Evil Empire is one of the best-sounding albums I've ever heard.

Agreed.

Tchad Blake for sure.

They got the recording technique/production perfect with riot act, but must have run out of creativity after that point so they needed to start using the "finest" of studio trickery and the mind of BO'B to fill the void. Also pearl jam haven't really been able to end a song properly since riot act either.

Why couldn't the world have appreciated No Code - Riot Act as much as us cool motherfuckers?

Thanks to mikejasond, I've been listening to way too much Pearl Jam.

I love this post

Ah yes, the famed Middle Period © "theplatypus"

ahh, the years I felt like I had to apologize for liking pearl jam

I don't know if there's a been a time when I didn't feel like this.

i just don't tell anyone to avoid the whole situation

I've always felt moderately embarrassed about loving pearl Jam.

Me too.

As bodysnatcher said, I tend to avoid the topic where possible.

But, honestly, why is it that we feel that way? Because deep down we all know PJ is kinda lame? I don't know what it is. Or we know how MUCH into PJ we are, so it's kinda embarrassing?

I think it's an awareness of the public's perception of the band (Even Flow, hair, flannel, Seattle, the 90s) combined with the knowledge of how insufferable most hardcore Pearl Jam fans are. Neither are things I am very keen to be associated with. Can you imagine being thought of as "the Pearl Jam guy" in the office? I think I'd have to change my name and move.

There's never been anything cool about being a PJ fan. The closest we come is saying we like the alternate tracklist for Binaural. And even then no one cares but us b/c the general public hates Binaural (if they even know what it is).

In most music appreciating circles, PJ never really lost the stink that Cobain and the big riff rawk of Ten put on them.

To them and most others, the "coolest" PJ ever got was taking on Ticketmaster.

There really isn't a context where Pearl Jam is musically considered remarkable and consequentially cool to be a fan of. The part of their career, that they were in a place that would earn them proper artistic stature (beyond the touring band thing), they were largely off the radar and the internet wasn't big enough to compensate for it yet.
I guess being a fan is considered as being part of some sort of cult.

I am totally fine admitting it today

I don't mention that I like pearl jam anymore. The argument used to be "They have better albums than "ten"" and their bootlegs are great!"

Now the argument has to be, "they have better albums than "ten", but they've been shit for the past 10 years so ignore that period, and their bootlegs sound awful unless you get ones from these particular tours." Id prefer to just say I like soundgarden.