That being said, Pearl Jam was never my enemy. To me, “Ten” was a heavy, over-seasoned meal with a single ingredient that tasted unlike anything I had ever consumed before. And they were impassioned and principled, even from the start. The choruses required tsunami-like vocals to overwhelm the slow moving waters beneath. But, whatever it was, it was wrestling with songs that I just could not get into. I couldn’t figure out if it was a physical gift or a trick or a technical defect. I knew, almost instantly, that Eddie Vedder was doing something different. I am a card carrying member of Generation X. I almost feel guilty writing that, but it’s true. But unlike millions and millions of others, I never liked it. So, like millions and millions of others, I bought a copy of “Ten.” I considered it research. But, in that time, the whole world had changed. I had only been away at college for a single semester. The guys at school who never showed any interest in music - the ones who used the word “gay” as a catch-all for everything they didn’t like or understand - those guys were blasting Pearl Jam from their car stereos. It seemed that they were the only other thing on MTV. On the other hand, their songs were short and catchy and “Nevermind” resembled Pop music in the same way that Kurt Cobain resembled Axl Rose. They were like The Pixies, but less weird and more distressed. I couldn’t reconcile their popularity - they were a Punk band. Pearl Jam was literally three thousand miles away.īut, when I returned home that summer, I knew something was amiss. I didn’t have a TV and considered myself a very serious adult. Even the next year, when I went away to college, I managed to completely ignore the initial tremors of Grunge. Plus, it was easy to discount the word of mouth back then. To them, Pearl Jam was as weird as music could get. I presumed that the quieter jocks and Metal kids who were talking about the band in school simply didn’t know about The Cure or PIL. I was seventeen at the time, but wanted desperately to be twenty two. In 1992, I was just waiting for Pearl Jam’s other Doc Marten to drop.Īs early as the winter of 1991, I was hearing whispers about this Pearl Jam. Their bassist had the build of an athlete but played these odd guitars that belonged in King Crimson. They wore hats that looked not unlike whatever was on the heads of The Spin Doctors. They liked to talk about The Clash and The Ramones, but they sounded like the opposite of those bands. And I was sure that there was something either overcooked or rotten at the bottom. Specifically, though, I had a thing against Pearl Jam.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |