Today I’m going to answer that age-old music geek question: What was the first album you bought? It’s a tricky thing, because no matter what your first album was, you always wish it was cooler. I don’t count those poppy-silly things you listened to when you were really little, like New Kids On The Block or Milli Vanilli. (Whatever. Don’t try to pretend that you didn’t like them.) Those are important, too, even if they are a little embarrassing, but it’s a different question. I’m talking about the first album that you bought with your own saved-up allowance, that first band that you loved that was grown-up music, the first album that you wanted that you didn’t hear about through your older brother or cool cousin.
Mine was Pearl Jam, Ten. I loved that album more than anything I had ever owned before. I don’t really remember, but I must’ve seen the video for “Evenflow” or “Alive” and just clung on to it. I listened to it all day, every day, and while I was falling asleep, I played Side A in the background. My family took a trip to New York for a few days for a family reunion and I couldn’t bear to be away from Ten for that long; I took it with me, along with my brother’s borrowed walkman, just so I could still fall asleep to it.
It’s been nearly 15 years since Ten was released and I still love it as much as I did in back in 1991. The amazon.com editorial review says, “Over time, PJ’s rep as a politically correct band just a little too above it all to prostitute its music on MTV has nearly superseded the music. But before that, they were a simply an in-your-face, in-your-head, loud, melodic rock band.” I think that’s all bollocks. It trivializes both what they do now and what they did then. They were so much more than “simply … a melodic rock band”. It’s hard to remember now, just like it’s hard to imagine the world before The Beatles, but the “Seattle Sound” really was as new and fresh as everyone says. And I won’t even go near that “politically correct band” comment, it’s just not worth it. Pearl Jam does what they want and what they believe in and they don’t kiss anyone’s ass. I respect that. A lot of people have moved on from Pearl Jam over time, but I reckon those are the people who hate when bands change and just want them to keep making the same album over and over. Once their sound started moving away from grunge, a lot of people claimed that they’d lost it. I don’t agree with that either. Pearl Jam is just as good as they always were, if not as explosive. If that’s not your thing, that’s fine, but don’t blame the band.
Pearl Jam, their eighth album (not counting live albums and b-sides and whatnot) will be out in a little over a week. Here’s my little tribute to how they’ve been a massive part of the Soundtrack of Nearly My Whole Life.
Pearl Jam - Alive (1991)
Pearl Jam - I Am Mine (2002)
No comments
Comments feed for this article