I thought for sure we already had a thread like this (the random PJ bitching thread doesn't really fit as these thoughts may not necessarily be bitching).

Anyway, today out of nowhere I remembered one of the first impressions I had of Pearl Jam after listening to Riot Act and also a live album (one of the Europe shows from 2000). It was "I like them a lot but they don't really know how to end songs". I think it was based on songs like "Save You" that end kind of awkwardly.

I don't really agree with that now, but I just flashed back to that for some reason.

Santa God has a pretty cool chorus and I listen to it a lot more than most songs from Backspacer and Lightning Bolt.

I skipped my high school prom bc PJ was playing Letterman that night. My girlfriend broke up with me bc of it. I have no regrets.

If this was for either the Hail, Hail or the Grievance performance, you're in the clear.
If it was for Wishlist or anything after, she was right to dump you.

Let's be honest, it was the outcome I had planned

I still remember where I was the first time I heard Pearl Jam.

I have a hard time thinking of roughly 2006 - present day Eddie as the same Eddie in videos before roughly 2006. I'm not entirely sure why, I think it's the beard. Although he had a beard in ~2000, it seems it was short lived. Around 2006 was also the time I first started listening to Pearl Jam.

I have a hard time doing this with Eddie too, and I've been listening since Ten. Less the beard, and more the stage presence, vocals, etc.

Listening to old shows and newer ones, I always get struck by how Ed's speaking voice has changed over the years.

In the mid 90s he had this kind of affected, sonorous thing going on that almost sounds like an exaggerated Southern accent, as though he's rolling every syllable around in his mouth.

I remember all my PJ album purchases

1) Rode by bike to the record store after saving enough money from mowing the lawn. Went to specifically get Ten bc of Jeremy
2) Stumbled across VS in the used cd store. I had no idea there was a new album out, it had probably been out for at least a year. Got it for $5, which was perfect for a 13 year old.
3) Got Vitalogy from my brother for my birthday
4) Skipped school to be at the record store when it opened to get No Code
5) Yield was the same. Skipped school to be there when it opened at 10.
6) Bought Binaural at a midnight sale at Virgin Megastore while living in Orlando. I had the vinyl and cd. A Britney Spears album was released at the same time, and of the 20 people in line to buy albums, 19 were getting Britney Spears (I worked at Disney at the time and this was at the Disney Virgin Megastore)
7) Riot Act was purchased after class one day in college. I had to drive to the next town bc the store in the college town was so bad they weren't getting it for another week
8) Avocado was bought at Other Music in NYC. I felt so uncool.
9) Backspacer from Easy Street in Seattle when they opened. There was a line.
10) Lightning Bolt was the same...Rode my bike to Easy Street for a midnight release and listening party. Tim Bierman was there acting cooler than school. I got some schwag that's still on my desk covered in dust.

So from Ten to Lightning Bolt, I tend to ride bikes to get my PJ albums.

You waited in line for Backspacer.

Better that than the Bolt.

Vs: Got it the weekend after it came out. I had seen Alive on TV, and was at the mall with some older kids and wanted to fit in, so I got the record they were all excited about.

Ten: Got it from my aunt for Xmas, a couple months after I got Vs.

Vitalogy: Couldn't wait. Had my mom pick it up on her day off, came home from school and listened to it twice with headphones.

No Code: Rode my bike to the local record shop.

Yield: Drove my parents' car to the local record shop.

Binaural: Don't remember where I got it, but I remember listening to it the day it came out in my dorm room.

Riot Act: I was in Costa Rica when it came out. I met a guy who had it, and I looked at the booklet, but wanted to wait until I was back in the states to purchase and digest it. Didn't actually get it until it had been out for a couple months, as my affection for the band was waning. Was really let down, though now it's one of my favorites.

S/T: I remember listening to the leak multiple times on a drive to NYC to work some studio sessions and chase a girl. Don't recall where I got the official release.

Backspacer: Picked it up at Newbury Comics in Harvard Sq, listened to it on a bus ride after a studio session.

Lightning Bolt: Downloaded the digital leak while I waited for the vinyl to arrive. Listened to it on full blast 2x while I painted my living room.

I got Ten as a cassette from Columbia House

Geezer

I really just cant stand the band RNDM

The three or four songs I've heard have been completely unremarkable

I had heard this little independent record shop had some PJ bootlegs back in '98, so i went there about a week before Yield was scheduled to be released. I had the PJ itch, and it needed to be scratched, and I couldn't wait another whole week to get my PJ album fix. I thought I'd stop in and see what they had. I asked the guy about bootlegs, and he asks me if I wanted to buy the new album. They had just got it in that day, and had no problem selling it to me early. I walked out of there with a brand new copy of yield a week before it was released. Put the disc in the car and cranked Brain of J, which I had heard from the '95 boots.

That is one of my favorite PJ memories of all time.


Contrast that with a couple months prior to that, I was riding in a friend's car, and this song comes on the radio. I'd never heard it, and for some reason, my immediate thought was "this sounds like a new Tom Petty song". I listened for a minute, realized it wasn't Tom Petty, but still couldn't place it. My friend (who knew I was a huge PJ fan), says "Hey man - isn't this new Pearl Jam song great?" For some reason I had no idea that Given to Fly had been released or what it sounded like. I had been on PJ hiatus I guess. That got me juiced up again about them....., and fast forward to the story above...

the first time I heard DTE (first song I heard off of yield, played on the radio a few weeks prior to release) I thought 'what the fuck did Eddie do to his voice'

The first time I heard DTE was through a tape trade I made to get the Oakland '97 shows, and I had never had that hugely positive of a reaction to a PJ song before or since