Currently, in what state is your PJ fandom? This is the thread where you talk about where you are in your current 'walk with Pearl Jam'. We will then compare our feelings -- good and bad, our hurts and frustrations, our euphoria -- when Lightning Bolt comes out, and after it's had time to sink in. Some of us think PJ shit is still hot fire. For a lot of us, there's quite a bit riding on this album. PJ have spent their entire career being confusing, to some extent, but we now want to know once and for all what latter-day PJ is all about and whether we're still on board. Others of us haven't cared at all about PJ for ages. Feel free to use the thread itself as well to talk about this. Where are you now?

My fandom has cooled by a few degrees. By which I mean, I'm not longer going to freak out if I don't see them on tour and there's a limit to how much I'll spend on that ever elusive vinyl. But they still mean the world to me. They're still the most important band in the scope of my life. And I'm not sure Lighting Bolt (good or bad) changes that.

I don't have anything riding on this like some others seem to.

Honestly, I'd have to make this assessment around Backspacer. My fandom, at least as it pertains to appreciation of and eagerness for new Pearl Jam music, has sunk to an all time low in the post Backspacer world. Lightning Bolt would have to be on par with Riot Act, or at least back to the path they were on through Riot Act, for that to change. Even if the songs are better than the last album or two, there's something about the style and the aesthetic of modern Pearl Jam that just rubs me the wrong way.

I've been a fan since I was 13 years old. In 3 years Pearl Jam will have been with me for half of my life. They're still my go-to band and the band I listen to the most. Their last two albums have been disappointing by being only mediocre to good instead of great so my love for modern day Pearl Jam has gone down quite a bit. Even though that happened my anticipation for Lightning Bolt is immense and I'm never this excited for an album release by another band.
I'm hoping that Lightning Bolt will be better than Avocado and Backspacer but I don't think it will come near anything they did before Avocado. I guess the only thing that could happen is that I like modern day Pearl Jam more than now. To make me like them less Lightning Bolt would need to be worse than Backspacer and I somehow don't think that will happen.

Cautious optimism.

Edit: I voted Rearviewmirror but it's between that and Faithfull.

I voted faithful. There is just less space in my life to obsess, but if I was going to obsess it would be about this.

Given that I thought half of s/t was phenomenal, and backspacer is great, and mind your manners was strong, I am expecting to love this one. Fortunately my pearl jam low point is probably past. The no code through riot act run

OK, my cards: I never really listen to boots unless I went to the gig myself (and I've only seen them three times). I never collected merch. I've been given a couple of T-shirts as gifts, that's it. But Pearl Jam's albums have followed me through my life since Ten was released and I broke the tape playing it too much (in 'chipmunk mode' because it was funny -- that's still funny). Pearl Jam's music always took a while to grow on me, and they frequently took turns that were surprising and hard to stomach. The epitome was Binaural, which I took years to like. But I eventually loved both Binaural and Riot Act, and together with everything else before them, they now make up seven perfectly excellent albums which I find nearly impossible to rank.

Then S/T happened. I saw PJ (at Reading Festival 2006) for the first time, so in that sense, it was a memorable time for me and the music was part of it. But after years of trying, only half of S/T means anything to me. S/T is an album of great songs and boring ones. Backspacer went even further towards the pop direction, and although I thought it was a more satisfying listen from beginning to end than S/T, 'Supersonic' was terrible and represented a new PJ -- one which sounded shallow, superficial, desperately reaching for a 'pop hit' and still just as unlikely as ever to really get one, particularly in the UK.

If that, as well as having songs which 'fit a set list', was their aim now, it wasn't going to take me in its wake (to use a waves analogy). Like CHUD, subsequent interviews during and after Backspacer have represented a new Pearl Jam that I'm still trying to understand and find out whether I like. Nevertheless, PJ are still the most significant band in my life, and I'll always want to hear their new stuff even if it's underwhelming. I feel as if I owe them that. I don't ask much of Lightning Bolt other than that it's better than the last two albums (even if it incorporates something of their sound). At least then I could still be on board with the music, even if I don't identify with what they as a band are 'about' like I used to. One frustration is that I would probably find out that they were the same people with the same values, if only they *talked* about anything in more than cheesy abstractions. But they don't keep that tight communication with the fans anymore, so they look like the big, aloof and distant giant rock band. That's a bit sad, but it's probably off topic.

This is hard to vote on. Because I would say it's at Soon Forget level for current Pearl Jam. It would be Gone but I'm still somewhat interested in seeing them live.

But that doesn't mean I don't love the older records as much as I always have. I listened to 4 versions of Parting Ways from the 2000 tour last night, just to see which was better.

I didn't think the poll would appear so soon, cheers Stip.

I'm going to vote Faithfull.

3

Yeah, it's complicated. Which is why I wanted to open up a conversation as well. But the poll, I guess (unless you see it differently) is about your current feelings about current PJ. With the assumption that they've been great enough to take you this far.

I voted Faithfull. But me too.

What did you vote?

As far as I'm concerned the members of Pearl Jam died in a plane crash in 2005. Now I'm just waiting for the other Cold Confessions to be unearthed.

Other than that, what chud said (just replace backspacer with s/t). I voted gone because while it may just be on the brink I think it can only go further down now.

Yeah, they're not the Swiss Watch they were circa 1998, and yeah, their prime is past, but so what, I still obsess over them more than any other current band, so I'd just be acting cool if I said anything other than Alive and Kicking.

evenslow FTW

Interesting. I look forward to your responses to the new album's songs, if you have any.

I respect that! And I'm only hovering around the second option, so with the new album, hopefully I'll be up there on that pedestal with you. It's up to you what we do there.

I've really liked or loved everything they have done and i really don't expect that to change, I've been listening to them for about 22 years and am still really excited to see what is next, even though their last might be their weakest, its still better for me then a lot of other stuff out there.

Also, I would hope I wouldn't spend a minute of my time talking about a band if my fandom were really gone/non-existent. But I guess boredom compels people to do odd things.

I didn't take Into The Wild into account when I said that thing about all of them dying in 2005. So let's say Ed survived, made Into The Wild, then was eaten by a shark while surfing.