Pearl Jam

[Anders]

Ever since the start of the nineties I've been a big fan of Pearl Jam, and I like their last albums from No Code onwards even better than the original three.

They have given out the studio albums Ten, VS, Vitalogy, No Code, Yield, Binaural and Riot Act, the live albums Live in Atlanta, Live on Two Legs, Benaroya Hall, plus their entire world tour of 2000 (tons of cheap albums), the ep Merkinball, four DVD releases, Single Video Theory, Live at the Showbox, Live at the Garden, and they have given out a rarities album called Lost Dogs. Last month they gave out their Greatest Hits (so far), but they keep on rocking, and are currently in the studio working on a new album.

Often the band get criticised for various reasons. One kind of people criticise them for being too audience friendly in the early grunge period, and others accuse them of not being audience friendly enough with their last albums. However, they have kept on doing great, and they have a large and dedicated fan community.

For years now I have thought that it would be cool to get a friend that likes Pearl Jam, Babylon 5 and soccer (football). Luckily my wife pretty much fulfills all of those. I would have married her even if she didn't though, she's magnificent.

Does anyone here like Pearl Jam?

[Dr Maturin]

I think PJ was very...unfaceted, for lack of a better term. From their era, I have to go with Soundgarden and Alice In Chains. PJ and Nirvana were too whiny for my tastes, although I do like Nirvana more than PJ.

[Anders]

How about their later albums? I like to think that they have progressed musically beyond what they sounded like in the early 90's.

I like the other groups you mentioned as well, especially Soundgarden, but Pearl Jam was always my favourite.

[cruiser]

I like Pearl Jam. Didn't they tell ticket master to go get stuffed once?

I haven't heard to much "new" music tho'.

[Anders]

Nice to see at least one other Babylon 5/Pearl Jam fan.

[DougO]

I listened to Pearl Jam quite a bit in the 90's but sort of lost interest with their last couple albums. I agree Sound Garden, Nirvana, and Alice in Chains are great bands (still listen to them). I've lived in the Seattle area my entire life so I got to watch them grow from doing bar gigs to the big stadium shows.

-DougO

[Dr Maturin]

Speaking of Soundgarden, what's with Audioslave and a new album? Are they having troubles? A good band can crank out a quality album every year. It's been two plus years since their debut album, which I really enjoyed. It was like having a good Rage Against the Machine, without all the crappy rapping.

I wish Tom Morello would do instrumental versions of RATM's albums without De La Rocha's whining. That would rock, literally.

[Anders]

I'm quite certain that both Audioslave and Pearl Jam are releasing new albums in the first half of 2005.

[David Panzer]

I never got into Pearl Jam when they first became known across the States. Around that time (I think 91-92), I was just getting into Heavy Metal and discovering some good stuff.

Bands like Pearl Jam, Nirvana, and others from the grunge era were just plastered everywhere and really turned me off from enjoying their music. Even 10+ years later, when I try to listen to them, I still can't separate the music from that part of the 90's that I've written off as a strange trip.

As musicians, they have great talent. It's just not my taste, though I'm in no way knocking them or their fans. Maybe if I grew up in that part of America, I'd be more into them, though it's ironic that 3 of my favorite bands: Nevermore, Queensryche (everything before and including Empire), and Jimi Hendrix hail from that region.