Spin The Black Circle - The Pearl Jam Thread

Space Wanderer

Space Wanderer

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We definitely need a dedicated Pearl Jam thread around here, if for no other reason than to have an alternative to the Ten Club forums. Seems like we have a number of fans here, which is no surprise given the support the band has always given to this format. I know they were a huge influence on my decision to get into it.

Sadly we need to locate this in “General Music & Vinyl” since it would no longer make sense to put a Ten Club thread in the Vinyl Clubs forum.

Things are pretty quiet now, but this will be here whenever we get any news on a new album, a tour or even the long lost Ten Club annual singles.
 
Vitalogy was big when I was in high school. I remember my dad trying to tell me the album was satanic because of song titles like Satan’s Bed and Spin the Black Circle. I can’t imagine he bothered to read the lyrics that are included in the front of the CD booklet...
 
MadLucas said:
Can we get some love for No Code?
Easily my favorite album of theirs!
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I go back and forth between No Code and Vitalogy.

I don't often participate in "Facebook lists," but when they involve music I'm a sucker. Last year I posted ten personally influential albums in ten days and this was what I said about Vitalogy:

Album #8: Pearl Jam, Vitalogy

Okay. Hold on, kids. This is gonna be a looooooong post.

So if you really know me you know that this band is a part of me more than probably any other band I've ever loved. I'm not sure there's a better way to explain it then by starting with the enneagram. If you don't know the enneagram, you can fast-forward this part. If you do, all I need to tell you is that I'm a type four with a three wing. I have never been able to feel like I belong (where my fours at?). I am just now, at forty-something-or-other, starting to become aware of this and it has honestly been transformational.

YOU CAN COME BACK IN THE ROOM, UN-ENNEAGRAMMED FRIENDS!!!

So, at the height of my awkward teenage, I-don't-belong best, this band happened... and when it hit me, it hit me hard. As hinted at in the Rubber Soul edition of whatever this is, I was a huge SNL nerd. I wanted to be on SNL. That was my life's ambition in high school. This band was the musical guest on an episode hosted by Sharon Stone in 1992. They played two songs from their debut, Ten: "Alive" and "Porch." In some small way, it changed my life. This was my band and I didn't care if you liked them or didn't. I would never hide my allegiance to this band.

Fast-forward to my freshman year of college. I didn't know what I was doing there. I was homesick. I was lonely. I had one friend on campus. It's like I didn't know how to be a person. I didn't know who I was. A couple months later, just before Thanksgiving, I walked to the Discount Den (where years later my friends and I would purchase bigass fountain sodas just to throw them into the air and watch them explode on the ground... but I digress.) Early in the morning I popped into the Den, the day that this record was released (ON VINYL ONLY, BTW) and purchased what had to be the only copy that they had. I swear I had to be the only human living on campus to own a turntable in 1994. This record was my band evolving and getting weird and I loved every minute of it.

I have a hard time picking a favorite album by this band, it's often No Code, sometimes it's Yield, but it's probably this one. I've been lonely a lot, but at my loneliest this band has always made me feel something.

What's that??

"Stupid Mop"???

I don't know what that is.
 
I really hope I'm wrong, but does anyone else get the feeling the band might be *gulp* done? I submit the following:
  • Coming up on 6 years with no new record
  • Only one new song release which now kind of feels like it was the start of a new record that will never be finished
  • Discontinuation of the Ten Club singles
  • No new tour dates
  • The home and away shows now kind of seem like they could have been 'grand finale/good-bye' shows without saying as much
  • Heavy emphasis on individual projects/tours
  • Don't know the last time they all appeared together but the fact that it wasn't at the Cornell Tribute or anything to do with their recent stint as "Record Store Day Ambassadors" seems a little...strange.
Any one of those things on their own wouldn't concern me, but all of them together has started to worry me as this band has always been one of my absolute favorites.

Now. Your job is to tell me I'm being ridiculous and that everything will be just fine....right?
 
typeslowly said:
I really hope I'm wrong, but does anyone else get the feeling the band might be *gulp* done? I submit the following:
  • Coming up on 6 years with no new record
  • Only one new song release which now kind of feels like it was the start of a new record that will never be finished
  • Discontinuation of the Ten Club singles
  • No new tour dates
  • The home and away shows now kind of seem like they could have been 'grand finale/good-bye' shows without saying as much
  • Heavy emphasis on individual projects/tours
  • Don't know the last time they all appeared together but the fact that it wasn't at the Cornell Tribute or anything to do with their recent stint as "Record Store Day Ambassadors" seems a little...strange.
Any one of those things on their own wouldn't concern me, but all of them together has started to worry me as this band has always been one of my absolute favorites.

Now. Your job is to tell me I'm being ridiculous and that everything will be just fine....right?
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tumblr_nc64j22gPd1qft49to1_500.gif
 
typeslowly said:
I really hope I'm wrong, but does anyone else get the feeling the band might be *gulp* done? I submit the following:
  • Coming up on 6 years with no new record
  • Only one new song release which now kind of feels like it was the start of a new record that will never be finished
  • Discontinuation of the Ten Club singles
  • No new tour dates
  • The home and away shows now kind of seem like they could have been 'grand finale/good-bye' shows without saying as much
  • Heavy emphasis on individual projects/tours
  • Don't know the last time they all appeared together but the fact that it wasn't at the Cornell Tribute or anything to do with their recent stint as "Record Store Day Ambassadors" seems a little...strange.
Any one of those things on their own wouldn't concern me, but all of them together has started to worry me as this band has always been one of my absolute favorites.

Now. Your job is to tell me I'm being ridiculous and that everything will be just fine....right?
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You’re being ridiculous and everything will be just fine. They didn’t tour in 15 (other than the SA shows) or 17. There’s a pattern emerging here.
 
i added 'the pearl jam thead' to the title to make the thread purpose clear and so people don't think it's a 'what's spinning' thread or similar.

typeslowly said:
  • Discontinuation of the Ten Club singles
Click to expand...

honestly, i feel this is more a reflection of how much 10c has devolved on the organizational side than anything to do with the band. i think the band has no clue what goes on with their own fan club. think of the complete disregard for communication the 10c has had with its members the last few years on the delay and finally lack of vinyl singles, among other things, and i have to think the lack of communication from them extends to the band themselves as well. i decided that if i ever met a band member, i would ask them what they know about their own fan club because i strongly feel they have no idea what their fan club members' perceptions of the club are. they probably have no clue their fan club is two years behind on sending out holiday singles that their fans have already paid for.

give 10c credit, they've found a way to keep getting our money, because they know we want those precious tickets, and since shows are becoming fewer and further between, those tickets are an even hotter commodity. the 10c virtually has no incentive to improve within at all, and we've seen that play out over the last decade or so.

as for the band, i just think their priorities are elsewhere. their kids are older and i think like any parents they value their time with their family during these formative years. i don't think they're done at all, the band just isn't the highest priority. i imagine anything that will happen in the future starts with ed feeling like he's ready to get the band back together.
 
AndySlash said:
i added 'the pearl jam thead' to the title to make the thread purpose clear and so people don't think it's a 'what's spinning' thread or similar.



honestly, i feel this is more a reflection of how much 10c has devolved on the organizational side than anything to do with the band. i think the band has no clue what goes on with their own fan club. think of the complete disregard for communication the 10c has had with its members the last few years on the delay and finally lack of vinyl singles, among other things, and i have to think the lack of communication from them extends to the band themselves as well. i decided that if i ever met a band member, i would ask them what they know about their own fan club because i strongly feel they have no idea what their fan club members' perceptions of the club are. they probably have no clue their fan club is two years behind on sending out holiday singles that their fans have already paid for.

give 10c credit, they've found a way to keep getting our money, because they know we want those precious tickets, and since shows are becoming fewer and further between, those tickets are an even hotter commodity. the 10c virtually has no incentive to improve within at all, and we've seen that play out over the last decade or so.

as for the band, i just think their priorities are elsewhere. their kids are older and i think like any parents they value their time with their family during these formative years. i don't think they're done at all, the band just isn't the highest priority. i imagine anything that will happen in the future starts with ed feeling like he's ready to get the band back together.
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There’s no excuse for them not delivering on the annual singles. Other than that I don’t have a problem with the club, I actually think they do a pretty great job at most everything else. The ticket lotteries are much more fair than a presale, and I appreciate how much effort they put into it when they could just send out presale codes and let us fend for ourselves. They always make sure that we get first or best shot at any band-related stuff (like the TMR Vault release or, I assume, the Easy Street release coming up).

The band is at a place in their life cycle where I think it’s easy to get frustrated as a fan. They’ve entered The Rolling Stones/Springsteen Zone where their legion of fans have now gotten old enough that most of us have disposable income, and that’s reflected in the demand for tickets and merch (my god, the merch...). We all wish that there were exactly enough fans to fill our local arena with people who can sing along to “Breath” and not one more, but unfortunately that’s not how it works. I get as aggravated as anyone when I have a hard time getting tickets, or when we have a year like this where I don’t get my fix, but I try not to blame that on the band or the club.
 
Space Wanderer said:
Bumping this thread for no reason in particular...
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Thanks for bumping this up - never saw this thread originally.

Switched my account from Analog to Digital this year, not having a christmas single made that a pretty easy decision. Hopefully the rumors of a NA tour are true. San Diego and a lot of other places are way overdue. Being close to Ohana has been nice so I could at least see Ed every year. Managed to make the two Fenway shows in 2016, but I can't travel for shows all that often.
 
imtheocean said:
Thanks for bumping this up - never saw this thread originally.

Switched my account from Analog to Digital this year, not having a christmas single made that a pretty easy decision. Hopefully the rumors of a NA tour are true. San Diego and a lot of other places are way overdue. Being close to Ohana has been nice so I could at least see Ed every year. Managed to make the two Fenway shows in 2016, but I can't travel for shows all that often.
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Yeah, seems like I jumped the gun at least a little bit. Seems like we might be waiting until next week for an announcement, though it still feels like the rumors are substantial...

I also made two shows in 16 (one MSG and one Wrigley) but then was able to talk my wife into a two-show European trip in 2018. Very glad I did that, not just because the shows & trip were enjoyable but because I’d be going on 4 years without a fix by now.

If the rumors for the spring are true I’ll do my best to make an NY show and look strongly into traveling for one more.
 
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