Blimey… 25 years?
Where does time go? Anyway, a quick share in between editing other posts: I’m loving this video that Kevin Shuss (Pearl Jam’s videographer) put together to celebrate Pearl Jam’s induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (thoughts here).
Pearl Jam are right up there at the top of my Unimpeachables list (I ought to write that list down really). I’ve been listening to the Vs/Vitalogy box (and the live album included) in the car for the last week or so and given that I believe this era represents peak Pearl Jam I was most definitely heartened by the band’s published response to the ‘drummer debacle’ that had been stirred by their induction*:
This brings three things to mind:
1. Just how many years I’ve been loving this band.
2. They are a decent bunch of guys really
3. It’s been three and a half years since Lightning Bolt! What the fuck, guys? Get your arses in the studio already ffs.
*Though I, and many, are certainly not impressed by their cropping out of former drummers when it comes to photos on social media etc.
Mumbling About... 
I am someone who likes Pearl Jam, will blog a series on them one day and fervently believes they belong in the Rock and Rol Hall of Fame. All that said, I like rather than love them. I think they have a great sound, excellent musicians, etc. What doesn’t get it for me is that while some of their songs are great, some just leave me wanting. I don’t know if that’s because of my predilection for more blues/soul/R&B based music or what. But I think there’s a different basis for their sound that I can’t 100% relate to.
I have this same problem with U2, a band I prefer. I love stuff like “Desire,” “Sunday Bloody Sunday.” “I Will Follow,” “Still Haven’t Found,” “Elevation.” And yet signature songs of theirs like “Where the Streets Have No Name,” and “Pride in the Name of Love,” are, to me, boring as hell and forgettable. And yet other people love those. Those were encores at the show I saw. To me, “Sunday Bloody Sunday” blows those songs away so bad it’s not even funny. And yet they threw a lame version of it in the middle of the set almost as an afterthought.
So Pearl Jam are in an odd place for me which maybe I’m unable to articulate well. If I hear them on the radio I’ll listen. But the stuff I owned by them goes back to cassette. And will I replace those with CD’s? Probably the best I can say is, time permitting, one day I’ll go up on Spotify and spin a bunch of their tunes. And then create my own greatest hits CD.