Dear Pearl Jam....
sleep to dream
Posts: 84
Dear Pearl Jam,
For me it all started in a little city called Melbourne, Australia. I come to you from strange beginings, as unlike my fellow students in a suburbian high school in Australia I was quite the hip hop/rap lover (LOL, I know)... I'll never forget Run DMC tearing it up at Festival Hall way back in...... I think it was 1986..... and from that moment on I was into the whole scene..... Public Enemy, LL Cool J, Ice T.....
And then, it is still clear to me this day, I heard the opening riff to Alive on Rage one night whist having beers at my mate Paul's house; we had just turned 18.... We were playing pool and talking upthe night ahead, I'm sure Paulie had a new girl on the scene...
Alive.... My God..... the sound..... the guitars.... the raw emotion..... I was transfixed. I said there and then to Paul that these guys fucking rocked in a no bullshit way, in a time when bullshit ruled the airways. I still laugh to to this day when I think of Paul's brother saying "These guys are fucking shit, one hit wonders with no talent".....
I bought Ten the very next day, it was heading into Summer in Oz and I must have listened to the album 5 times a day, my rap tapes had been relogated to the cupbaord. All of a sudden my crew cut began to grow longer and for some inexplicable reason I was wearing Doc Martins (with red laces I might add) instead of Nike Air Max's.
And it only got better from there. I know it sounds cliched but Pearl Jam really was the soundtrack to me and my mates best times. When Versus was released and I first heard Go/Animal/Daughter..... Fuck.... me..... So many memories of parties in my youth, good mates, good times and the music that binded us together. Of course there were others, Soundgarden, Nirvana and Alice in Chains, but it was PJ that was the real glue, our real true love.
The culmimation of these events was in March 1995, at the Sindney Myer Bowl Melbourne. By then my hair well past my shoulders, and I remeber staying up all night at the Arts Centre waiting to buy tickets for the gig. There was this really cool chick there in the line next to us who I ended up talking to all night..... We really has something going on. I remember seeing her in the line outside the Music Bowl on the day of the gig.... I was too shy to saying anything though.... wish I had have now..... Who knows?.....
You played Corduroy first up that night.... It's still in my top 5 of your songs of all time.... The gig was insane and I still remeber fondly the smack to the face one of the bouncers gave me as I tried to rush the stage after crowd surfing. And the version of Throw Your Arms Around Me.... Shivers!
After the '95 Vitalogy tour is when things started to change for me again. I started a new job and met new friends and was introduced into new styles of music, mainly electronica/dance. I'll be honset, a lot of it had to do with the the whole drug scnence, fuck, I had some wicked times. Of course when No Code was released I snapped it up and instanantly I was drawn to the new PJ sound..... In My Tree still remains as one of my favourite tracks of all time.
The years rolled on and when Yield was released I was travelling with a mate in Asia. I bought the album in Thailand and it basically become the soundtrack for my travels in India. I still have vivid memories of kicking back to tracks like Faithful and In Hiding whist travalling in some dodgy bus winding through the Himalayian Maountians.... Crazy..... And the laughs we had while sipping on laced mango lassi's... Mmmmm
But life kept rolling on...... somehow i found myself living with a "girlfriend" when I was head over heels with another girl.... whole other story
..... Binaural was realesed and at the time the only song I could identify with was Light Years, maybe for obvious reasons. I just couldn't get into the album as whole, although now i think it is a PJ classic and i just didn't get it at the time.But I'll admit it, I sort of lost interest in you, my all time favourite band... I'm sorry :(
But that's not why I'm writing this..... Why am I writing this? Well because you have just released Backspacer. And fuck me, all over again, I feel like the start of my letter when you released Ten.... Your new music has agian made my skin tingle, my hair stand on end...... Fuck.... it's amazing! And next time I go to see you live I get to see you with my beautiful wife and my new brother in law, all who are huge fans.
So I guess I'm saying I've come full circle... So thank you Pearl Jam.
You were my best band in the whole world. I lost you, because of me, but I have found you again.
I love you,
Steve
P.S. And you better play Melbourne again (after your 09 gig)
P.P.S. But not Etihad Stadium.... The Forum would be nice ;P
For me it all started in a little city called Melbourne, Australia. I come to you from strange beginings, as unlike my fellow students in a suburbian high school in Australia I was quite the hip hop/rap lover (LOL, I know)... I'll never forget Run DMC tearing it up at Festival Hall way back in...... I think it was 1986..... and from that moment on I was into the whole scene..... Public Enemy, LL Cool J, Ice T.....
And then, it is still clear to me this day, I heard the opening riff to Alive on Rage one night whist having beers at my mate Paul's house; we had just turned 18.... We were playing pool and talking upthe night ahead, I'm sure Paulie had a new girl on the scene...
Alive.... My God..... the sound..... the guitars.... the raw emotion..... I was transfixed. I said there and then to Paul that these guys fucking rocked in a no bullshit way, in a time when bullshit ruled the airways. I still laugh to to this day when I think of Paul's brother saying "These guys are fucking shit, one hit wonders with no talent".....
I bought Ten the very next day, it was heading into Summer in Oz and I must have listened to the album 5 times a day, my rap tapes had been relogated to the cupbaord. All of a sudden my crew cut began to grow longer and for some inexplicable reason I was wearing Doc Martins (with red laces I might add) instead of Nike Air Max's.
And it only got better from there. I know it sounds cliched but Pearl Jam really was the soundtrack to me and my mates best times. When Versus was released and I first heard Go/Animal/Daughter..... Fuck.... me..... So many memories of parties in my youth, good mates, good times and the music that binded us together. Of course there were others, Soundgarden, Nirvana and Alice in Chains, but it was PJ that was the real glue, our real true love.
The culmimation of these events was in March 1995, at the Sindney Myer Bowl Melbourne. By then my hair well past my shoulders, and I remeber staying up all night at the Arts Centre waiting to buy tickets for the gig. There was this really cool chick there in the line next to us who I ended up talking to all night..... We really has something going on. I remember seeing her in the line outside the Music Bowl on the day of the gig.... I was too shy to saying anything though.... wish I had have now..... Who knows?.....
You played Corduroy first up that night.... It's still in my top 5 of your songs of all time.... The gig was insane and I still remeber fondly the smack to the face one of the bouncers gave me as I tried to rush the stage after crowd surfing. And the version of Throw Your Arms Around Me.... Shivers!
After the '95 Vitalogy tour is when things started to change for me again. I started a new job and met new friends and was introduced into new styles of music, mainly electronica/dance. I'll be honset, a lot of it had to do with the the whole drug scnence, fuck, I had some wicked times. Of course when No Code was released I snapped it up and instanantly I was drawn to the new PJ sound..... In My Tree still remains as one of my favourite tracks of all time.
The years rolled on and when Yield was released I was travelling with a mate in Asia. I bought the album in Thailand and it basically become the soundtrack for my travels in India. I still have vivid memories of kicking back to tracks like Faithful and In Hiding whist travalling in some dodgy bus winding through the Himalayian Maountians.... Crazy..... And the laughs we had while sipping on laced mango lassi's... Mmmmm
But life kept rolling on...... somehow i found myself living with a "girlfriend" when I was head over heels with another girl.... whole other story
..... Binaural was realesed and at the time the only song I could identify with was Light Years, maybe for obvious reasons. I just couldn't get into the album as whole, although now i think it is a PJ classic and i just didn't get it at the time.But I'll admit it, I sort of lost interest in you, my all time favourite band... I'm sorry :(But that's not why I'm writing this..... Why am I writing this? Well because you have just released Backspacer. And fuck me, all over again, I feel like the start of my letter when you released Ten.... Your new music has agian made my skin tingle, my hair stand on end...... Fuck.... it's amazing! And next time I go to see you live I get to see you with my beautiful wife and my new brother in law, all who are huge fans.
So I guess I'm saying I've come full circle... So thank you Pearl Jam.
You were my best band in the whole world. I lost you, because of me, but I have found you again.
I love you,
Steve
P.S. And you better play Melbourne again (after your 09 gig)
P.P.S. But not Etihad Stadium.... The Forum would be nice ;P
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This album is awesome !!! I've already heard Got Some, The Fixer and Supersonic live during the UK shows but now I think that Amongst The Waves and Unthought Known would sound great live.