Album of the day (#1898): Vs. by Pearl Jam - Music

meccalecca

Voice of Reason

Gender: Male

Location: The Land of Enchantment

Satie wrote:

That picture has been complicated by the variety of opinions in this thread, of course, but I think there's still the kernel of truth that if I don't like the sound of Nickelback and Creed, as someone who didn't live through Pearl Jam being sold to me as the Saviors of Rock and Roll, I don't see a lot that doesn't make them virtually interchangeable.

Certainly some truth in this. Obviously, Nickelback and Creed attempted to copy Pearl Jam in many ways, so it's likely that if you don't like one, you won't like the others. That said, I feel like Nickelback and Creed drew from a very specific aspect of Pearl Jam in a singular way, totally missing some of the more redeeming qualities of PJ.
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mickilennial

The Most Trusted Name in News

Gender: Female

Age: 36

Location: Detroit

While that is true we must remember Creed and Nickelback drew from other transitional bands too. After Nirvana & Pearl Jam became staples it opened the door for alternative rock to be fashionable to the mainstream public and it go watered down by contemporary production and direction. For example, bands such as Everclear and Tonic represented a bit of my childhood in the 90s but represented that homogenization quite well. Post-Grunge as we have come to know it owes a lot to that "pop alternative" (and even some nu-metal) more than it owes a direct lineage to Pearl Jam. Bands like Puddle of Mudd and Bush also come to mind for taking what Pearl Jam started and diluting it before the genre really had a chance to focus on Pearl Jam's more admirable aspects.

Pentagonal

While it's not exactly fashionable to dwell on the struggles of straight white men, I've always felt kinda bad for the men of the grunge generation. There's been this gradual movement in Western culture to devalue traditional masculinity, portrayed by the cock rock of the '70s for example, in favor of an all-cards-on-the-table sensitivity, a la Nick Drake (also '70s, but not embraced until much later) or [insert indie rock canon artist]. In the middle of those two extremes you have gen x, a generation sensitive enough to want to express it, but still frustrated by the constraints of traditional masculine gender roles.

However, Pearl Jam never seemed to fit as cleanly into this picture as, say, Nirvana. They would sing a lot about tragedy and frustration, but always in this distant, "let's get high and dwell on sad stuff" sort of way. How do fans of Pearl Jam see their music? Is it a catharsis? A trip?

Januscl

Significantly worse than their debute album

Last edited by Januscl on 03/02/2016 07:58; edited 1 time in total

poppmusic

Location: Fullerton, CA

Pentagonal wrote:

While it's not exactly fashionable to dwell on the struggles of straight white men, I've always felt kinda bad for the men of the grunge generation. There's been this gradual movement in Western culture to devalue traditional masculinity, portrayed by the cock rock of the '70s for example, in favor of an all-cards-on-the-table sensitivity, a la Nick Drake (also '70s, but not embraced until much later) or [insert indie rock canon artist]. In the middle of those two extremes you have gen x, a generation sensitive enough to want to express it, but still frustrated by the constraints of traditional masculine gender roles.

However, Pearl Jam never seemed to fit as cleanly into this picture as, say, Nirvana. They would sing a lot about tragedy and frustration, but always in this distant, "let's get high and dwell on sad stuff" sort of way. How do fans of Pearl Jam see their music? Is it a catharsis? A trip?

Really interesting statement. I guess that sense of contradiction is what makes grunge music so interesting to me! Compared to the confident strutting of the Rolling Stones and the sensitive acquiescence of Sufjan Stevens, grunge dares to ask the questions of what values SHOULD we express ourselves with, and what constraints we face in doing so. I don't see it as an inevitable progress from these one standard to another as much as a moment of time when both were acceptable (80s hair metal and 80s alternative, roughly), so bands like Pearl Jam filled in the gap of grappling with multiple social standards, and their effect on everyday people ("Jeremy", "Black", "Animal", "Dissident")

kevinweed7

Gender: Male

here second best album. Elderly woman behind the counter is an unbelievable beautiful track.