how many hardcore FANS will PJ lose if they drop their "ARENA ROCK" tag????

24

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  • Ledbetterman10
    Ledbetterman10 Posts: 17,005
    glasshouse wrote:
    a comment made by RockKing made me think about this.
    PJ are arguably the greatest live hard rock band around and i know we all love them for exactly that reason

    but

    let's say they decide to take a more subtle and fragile musical route on their next studio album, something very much in the line of into the wild.

    gone are songs like comatose, wws, stbc, dte....you get the picture.

    would that disappoint you? or would you embrace it?


    It would very much disappoint me.
    2000: Camden 1, 2003: Philly, State College, Camden 1, MSG 2, Hershey, 2004: Reading, 2005: Philly, 2006: Camden 1, 2, East Rutherford 1, 2007: Lollapalooza, 2008: Camden 1, Washington D.C., MSG 1, 2, 2009: Philly 1, 2, 3, 4, 2010: Bristol, MSG 2, 2011: PJ20 1, 2, 2012: Made In America, 2013: Brooklyn 2, Philly 2, 2014: Denver, 2015: Global Citizen Festival, 2016: Philly 2, Fenway 1, 2018: Fenway 1, 2, 2021: Sea. Hear. Now. 2022: Camden, 2024: Philly 2, 2025: Pittsburgh 1

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  • slightofjeff
    slightofjeff Posts: 7,762
    I think most of the people who would be turned off by Into the Wild aren't going to the shows for the new stuff anyway.

    They're going for Jeremy. Which Pearl Jam still plays on occasion, so ...
    everybody wants the most they can possibly get
    for the least they could possibly do
  • FeelLikeAStranger
    FeelLikeAStranger Posts: 59
    it would be a breath of fresh air
    Matt and I are friends.
  • PJamGrunge10
    PJamGrunge10 California Posts: 596
    I would be dissappointed. Although I love almost all their songs, I wouldn't be as excited for new music, it means less variety. And them getting older doesn't mean they have to make slow songs either, they aren't even really old.

    Plus, Into the Wild was a soundtrack, it was supposed to have a common theme, not just "write whatever you want".
    Stone Gossard...riffmeister extraordinaire!

    I am a man, I am advanced.....I am the first man to borrow Stone's leather pants!
  • aNiMaL
    aNiMaL Posts: 7,117
    I NEVER EVER want Pearl Jam to put an album out that doesn't rock. They are a rock band (not a soft rock band), which is why their albums should always ROCK.

    Oddly enough, I have never thought of Pearl Jam as an "Arena" rock band. Not even sure what that means except that they play arenas. But, teeny bopper pop artists also play arenas...so I am not sure what the venue you play live in has to do with your music genre.
  • distantsun
    distantsun Posts: 265
    the bottom line is that pearl jam's unwillingness or dare i say...lack of interest in taking it to the next level is the thing that holds them back from truly being a real creative force in american rock.

    they're a great touring band with nearly perfect songs. they have probably the most impressive debut maybe ever. i won't dare take that away from them. but a real step forward is needed to take them to wherever they should already be.
    this post has been approved by grace6697.
  • YieldInHiding
    YieldInHiding Posts: 1,841
    distantsun wrote:
    the bottom line is that pearl jam's unwillingness or dare i say...lack of interest in taking it to the next level is the thing that holds them back from truly being a real creative force in american rock.

    they're a great touring band with nearly perfect songs. they have probably the most impressive debut maybe ever. i won't dare take that away from them. but a real step forward is needed to take them to wherever they should already be.

    What's the next level then?
    No longer overwhelmed it seems so simple now.
  • RockKing
    RockKing Posts: 431
    YieldInHiding wrote:
    What's the next level then?

    Honestly, it doesn't matter what the next level is. But do you really think this is "it" for PJ? There's always another level to be achieved, if you are so bold as to reach for it.
    --"I'm like an opening band for the sun"

    --"We’re taking pills to get along with life… the pills are YIELD and PJ’s music. Then we create words to call our own = our analysis of YIELD." - YIH
  • distantsun
    distantsun Posts: 265
    RockKing wrote:
    Honestly, it doesn't matter what the next level is. But do you really think this is "it" for PJ? There's always another level to be achieved, if you are so bold as to reach for it.

    dead on. exactly.

    plus, we're not creative members of pearl jam. we think we understand the band in terms of its creative dynamics but we really don't know the whole inside operation. they know what they are capable of, both as individual musicians, and much more importantly, as a singular creative unit.
    this post has been approved by grace6697.
  • YieldInHiding
    YieldInHiding Posts: 1,841
    RockKing wrote:
    Honestly, it doesn't matter what the next level is. But do you really think this is "it" for PJ? There's always another level to be achieved, if you are so bold as to reach for it.

    The way distantsun was speaking, it seemed like there was another level in mind.
    No longer overwhelmed it seems so simple now.
  • distantsun
    distantsun Posts: 265
    YieldInHiding wrote:
    The way distantsun was speaking, it seemed like there was another level in mind.

    what are you suggesting that i was suggesting? :)
    this post has been approved by grace6697.
  • aNiMaL
    aNiMaL Posts: 7,117
    distantsun wrote:
    what are you suggesting that i was suggesting? :)
    I think you were suggesting that Pearl Jam plateaued creatively some time ago.
  • RockKing
    RockKing Posts: 431
    aNiMaL wrote:
    I think you were suggesting that Pearl Jam plateaued creatively some time ago.

    I think that's half of it. I think she was saying that there's always room for a new direction, which is true. Just because they've plateaued right now, doesn't mean they're incapable of reaching a new creative peak.
    --"I'm like an opening band for the sun"

    --"We’re taking pills to get along with life… the pills are YIELD and PJ’s music. Then we create words to call our own = our analysis of YIELD." - YIH
  • YieldInHiding
    YieldInHiding Posts: 1,841
    SOLAT319 wrote:
    spend some time in the pit and find out.

    No thanks. :)
    No longer overwhelmed it seems so simple now.
  • distantsun
    distantsun Posts: 265
    RockKing wrote:
    I think that's half of it. I think she was saying that there's always room for a new direction, which is true. Just because they've plateaued right now, doesn't mean they're incapable of reaching a new creative peak.

    oh i definitely think they've plateaued. they have mastered whatever it is that they do. 8 was a fucking great album and it should have been since they've been doing it for 17 years. if anyone has not mastered their job after being there for 17 years, then that's a problem.

    i think they have a ton of potential. they're fucking pearl jam. you know?
    this post has been approved by grace6697.
  • zenith
    zenith Posts: 3,191
    ive been on board since 91 - id go and see them even if they played the local rsl to the senior citizens - id even put on a grey wig and steal a cane to do it -

    nearly perfect songs?? Every album has a dudd - every album has songs that make you think 'how the fuck did they know what was in my head for the past 10 months??' every album has a song that you never forget where you were the moment you first heard it. What do you define as 'truly great'

    call me rabid if you want - but ive already defined it, and its pearl jam. Theyve given me all of the above and more. My generation - my greatness
    impatience is a gift ........
  • Fahka
    Fahka Posts: 3,187
    whatever direction, i just hope its natural, and from the heart...
  • soclose
    soclose Posts: 629
    I remember hoping that Riot Act would be a bit more acoustic and rootsy back before its release, so I've been wishing for a while now that they'd stray from the arena rock thing. At the same time I have to agree with LeatherMandi that whatever they do, it needs to come naturally. If that means they make a metal album next time, so be it. I'll at least give it a chance.
  • CHANGEinWAVES
    CHANGEinWAVES Posts: 10,169
    as long as the lyrical content is powerful I'm here to stay!
    "I'm not present, I'm a drug that makes you dream"
  • likepilateihaveadog
    likepilateihaveadog Posts: 1,083
    glasshouse wrote:
    a comment made by RockKing made me think about this.
    PJ are arguably the greatest live hard rock band around and i know we all love them for exactly that reason

    but

    let's say they decide to take a more subtle and fragile musical route on their next studio album, something very much in the line of into the wild.

    gone are songs like comatose, wws, stbc, dte....you get the picture.

    would that disappoint you? or would you embrace it?
    I am writing this response before reading any in the thread, so apologies if I make duplicate points.

    It's all state of mind, man. I don't think they could make an all-acoustic (fragile, if you will) album. Even if they did, the lyrics would be biting, or the songs would still be intense, I would have to believe.

    Look at all of their albums. Each of those has fragile songs. Oceans? Daughter? Nothingman? Off He Goes? Lowlight? Isn't Parting Ways fragile in the sense that it derives from such desperation and tainted hope?

    You present an interesting hypothetical, but I fail to see this as even a possibility. However many more records they make (if any) will most likely have electric guitars, thus, hard rock. But as always, they will weave in the fragile songs. And some of the hard rock songs, take Hail, Hail for example, are fragile in spite of the volume. Therein lies the wonderful dichotomy of Pearl Jam's music. Do the Evolution, perhaps their hardest, rockingest song ever, isn't it subtle and fragile in its questions of where we are headed? Doesn't it inherently suggest the fragility of everything that surrounds us?

    I think this is all semantics. They will not make a James Taylor record, if that's what you mean. Politics for lack of a better term, is their inspiration. The interplay of people and life-changing situations they cannot ever hope to control are the foundation of their music, thematically speaking.
    Yes, they may use acoustic guitars and keep the volume low, but their songs will never be fragile.
    Teamwork. Rawk. Pwnage. Infinite Possibilities. YIELD. Hells yeah.

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