little sweetness in his voice.

Speaking of serious, they opened with a seemingly endless take of "Love Reign O'er Me". Great track, but the evening demanded more energy.

Then they tore into "The Real Me". It was a REVELATION! I'm tingling just WRITING ABOUT IT!

Rock and roll is something that can't be quantified, sometimes it's not even something you hear, but FEEL!

Pearl Jam looked like they just came from lunch, wearing their everyday clothes, like a band from the seventies. The drum hit, the guitar slashed and the bass started DANCING at the bottom. Shit, THIS IS THE EXACT SAME ENERGY THAT OPENS QUADROPHENIA! You know, after the overture, "Real Me" EXPLODES out of the speakers.

Shit, I'm watching the video now. Pearl Jam's drummer and bassist should have played with Roger and Pete, not the impostors they're employing. Moon played with a manic energy. He wasn't thinking, but purely running on instinct. Hitting everything in his path. But somehow, it all sounded right. The pure volume of sound, the cacophony, it was MESMERIZING!

And speaking of mesmerizing... Jeff Ament is positively channeling John Entwistle. His fingers are dancing all over his bass. He's moving just a bit more than the Ox, but he's still in his own world, not just pinning down the bottom, but creating a WHOLE WORLD down there!

As for Mike McCready, he's doing a modern day Townshend. So possessed by the music that it's taken over his whole body, he's jumping, he's splitting. You know how you dance around your bedroom? When no one's watching, when you feel the music completely? THAT'S MIKE! But he's getting every sound exactly right.

"I went back to the doctor
To get another shrink
I sit and tell him about my weekend
But he never betrays what he thinks"

That's what my first shrink told my parents. That all I wanted to do was stay home and listen to records. But at least I wanted to do SOMETHING!

Can you see the real me?

The real me is someone who's never sold out, who's followed the music, to here. Been a rough ride, but I had no other choice.

A real musician has no other choice. The stardom is secondary, as is the bread. You do it because you have to. You only feel good when you're playing. It's what your life is about. And when you get to do your act, the audience can feel it, your dedication, your PASSION!

Pearl Jam is not really playing for the audience, they're playing for THEMSELVES! Your goal is to get closer, you want some of what they've got, that energy, that FEELING!

Now I know why Pearl Jam sells out arenas long after their last "hit". People who go know. That they can only get this feeling at their show. Sure, there are some other acts that deliver. But very few. And most of them are old, from an era when music still mattered, they're running on fumes.

But Pearl Jam is not running on fumes. Watching this, you'd think they're the most vital band in the land. You'd believe there's still hope for rock and roll.

"The Real Me": http://www.vh1.com/video/play.jhtml?id=1590659&vid=258537

Adam Sandler: http://www.vh1.com/video/play.jhtml?id=1590659&vid=258540

PJBuckeye

I once heard somebody describe VH1 as "the music channel for people who don't like music." And I agree 100%. They play so much so much crap on that channel. It pisses me off that PJ associates themselves with such a mediocre brand.

Igottago

PJBuckeye wrote:

I once heard somebody describe VH1 as "the music channel for people who don't like music." And I agree 100%. They play so much so much crap on that channel. It pisses me off that PJ associates themselves with such a mediocre brand.

I liked that litte shot that Sean Penn gave them in his PJ intro.

Honestly, that was the first time in about 7 or 8 years I've deliberately tuned into that channel (Its much more music here in Canada)...music channels don't exist anymore. It'll probably be another 7 or 8 years before I tune in again, if ever.

LikeAnOpeningBandForTheSun

first time i wished i had vh1 in forever. great review

blacknapkins

PJBuckeye wrote:

I once heard somebody describe VH1 as "the music channel for people who don't like music." And I agree 100%. They play so much so much crap on that channel. It pisses me off that PJ associates themselves with such a mediocre brand.

By doing that show, they got the chance to pay homage to a band that means a lot of some of their own members, and by doing the classy thing and not bitching that it happened to be hosted by that particular mediocre brand, they may have been seen and appreciated by some viewers who otherwise might not have known them. I have to think of that as a good thing.

JaneNY

I just came on to post about this, and found your thread! Kudos from this guy is something. I subscribe to his newsletter - he speaks pretty straight, and he can be pretty scathing. He feels the music 'industry' and major labels are pretty much dead, so to read this from him is notable. Of course he just wrote what we've known all along!

shes a peach

It's also worth it to have VH1 when they do the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductions-and Eddie's doing the induction!

nukeboot

JaneNY wrote:

he speaks pretty straight, and he can be pretty scathing. He feels the music 'industry' and major labels are pretty much dead, so to read this from him is notable.

I respect him, but don't read as regularly as he can be really negative.
Of course, that's understandable given the state of things.

It's nice to see him excited about something.

He was the same way about U23D and he was dead on about that too.

(Silence, yee U2 haters! )

Jack_C_Gregory

Igottago wrote:

I liked that litte shot that Sean Penn gave them in his PJ intro.

I wouldn't pay too much attention to Sean Penn's comments. He also said The Who never sold out. I guess he doesn't own a television otherwise he would hear a Who song every time a car commercial or crime investigation show came on the tube.

Also, is the guy that wrote the original review like Sandler's best friend? He played Magic Bus and changed the lyrics. Nothing that special.

12345AGNST1

that is the best review for anything PJ period. That reviewer hit it EXACTLY. They are 100% right. Holy shit!