Wise Man Or Fool?

I can see Chris rolling his eyes all the way in Fresno and my college friends sigh across the nation. My colleague Summer will now want to mother me like a cult leader and some out there may scream, "duh!". In preparing for my last two weeks of Rock History with my students with the 1990s and 2000s in mind, I stumbled across the two-disc rearviewmirror (at Target for $10 no less!), Pearl Jam's greatest hits collection. In listening to the first disc and a half of music, I am really impressed and wonder just how I could have made it fifteen years without really enjoying this band.

Maybe I wanted to see whether they'd stand the test of time. Maybe I wanted to see just how trendy grunge and Seattle and Singles and Nirvana really were. Just maybe I wanted to see a band progress in its career and not just be seen as a Guns 'N Roses of the '90s (sorry, Steve, but after Appetite, what did that band really put out worth keeping? They were the CSN&Y of the 80s). I must say that I'm really impressed. No, not impressed; I freaking love this album of songs. I wish I had done my homework on the band to see that only 12 of the 33 cuts come from after 1994 but I do know my PJ enough to know that the late 90s weren't especially friendly on their album output. I do also know that their most recent album has received the best reviews since Ten, which I have known of all along because I started college in the Fall of 1991, when the world experienced the wrath of grunge. College students are music-savvy and open to the widest array of new bands. That said, they're still just one step away from trend-following high schoolers and with grunge, there was no getting around the plaid-and-no-combing-the-hair bandwagon that brought us everything Seattle. I was amazed that people knew everything about the Pacific Northwest after just fifteen spins of Nevermind; that everyone worshipped Temple of the Dog and hated Hair of the Dog; that suddenly punk music with terrible musicianship and indecipherable lyrics and banal "I'm a teenager and no one understands me" tripe became cool for a generation that desperately sought after its own Pete Townshend. I was in my own small town sheltered young phase but was not listening to a lot of things my friends were (Simon and Garfunkel, The Eagles, Pink Floyd, NO rap, NO hair metal, Rush, U2) and outright rejected the modern trend of rock music. I still, while recognizing the tremendous impact of Kurt Cobain and Nirvana, fail to recognize the grunge movement as nothing more of an inspirational fad (like hippie music - "Listen to the Flower People" would have been a smash had it not been a farce! - and I still think that the Red Hot Chili Peppers are one of the most mundane and over-rated bands of the last quarter century. I can hear the name callers now ("Luddite bastard!!!!") but I'm sticking to my guns. In fact, I'm thankful that I did then as well, because my distaste for the popular stuff drove me to find the jam-band scene, which, while not perfect, was much more organic and consisted of a pool of a lot more talented musicians. I'll take the Pepsi Challenge with John Popper or Trey Anastasio or Warren Haynes or the drummer from the Spin Doctors any day compared to any second-rate second-wave band of the 90s.

However, let me return to PJ. I think that Eddie Vedder's always been a tremendous frontman and loved in 1993 how the band jammed with Neil on MTV, recognizing his influence without calling him a dinosaur. I think that PJ helped bridge the gap between "old" and "young" artists and showed young people that the oldies were still rockin' enough in the free world to be seen as rockers and not fogeys. "Once" and "Even Flow" drive harder than the hardest heavy metal while incorporating enough bluesy punk to make the music old but fresh. I wish I could decipher some of Eddie's lyrics and am challenged to find the band's songbook but think that his vocal growl is great and the guys backing him pushed the music in a forward direction. I can already tell the mid-decade songs from the early stuff, though and am not too keen. I can see just how influential PJ was on Rush's mid-90s output. I knew that the Canadians borrowed PJ's producer (or one of those driving bands) and now hearing PJ makes Rush sound like old guys really pushing to be cool again. Not their fault, just like it wasn't David Gilmour's fault to make one last hurrah with the Division Bell in '94. Also, the band's politics and lack of some tabloid press keeps their reputation above the "current bad boy" label (IS Oasis really that good or do those brothers beat each other up just to keep the band in the press?). Vote For Change Tour was awesome, though I really wanted to see Bruce and PJ get together. I bet that an incredible album pushing of socially-conscious music should be released with Bruce, Eddie, Bono and others should be made. That would really rock.

I would love a brief education on anyone claiming to be a Pearl Jam fan. I would love a direction to head or advice about which of the band's live shows are truly representative of a great live performance.