Pearl Jam history question

SloopJohnB
SloopJohnB Kentucky Posts: 36
edited January 2012 in The Porch
I'm writing a novel and have been researching the early 90s for the past few years. One thing that's a little tough to find out, however, is when certain bootlegs became available for purchase in record stores.

Let me be clear, this post is not about me wanting to purchase bootlegs--I'm wanting to know how realistic it would've been to buy a Pearl Jam bootleg in the fall of 1993 of a show that occurred that spring. Specifically, I'm interested in the first show where "Better Man" was played, which was on May 13, 1993 in San Francisco. I know something like this definitely would've been expensive back then, but that's not my issue. I just want to know how realistic it was at this point in time to for a Pearl Jam bootleg to be available to purchase, or even a Nirvana bootleg, during the fall of 1993. (This is when my story is set.)

Thanks for any insight into this. I just want my story to be as realistic as possible and avoid any glaring facts that would make a music fan stop and scream, "NO WAY could that happen!" :shock:
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Post edited by Unknown User on

Comments

  • Dr. Delight
    Dr. Delight Posts: 11,210
    I remember buying that bootleg that you are talking about, the San Fran Slims show. I'll try and remember just exactly when that was. Im pretty sure I got it soon after Vs was released.

    That double cd was prob around $40-$50 back then.
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  • BinFrog
    BinFrog MA Posts: 7,314
    When I went to college my freshman year (1994), I was finding bootlegs from that Spring's tour in the local (awesome) bootleg store. So I can't speak as to when exactly they were hitting stores, but within six months March/Apr shows were in the stores. I don't think you'd want to say that bootlegs were showing up within a month. I think as long as you give them a 3+ month delay you should be good to go.
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  • JessicaTwoFeetThick
    JessicaTwoFeetThick Posts: 38
    Hi SloopJohnB,

    Your timing sounds about right. Obviously, at that time the bootlegs were unofficial and expensive ($50 per disc), not great quality, and of course not ok'd by the band, but yes, approximately around the time that Vs. came out, I remember seeing the CD bootleg of Slims in the indie record stores of downtown New York (Oct./Nov 1993).

    hope that helped.

    -J
  • SloopJohnB
    SloopJohnB Kentucky Posts: 36
    Dr. Delight wrote:
    I remember buying that bootleg that you are talking about, the San Fran Slims show. I'll try and remember just exactly when that was. Im pretty sure I got it soon after Vs was released.

    That double cd was prob around $40-$50 back then.

    If the timeline you're thinking is correct, that would be AWESOME because I'm having my character buy this bootleg on October 23rd, so it would be just after Vs came out! Thanks for responding!
    image
  • SloopJohnB
    SloopJohnB Kentucky Posts: 36
    Thanks for confirming this, Jessica! You rock!

    I'm excited, because now I can use "Better Man" in my story. :D
    image
  • NothingBetterThanLeatherman
    NothingBetterThanLeatherman Posts: 145
    The book sounds interesting cant wait to read it.
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  • gumby812
    gumby812 ABQ Posts: 53
    To be honest even if you were six months off in a work of fiction it would be close enough to the actual date anyway. I doubt too many people would even care. besides it would be nice to able to make a connection like that anyway with a character if you are a die hard pj fan.
  • SloopJohnB
    SloopJohnB Kentucky Posts: 36
    dymmig89 wrote:
    The book sounds interesting cant wait to read it.

    Thanks! :D I'm rewriting it right now. Cross your fingers for me that someone will actually want to publish it once I'm finished. Haha
    image
  • SloopJohnB
    SloopJohnB Kentucky Posts: 36
    gumby812 wrote:
    To be honest even if you were six months off in a work of fiction it would be close enough to the actual date anyway. I doubt too many people would even care. besides it would be nice to able to make a connection like that anyway with a character if you are a die hard pj fan.

    You're right, it sounds like I'm close enough that I wouldn't get a mob of pitchfork-wielding PJ fans coming after me for messing up the facts. LOL One of my pet peeves is when writers don't do their research and botch something diehard fans would notice in a heartbeat. What's most important to me is that it's realistic for fans of the music, as that's what this book is about.

    Thanks for all the help, guys! I really appreciate it. :)
    image
  • Jammalambo
    Jammalambo Posts: 1,321
    Actually, the first known performance of Betterman is from a Bad Radio show in june 1989, but I don't know if the video was circulating in 1993 and the quality was not as good as that Slim's show (referring to both sound quality and performance wise)..
    Interesting book, anyways..
  • demetrios
    demetrios Posts: 99,933
    JessicaTwoFeetThick wrote:
    Hi SloopJohnB,

    Your timing sounds about right. Obviously, at that time the bootlegs were unofficial and expensive ($50 per disc), not great quality, and of course not ok'd by the band, but yes, approximately around the time that Vs. came out, I remember seeing the CD bootleg of Slims in the indie record stores of downtown New York (Oct./Nov 1993).

    hope that helped.

    -J

    Pretty much the first (and only) Pearl Jam Unofficial Bootleg that I remember that was sold @ retail stores (Sam The Record Man / Music World here in Canada) was "5 Alive". It was the show from Newcastle '92. They didn't sell any other ones, but many local record stores, the ma & pa one's like Taz Records, Urban Sound Exchange & Select Records here, pretty much received & sold tons & TONS of Pearl Jam bootlegs. Maybe cause Halifax was the closest East Coast port to Europe, we pretty much received dozens & dozens of bootleg releases like you wouldn't believe (Kiss The Stone, Kobra & Oxygen records were the top 3 bootleg companies around). It was "ok" & "the thing" to sell at the record stores, I guess. Boxes of them were arriving @ the stores here. It was unbelievable. I bought as many as I during High School towards University. My friends would buy them up too. Day's back when there were no CDR burners, we would just trade CD > Maxell Tapes for the releases.

    $50 bucks for 1 discs? That's pretty expensive. I remember them selling for $30-$35 bucks a single disc. $65 - $70 a double disc. The most expensive bootleg released in stores & in those Hit Paradar / Circus magazines articles selling bootleg VHS & CD's was Pearl Jam's Rocking In The Free World CD.

    http://i422.photobucket.com/albums/pp31 ... WorldA.jpg
    http://i422.photobucket.com/albums/pp31 ... WorldB.jpg

    Maybe cause of the live Mamason Trilogy playing but the CD was going for $50 bucks. The most expensive single bootleg Pearl Jam CD that I have ever encountered & I've pretty much seen them all. ;)

    Many of the bootlegs were not that great quality but a few were by the end of '93. Like Zurich '92, Newcastle '92, Pink Pop '92, MTV Unplugged '92 (this show pretty much was made into dozens of unofficial Pearl Jam silver CD releases).

    I never heard that copy of San Fran '93 show till '95/'96 that was on the CD "Whipping The Dog".
  • Mamasan23
    Mamasan23 Posts: 16,390
    Can you tell us more about the book you're writing? Sounds interesting!
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