Video Of The Week: Pearl Jam

Remember in 1995-1996, when the Smashing Pumpkins could do no wrong and went full-artistic with a double album (Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness) as well as a five-CD set of b-sides to accompany it (The Aeroplane Flies High), producing high-budget stop-motion videos for off-kilter singles like 33 and paying tribute to the films of Georges Méliès (Tonight, Tonight) to go with the heroin chic of Zero?

It looks like that's what Josh Wakely was going for when he pitched Pearl Jam his idea for a video based on their new single Retrograde - not the safest bet as a single:

There are nice images and familiar themes - the "end of the world" / Global Warming / nature fights back theme of Gigaton is omnipresent, there are waves and water galore, the idea of people mixed with tarot cards is neat - but the animation doesn't rock my boat, unfortunately.

This one's a nice effort but a miss. Still, it's the best new video out this week.

Video Of The Week: Pearl Jam

When I first heard Pearl Jam's Superblood Wolfmoon last month, ahead of their new record Gigaton's release, I felt a tad underwhelmed by the song. It had a decent riff, but the lyrics seemed too juvenile at first glance, and I got to hoping they wouldn't play it too often on their upcoming tour, where I'd be seeing them at least twice (Ottawa and Québec).

I didn't listen to it that often, for that reason, but once in a while I would hear it on the radio - and I never listen to the radio, but sometimes when my kid won't sleep, I'll tune in to CHOM (Montréal's last remaining rock station) and dance with him in my arms for a while, and it invariably played.

It's been stuck in my head for a couple of weeks now. The hook is addictive. And Keith Ross and the Tiny Concert animation crew did a fine job of capturing the band's energy in their primitive drawings and giving them life in the official video:

I always feel kind of bad when keyboardist Boom Gaspar is left out of the picture, though. The poor guy's been playing with the band since 2002 and still hasn't gotten promoted to "band member", instead remaining officially a "session and touring musician". Yeah, for one band.

Video Of The Week: Pearl Jam

It's been getting easier in the past 10-15 years to hear direct influences of Pearl Jam's newer songs, from the b-side Down sounding like a less-distorted version of AC/DC's You Shook Me (All Night Long); many people hear a Talking Heads influence in their latest video out today, Dance Of The Clairvoyants, but if you keep in mind The Heads have also influenced modern bands like Arcade Fire, you might also detect an eerie similarity to the Montréal band's own Reflektor:

Don't get me wrong, I'd rather they wear their influences on their sleeve and be true to it in their hearts, it's just that the Rock And Roll Hall Of Famers are clearly on a path where they are a lot less ahead of the curve than when they led the rock world.

Sure, with Gigaton, a record that dives head-first into political messaging and the urgency of global warming, their message is still on point, but the the edge no longer cuts.

Director Ryan Cory does a good job of merging the band's energy (and the track's dance-ability) with images of the earth's beauty and strength. Notice how guitarist Stone Gossard and bassist Jeff Ament - essentially the band's founders and co-conspirators since the mid-1980s in Green River, then Malfunkshun and Mother Love Bone - have switched instruments, with Gossard playing (and having come up with) the bass parts and Ament carrying his axe like a rockabilly twanger. 

They're no longer reinventing rock, but at least they're reinventing themselves. And the song's pretty good, too!

Video Of The Week: Temple Of The Dog

In the beginning, there was Malfunkshun. It was Easter Sunday in Seattle, in 1980. They owed a lot to Kiss and T-Rex as far as sound and look goes, perhaps with a bit more distortion in their guitars.

They played for years with such Seattle luminaries The U-Men (est. 1981), Melvins (1983), Green River (1984) and Soundgarden (1984); they were all friends. So much so that Malfunkshun's lead singer, Andrew Wood, started playing with Green River's Jeff Ament and Stone Gossard and formed Mother Love Bone, then moved in and became roommates with Soundgarden's Chris Cornell. The other half of Green River formed Mudhoney, who went on to have some success of their own.

In 1990, Wood died of a heroin overdose, which deeply affected all of his friends - and Cornell in particular; he wrote twelve moving songs in tribute to his best friend, ten of which made it onto Temple Of The Dog's self-titled record, a project he included Wood's Mother Love Bone bandmates in, including a new singer they'd brought in to front their new unit, then-named Mookie Blaylock in honor of the basketball star but would soon be renamed Pearl Jam, a Chicago-via-San Diego surfer/artist called Eddie Vedder;  Soundgarden's Matt Cameron was on drum duty, having done the same on the Gossard's demo that prompted Vedder to move up North to try out for the new band, and PJ's lead guitarist Mike McCready was invited as well.

It was thus no lie when the Temple Of The Dog CD was adorned with a sticker that read "Pearl Jam + Soundgarden = Temple Of The Dog", and the video for Hunger Strike, which remains one of the best songs of the 1990s, made full use of all members sporting plaid shirts and shorts with underalls. It was directed by Paul Rachman and featured such Pacific Northwest staples as a beach, a "forest" and the West Point Lighthouse:

Cornell didn't actually think much of the song originally, until Vedder came along and added his twist to it:

When we started rehearsing the songs, I had pulled out "Hunger Strike" and I had this feeling it was just kind of gonna be filler, it didn't feel like a real song. Eddie was sitting there waiting for a (Mookie Blaylock) rehearsal and I was singing parts, and he kind of humbly - but with some balls - walked up to the mic and started singing the low parts for me because he saw it was kind of hard (and I was struggling). We got through a couple choruses of him doing that and suddenly the light bulb came on in my head, this guy's voice is amazing for these low parts. History wrote itself after that, (and it) became the single.

In music, history is often made accidentally. Lightning in a bottle.

Video Of A Generation: Pearl Jam

To celebrate the band's upcoming induction in the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, Pearl Jam's official videographer, Kevin Shuss, compiled 25 years' worth of video material set to the tune of their first single, Alive:

There are tons of special guests in there, from Neil Young to members of The Ramones to every drummer in the band's history to Chris Cornell to Ben Harper to the band appearing with or opening for the likes of The Rolling Stones and The Who... it's a neat little compilation/celebration.

Video Of The Week: Pearl Jam

As I'm nearing the end of a streak of sadness, I decided to cap it off with Pearl Jam's ''official video'' for Just Breathe from their 2009 record Backspacer, which is actually taken from a TV broadcast of their appearance on the 2009 Austin City Limits show. It's fitting, though, as the band has always preferred either live videos or not appearing in them at all - they have a bit of an issue with any type of middle ground or compromise when it comes to their art and public appearances, and become intense when both get combined.

If it sounds reminiscent of Eddie Vedder's 2007 soundtrack for Into The Wild, it's because it it: there was a chord in the song Tuolumne that he decided to play with and expand on two years later, which became Just Breathe, which is one of the many PJ songs dealing with death and cycles ending. Many people deem it the best at conveying that message, while I'm partial to Man Of The Hour from the Tim Burton film Big Fish.

Still, Just Breathe has now replaced Yellow Ledbetter as the sad Pearl Jam song playing in movies and TV shows that want to end on a teary note.

It was covered by Willie Nelson on his 2012 album Heroes.

Video Of The Week: Interpol

For a guy who claims to have always hated Pearl Jam's music, Interpol's lead singer and songwriter Paul Banks sure went out of his way to write a slow-building song (like Unthought Known, I Got ID and 80% of PJ's catalog) with an energetic chorus (Alive, Do The Evolution, Given To Fly) and co-directed a video (with Sophia Peer) with a lot of water (Amongst The Waves), waves (Can't Keep) and surfing (Oceans) in it... in black-and-white (Oceans, Amongst The Waves).

Don't get me wrong, it's his best song in years, and hints that the upcoming album El Pintor may finally live up to the promise of the band's first two (Turn On The Bright Lights and Antics) after pretty much a decade of disappointment, on record at least. Because I have to admit Interpol still delivers live, and are now a far ways away from just mixing Joy Division-type of songs with modern indie rock: they have their own, distinctive voice, their own vibe and energy, and create their own experience. And I'm certain that this new song, All The Rage Back Home, will be the new staple of their shows.

Another song about failure and heartbreak? Yep, and a mighty good one too.

This Week's Top 10s

Top 10 Songs:

10. YOUTH WITHOUT YOUTH, Metric (2012)
9. SIRENS, Pearl Jam (2013)
8. BLOOD ON THE CURTAINS, Melted Faces (2013)
7. BEFORE YOUR VERY EYES, Atoms For Peace (2012)
6. COPY OF A, Nine Inch Nails (2013)
5. DESPAIR, Yeah Yeah Yeahs (2013)
4. HIGH ROAD, Cults (2013)
3. GAMES WITHOUT FRONTIERS (Peter Gabriel cover), Arcade Fire (2013)
2. COSMIC CANNIBALISM, UUBBUURRUU (2013)
1. REFLEKTOR, Arcade Fire (with David Bowie) (2013)

Top 10 Pearl Jam Official Live Bootlegs:

10. SAN FRANCISCO, CA: 2006-07-16 (2006)
9. TOKYO, JAPAN: 2003-03-03 (2003)
8. CHICAGO, IL: 2000-10-09 (2000)
7. MISSOULA, MT: 2012-09-30 (2012)
6. PHILADELPHIA, PA: 2009-10-31 (2009)
5. MANSFIELD, MA: 2003-07-11 (2003)
4. MTV UNPLUGGED (1992-03-16) (2009)
3. LAS VEGAS, NV: 2000-10-22 (2000)
2. STATE COLLEGE, PA: 2003-05-03 (2003)
1. VERONA, ITALIA: 2000-06-20 (2000)

Honorable mentions: Edmonton 2011-09-23, Rio De Janeiro 2011-11-06, Mexico City 2011-11-24, though I feel the band sounded best in 1996, particularly the Berlin show, which they haven't released themselves (yet).

Pearl Jam: Lou Reed Tribute

As tributes came left and right to mark the passing of Lou Reed these past few days, my favourite band got in the mix and covered one of the Velvet Underground's hardest songs - not because it's complicated by any stretch of the imagination, but because it's repetitive and almost toneless. The song is Waiting For The Man; it's from their show in Baltimore last Sunday:



Notice how even Eddie Vedder can't stop himself from moving into his actual, loud voice for the last verse...

Pearl Jam's Lightning Bolt

I did it for Backspacer, so I figured I'd do it for Lightning Bolt as well... a track-by-track critique of Pearl Jam's record, due out today.

First off, what a generic fucking album title. ''Will it be electric? Will it hit you like a lightning bolt?'' Also, after pulling the ''eponymous album'' on their eighth in 2006, they now give us their first with a record named after one of its songs. On their tenth album. I'm expecting a re-hash of Hotel California on the next one...

Getaway is a good lead-off track, with its 70s/Kiss vibe (complete with drums-and-vocals breakdown), reminiscent of Backspacer's Johnny Guitar. 8/10

Mind Your Manners was the first single and video, and it sounds like a lot of PJ's ''rockers'', notably those with hardcore-punk-inspired vocal melodies (Blood, Comatose), with the bridge bringing a softer break. It's ok, but not great. Could use louder guitars to match the intensity. 6.5/10

My Father's Son has decent musical ideas, particularly the Caribbean-like bass lines, but the guitar seriously lacks balls - distortion and low ends. As they are, they leave the (angry) vocals to defend themselves and don't utter a syllable to help out. Could have been at least two points better with decent sound. 6.5/10

I've already commented on Sirens when I featured the video a few days ago, but I'll reiterate: good power ballad that could have used better lyrics (as in not ''can you hear the sirens'' three times to start the song off). But I'll be glad to hear it live if it replaces the overplayed Daugther and Small Town, maybe even Betterman. 7.5/10

As a title track, Lightning Bolt is far from a standout. It's not terrible, but also suffers from poor production: it seems the second verse's guitars don't come in as strongly as they do the first time around, though you'd think they'd want to increase the intensity. Also, keeping in mind Wishlist and Unthought Known, it's beginning to be a theme to have songs that start with (and also have a middle part with) muted guitar notes. I say ''theme'' because I'm trying hard not to say ''schtick''. 6.5/10

The sixth song of the album is called Infallible, which I'm guessing was ironic, because it actually proves PJ to be anything but. You know when you hear a Soundgarden song and think to yourself ''it's ok, but it sounds like a Pearl Jam knock-off''? Well, this sounds like Pearl Jam imitating Soundgarden channeling Pearl Jam. Fitting, then, that at 2:15, Eddie Vedder would sing: ''You think we've been here before / You are mistaken''. It's an honest mistake, really, and you won't be the first to make it. 5/10

Pendulum. Oh, what promise, with a drum beat that wouldn't have been out of place on No Code (or close to Radiohead's There There, for you non-PJ fans). The guitar playing is subdued, restrained, efficient; it would have been a really good number if not for the damned ''ah-ah-ah-ah-ahs'' punctuating the final minute-and-a-half - really, there wasn't a 5-syllable sentence they could have repeated instead of fucking ''ahs'', even something as simple as ''time just passes by'', or ''here I am to die'', or ''I'm going back to bed''... 7/10

Swallowed Whole isn't a bad song, it's well-written enough, seems like one of the band's classic mid-tempo rockers, except it sounds like shit. This song is a testament that the band needs outside help at a producing level (and should take Brendan O'Brien's studio key away or change the locks altogether). The guitars sound like they're played through a 1940s AM radio and Vedder's voice is way too loud in the mix - and he's singing slightly off-key in a burning-my-ears kind of way, like when 20 years of people complimenting his awesome voice gets to his head and he starts to think every sound coming out of his mouth is gold. 6/10

And now it's time for the most painful track of all: Let the Records Play. Let's concentrate on the music first: a classic blues-boogie, it sounds pretty much like Rob Zombie's Pussy Liquor - or the theme from True Blood (a.k.a. Bad Things by Jace Everett)... with their balls taken out, the scrotum following suit, and the dick falling off as well. And when you've emasculated the shit out of a song, might as well throw some classic rock lyrics à la Kiss/Bob Seger in there for good measure (you wish you had one bourbon, one scotch and one beer to wash away this silver bullet, but this is clearly Dry Country). 2/10

Vedderites will recognize Sleeping By Myself from his solo Ukulele Songs album... which for some reason the band decided to cover, taking it from an honest, touching song to a pseudo-country cheese-fest. To make the pain in my ears more bearable when I listen to this, when the guitar solo comes up at the 1:30 mark, I just turn my brain off and drift into the chorus of P!nk's Just Give Me A Reason - yes, I know - and it helps me survive until the next verse. 3/10

Yellow Moon is a winner, though, and probably should have been the closing track. Reminiscent of such nice, dark ballads as Nothingman, it would have been at its place on any PJ record save the first and previous-last, it fits so well in their catalog. It's Low Light's bigger, stronger brother. 8/10

But Future Days is the actual closer, and it's a fine slow song, in the vein of The End or All Or None, though it might have been better suited to play during the end credits of a very good film (see Man Of The Hour for Big Fish). The keyboard intro is the only spot in which Boom Gaspar's presence is felt, which is a tad off-putting considering he's in every band photo for the album. 7/10

All in all, this is an album of firsts in my relationship with Pearl Jam: the first time I don't really like an album, the first time I dislike more songs than I love, the first time I dread going out to see them live in case they pop one of these out, the first time I'm angry at them for going soft for no reason (not the ballads, the ball-less Let The Records Play).

All in all, I'll give this a 6/10.

Video Of The Week: Pearl Jam

I've been holding back featuring this video for two reasons, mostly: one, it's relatively plain - just a performance video - and also, I don't usually want to showcase Pearl Jam songs where the lyrics aren't top-notch.

In this case, the power-ballad called Sirens, lead singer Eddie Vedder says the line ''Hear the sirens'' three times before saying anything else - and it isn't even the chorus, it's just a verse. Well, technically, he doesn't say it at all during the chorus, but the more he says it, the less I want to hear sirens.

Still, it's a good slow song, and if it can mean it will replace such songs as Daughter (a song now just barely tolerated just to see what classic Vedder will tag at the end rather than for the song itself), Betterman or Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town in their setlists, it'll have made the world better place.

Video Of The Week: Pearl Jam

Here's another one that's grown on me, the lead-off single to Pearl Jam's forthcoming (and ridiculously titled) album Lightning Bolt. As is their habit, PJ made people aware of Mind Your Manners little by little: first through a 15-second clip, then 30 seconds, then audio-only, and now a full, half-animated video.

With verses and riffage reminiscent of Minor Threat and Dead Kennedys (and PJ's own Blood, as well as Spin The Black Circle and Comatose), the Seattle veterans go soft-hardcore punk, if such a thing even exists, but from the second listen on, they actually make it believable - and listenable.

Of course, the days when frontman Eddie Vedder's lyrics were almost like sung poetry (in the vein of Bob Dylan, Jim Morrison and Richard Desjardins) are far removed (which pretty much happened around 1998's Yield, when he started letting other band members write some), but there remains familiar enough reference points throughout to appease long-time fans as well as new ones, such as the ever-present visual theme of water as a force to be reckoned with.

I was hoping Vedder would take a cue from his pals from Queens Of The Stone Age and invite other songwriters and guest musicians on board for this record - perhaps the Queen leader himself, Josh Homme - after sub-par showings for the eponymous Avocado record and the uneven, great-at-the-time-but-I-grew-tired-of Backspacer, but this is showing some promise, at least on the catchiness and earworm level for now.

Like Nine Inch Nails' Came Back Hauted, it gets better at every listen, and can easily take my mind of Macklemore and Robin Thicke when they start getting embedded in my brain.

Video Of The (Past) Week: Pearl Jam

Off their eponymous (a.k.a. ''Avocado'') record comes this very good rock song called Life Wasted, by Pearl Jam, directed by Fernando Apodaca, based on facial casts which ended up being part of the album's artwork. The riff is loosely reminiscent of The Ramones' Rockaway Beach, which is fitting considering its lyrics came about to singer Eddie Vedder while driving home from (his friend) Johnny Ramone's funeral.

The video was actually released with a license to be shared, copied, and distributed, the first time a major-label-distributed song (although owned independently by the band's Monkeywrench Records).

Fallon Does Vedder In Tribute To Jeremy Lin

Jimmy Fallon can't remember the lines he writes for himself, can't really read, is awful at telling jokes and not really excellent at interviewing people either.

But he can sure do music impressions.

Last night, in a tribute to both Jeremy Lin and Pearl Jam, he did an impression of Eddie Vedder circa 1992 that was spot-on, to say the least...

Not My Day

Your boss tells you on Friday : ''no need to show up in the morning on Monday, 1 PM will suffice. Sleep in.'' Sounds like a great thing, right?

But of course Murphy will take exception to this and fuck it right up, evil scheming invisible bastard that He is.

So I go to bed at 10 PM-ish, I think, which is early as fuck for me. My roommate/little brother Yan got home at 3:30 AM and woke me up – and I couldn’t fall back asleep. At least I got some reading done – Pearl Jam Twenty (the book – while I await the arrival of the Blu-ray in the mail, possibly Friday). I’m at the year 2000 – Binaural.

But the worst part was the subway ride to fucking work: squeezed up, like fucking mushrooms in a can, and getting pushed by all those sweaty animals as they take the longest possible fucking route to the train’s exit, by bumping into 20 people rather than 5. For that kind of fucking swine, the fastest way from Point A to Point B is by Texas via the fucking moon, with a pit stop for coffee.

Murder might have been the case they gave Snoop Dogg, but I was tempted to follow that path as well. As a matter of fact, I was abnormally over-aggressive on the mid-day hour, considering.

The evening’s looming and my energy level’s dropping, my vision is blurring, and I know I’ll have to share another ride with those fucking worker bees in just a hundred minutes or so. I recently saw a phrase online, possibly on Facebook, that read ''You are not stuck in traffic; you ARE traffic''. Well, I’m not. Not at all. The 9-to-5 crowd is not my crowd, unless you mean the people who start drinking at 9 PM and only stop at 5AM to shower and start their day. In which case, that literally is my crowd, the one that comes to my fucking shows, the ones I owe a lot to.

That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.

Video Of The Week: Eddie Vedder

I had wanted to feature this video for two weeks, but decided against it, first with a small tribute to an important creator who had passed away, then with the cheese that I couldn't get out of my head, but I finally have a chance to feature Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder - whose band will play Montréal on September 7th and Ottawa on my birthday a week later! - singing Can't Keep from his ''new'' solo album Ukelele Songs.

I single out the word ''new'' because many Pearl Jam fans had had their hands on some version of the songs on that album for years now, and Can't Keep itself is from PJ'S Riot Act record, not a ''cover'' per se because, like three-quarters of all PJ songs, it was written by Vedder alone.

Once again, the video's is themed around water, with Vedder simply singing the song solo, on his ukelele, atop a mountain on a small island surrounded by water. Simple stuff, but very effective.








Here's a version by Pearl Jam, should you feel like comparing:

Video Of The Week: Pearl Jam

The most perceptive ones among you will notice this is the second time Pearl Jam has made the Video Of The Week segment, the first time being for (perhaps) my favourite video ever, Do The Evolution.

This time around, Pearl Jam, ever timely in their ''political'' messages, takes a song about one of their favourite subjects (water, oceans, waves, see: Oceans, Given To Fly, Big Wave, Last Exit), adds beautiful imagery of the ocean, and ends it not just with a message to preserve them - but an actual call for help with images of the ever-current BP oil spill.

And it's a catchy tune, called Amongst The Waves, off Backspacer, their terrific 2009 record. If the image doesn't appear completely below, click here.

Things That Happen Backstage At A Pearl Jam Concert

People like Stanley Cup winner Boyd Devereaux partner up with Joe Greenwald and found an underground record label that distributes noise, drone music and instrumental metal.


Read all about it here. Really interesting guy.

A Simple Man

I'm a simple man.

I coast through life not looking for trouble, not embracing it, not fearing it; I await life's obstacles then react, finding a way around, over, or through them, then I plow on to the Next Thing.

I understand when talked to, every word, every idea; I can even see through the bullshit and read between the lines of those who live and die by the political, advertising or media spheres of life. I do, however, I expect more from my friends, family, and loved ones - I expect them to be clear, to enunciate their ideas precisely, beyond doubt, to leave no room for interpretation.

I'm a reliable man.

I can be depended upon to put those close to me ahead of everything else in life, even if it's the worst possible thing to do at that moment. I'll do it without thinking twice, and I will never regret it, not even after grave consequences.

You can expect me to try to become a better person, a better Man, at all times. But you can't expect me to change who I am, my beliefs, my values, because, again, I'm a reliable man. It's simple, man.

I like my qualities, I chose them myself when I was a child, deciding how I wanted to grow up and live my life. I have my flaws, and will work on them, but never interfering with my inherent qualities.

I wouldn't want to compare myself to The Next Man.

Because Next is New and New is Best, more often than not. New is usually What Old Wasn't, so it's an improvement in itself, until its flaws surface, then it becomes a Now, and the only step after a Now is a Past. And only the elderly and the nostalgic are so comfortable with the past.

But everyone, in their life, has had that moment, the one moment, where you decide - or someone does it for you - that it's time to move on. And all of the sudden, you realize you hadn't kept in touch with the ''real world''. Sure, the news, current events, elections, sports championships, things that happened, but not the ''real world''. Somehow, it had decided to continue its operations without you. You remember the last time you had to deal with things on your own, and - holy fuck! - it was a whole decade ago; not just that, it was a brand-new century. People had celebrated, turned over a new leaf, evolved.

Simple, easy things you thought you knew since birth were no longer up-to-date. Interactions between humans had evolved, they don't like hearing the same things they used to; their thought process had changed; your views are no longer in the majority (where you're looking, at least).

And to make things worse, you no longer look like you used to; heck, you don't even look like you think you look (which is closer to how you used to be, give or take a couple of years and pounds): hair is gone, belly is immense, height has decreased, muscles are softer, limbs are crooked...

How the hell did that happen? How did I not notice this happening? Where did my fucking life go?

And it hits you that, at the very least you're still alive; you can feel it, because despair, pain and worry are emotions, and as far as you know, dead people don't have those. But you think back to every meal you've ever had - those vegetables, that meat, they all used to be alive, too, and I came along, and then I flushed them away. Elton John sang about it, ''The Circle Of Life'', and goddamn The Lion King was a great movie...

But where does that leave me?, we always ask ourselves. Me, me me.

To the world: Who cares? It can live without you, and will; heck, it has, for a decade, already.
To those you know: they'll make it through.

If you're lucky, they can help you make it through, too.

'Cause you're still alive.




----------------

Video of the Week: Pearl Jam

Part 2 of my ''Favourite Videos Of All Time'' posts... good thing, too, because I have to get back to newer stuff that I've been listening to (and, of course, watching).

There are two sides when it comes to Pearl Jam - the I Hate and the I Love. Few people are ambiguous. You'll have guessed that if this is one of my two favourite videos of all time, I'm on the I Love team...

My passion for them, though, really is objective. As a matter of fact, I once made fun of people who liked them, back in the 'Jeremy' days, by rocking my head and torso like I was having a seizure and singing 'Jeremy spoke in... spoke in...' to people I knew loved them.

Then I saw them live... It was like witnessing the Second Coming, if you're religious. That Eddie Vedder character can really interact with a crowd, and that Jeff Ament dude can sure jump, and that Mike McCready guy can sure fire up his guitar with fiery solos.

And the songs were good too. All the songs apart from 'Jeremy'. Well, 'Jeremy' too, but it's been overplayed, for sure. But 'Black', 'Alive', 'Why Go', 'Garden' - top-quality stuff. Back then, I was also big on 'Even Flow', more than now, after having witnessed it a dozen times live (at least). And that second record, Vs, better than the first. And their willingness to go to bat for their fans, and their will to shed a part of their fanbase that they disagreed with (and thus a flood of more 'artistic' records like Vitalogy and, my personal favourite, No Code)... and their disdain for the video-making process and the way tehy're presented by networks like MTV...

It all led to them, in 1992, at the height of their popularity, after winning 5 MTV Awards for 'Jeremy' (and, I think, a Grammy for it as well)... until 1998's 'Do The Evolution' - in which they don't even appear.

'Do The Evolution' is Todd McFarlane's first all-animated video (ahead of the one he did for Korn just a few months later) and first aired, in Canada, the day after their 1998 Toronto performance (August 22nd, officially in barrie, Ontario, a great fucking show, of course). It depicts the evolution of mankind, through wars, famine and genocide - and paints a pretty bleak picture of where we come from and where we're headed, with a bit of the old 'History Repeats Itself' thrown in for good measure.

It was groundbreaking then, but because PJ had gone under the radar in those years, many people not only have yet to see their greatest video, they have also yet to hear one of their best songs - period. It's their loss. I present it here anyway, because I'm a good person, but those who don't like them likely won't even bother, but if they did, they'll be amazed that the whole thing still stands today - both the message and the quality of the art.