I remember myself in the early-mid 90′s–a little wild, a little angry, a little unsure of myself. And after watching PJ20, I think the same can be said of Pearl Jam.
Cameron Crowe’s long-awaited Pearl Jam documentary, PJ20, aired on PBS last night, as part of their ‘American Masters’ series. It was predictably tremendous.
I’m left with strong feelings of nostalgia, as Pearl Jam was a large part of my high school and college life. ”Ten” came out when I was in eighth grade and went bonkers on the charts during my freshman year of high school.
I have especially vivid memories of my old childhood pal Rob Rossi basically re-enacting the ‘Jeremy’ video during a sleepover at his house for all of us that were staying over.
“Vs.” dropped in 1993 to much acclaim and I still maintain it’s PJ’s most complete effort, start to finish.
In the documentary last night, it was revealed that Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament were largely the creative forces behind the music on “Ten”, while Eddie Vedder’s creative will really took hold during “Vitalogy”. It seems, then, that the transition of power might’ve occurred sometime during the making of “Vs.”, and I think it shows, as it’s the band’s most balanced, most polished effort, in my opinion.
That the band was on top of the world at the time comes through loud and clear in the sound, and for that reason “Vs.” might also be the band’s most interesting moment in time, culturally speaking.
“Vitalogy” is the disc that played me through my last years of youth–my junior and senior years of high school. The frantic energy of many of the tracks set against the beautiful, reflective melodies of a few others seemed to perfectly capture the wild emotional swings of me in my age 16-17 seasons.
I guess that’s why I’m most nostalgic about “Vitalogy”–though “Ten” was more powerful and “Vs.” more polished, “Vitalogy” represents, for me, my last days of youth.
God, do I miss youth.
“No Code” was widely panned when it came out in 1996 but, as a collegiate freshman, I was hearing none of it. It was more Pearl Jam, dammit, and that’s all that mattered. I was away from home at the time, chasing a girl. Experimenting with freedom. And the experimentation on the album resonated.
I recently went back and listened to No Code and while it’s not quite as approachable as the first three albums, I remain impressed.
They began the process of reinventing themselves while staying true to themselves, which might seem antithetical, but it’s exactly what every 18-year old does when he or she starts college, as I was.
From there every album reminds me of a girl. ”No Code” = Dara Sharapan. ”Yield” = Erica Holberg. ”Binaural” & “Riot Act” = Mrs. DeMaro.
Getting back to PJ20, I guess my favorite takeaway from the film was seeing the band as they were just starting up. For instance, upon getting Eddie’s demo tape following the death of Andy Wood (frontman for ‘Mother Love Bone’), Stone, Jeff and Mike flew Vedder in from San Diego. Five (!) days later ,they were playing ‘Alive’ at shows, the song complete and just as we know it now.
Five days.
There’s so much more from the late 80′s / early 90′s Seattle music scene in PJ20 that I’m not sure you can rightfully call yourself a music fan if you don’t take the time to see it–Kurt Cobain on his relationship with Vedder, Cobain and Vedder slow dancing to Eric Clapton’s ‘Tears in Heaven’ at an MTV awards show, Vedder in a bra on loan from Darcy from the Smashing Pumpkins, Chris Cornell and his many good works via Pearl Jam, Vedder and the entire Seattle music scene…it’s a compendium of 90′s music, really, and given the nature of musical influence, it tells us a great deal about music’s popular culture in the years since.
If you missed it the first time around, PJ20 re-airs October 24 at 3:00 am on PBS. Do not miss it.
