Has PJ Changed Anyones Lives?

Boom The Cat

Through Music or lyrics or mabye even through fans (here?)


I remember a few years back, I had this idol who promoted the whole 'be unique' thing, I was about to do just that, I died my hair, I wore weird clothes and was trying too hard to put it simply. When I heard Corduroy, I heard the lyric "I'll end up alone just like before" only I heard it as "I'll end up alone a copycat" After hearing this a few times, I realised that I was trying too hard and that I should be who I am, sure I die my hair weird colors when I'm feeling in the right mood, but I feel alot better about doing it.

Whats weirder, is that once I starting being myself, I didnt hear it as "I'll end up alone a copycat" I heard it for its correct lyrics. Pretty weird.


You?

Ms. Haiku

The last straw, the deciding factor for me to move to Seattle from Madison, WI in 1993 was the movie, Singles. I thought that the actors looked like they were having so much fun. I wanted to be like that I kept watching it because of the PJ bandmembers.

didem

it was 1992 when I first heard of them...
and I was 15...
lets not say "changed my life" my I can easily say that they have changed the way I look to music... almost 15 years passed and I'm still a pj fan and a grunge lover...

PRfCTlYUNkPTCLtHs

This band was/is
my first love......music. I wasn't really "into" music before them. Now I can't live without it!

So yeah...they definately changed my life & I have never been the same. I am a better person.

Righteous Jammer

Their music has always spoke to me. Its really hard to put in writing.

justam

Short answer: "Yes."

darthvedder88

a poet wrote:

Their music has always spoke to me. Its really hard to put in writing.

I feel the same way. They have a lot of songs that when I hear them, it almost seems like they're talking about me, and I LOVE IT!!

A Soldier

I am a Soldier deployed to war for the second time in 3 years. I write this with nothing left to bleed for the current campaign. I watch daily as the youth of our nation sweep through before my eyes without feet, without hands, with severed souls. Lifeless heaping masses of Americas best and brightest pile up. I search the news for hope of recognition, some sort of redemption, nothing new. What we have created is going to take many years to recover (for those that survive intact) and for the most part NO ONE is looking at the mess we are making. “It’ll go away”, but it doesn’t and it won’t and it only gets worse here. Each day begins a new trial, a new leaf, and with it a possibility for salvation is born. One single day without casualties is my prayer. One day without a dismembered body of another 18-24 year old Son, Daughter, Brother or Sister statistic.
This new album means more to me than I can express and without a “voice” of my own in the world, I felt compelled to loft this gratitude onto the waves, as a blind volley of thanks. I am sure I am not alone in my emotional response to it. It has become the soundtrack to my existence here as every movement and lyric carries with it a message and meaning that I have never experienced. They speak to the sacrifice and pain that hasn’t been mentioned nor acknowledged for 35 years. They examine what is being ignored and give hope to what has been dismissed as hopeless, and with novelty shed light into the depths of what war our families fight in the darkness of solitude so many miles from the front lines.
Few people work their entire lives for the chance of changing, or helping society, culture, their immediate environment. I can say with no hesitation that the work that has been compiled here has made it possible for at least one person to maintain on a daily basis. A simple beam of light shed into the soul, providing illumination to “a reason”. For that I am grateful as hell.
My temporary leave approaches from this world of dirt, and I have the lucky fortune to be able to commiserate in my personal capsule of import derived from the Gorge shows. Thank you for giving a voice to this war. Thank you for acknowledging the names of the kids on the wall. Thank you for seeking the truth and delivering it so adeptly.
-Frank

eddies grrl

Boom The Cat wrote:

Through Music or lyrics or mabye even through fans (here?)

um....... yeah.


in big, big ways.

eddies grrl

A Soldier wrote:

I am a Soldier deployed to war for the second time in 3 years. I write this with nothing left to bleed for the current campaign. I watch daily as the youth of our nation sweep through before my eyes without feet, without hands, with severed souls. Lifeless heaping masses of Americas best and brightest pile up. I search the news for hope of recognition, some sort of redemption, nothing new. What we have created is going to take many years to recover (for those that survive intact) and for the most part NO ONE is looking at the mess we are making. “It’ll go away”, but it doesn’t and it won’t and it only gets worse here. Each day begins a new trial, a new leaf, and with it a possibility for salvation is born. One single day without casualties is my prayer. One day without a dismembered body of another 18-24 year old Son, Daughter, Brother or Sister statistic.
This new album means more to me than I can express and without a “voice” of my own in the world, I felt compelled to loft this gratitude onto the waves, as a blind volley of thanks. I am sure I am not alone in my emotional response to it. It has become the soundtrack to my existence here as every movement and lyric carries with it a message and meaning that I have never experienced. They speak to the sacrifice and pain that hasn’t been mentioned nor acknowledged for 35 years. They examine what is being ignored and give hope to what has been dismissed as hopeless, and with novelty shed light into the depths of what war our families fight in the darkness of solitude so many miles from the front lines.
Few people work their entire lives for the chance of changing, or helping society, culture, their immediate environment. I can say with no hesitation that the work that has been compiled here has made it possible for at least one person to maintain on a daily basis. A simple beam of light shed into the soul, providing illumination to “a reason”. For that I am grateful as hell.
My temporary leave approaches from this world of dirt, and I have the lucky fortune to be able to commiserate in my personal capsule of import derived from the Gorge shows. Thank you for giving a voice to this war. Thank you for acknowledging the names of the kids on the wall. Thank you for seeking the truth and delivering it so adeptly.
-Frank

thank you for your post, and for putting yourself in harm's way. i don't support this war, but i have much respect and compassion for every soldier fighting it. i hope each of you gets the hell out of there as soon as possible.

peace.

monkeyderfen

Pearl Jam, in many ways, made me who I am today. I first got into them in middle school, which is always a very moldable time growing up, and really everything kind of goes back to it. I learned what "pro-choice" was because Eddie wrote it on his arm. I got a huge crush on a guy I pined after all through high school because in one of our first conversations we talked about Pearl jam. Except for this last tour (since I saw them in my own town) I usually center my only vacations around one of their shows, haha.

What was also important to me was their early activism about sexual assault (EG, home alive.) Because of that, I remember doing a presentation in high school about it, educating myself on it, and then when it happened to me in college, I knew what to do and knew how to handled it. I remember the first show I went to after it happened, I thought about how really they had in a way gotten me through it and almost started crying.

just looking through people's answers to this question makes me want to cry like a pathetic little baby, haha. but yes, the answer is yes.

stu gee

They definitely changed my outlook on music.

I remember when i was much younger, before id really discovered great music, and i used to see some people who had so much love for one musician, or one band and i thought it was quite sad to be honest.

I never thought i could look at any band the same way, until i was about 17 and i heard the album yield. Within the next month or so i had every studio album and was listening to PJ every day, and i still am. Im not one to go around shoving pj music in people's faces but i could happily talk for hours about their music with other fans.

Some other albums ive bought, i have played them to death and never listen to them at all, but i have never grown sick of any pj album, plus the live albums are always worth getting, because its often like they are recording a new song when they are performing.

Overall i didnt ever think id feel this way about a rock music band, im not obsessed or anything, but its touch and go.

Ifelttheearth

I apologize if this is lengthy...but it's quite therapeutic for me.

Everyone at some point in their lives experiences a moment where they know the rest of their life is going to change irreversibly. How we deal with that moment is the beginning of a re-definition of self that continues throughout the rest of our time on earth. I’ve been lucky enough to have had several of these moments including the birth of my brother, my mothers battle with cancer, the passing of my grandfathers, the first time I met Brandee, and the one Ill discuss here. Without all of these preceding moments, coupled with the best soundtrack, the following would have gotten the best of me.

September 22, 1996

I awoke to the sound of gravel as it ricocheted off the undercarriage of our car. I felt the car sway out of control. Confusion and fear gripped me as I heard the crunching of metal, breaking of glass, and the cries of my two friends in the front seats. All of those sounds coming together and peaking at their loudest just before a deafening silence. The car came to rest facing the way we were coming from, battered and minus a passenger. 20 yards away I landed after being ejected from one of the missing rear windows. I lost my breath as I hit the ground and as I gasped for air I realized I couldn’t move my legs. I was air lifted to the hospital and underwent immediate surgery. My mother and father got the phone call and began an eight hour trip from our home in PA to Grant Hospital in OH.

September 23, 1996

I struggled for a lucid moment as a team of doctors entered my hospital room. My father was there. They took turns explaining to me that at some point during my ejection from the car I had fractured my vertebrae at thoracic 11 and 12. They performed a spinal fusion using bone from my hip and inserted steel rods on either side of my vertebral column for stability. I'm told I'll never walk again.

After 9 days in the hospital I was flown to Good Shepherd where I spent the next five months. Two weeks later I lost the use of my arms and all sensory function up to my neck. I developed a swelling that damaged my spinal chord to the point where a ventilator was almost needed. I became a full quadriplegic. I could not feed myself, scratch my nose, use the remote to change the channels, make my own phone calls, write my name, and so on. I went from 19 years old to new born over night. After three long months of medical issues, side affects, rigorous therapy, and almost dying a few times, I was able to regain the use of my arms and hands which then allowed me to focus on getting myself home.

I was discharged from the hospital in February of 1997 as a Tetraplegic (still a quad in that I experience impairment on all four limbs but not enough to incapacitate my arms completely) and began my journey for independence.

After getting a job at a local CD store, moving to a new house, and adapting to the social scene I met Brandee. I fell in love with her instantly. She never saw the chair, only the guy sitting in it. We got married, bought a house, and are hoping for children in the not so distant future. I've been able to lead a fairly normal life so far and I suspect it will continue that way.

After having said all that, I need to state that I would not trade anything from the preceding paragraphs to walk again. Those things made me who I am and set me on a path to the person I always wanted to be. My quality of life is infinitely better than it would have been had this not happened. I’m surrounded by great friends, supportive and loving family both here in PA and in OH, my pups, and last but certainly not least, my beautiful wife. I get all of that and all I had to do to get it was sit down the rest of my life? No contest.

Where does Pearl Jam fit in? Everywhere. I credit them with influencing the choices I've made. It was Elderly Woman that was playing when the car crashed. It was Pearl Jam that I listened to through my walkman during physical therapy. It was Pearl Jam songs that I played on the guitar in the hospital to regain my dexterity. It was Present Tense that was playing in the hospital room at the moment I decided to embrace paralysis as an opportunity to make the absolute most of the rest of my life. Pearl Jam has taught me how to take a potentially tragic situation and turn it into an experience I would not trade for anything. Their music is the soundtrack to my life and has been the light when all else is dark. When my life changed altogether, Pearl Jam was my constant. I hope to express this to them in person someday.
Thanks for reading. Great thread...thanks for the opportunity to tell my story.

Joey

whatsthefreezer

Ifelttheearth wrote:

I apologize if this is lengthy...but it's quite therapeutic for me.

Everyone at some point in their lives experiences a moment where they know the rest of their life is going to change irreversibly. How we deal with that moment is the beginning of a re-definition of self that continues throughout the rest of our time on earth. I’ve been lucky enough to have had several of these moments including the birth of my brother, my mothers battle with cancer, the passing of my grandfathers, the first time I met Brandee, and the one Ill discuss here. Without all of these preceding moments, coupled with the best soundtrack, the following would have gotten the best of me.

September 22, 1996

I awoke to the sound of gravel as it ricocheted off the undercarriage of our car. I felt the car sway out of control. Confusion and fear gripped me as I heard the crunching of metal, breaking of glass, and the cries of my two friends in the front seats. All of those sounds coming together and peaking at their loudest just before a deafening silence. The car came to rest facing the way we were coming from, battered and minus a passenger. 20 yards away I landed after being ejected from one of the missing rear windows. I lost my breath as I hit the ground and as I gasped for air I realized I couldn’t move my legs. I was air lifted to the hospital and underwent immediate surgery. My mother and father got the phone call and began an eight hour trip from our home in PA to Grant Hospital in OH.

September 23, 1996

I struggled for a lucid moment as a team of doctors entered my hospital room. My father was there. They took turns explaining to me that at some point during my ejection from the car I had fractured my vertebrae at thoracic 11 and 12. They performed a spinal fusion using bone from my hip and inserted steel rods on either side of my vertebral column for stability. I'm told I'll never walk again.

After 9 days in the hospital I was flown to Good Shepherd where I spent the next five months. Two weeks later I lost the use of my arms and all sensory function up to my neck. I developed a swelling that damaged my spinal chord to the point where a ventilator was almost needed. I became a full quadriplegic. I could not feed myself, scratch my nose, use the remote to change the channels, make my own phone calls, write my name, and so on. I went from 19 years old to new born over night. After three long months of medical issues, side affects, rigorous therapy, and almost dying a few times, I was able to regain the use of my arms and hands which then allowed me to focus on getting myself home.

I was discharged from the hospital in February of 1997 as a Tetraplegic (still a quad in that I experience impairment on all four limbs but not enough to incapacitate my arms completely) and began my journey for independence.

After getting a job at a local CD store, moving to a new house, and adapting to the social scene I met Brandee. I fell in love with her instantly. She never saw the chair, only the guy sitting in it. We got married, bought a house, and are hoping for children in the not so distant future. I've been able to lead a fairly normal life so far and I suspect it will continue that way.

After having said all that, I need to state that I would not trade anything from the preceding paragraphs to walk again. Those things made me who I am and set me on a path to the person I always wanted to be. My quality of life is infinitely better than it would have been had this not happened. I’m surrounded by great friends, supportive and loving family both here in PA and in OH, my pups, and last but certainly not least, my beautiful wife. I get all of that and all I had to do to get it was sit down the rest of my life? No contest.

Where does Pearl Jam fit in? Everywhere. I credit them with influencing the choices I've made. It was Elderly Woman that was playing when the car crashed. It was Pearl Jam that I listened to through my walkman during physical therapy. It was Pearl Jam songs that I played on the guitar in the hospital to regain my dexterity. It was Present Tense that was playing in the hospital room at the moment I decided to embrace paralysis as an opportunity to make the absolute most of the rest of my life. Pearl Jam has taught me how to take a potentially tragic situation and turn it into an experience I would not trade for anything. Their music is the soundtrack to my life and has been the light when all else is dark. When my life changed altogether, Pearl Jam was my constant. I hope to express this to them in person someday.
Thanks for reading. Great thread...thanks for the opportunity to tell my story.

Joey

yeah i'd say they have.

my2hands

Boom The Cat wrote:

Through Music or lyrics or mabye even through fans (here?)

all of the above... they continue to inspire me everyday...including the "fans" that i know and have met

xavier mcdaniel

i can't say they've impacted my life the way previous posters have. but they've helped especially during the many times in junior high and high school when i sometimes wondered where exactly do I fit in? They also helped cope with not having a job for a while two years ago as I found more free time to discover a lot of their music through listening to various live shows.

votegirl

Pearl Jam saved my life.

Omarama

i can't really say they've changed my life but they've definitely impacted it.pjs music has comforted me etc in times of need and makes me feel good.they seem to have an appropriate song for every situation in life, whether it me good or bad.
they've definitely changed the way i view music and my taste in music

joeymarie

I first heard them in 91, my sister is six years older and she brought me into her room and said "you've got to hear this, it reminds me of your father." So I sat on her bed and listened to Alive...I cryed for half an hour. After that I was hooked, and they have stayed with me ever since. When the first album came out I was angry and confused and sad and trying to make sense of things. Then the second one came out and I was still all those things but I was tring to move on. Then when the third came out I was tring to understand why. Then with the forth one I had finally made peace and was truely moving on... Every step of my life since '91 these guys have been right there by me... When I had no one else to turn to and no one else seemed to understand, I could throw on an album and not feel so alone... So have they changed my life? I don't know exactly how, but I do know that if I had not had this music to help give words to soul, and let me know that I was not alone...I'm not quiet sure who I would be...All I can say is thankx, and I hope that they get back what they give...

Gary Carter

there music has affected more so now in my life then back in the day. like inside job for example. that song is so about my life right now its scary. i cried just listening to that song over and over