I was 16 when Ten came out, right in those years when music really matters to you. Loved it. However i did prefer the slightly heavier sounds of that era I.e Soundgarden and AIC. V's was ok but for mine they peaked at Vitalogy. Only listen to the first 3 albums now and the latest one.
The Vitialogy tour concert was one of the best concerts I've been to in my life. Saw them on another tour after that, was a bit meh.
I don't think they're under-rated, i think they are thought of pretty highly.
This. There are lots of great bands that deserve the underrated tag, PJ certainly isn't one of them.
i've seen them a couple of times. Once when we "accidentally" destroyed the fence at the Music Bowl in 95(?), lol. and once at the tennis centre.
Lol, Im actually listening to Ukulele Songs on my computer at work while I type this...
I've seen PJ on 4 different tours now, and got into them from the moment I heard Jeremey get blasted at the AMA's as they came out to get an award, umm 1993?. I was blown away and had never heard of them before, and rode my bike to the local record shop (PJ's record bar , funnily enough) the next day to by the CD.
Anyway, credentials aside, they are a great, great band, and I think it would be ridiculous to suggest they are underated on any level. They are basically known as arguably the worlds best band. They are still selling out stadiums after 20 years? How is that underated?
Thread title aside, i see you are referring to their string of albums after their biggest albums in Ten & Vs. The fact is, those 2 albums came out during the Grunge boom. PJ are a grunge band and that was when they were hottest. Their music was angst ridden and we were all full of angst. And it was fresh.
There was also the issue of not doing film clips for a while which didn't really help and they have acknowledged.
Anyway I agree to a point that album after album from them have been very to very very good, with each album having at least 3-4 songs worth crying over if they weren't on the set list when you see them.
I've actually found the last 4 albums to be more of a 'slow burn', which probably will help with their longevity, and think once they have retired from music and we look back on their discography we will be pulling out gems from albums that we'd skipped over previously.
Personally I've listened to Ten & Vs too much, and really cant stomach listening to them like I used to (hearing them live is completely different though!).
But you have definitely got me keen to listen to the rest of them all again.
i've seen them a couple of times. Once when we "accidentally" destroyed the fence at the Music Bowl in 95(?), lol. and once at the tennis centre.
I was there.
I paid.
One of if not my favourite band...Every album has one or two tracks where you just go wow..songs like Present Tense, Sleight of hand and Parting ways...they arent their biggest hits but gee they are great songs.
Ten and VS are the most sold albums they have for sure but yeah I give everything a crack, self titled probably was the weakest album in my opinion.
I have seen them on tour in 98, 2002, 2006, 2009
Great live band that always plays around 30 odd songs for 2 1/2 hours making the ticket price worth it.
I hope they come back and play Rod Laver again as the Etihad show was to big and I missed BDO
One of if not my favourite band...Every album has one or two tracks where you just go wow..songs like Present Tense, Sleight of hand and Parting ways...they arent their biggest hits but gee they are great songs.
Ten and VS are the most sold albums they have for sure but yeah I give everything a crack, self titled probably was the weakest album in my opinion.
I have seen them on tour in 98, 2002, 2006, 2009
Great live band that always plays around 30 odd songs for 2 1/2 hours making the ticket price worth it.
I hope they come back and play Rod Laver again as the Etihad show was to big and I missed BDO
Love Rod Laver as a venue. Seen them their twice and at Etihad aswell, you are right E-had is too big. No such thing as a bad seat at Rod Lave if the band is PJ.
They really rip through the hits too. Can be annoying if they skim over your favourite guitar solo but at least you got to hear them play the song. Then again they'll turn another song into a huge jam session for 15 mins. Still amazes me they can get through so many hits.
They're certainly not under-rated in this country. Triple M listeners just voted them best band of all time, the band members did the programming for several sessions on that station this summer, and they're headlining the Big Day Out. All that when the band is over twenty years old.
As to why they're under-rated in the other two big markets, you need to look at what they do over-rate.
The US has preferred hip-hop and "r 'n b" for the last fifteen years. They just had the Grammys. LL Cool J hosted and Beyonce and Jay Z opened the show. Imagine that 20 years ago.
The UK has always had a prejudice against what they consider big dumb rock compared to their latest indie flavour of the week. Fool's Gold is one of the greatest songs of all time!
Nup, I reckon they are rated where they should be. Very highly.
I remember when No Code came out. The build up was huge, but it wasn’t greatly received. It’s still a good album (do the evolution is still one of my favourite PJ songs, largely due to the film clip, and me being a teenage stoner at the time) but it’s miles off Ten and Vs.
Now when I say underrated, I am not talking about their early hits from 1991 that saturated the airwaves and made the band a nice nest egg. I am talking about that period that started with Vs -- Vitalogy -- No Code -- Yield -- Binaural ..a five album streak that was just brilliant. Even Binaural has some of their best work. Listen to the track "Grievance", one of the coolest songs they ever created.
No Code and Yield side by side are on the borderline of being two classic releases in a row. I am surprised that No Code isn't seen to be on par with albums like OK Computer or Kid A. The song "The Present Tense" being on par with songs like Bohemian Rhapsody or Pink Floyd's Echoes. Their ability to form perfect punk songs like Habit, Do the Evolution, Grievance, Spin the Black Circle and Lukin is due to Eddie's obsession with Fugazi, but the band are so good at it.
The bands back catalog is incredible. We are talking about close to 100 great distinctive and memorable songs.
Even their post Riot Act period albums have 4-5 great quality songs.
So my question is why does their significance seem to be unnoticed compared to some other bands out there?
Metallica, REM, NIN, Radiohead, U2, Pumpkins, Nirvana etc. all get thrown about for their catalogs, why not PEarl Jam?
I just, I really don't know how a band can be this good. Are they not aliens?
If we're talking about underrated people then the producer Flood, who produced the major albums for the bolded bands, is worth a mention. He also produced New Order, Ministry, Nick Cave, PJ Harvey, Depeche Mode, Jesus and Mary Chain, The Killers, Sigur Ros, Placebo and Glasvegas albums. He'd have to be the most underrated guy in rock.
Flood is right there with Eno & Albini in my all time top3 fave producers.
The fact they have been boring an irrelevant for what 15 years doesn't help them, I think their value has gone backwards.
Avery Album they release with Vedder mumbling boring sea chanty songs pegs them back for mine.
Never really been a fan, they werent hard enough, but anyway…
A friend got married and his wife chose the song “Better Man” for when they walked down the aisle or the bridal waltz either way can’t remember but it just seemed the perfect song for them.
it aint a love song.
Anyways Ive sene PJ on every tour. Ive seen them in Seattle.
Epic live band.
Every album has been great for various reasons.
Besides Binaural.
Ten was raw and emotional.
Vs showed they could write with more polish (but keep the angst) and write hits if they wanted to.
Both epic albums and probably mean more becuase of what was happening musically at the time. They helped shift a whole movement.
Vitalogy and Yield are the next best albums. Eddies vocal on Yield are his best I reckon. He soars and lifts you.
They are the rolling stones of my generation anyways. The stones didn't sell any albums in the 80s and 90s but it didn't diminish there worth.
AC DC didn't sell any records in the 80s but they emerged.
The fact PJ are still making great tunes that translate live says something.
I saw EV solo in 2012 I think. Epic gig. I caught the pick at the end of the show.
Sal I was at both those show. I was one of the ones that pushed the fence over.
The night before at the tennis centre we rushed the stage after RVM and passed all the chairs to the back. Dave Grohl came on and played "Sonic reducer" Epic.
I'm not saying they are my favourite band of all time but i never fail to go and see them because they never disappoint live.
This idea that PJs first 2 albums are the obvious best of the lot to me personally is just a weird concept.
Maybe have a closer listen to No Code, Yield etc and check out their documentary "Single Video Theory"...
Maybe it just depends on whether you listen to metal/grundge or if you like a span of other genres.
I really don't know how to explain it any better.
No Code is genius.
Agree completely with this. I think their newer stuff wasn't as good as the middle years but still good.
I think what really hurt them was the reaction to the early fame, after Vitology from memory. When they stopped producing music video's and had the stand against Ticketmaster. This was when they released their best albums but didn't attract any new fans because their music was getting out into the mainstream.
And in saying that, I agree that they are rated very highly. Always seem to sell out concerts.
Pound for pound they are better than U2 who I rate highly. Pearl Jam have not received the kudos that U2 have received, which in my opinion is somewhat inflated due to Bono's personality and their arena shows. Musically I find them more interesting.
U2 have been around 10 years longer.
The recognition is starting for PJ now.
Pound for pound they are better than U2 who I rate highly. Pearl Jam have not received the kudos that U2 have received, which in my opinion is somewhat inflated due to Bono's personality and their arena shows. Musically I find them more interesting.
Musically the local folk singer is probably ahead of U2.
Really odd thread title. Firstly I've never been a fan, but they're rated pretty highly. Secondly, it should be 'Are Pearl Jam overrated?', not 'Is'. It makes my eyes hurt reading that.
Really odd thread title. Firstly I've never been a fan, but they're rated pretty highly. Secondly, it should be 'Are Pearl Jam overrated?', not 'Is'. It makes my eyes hurt reading that.