Jacob Bannon wrote this thing about Pearl Jam sometime last year. It resonated with me as Ive also often casually listened to them but with a bit of side eye as well. However, this cover, from a CD I bought when I was 12 or 13 has always held some weight with me, maybe even more so now. Just connecting some dots from Hendrix (60s - 71 Seattle) to Pearl Jam (grunge era 90s Seattle) to Converge (90s - 2000s Boston). No big deal. thetalkhouse/music/talks/jacob-bannon-converge-wear-your-wounds-talks-pearl-jams-lightning-bolt/ And for the first time in my years of suspiciously listening to Pearl Jam like an investigator, I began to understand the band in a way I never did before. What I naively misconstrued as a major label sham was actually a true collection of musical misfits. Pearl Jam found each other organically, just like our band did. They never wanted to play anything but honest, emotional music, just like our band played. And they’re all intensely different individuals, just like our band is. Pearl Jam wasn’t cool or hip, and didn’t claim to be. They were awkward kids, just like us. The closer I looked, the more parallels I saw to my own efforts and motivation. Though we played at different volumes and to different ends, we carried something similar in our blood. What I mistook in them as calculated was actually a very different “c” word entirely: character. They were a form of rebellion back then and I was just too stubborn to realize it. Pearl Jam’s bitterness towards the industry was very real. As promising kids, they innocently teetered on the edge of something spectacular only to be shoved off the edge by big business interests. They plummeted through the air, not ready to be the band that the world demanded them to be. The external pressures that cursed them at the peak of their ’90s powers could’ve crushed coal to diamonds. Miraculously they survived the fall and matured into a personal and political musical powerhouse. I respect them for that.
Posted on: Sat, 27 Sep 2014 01:16:07 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015