One of the greatest bands ever?
This was originally written as a reply to the "Rolling Stone's top 50" article, but I liked it and would like to enlighten others on the glory of Pearl Jam, if they are so interested. Reply, folks, and I'll let you know what's what!
Thank you, Sean, for giving a shout out to Pearl Jam. As a major fan, it's often difficult to distance myself from the band enough to look at them objectively. But, many of my friends and other people I've "polled" who were alive in the 90's, even though they're not crazy Pearl Jam fans, admit how much these boys influenced certainly their decade if not the course of rock and roll.
When I discuss Pearl Jam, which I love to do, one of the biggest arguments I get against their greatness is "They sound just like everyone else." This just makes me want to slap stupid people. EVERYONE ELSE sounds like THEM. They were the first of their sound to make an impact (I don't consider Nirvana to sound like Pearl Jam, though definitely both are marquees of the same era) even though other great bands like Alice in Chains and Soundgarden were forming at the same time. But bands like Creed, who have often caught the criticism of imitating Pearl Jam, have done just that. They've cheapened what Pearl Jam stood for, which was individuality and activism. PJ members Jeff Ament and Stone Gossard even went so far as to sue and boycott Ticketmaster, the tour industry giant, for jacking up ticket prices. They lost a lot of fans at this point because few people were able to see their shows, but they maintained. And as a band, they've evolved through the years, unlike Metallica, who just sold out.
Pearl Jam captured the feel of the early to mid nineties more than any other band out there. And that's my opinion.