why no love for Unemployable?

mcameronrocks
mcameronrocks Posts: 321
edited July 2011 in The Porch
Seems like this track does not get love from peeps on the board. I can't understand why! This is my favorite song on the album and one of their best of the catalogue.

The drum track is killer with the ride cymbal and the awesome hi-hat "stop" in the verse. The guitar riff is very "groovy" and is right up Stone Gossards alley. Vocally, I love the sound of the recording. I can't think of another studio recorded song that has this particular sound. Finally, lyrically, it is EXTREMELY current for what was happening in 2006 and per usual...wonderfully crafted by Eddie.

If this is not your song...tell me why?
Post edited by Unknown User on
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Comments

  • nothing_man_92
    nothing_man_92 Canberra, Australia Posts: 347
    I don't understand either!!!!! Such an awesome song. I also don't understand why parachutes gets no love :(
  • electronblue
    electronblue WPB, Florida Posts: 3,504
    unemployable kicks azz and then some!!
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  • curmudgeoness
    curmudgeoness Brigadoon, foodie capital Posts: 4,131
    It's one of my two or three least favorite PJ songs; yes, I'm including the "weirder" songs when I say that.

    I don't like it because it sounds like a Bruce song to me and, sorry Bruce fans, I do not like Springsteen. I know that that does not make sense to other people, but it is what it is. Every time I hear Unemployable, I am reminded of "Born In the USA," and for me that is not a good thing.
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  • slightofjeff
    slightofjeff Posts: 7,762
    Born in the USA is as representative of the Bruce catalogue as ... well, Unemployable is representative of the PJ catalogue.

    I can stand Unemployable. It's OK. The music is a little too ... I don't know ... "classic rock" for me ... but I can handle it.
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  • starmap3333
    starmap3333 Posts: 3,925
    one of my favorites but it's probably because i live it.
  • RustyShackelford
    RustyShackelford Posts: 127
    I like the song. No, I love the song, a lot!
  • JM187052
    JM187052 Posts: 69
    I think it's the best song on the album by far, for a while the only one that stood out for me. The lyrics are amazing as well as the instruments. "Thinking if he can't sleep how will he ever dream". Such a great look at the everyday worker and struggle.

    It feels like avocado was an album by the band trying to strip themselves of everything but the basics, influenced by classic punk bands, but Unemployable was one of the truly Pearl Jam sounding songs that slipped through.
  • slightofjeff
    slightofjeff Posts: 7,762
    JM187052 wrote:
    I think it's the best song on the album by far, for a while the only one that stood out for me. The lyrics are amazing as well as the instruments. "Thinking if he can't sleep how will he ever dream". Such a great look at the everyday worker and struggle.

    It feels like avocado was an album by the band trying to strip themselves of everything but the basics, influenced by classic punk bands, but Unemployable was one of the truly Pearl Jam sounding songs that slipped through.

    I find this take interesting. I find that, aside from Ed's voice, it sounds nothing like nothing Pearl Jam has done before or since. Not saying that's good or bad ... but if you listened to the music with no words, I don't think "Pearl Jam" would be the first band you think of.
    everybody wants the most they can possibly get
    for the least they could possibly do
  • evenflow82
    evenflow82 Posts: 3,892
    sounds like evacuation's annoying brother (which is saying a lot). Matt has never been a strong songwriter, imo.
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  • Better Dan
    Better Dan Posts: 5,684
    I like the song, but I don't like the line "jumping trains just to survive." I dunno ... sounds a little overdramatic and doesn't seem to fit the rest of the song's lyrics to me. From the other lyrics, he's a family man with a lot of bills..has a wife and kids. He stays up at night thinking about how he's going to pay the bills. Where does the jumping trains come in? Just cringe when I hear the lyrics.
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  • whispering hands
    whispering hands Under your skin Posts: 13,527
    evenflow82 wrote:
    sounds like evacuation's annoying brother (which is saying a lot). Matt has never been a strong songwriter, imo.
    Really!?!? I actually love both of those songs ( Unemployable, AND Evacuation ), So I don't understand at all.. but then again different strokes for different folks ya know.. personally, I LOVE the song.. my favorite line has always been ( even BEFORE I had quit smoking ), "Gets up lights a cigarette he's grown to hate.." I have always felt "oneness" with that particular lyric..especially now. And the other favorite line in there would have to be..( cause after my accident in 98, my profession was forced a change..) "was a dream that had to die" The very first time I heard that lyric, I Packed up my wolf-dogs and took off for a week by myself to the creeks down in Joplin Mo to listen to and digest that whole album, cause every time I heard that line I bawled out of bitter anger. Of course I caught shit for leaving my sister with my mother for that week, but hey I needed that time. Now I hear it and remind myself, at least I can still walk, and thus still RIDE horses, even if training them on a professional; level is out.
  • JasonE
    JasonE Posts: 531
    nothing_man_92 wrote:
    I also don't understand why parachutes gets no love :(

    Unemployable is one of my least favorites. Parachutes on the other hand is fucking amazing. Reminds me of the Beatles.
    "If you're not confused, you're not paying attention."

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  • lukin3
    lukin3 Posts: 68
    edited January 2021
    .
    Post edited by lukin3 on
  • YieldToNothing
    YieldToNothing Posts: 3,667
    song is fucking awesome and an excellent example of why matt should write for this band more often. avocado is an underrated record, it really is awesome. i don't hate backspacer, but avocado shits all over that record. too much ed cheese on that record, avocado attacks you.

    but back on topic, unemployable is fucking awesome
    i have a paper here that entitles me to fast track status
  • fisttothejaw
    fisttothejaw Posts: 234
    l love the song - the "classic-rock-ness" of it is what makes me love it so much - I feel like I can hear the band's influences bleeding through...

    And there are some great lyrics : "scared alive," "a cigarette he's grown to hate," the whole thing about smashing the locker...
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  • pjfan31
    pjfan31 Posts: 7,335
    One of Pearl Jams best lines imo

    'thinkin if he can't sleep how will he ever dream'
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  • ACCBootlegGoddess
    ACCBootlegGoddess Posts: 4,318
    If the song didn't have that annoying Shania Twain chorus I might have actually liked it....but that "uh ah oh I'm scared alive" line just grinds my gears.
    It's too bad cause I dig the first verse live.
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  • the_great_dean
    the_great_dean Posts: 62
    Avocado is one of their best! unemployable, parachutes, the whole album is underrated!
  • The Oracle
    The Oracle Posts: 542
    the_great_dean wrote:
    Avocado is one of their best! unemployable, parachutes, the whole album is underrated!
    :thumbup: 100% agree.
  • starmap3333
    starmap3333 Posts: 3,925
    Better Dan wrote:
    I like the song, but I don't like the line "jumping trains just to survive." I dunno ... sounds a little overdramatic and doesn't seem to fit the rest of the song's lyrics to me. From the other lyrics, he's a family man with a lot of bills..has a wife and kids. He stays up at night thinking about how he's going to pay the bills. Where does the jumping trains come in? Just cringe when I hear the lyrics.

    jumping trains could mean jumping from job to job with no progress... it could mean literally jumping trains in a big city as a means of public transportation to get to work and what a pain in the ass it is to get to and from... either way it's a metaphorical line and it's worth something.

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