'Pearl Jam' proudly from Seattle

   This recent purchase goes with my baseball cap from some ten years ago... the common link is that as a 'grunge' rock band their sense of humour sees Pearl Jam authorise a range of what they'd call 'bandwagon' merchandise.  
   The blue cap has the initials PJ on the front mirroring an era of the Seattle Mariners MLB baseball team [who play out of the so-called 'Safeco Field'] and this t-shirt features the iconic 'Space Needle' built in 1962. This Tower is front and centre for any Seattle based TV show [e.g. Frasier, Greys Anatomy] or tourism promotion. Beyond all this I have grown to have a deep appreciation for the music of Pearl Jam. It wasn't always so...
   To be fair when I first heard their music I found it to be just noise and assumed the young people I knew who liked it must have been smoking something when they listened [ I haven't changed that view]. It's the only way their early independent popularity made sense to me.
   All that, until I stopped and listened to 'Vitalogy' in December 1994. True, it was more accessible, but I could also relate to more of the subject matter. I began to read about the band and came to admire their campaign against Ticketmaster as they were restricted to less attractive venues in the US and offered relatively cheap affordable ticket prices in protest at the ticketing empire. Though the tour collapsed it was a significant stance that led to US Government action. Add to this their early refusal to make music videos or accept interviews. When 'Vitalogy' smashed the charts they still seemed uncomfortable with that kind of fame as much of the focus fell on lead singer Eddie Vedder.
   The next few albums seemed an attempt to change, to find new sounds and to maintain their edge [No Code and Binaural are classic examples].
   My final appreciation of the band is that theirs is a concert where you may choose to stand, gyrate and mosh... but you could equally sit and take it all in from the cheap seats and simply get lost in the sounds!!
   This I managed to do at Sydney's Ent Cent having passed up a previous opportunity to see the band outdoors!! I'm too old to do the 'Big Day Out' in Sydney next January [no really] so I still hold some small hope of a side show announcement, but time is running out!!
   Nonetheless 'Lightning Bolt' [the bands 10th album] is entertaining me on long drives! 'Mind Your Manners' is a worthy song and 'Sirens' an interesting choice for the highlights reels of the recently completed Major League Baseball 'World Series' best of seven between Boston and St Louis...
   As an aside Eddie Vedder's foray into the Ukelele is a great record itself... gotta love a muso who anonymously hits Aussie beaches to surf and disappear from time to time!!