Secrets of the City

This post was a little too press releasy for my tastes, but I let it through anyway because its a slow day.

Sorry, I’ll work on that…

I love their lyrics.

Because I’m HEEE-RIIING
Hum dum did dum did did dum did did matter!

I still love Pearl Jam, though.

LOL Matt! It does take a knack for writing posts on here that don’t sound too Press Releasy (is that a word?) It takes a special person to intentionally add spelling and grammer errors, along w/ a or LOL, and sometimes WTF!

then why don’t you marry them? [slow day, heh heh. couldn't help myself, matt.]

FYI… The [Pearl Jam Website] link is bunked up.

I just heard a busker play “Alive.” This is Seattle, though. Comes with the territory.

Anytime I hear “Alive” I remember the frat on campus who dropped their pants whenever it came on at the bar.

giggle.

http://www.pearljam.com/news/index.php?what=News#97

I know i’m getting old when:

bands that were big in my mid-20’s are doing nostalgia tours.

They played a pretty decent show 2 summers ago at the X.

I already know I’m old! When I heard Pearl Jam’s “Last Kiss” I remembered the orignal J Frank Wilson version!

ooooh ooh ooh ooh ooooh

Wow, and the Dodgers are playing the Twins both nights too! That’s worth a trip to The Cities for sure.

SB (remembers when dirt was new)

Last Kiss
Written by Wayne Cochran in 1962
Best known version done by J. Frank Wilson and the Cavaliers
Hit # 2 on the Top 40 charts in 1964
Remade in 1974 by Wednesday, it only made it to # 18
Remade again in 1999 by Pearl Jam

Pearl Jam? Is that like toe jam, only found under my clitoris instead of between my toes?

blondie, that was gross. funny, but gross.

i haven’t liked pearl jam since “Ten”. that was a long ass time ago.

Pearl Jam? Is that like toe jam, only found under my clitoris instead of between my toes?

Oddly enough, there was a Macalester band called Toe Jam in the early 90’s. Walt Mink opened for them once.

I think I played a gig a Macalester with Toe Jam and Medicine Hat when I played trombone in a ska band. We played there all the time.

i actually have toe jam under my clitoris.

don’t ask!!!!!!!!!!!

That’s something that should never appear on MNStories, Chuck.

Tom & PJ are co-headlining… tickets are gonna be a bit spendy as a result unfortunately…

dunno if i’m gonna do it yet or not, already have tickets to both Chicago PJ/My Morning Jacket shows.

someone should change the headline to say Tom Petty & Pearl Jam imo

Hmmmm….do I have veto power?

well it’s a Tom Petty show first and foremost, Pearl Jam will be playing second… so…

I know i’m getting old when:

bands that were big in my mid-20’s are doing nostalgia tours.

Not that I’m a Pearl Jam fan by any stretch — like most rock critics of the time, I prefer Candlebox — but I don’t think it’s really accurate to call this a “nostalgia tour.”

Pearl Jam has toured and released albums (the majority of which went at least platinum, not counting all those live albums) on a regular basis for the past 15 years. They’re touring this summer to promote their first album for Clive Davis’ J Records, which is going to get a massive push and will most likely sell a couple million copies. (The first single is already a huge hit on rock radio.)

Blondie and the New Cars is a nostalgia tour. This isn’t.

Ross, while i’d love for the new PJ to sell “a couple million”, if it goes platinum we’re doing good, the last 2 have only ever gone Gold up until this point.

i’ve heard the new album… it’s a lot better than Riot Act, and time will tell if i think it’s better than Binaural yet, but this isn’t going to be some huge comeback record by any stretch unfortunately.

but yeah, if it does 1 million copies i’m sure J will be more than happy w/ them.

but you’re right, calling this a nostalgia tour is pretty absurd. like them or not, they’re one of the better arena live acts around these days, and one of the last few of their breed left.

I was going to write the exact same thing as Ross did. Except my nostalgia example would actually have been Tom Petty (though, strangely, I think I’d rather see Petty than PJ).

f*ck arena shows. you can waste you $70 to watch distant ants run around a cavernous din-filled space. if you want rocknroll go see the dirtbombs saturday nite in the entry.

while i tend to agree… i enjoy the the occasional arena show as well

if Lucero wasn’t in town and if it hasn’t been a year and a half since i’ve seen ‘em, i’d be at that Dirtbombs gig as well, they’re killer.

solace, you wink a lot

hah, i guess i like to make sure people know when i’m being light-hearted and/or sarcastic

(I thought maybe you had something stuck in your eye)

To be a nostalgia tour, you’d have to be nostalgic for it. To be nostalgic for Pearl Jam and Tom Petty, you’d have to be. . . (not going there).

Petty and his band are the reason to see this show.

PJ = marginal body of work / talent.

Name is slang for male sexual expulsion.

“Heartbreakers’ – now THERE’s a band name.

that’s not what their name means you idiot

PJ = marginal body of work / talent.

And the Rolling Stones are a one hit wonder.

What next? You guys gonna get all excited next time Dishwalla comes through town?

Ask Eddy V, Kevin.

In an early promotional interview Eddie Vedder claimed that the name “Pearl Jam” was a reference to his great-grandmother, Pearl, who was married to a Native American man and had a special recipe for peyote-laced jam. However, this story seems to have been invented by Vedder as a joke. Another theory put forward in the book Five Against One holds that one of the band members really wanted “pearl” in the new name, and jamming is a common activity done by musicians. The generally-accepted explanation is that it was a phrase the band thought would sound good, so they stuck to it.

Can’t wait for the new album.

What next? You guys gonna get all excited next time Dishwalla comes through town?

Not even close to being in the same league…

(the wink is addicting)

Ross, while i’d love for the new PJ to sell “a couple million”, if it goes platinum we’re doing good, the last 2 have only ever gone Gold up until this point.

I dunno — I could see this album going double platinum. J Records has a small roster and they push their acts really hard — this is the label you sign to if you want to sell a lot of records and win Grammys and stuff.

f*ck arena shows. you can waste you $70 to watch distant ants run around a cavernous din-filled space. if you want rocknroll go see the dirtbombs saturday nite in the entry.

Jeez, chill out, Mary!

“Heartbreakers’ – now THERE’s a band name.

It sure is a great band name. Why else would Tom Petty have ripped it off from Johnny Thunders?

Ross, if the record sells 2 million copies in the US, i will personally buy you dinner

granted i’d be all for it happening, but i’ll be really surprised if it does, considering the last 2 both topped out around 500k

You’re on!

Again, though, I’m basing my prediction for success on business factors. The album’s first single is the band’s biggest hit since “Last Kiss” (which was seven years ago and wasn’t exactly a typical PJ single) and their first modern rock radio No. 1 in a decade. And since its the band’s first album for a new label, it’s going to give hacks like me a new angle to write about. Don’t be surprised to see Eddie Vedder doing more interviews and all that, too.

All of that said, I think it’s kind of funny — a few years ago when the end of the band’s deal with Epic was nearing, they were making noise about how they were going to form their own label and release their own albums (similar talk is coming from Radiohead these days). That’s what makes the band’s decision to sign to such a hyper-commercial label so surprising. (Also, ironically enough, due to the Sony/BMG merger, they’re still under the same corporate umbrella they were at Epic.)

Plus, the strong first single and high-profile tour (two dates at the Xcel is nothing to sneeze at) are going to remind a bunch of former frat guys in their mid-30s that Pearl Jam still exists — the kind of guys who loved PJ in college but started to lose interest after “Yield.” Now they’ve all got 10-year-old kids named Braeden that they’ll force the new album upon.

yeah, the reason they decided to not do it themselves is because they didn’t wanna get bogged down w/ all the shit that goes w/ running your own label. Stone knows all too well how tough it can be sometimes, as he closed shop on Loosegrooe a few years back after a good run.

and the major reason they went w/ J out of all the dozens of offers, is because Clive offered them the freedom they wanted, and they had a great relationship w/ one of the higher ups at J (who signed them to Epic back in the day).

and yeah, it is ironic, but they signed to J when it was still just part of RCA/BMG, before the Sony merger last year, i’m sure they were kind of annoyed that they’re back under the Sony umbrella so to speak now again, but such is life.

and you’re right, they are definitely promoting themselves more for this record than in the last 10+ years. i think before it was unless they could do things on their own terms, they’d rather not do them at all, thus the minimal promotion/interviews/late night tv, etc. now that they’re starting anew, they can dictate how much and how they promote themselves and are willing to let their new label give them fresh ideas for promotion.

it’s gonna be fabulous seeing them back on SNL, supposedly they’re gonna do 3 songs.

as for World Wide Suicide… definitely catchy and their best first single since Given To Fly in ‘98 (they end to pick odd first singles on purpose), but definitely not the best song on the record by any means thankfully. another song that will likely be released as a single imo is called Gone, which Ed debuted last year in Atlantic City, and the demo of it appeared on their Xmas single. his voice hasn’t sounded this great in years like it does on that track. really soaring chorus, somewhat reminiscent of GTF. i didn’t really care for the demo version much, but i’m impressed w/ the studio/ful band take.

Well, this mixes things up a bit. Most of the rest of America sees Pearl Jam with either Sonic Youth or My Morning Jacket. (Kim Gordon and Eddie Vedder doing duets? Party like it’s 1993 again!)

i’ll be seeing the 2 Chicago shows w/ MMJ, cannot wait. haven’t seen MMJ since ‘04 unfortunately.

Robert Pollard is opening in Pitt & Cincy as well.

Wish I could make the Chicago shows with MMJ too!

BTW Rex, it took me a while to get on board, but I love the site. Hope the west coast is treating you well

Be sure to let us know when Bon Jovi comes through town next too…

Though I’m not a fan, I think Pearl Jam is very good. That said, I think they’ve been their own worst enemy and their career has suffered for it. Now it seems they’re doing what they should have been doing all along, though I’m not sure about this Tom Petty thing. Are they considered “classic” rock these days?

Saw PJ in Chi town in August – they were on top of their game. New album is very good.