The year was 1992. Surprisingly I wasn’t a huge fan of Alive back in the day. But when Even Flow dropped, it was all over for me. That song made me buy Ten on cassette, and it ended up not leaving the Walkman for months!
I had an obsession with Even Flow and Come as you Are to where I couldn’t listen to either for years (meaning from 1994-1998). Now I love them both again. For PJ, plenty of other Bathroom piss songs besides Even Flow, be embarrassing to be the dudes that still makes sure they pee during this song. See it at every show, must be a pride thing
Post edited by Foriginal Sin on
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Any new realizations... would have to wait... Til he had more time,... more time... Time to dream,... to himself... he waves goodbye, To himself... I'll see you on the other side...
I can actually pinpoint this somewhat specifically because I used to maintain a personal weekly top 40. "Alive" debuted at No. 33 for the week ending March 21, 1992, which means that I likely saw the video on MTV a few times that week and liked it enough to place it on the chart. (Also debuting that same week were "Come As You Are" and U2's "One." Songs were generally not eligible for my chart unless they were getting airplay either at radio or on MTV, so those were both songs I was already familiar with from their respective albums that had just started to get airplay.)
The funny thing is that "Alive" just hung around the lower reaches of my chart for a long time. By late May, "Even Flow" debuted (again, presumably because the video had hit MTV) at No. 35. It went to No. 32 the next week before exploding to No. 6 in its third week (June 6). Weirdly, "Alive" was still on the chart after 12 weeks at No. 26 but had never gotten higher than No. 24. "Alive" continued puttering around down there even as "Even Flow" got to No. 2, before it finally made a big jump to No. 12 in its 16th week. I don't know what happened that week that all of a sudden made the song rise in my estimation. It made it as high as No. 5 on August 8, the same week that "Jeremy" was blasting onto the chart at No. 7.
Incredibly, none of these songs ever hit No. 1. "Even Flow" and "Jeremy" both peaked at No. 2. But "Alive" spent an incredible 27 weeks on the chart, lapping "Even Flow," which fell out one week before "Alive" after 17 weeks. The staying power of "Alive" was prescient because it ended up cementing itself as my favorite song from Ten and my second-favorite PJ song (after "Rearviewmirror") whereas "Even Flow," despite being a bigger "hit" on my chart in 1992, lost its resonance for me over time.
It looks like I finally bought Ten in September since, despite my requirement about airplay, for the week ending September 19, several album tracks debuted on my chart, including "Black" at No. 1, "Porch" at No. 10 and "Why Go" at No. 12. ("Jeremy" was still No. 9, and "Hunger Strike was up to No. 3 after debuting in July.) I must have bought the album that week (at the now-defunct Record Explosion in midtown Manhattan). I still have the longbox it came in.
So I'd say that I first took interest in Pearl Jam in March 1992 and was enough of a fan by September 1992 to spring for the album, but it wasn't until Vs. arrived in the fall of 1993, and maybe not even until I saw them for the first time in April 1994 (and met Ed, Jeff and Dave A. after the show-- still the only times I've ever met any core band members despite having seen them 70 times) that they cemented their place as my favorite band, a title they still hold 29 years later.
I hope you enjoyed this absurdly specific trip down memory lane.
The year was 1992. Surprisingly I wasn’t a huge fan of Alive back in the day. But when Even Flow dropped, it was all over for me. That song made me buy Ten on cassette, and it ended up not leaving the Walkman for months!
I had an obsession with Even Flow and Come as you Are to where I couldn’t listen to either for years (meaning from 1994-1998). Now I love them both again. For PJ, plenty of other Bathroom piss songs besides Even Flow, be embarrassing to be the dudes that still makes sure they pee during this song. See it at every show, must be a pride thing
My point of pride is never leaving to pee during "Even Flow" (even though I'd be glad to never hear it again after 59 performances of that song at 70 shows) or any other song, for that matter, but my point of shame is missing "Yellow Ledbetter" to close Phoenix 2022 because I genuinely thought the show was over after "Alive" with the house lights up and I was antsy because I had a five-and-a-half-hour through-the-night drive ahead of me.
For me it was at a work holiday party in December (199??) can't remember the specific year. After the work party, some of us went to a dive bar in West Philly. One of the guys I was with asked if I ever heard of Pearl Jam. He knew I was a music fan. I went to the juke box (yes I said juke box) and selected Black. And I have never looked back.
I was ALL IN from that point on. And it turned out to be so much more, life-long friends from all over; many road trips, many shows and tons of great times. Love PJ but I love my PJ friends even more.
Back in '91. I was 15. My friends and I used to go to a ton of shows at First Avenue in Minneapolis. I got to see them there. I had no idea who they were and just fell in love with them. Saw them later that year as well. Then in '92, I was able to see them at Lollapalooza which is still one of my favorite concerts to date (The Jesus and Mary Chain, Ice Cube, Ministry, Lush, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Soundgarden, and of course Pearl Jam). I would guess there has not been a single day since Ten came out that I haven't listened to PJ. :-)
I agree with you about Lolla 1992. Saw them on the last day of the Lolla tour. All of the bands were superb! William Reid of the JAMC played a song with PJ, and Chris Cornell came out to do a few TOTD songs.
I was lucky enough to have been in the small front pit so it was extra memorable!
Awesome!
I still kick myself for getting rid of the t-shirt I got a Lolla '92. I really wish I still had that one. I think I still have my ticket stub somewhere.
1991-11-30 St. Paul, MN
1992-08-28 St. Paul, MN
1998-06-30 Minneapolis, MN
2000-10-08 East Troy, WI
2003-06-16 St. Paul, MN
2006-06-26 St. Paul, MN
2006-06-27 St. Paul, MN
2006-07-07 San Diego, CA
2007-08-05 Chicago, IL
2008-06-24 New York, NY
2009-08-23 Chicago, IL
2009-08-24 Chicago, IL
2011-07-02 EV Minneapolis, MN
2011-09-03 PJ20 East Troy, WI
2011-09-04 PJ20 East Troy, WI
2013-07-19 Wrigley Chicago, IL
2014-10-19 St. Paul, MN
Comments
ten I was amazed but only 11, 13 I was a man and I knew what I liked 🤣🤣
Til he had more time,... more time...
Time to dream,... to himself... he waves goodbye,
To himself... I'll see you on the other side...
The funny thing is that "Alive" just hung around the lower reaches of my chart for a long time. By late May, "Even Flow" debuted (again, presumably because the video had hit MTV) at No. 35. It went to No. 32 the next week before exploding to No. 6 in its third week (June 6). Weirdly, "Alive" was still on the chart after 12 weeks at No. 26 but had never gotten higher than No. 24. "Alive" continued puttering around down there even as "Even Flow" got to No. 2, before it finally made a big jump to No. 12 in its 16th week. I don't know what happened that week that all of a sudden made the song rise in my estimation. It made it as high as No. 5 on August 8, the same week that "Jeremy" was blasting onto the chart at No. 7.
Incredibly, none of these songs ever hit No. 1. "Even Flow" and "Jeremy" both peaked at No. 2. But "Alive" spent an incredible 27 weeks on the chart, lapping "Even Flow," which fell out one week before "Alive" after 17 weeks. The staying power of "Alive" was prescient because it ended up cementing itself as my favorite song from Ten and my second-favorite PJ song (after "Rearviewmirror") whereas "Even Flow," despite being a bigger "hit" on my chart in 1992, lost its resonance for me over time.
It looks like I finally bought Ten in September since, despite my requirement about airplay, for the week ending September 19, several album tracks debuted on my chart, including "Black" at No. 1, "Porch" at No. 10 and "Why Go" at No. 12. ("Jeremy" was still No. 9, and "Hunger Strike was up to No. 3 after debuting in July.) I must have bought the album that week (at the now-defunct Record Explosion in midtown Manhattan). I still have the longbox it came in.
So I'd say that I first took interest in Pearl Jam in March 1992 and was enough of a fan by September 1992 to spring for the album, but it wasn't until Vs. arrived in the fall of 1993, and maybe not even until I saw them for the first time in April 1994 (and met Ed, Jeff and Dave A. after the show-- still the only times I've ever met any core band members despite having seen them 70 times) that they cemented their place as my favorite band, a title they still hold 29 years later.
I hope you enjoyed this absurdly specific trip down memory lane.
I was ALL IN from that point on. And it turned out to be so much more, life-long friends from all over; many road trips, many shows and tons of great times. Love PJ but I love my PJ friends even more.
(2000) Mansfield I, Mansfield II (2003) Montreal (2005) Montreal, Ottawa (2006) Albany (2008) Montreal I + II (EV) (2022) Québec City
I still kick myself for getting rid of the t-shirt I got a Lolla '92. I really wish I still had that one. I think I still have my ticket stub somewhere.