Oof! I love this song, and the solo makes it! Sad to see them basically cut THE WHOLE THING. This song really is the type of song that would garner all sorts of attention from people who haven't listed to Pearl Jam in decades and bring them back to listening to this amazing band. I obviously get cutting the "Be Humble" segue into Running, but please, you gotta let that solo rip for at least a minute before the fade!
Spectrum 10/27/09; New Orleans JazzFest 5/1/10; Made in America 9/2/12; WF Center 10/21/13; WF Center 10/22/13; Baltimore 10/27/13; WF Center 4/28/16; WF Center 4/29/16; Fenway Park 8/7/16; Fenway Park 9/2/18; Asbury Park 9/18/21; Camden 9/14/22; Las Vegas 5/16/24; Las Vegas 5/18/24; WF Center 9/7/24; WF Center 9/9/24; Baltimore Arena 9/12/24
Tres Mtns - TLA 3/23/11; EV - Tower Theatre 6/25/11; Temple of the Dog - Tower Theatre 11/5/16
It’s baffling that they decided to keep the super repetitive verses but got rid of the best part of the song. I wonder if not having an outside opinion on band decisions often holds them back from being more popular.
There are a lot of people here who feel strongly about this song because it tracks with their idea of the quintessential Pearl Jam sound, which they associate with "early Pearl Jam." The problems with this in terms of releasing a single with that sound are: 1) the segment of the listening audience that shares this affinity is mostly uninterested in new music-- to the extent they want to listen to songs that sound like this, they'll just keep listening to the same old early Pearl Jam songs; and 2) the segment of the listening audience that is open to new music is not attuned to rock music that sounds like this. There's a reason why this song has gotten little traction at radio thus far, failing to cross over from mainstream rock stations to alternative and Triple-A stations. (And it could never be a pop hit in 2024 barring some exogenous Kate Bush-in-Stranger Things-type event.) This radio edit is an attempt to salvage things by making it more palatable for more formats (and, of course, shorter).
ugh, ok fade out I guess, but that is waaaaayyyyyy to quick into fading out. I'd rather 25 seconds of a ripping solo and then full stop then 5 seconds and fade.
There are a lot of people here who feel strongly about this song because it tracks with their idea of the quintessential Pearl Jam sound, which they associate with "early Pearl Jam." The problems with this in terms of releasing a single with that sound are: 1) the segment of the listening audience that shares this affinity is mostly uninterested in new music-- to the extent they want to listen to songs that sound like this, they'll just keep listening to the same old early Pearl Jam songs; and 2) the segment of the listening audience that is open to new music is not attuned to rock music that sounds like this. There's a reason why this song has gotten little traction at radio thus far, failing to cross over from mainstream rock stations to alternative and Triple-A stations. (And it could never be a pop hit in 2024 barring some exogenous Kate Bush-in-Stranger Things-type event.) This radio edit is an attempt to salvage things by making it more palatable for more formats (and, of course, shorter).
The song has only been out for barely two weeks. Give it some time, it’s actually moving up the active rock chart.
The radio edit... ouch. That's bad. "Alive" was like 5:40. "Jeremy" is around 5:15. I mean if you'd fade it out on the second "You can feel love", you would've given that solo a little time to breathe and it would've still been only 4:20... still don't love it, but that would've been much better than this very abrupt ending.
Or edit the "You can feel love" out of the song and just let that solo go for at least a little bit before a fade out.
There are a lot of people here who feel strongly about this song because it tracks with their idea of the quintessential Pearl Jam sound, which they associate with "early Pearl Jam." The problems with this in terms of releasing a single with that sound are: 1) the segment of the listening audience that shares this affinity is mostly uninterested in new music-- to the extent they want to listen to songs that sound like this, they'll just keep listening to the same old early Pearl Jam songs; and 2) the segment of the listening audience that is open to new music is not attuned to rock music that sounds like this. There's a reason why this song has gotten little traction at radio thus far, failing to cross over from mainstream rock stations to alternative and Triple-A stations. (And it could never be a pop hit in 2024 barring some exogenous Kate Bush-in-Stranger Things-type event.) This radio edit is an attempt to salvage things by making it more palatable for more formats (and, of course, shorter).
The song has only been out for barely two weeks. Give it some time, it’s actually moving up the active rock chart.
Active rock but hasn't reached the alternative stations
There are a lot of people here who feel strongly about this song because it tracks with their idea of the quintessential Pearl Jam sound, which they associate with "early Pearl Jam." The problems with this in terms of releasing a single with that sound are: 1) the segment of the listening audience that shares this affinity is mostly uninterested in new music-- to the extent they want to listen to songs that sound like this, they'll just keep listening to the same old early Pearl Jam songs; and 2) the segment of the listening audience that is open to new music is not attuned to rock music that sounds like this. There's a reason why this song has gotten little traction at radio thus far, failing to cross over from mainstream rock stations to alternative and Triple-A stations. (And it could never be a pop hit in 2024 barring some exogenous Kate Bush-in-Stranger Things-type event.) This radio edit is an attempt to salvage things by making it more palatable for more formats (and, of course, shorter).
The song has only been out for barely two weeks. Give it some time, it’s actually moving up the active rock chart.
It has moved up only six spots from its debut to its third week, from No. 33 to No. 27. "Dark Matter" and "Wreckage" both shot up 14 spots in the same span. And they were also shooting up the charts at other formats besides Mainstream Rock. "Waiting for Stevie" hasn't cracked any chart other Mainstream Rock Airplay.
There are a lot of people here who feel strongly about this song because it tracks with their idea of the quintessential Pearl Jam sound, which they associate with "early Pearl Jam." The problems with this in terms of releasing a single with that sound are: 1) the segment of the listening audience that shares this affinity is mostly uninterested in new music-- to the extent they want to listen to songs that sound like this, they'll just keep listening to the same old early Pearl Jam songs; and 2) the segment of the listening audience that is open to new music is not attuned to rock music that sounds like this. There's a reason why this song has gotten little traction at radio thus far, failing to cross over from mainstream rock stations to alternative and Triple-A stations. (And it could never be a pop hit in 2024 barring some exogenous Kate Bush-in-Stranger Things-type event.) This radio edit is an attempt to salvage things by making it more palatable for more formats (and, of course, shorter).
The song has only been out for barely two weeks. Give it some time, it’s actually moving up the active rock chart.
It has moved up only six spots from its debut to its third week, from No. 33 to No. 27. "Dark Matter" and "Wreckage" both shot up 14 spots in the same span. And they were also shooting up the charts at other formats besides Mainstream Rock. "Waiting for Stevie" hasn't cracked any chart other Mainstream Rock Airplay.
There are a lot of people here who feel strongly about this song because it tracks with their idea of the quintessential Pearl Jam sound, which they associate with "early Pearl Jam." The problems with this in terms of releasing a single with that sound are: 1) the segment of the listening audience that shares this affinity is mostly uninterested in new music-- to the extent they want to listen to songs that sound like this, they'll just keep listening to the same old early Pearl Jam songs; and 2) the segment of the listening audience that is open to new music is not attuned to rock music that sounds like this. There's a reason why this song has gotten little traction at radio thus far, failing to cross over from mainstream rock stations to alternative and Triple-A stations. (And it could never be a pop hit in 2024 barring some exogenous Kate Bush-in-Stranger Things-type event.) This radio edit is an attempt to salvage things by making it more palatable for more formats (and, of course, shorter).
The song has only been out for barely two weeks. Give it some time, it’s actually moving up the active rock chart.
It has moved up only six spots from its debut to its third week, from No. 33 to No. 27. "Dark Matter" and "Wreckage" both shot up 14 spots in the same span. And they were also shooting up the charts at other formats besides Mainstream Rock. "Waiting for Stevie" hasn't cracked any chart other Mainstream Rock Airplay.
Its the 4th single broseph…..going to take time and some actual promotion by the band (which probably won’t happen)
Broseph?
"Running" was not a radio single. The band did nothing specific to promote "Wreckage" and it hit number one at multiple formats. Sometimes, it's about the song.
I love when people try to educate me on the music business.
Do the charts really even matter anymore? I think not.
What do you mean by "matter"? They never gauged artistic merit, if that's what you're suggesting. They track commerce. Their usefulness is that they tell us about how audiences are reacting to songs. Audiences reacted very favorably to "Dark Matter" and "Wreckage," and they were Pearl Jam's biggest chart hits in many years, but "Waiting for Stevie" has yet to elicit that level of enthusiasm from a broader audience. The charts reflect this, for good and bad. See my prior posts for reasons why it's not surprising that "Stevie" is not gaining traction.
Do the charts really even matter anymore? I think not.
What do you mean by "matter"? They never gauged artistic merit, if that's what you're suggesting. They track commerce. Their usefulness is that they tell us about how audiences are reacting to songs. Audiences reacted very favorably to "Dark Matter" and "Wreckage," and they were Pearl Jam's biggest chart hits in many years, but "Waiting for Stevie" has yet to elicit that level of enthusiasm from a broader audience. The charts reflect this, for good and bad. See my prior posts for reasons why it's not surprising that "Stevie" is not gaining traction.
No one cares anymore about the numbers. Pearl Jam's commerce is live shows and merch. Waiting for Stevie was awesome at MSG and I suspect it is a fan favorite. What traction are you looking for?
Do the charts really even matter anymore? I think not.
What do you mean by "matter"? They never gauged artistic merit, if that's what you're suggesting. They track commerce. Their usefulness is that they tell us about how audiences are reacting to songs. Audiences reacted very favorably to "Dark Matter" and "Wreckage," and they were Pearl Jam's biggest chart hits in many years, but "Waiting for Stevie" has yet to elicit that level of enthusiasm from a broader audience. The charts reflect this, for good and bad. See my prior posts for reasons why it's not surprising that "Stevie" is not gaining traction.
No one cares anymore about the numbers. Pearl Jam's commerce is live shows and merch. Waiting for Stevie was awesome at MSG and I suspect it is a fan favorite. What traction are you looking for?
I'm not looking for anything. The traction I was referring to was traction with a wider audience than the diehard Pearl Jam fan base. The discussion is about the song's success as a single thus far, why is has or hasn't succeeded, and what would be necessary for it to succeed? This particular part of the thread started with the release of the radio edit. We're talking about radio (and, to an extent, streaming, but Pearl Jam doesn't get streamed much).
Pearl Jam doesn't lose any sleep over its sales or airplay, but they would be glad to sell more records and have their songs be heard by more people via radio and streaming. They're just not going to bend over backwards to make that happen. But most artists (and their labels) absolutely do care about the numbers.
Their audience has been growing because of the live shows. They play ballparks and have plenty of traction. They have a sirius channel. Dark Matter is all over apple. They are doing just fine.
Comments
Sweet!
That looks AMAZING!
WF Center 4/28/16; WF Center 4/29/16; Fenway Park 8/7/16; Fenway Park 9/2/18; Asbury Park 9/18/21; Camden 9/14/22;
Las Vegas 5/16/24; Las Vegas 5/18/24; WF Center 9/7/24; WF Center 9/9/24; Baltimore Arena 9/12/24
Tres Mtns - TLA 3/23/11; EV - Tower Theatre 6/25/11; Temple of the Dog - Tower Theatre 11/5/16
2010: Newark 5/18 MSG 5/20-21 2011: PJ20 9/3-4 2012: Made In America 9/2
2013: Brooklyn 10/18-19 Philly 10/21-22 Hartford 10/25 2014: ACL10/12
2015: NYC 9/23 2016: Tampa 4/11 Philly 4/28-29 MSG 5/1-2 Fenway 8/5+8/7
2017: RRHoF 4/7 2018: Fenway 9/2+9/4 2021: Sea Hear Now 9/18
2022: MSG 9/11 2024: MSG 9/3-4 Philly 9/7+9/9 Fenway 9/15+9/17
Pearl Jam, Dark Matter, Waiting For Stevie (Radio edit)....solo, album only. $1.29.
1996; 9/28 New York
1997: 11/14 Oakland, 11/15 Oakland
1998: 7/5 Dallas, 7/7 Albuquerque, 7/8 Phoenix, 7/10 San Diego, 7/11 Las Vegas
2000: 10/17 Dallas
2003: 4/3 OKC
2012: 11/17 Tulsa(EV), 11/18 Tulsa(EV)
2013: 11/16 OKC
2014: 10/8 Tulsa
2022: 9/20 OKC
2023: 9/13 Ft Worth, 9/15 Ft Worth
Or edit the "You can feel love" out of the song and just let that solo go for at least a little bit before a fade out.
2000: 8/15, 8/18, 10/9, 10/11, 10/12
2003: 6/18, 6/21, 6/22
2005: 9/9, 9/28
2006: 5/16, 5/17, 6/26, 6/27
2007: 8/5
2009: 8/23, 8/24
2010: 5/3, 5/4, 5/21
2011: 9/3, 9/4, 9/11, 9/12
2013: 7/19, 11/16
2014: 10/3, 10/9, 10/12, 10/17
2016: 4/16, 8/20, 8/22
2018: 8/18, 8/20, 9/2
2022: 9/18
2023: 8/31, 9/2, 9/5
2024: 5/18, 6/29
Nuclear fission
2010: Newark 5/18 MSG 5/20-21 2011: PJ20 9/3-4 2012: Made In America 9/2
2013: Brooklyn 10/18-19 Philly 10/21-22 Hartford 10/25 2014: ACL10/12
2015: NYC 9/23 2016: Tampa 4/11 Philly 4/28-29 MSG 5/1-2 Fenway 8/5+8/7
2017: RRHoF 4/7 2018: Fenway 9/2+9/4 2021: Sea Hear Now 9/18
2022: MSG 9/11 2024: MSG 9/3-4 Philly 9/7+9/9 Fenway 9/15+9/17
See https://community.pearljam.com/discussion/301063/dark-matter-and-its-tracks-on-the-charts/p1.
"Running" was not a radio single. The band did nothing specific to promote "Wreckage" and it hit number one at multiple formats. Sometimes, it's about the song.
I love when people try to educate me on the music business.
Pearl Jam doesn't lose any sleep over its sales or airplay, but they would be glad to sell more records and have their songs be heard by more people via radio and streaming. They're just not going to bend over backwards to make that happen. But most artists (and their labels) absolutely do care about the numbers.