Speaking as a child of the 90's.....

Mikee J
Mikee J Posts: 1,323
edited April 2012 in The Porch
.....I'm curious to know how new PJ fans first got into this great band of ours. It's pretty clear that new fans discover the delights of the boys all the time and I'd love to hear how it happened. Being a part of the Seattle explosion (albeit from Blighty), it was kind of a given that I am still a fan after all these years. Perhaps some new fans discovered PJ when Backspacer came out? or a show on a recent tour with a friend or family member? The moment you discover this band must be a special one, then to start listening to all the back catalogue for the first time must be mindblowing!!

I got talking to someone about this recently and it dawned on me that people are still discovering the power and emotion of this great musical institution all the time.. I'd love to hear about it :D

The thought of listening to No Code or Yield now and for the first time kinda makes me jealous to be honest!!
"My body's nobody's body but mine"
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Comments

  • Yield98
    Yield98 Posts: 152
    Lived in a rural area growing up. Radio didn't really play any of their stuff. Heard Daughter on the radio...loved it!!! Visited family in Arizona and asked a friend from Phoenix if he heard of Daughter. Takes me to his room and his walls are covered in PJ pictures and articles. We spent the rest of the trip listening to PJ and I have been hooked ever since!! Great memories
    Peace, Love, Pearl Jam

    Alpine 98,00,03 TFC 99, Chicago 00,03,09(2X),23(2X) St. Louis 03, Champagne 03, St. Paul 03,06(2X),14,23(2X), Noblesville 03, Toledo 04, Grand Rapids 04,06, Thunder Bay 05, Cleveland 06, Lolla 07, Roo 08, PJ20 X2, Wrigley 13 & 16, Portland/Spokane/Seattle 13, Milwaukee 14, Fenway 18(2X),24(2X), Quebec City 22, Ottawa 22, MSG 24, Philly 24(2X), Auckland 24, Gold Coast 24, Nashville 25
  • conman
    conman Posts: 7,493
    2003, i was 17. my older sister had an extra ticket to the first MSG show, she asked if i wanted to go, i said yes.... the rest is history
  • Jamminonthe1
    Jamminonthe1 Posts: 1,243
    conman wrote:
    2003, i was 17. my older sister had an extra ticket to the first MSG show, she asked if i wanted to go, i said yes.... the rest is history

    That's one hell of an introduction to the band...
  • Mikee J
    Mikee J Posts: 1,323
    conman wrote:
    2003, i was 17. my older sister had an extra ticket to the first MSG show, she asked if i wanted to go, i said yes.... the rest is history

    Bet you are still buzzing now!! What was the first album you heard after that show?
    "My body's nobody's body but mine"
  • conman
    conman Posts: 7,493
    Jamminonthe1 wrote:
    conman wrote:
    2003, i was 17. my older sister had an extra ticket to the first MSG show, she asked if i wanted to go, i said yes.... the rest is history

    That's one hell of an introduction to the band...
    yes it was :mrgreen:
  • nothing_man_92
    nothing_man_92 Canberra, Australia Posts: 347
    I only discovered pearl jam in early 2009. My two favourite bands at the time were nirvana and alice in chains and I was obsessed with the whole Seattle thing but had never listened to pearl jam. When the ten redux came out one of my friends told me that I had to buy it so I went out and got it and fell in love from the first time I watched the unpugged DVD :) after seeing my first show in late 2009 i was absolutly hooked and can't remener the last time I've gone a day without listnening to at least one pearl jam somg
  • Mikee J
    Mikee J Posts: 1,323
    nothing_man_92 wrote:
    I only discovered pearl jam in early 2009. My two favourite bands at the time were nirvana and alice in chains and I was obsessed with the whole Seattle thing but had never listened to pearl jam. When the ten redux came out one of my friends told me that I had to buy it so I went out and got it and fell in love from the first time I watched the unpugged DVD :) after seeing my first show in late 2009 i was absolutly hooked and can't remener the last time I've gone a day without listnening to at least one pearl jam somg

    Wow, thats amazing. To be a fan of Nirvana and AIC and not have listened to PJ. Better late than never! Love it that it was Ten that you listened to first..... its only right really ;)
    "My body's nobody's body but mine"
  • RedMosquito22
    RedMosquito22 Posts: 8,158
    I know I go back to the beginning but seeing "Alive" on MTV got me right away. It's been one hell of a ride ever since.
    Member 164xxx

    8/15/92, 9/28/96, 8/28/98, 8/29/98, 9/18/98, 8/3/00, 8/9/00, 8/10/00, 8/23/00, 8/25/00, 9/1/00, 9/2/00, 4/28/03, 6/18/03, 7/5/03, 7/6/03, 10/1/04, 10/3/05, 6/19/08, 10/27/09, 10/31/09, 5/21/10, 9/3/11, 9/4/11, 10/21/13

    More to Come....
  • uninnocent-
    uninnocent- Posts: 5,959
    Met a girl in high school who loved Pearl Jam. Saw the Do the Evolution video. Bought Yield. Loved Yield. Bought Ten, realized I knew Alive, Evenflow and Jeremy. Completed the collection, and started downloading live tracks at the request of said girl and burning them onto CD for her (I was the only one she knew with a CD burner). Missed their '98 show in Barrie. Joined the Pearl Jam BBS, realized I wasn't obsessed enough. Learned more about the band and their music, and became known as the guy that was obsessed with PJ amongst my friends. Saw them live for the first time on October 5 2000, and never looked back.

    I should add that I was an AIC and Soundgarden fan prior, so I would have naturally gotten into them at some point, even without crushing on that girl.
  • penny lane2
    penny lane2 Illinois Posts: 84
    I was on vacation with my parents in Florida and bought the cassette Ten while I was there since I liked Even Flow that had just came out and needed something new to listen to. I was blown away by how awesome the whole album was. Needless to say, Ten was on constant repeat on my sony walkman as I looked out onto the ocean that whole vacation. Loved them ever since.
    "If I knew where it was I would take you there...."
  • NothingBetterThanLeatherman
    NothingBetterThanLeatherman Posts: 145
    Outside of alive and black they didnt play much of them in the NY area when I listened to the radio. I read in 08 in the newspaper how they broke the rules at the garden and played for 3 hrs and that made me interested that a band had the courage to do that so it made me want to see them. And that I heard they didnt just play hits. My dad won tickets on the radio to see them at the first night in philly and I went even though I had swine flu. that night is still played in my head from time to time. I was blown away and hooked since
    5/21/10 M.S.G
    5/18/10 Newark
    9/27/09 Philly Spectrum
  • uninnocent-
    uninnocent- Posts: 5,959
    NothingBetterThanLeatherman wrote:
    Outside of alive and black they didnt play much of them in the NY area when I listened to the radio. I read in 08 in the newspaper how they broke the rules at the garden and played for 3 hrs and that made me interested that a band had the courage to do that so it made me want to see them. And that I heard they didnt just play hits. My dad won tickets on the radio to see them at the first night in philly and I went even though I had swine flu. that night is still played in my head from time to time. I was blown away and hooked since
    Love it. Full immersion right away.
  • JonnyPistachio
    JonnyPistachio Florida Posts: 10,218
    Then there's the new crop of born-again-pearljamists.
    I have a few friends/acquaintances that said they lost track of PJ after Vitalogy (common, i suppose).
    So I burned them Yield and made them watch SVT...born-again!
    :D
    Pick up my debut novel here on amazon: Jonny Bails Floatin (in paperback) (also available on Kindle for $2.99)
  • PNuttyJam
    PNuttyJam Posts: 837
    14 years old - 8th grade - 1992 - Even Flow video - MTV

    I can still vividly remember standing in front of my friend's "big screen" tv completely slack-jawed at what I was hearing and seeing.
    Mesa I - 11/93 * Toledo - 9/96 * Chicago - 6/98 * St Louis - 7/98 * Indy - 8/98 * St Louis & San Diego - 10/00 * Mt View II - 10/01 * Irvine I & II, San Diego - 6/03 * Chicago I - 5/06 * San Diego & SF III - 7/06 * Lolla - 8/07 * EV Chicago - 8/08 * Chicago I & II - 8/09 * Kansas City & Indy - 5/10 * PJ20 X2 - 9/11 * Atlanta 9/12 * Wrigley Field 7/13 * Moline & Milwaukee 10/14 * Wrigley Field I & II 8/16 * Wrigley Field I & II 8/18 * Ohana Encore I & II 10/21 * EV & The Earthlings Chicago II 2/22
    Won the lottery PJ20 Night 1 - Front Row in front of Jeff - Forever grateful to Ten Club
    ***I wanna live my life with the volume full***
  • MaxGoldenrod
    MaxGoldenrod Posts: 1,341
    Like many, I heard Alive/Jeremy/Black on the radio back in the beginning and liked it, but didn't really get into them until some friends and I were on a road trip to a playoff basketball game and listened to Vs the whole way there and back. I went out the next weekend and bought 10 and Vs.

    I'm like some others who kinda lost track of them after Vitalogy, and when they came to Indy in 2000 and I had the opportunity to see them live for the 1st time, I was hooked again. Have been ever since.
    "Then the Spirit of God hovered over the water, and God said, Let there be music, and there was Pearl Jam."

    Whose idea was it for the word "Lisp" to have an "S" in it?
  • curly
    curly Posts: 704
    way cool stories...makes me want to ask my cousin exactly how he became such a big fan...
    wanna say he's been hooked for about 4 years now but...

    we've actually met up a show a few years ago...

    he knows i've been hooked since 92' (sorry cant claim any earlier)...

    but,..way way cool stories
  • Mikee J
    Mikee J Posts: 1,323
    Just imagine you heard PJ for the first time last week! ALL THAT AMAZING MUSIC.

    :o:D:lol:
    "My body's nobody's body but mine"
  • countonbothhands
    countonbothhands OR Posts: 252
    I moved to Seattle from Oreagon in 1989. Was really into music. Was out alot, going to see shows by the posies, hammerbox, inflatable soule, alice n chains, etc. However, my favorite music was that of Pearl Jam. I liked Ten, but I loved Vs. I have been a devoted fan ever since. Sadly, I have never had the opportunity to see Pearl Jam live. I buy alot of bootlegs and live performance dvd's, but it just can't be the same. Someday, the planets will alighn and God will part the crowds and I will be waiting with a ticket in hand to see my favorite band live. Pray for me all you lucky fans who have been fortunate enough to see them live. Someday my friends, someday.
    "If hope can grow from dirt like me, it can be done."
  • Berasapj
    Berasapj Posts: 292
    2010-18 years old

    I listened to corduroy years before I discovered Corduroy through WWE magazine, forget a little bit about it, then fall in love with Nirvana, the next natural step was PJ, I loved Once and Ten at the same time hard times came to my life and they rescued me and ever since I've been obsessed.

    They have been my stone on the middle of the storm
    Manchester 1&2 2012

    Waiting for the next PJ euro Tour

    Hoping not to get drown in the wave of life
  • javis el errante
    javis el errante Buenos Aires Posts: 6,147
    I didn't listen to the at the time, I started in the late 90's, never been a radio fan, I stopped listening to the radio in 2001, the showed I liked had been cancelled, my source of new info was MTV, remember MTV when they aire videos? The local cable company was just starting, they have the MTV Brazil signal, dunno when it started, it was late 91, of course Nevermind was a major success, but not Ten at that time, at least not in Argentina, I liked the video for Even Flow, I recognized them from the Temple of the Dog video, which was pretty cool as well, that was the only way to see the bands, or listen to their songs, I wasn't into radio, juts my tapes, vinyls and CDs, at the time I liked SG and AIC better, but Ten had such huge success that they kept playing all four PJ videos from TEN, so I got into it, but I purchased Ten in early 93, but by that time I had all the AIC, SG, TOTD, RHCP, and Nirvana CD's in existence, which weren't that many...

    I'd like to read about the first time Rehab Doll listened to PJ...
    ... I am not in the business of being liked anymore ...

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