pj addendum

Posted by on Sep 25, 2011 in Blog | No Comments

while poking around the interwebs the other day for interesting pearl jam stuff to link to (from my bark post), i found xrt’s slideshow of 50 things i supposedly didn’t know about the band.  but i knew most of them already.  so it occurred to me: why not make my own damn list? here are the things i’ve learned about pearl jam & which you undoubtedly do not care about:

  • most everything you’ve ever heard about the background behind the band’s name originally being “mookie blaylock” is probably untrue.
  • until garth brooks released double live in 1998, vs. was the fastest selling album of all time—with 950,378 copies in its first week of release (more than all the other top 10 albums that week combined).
  • after ed found a 45 of the song at a flea market, pearl jam recorded a cover of “last kiss” during a soundcheck.  it became the highest charting single of their career (#2 on billboard).
  • that bad-ass guitar effect heard on “you are”?  that’s a drum machine being used to trigger the opening and closing of the guitar output.
  • the band named its 7th album riot act because they liked the fact that it worked as nouns and verbs, and the imperative implied in their conjunction.
  • after pj started adding the “save it for later” tag to the end of “better man” in live performances, the english beat (original performers of “save it for later”) started performing their song live with a “better man” tag.
  • phil jackson was not dennis rodman’s #1 choice for his presenter at the nba hall of fame ceremony.  ed vedder was.  though he wasn’t there for that nba ceremony, ed was the presenter at the rock ‘n’ roll hall of fame for the ramones’ induction (and for which ed showed up sporting a new mohawk).
  • ames bros (that awesome art outfit responsible for so many of pj’s gig posters, is run by bassist jeff ament’s brother, barry.
  • for their halloween 2009 show in philly, the band donned energy domes & yellow jumpsuits while they covered devo’s “whip it.”
  • some of the initial releases of vs. didn’t actually say “vs.” on them because of some last minute title changes, including the possibility that it would be released as a self-titled album.
  • there are conflicting reports from the radio station and the lead singer as to how the whole thing got started, but in the 90’s, chicago’s Q101 aired promos featuring karen vedder (a.k.a. ed’s mom).
  • cited by the band as one of their favorite/most memorable shows, their 1995 sold-out concert at soldier field was broadcast live over local low-frequency radio, and was part of their tour that avoided ticketmaster venues.
  • originally appearing on riot act as a tribute to the nine fans who died at their roskilde festival show, “arc” was performed by ed nine times on the 2003 tour, but never included on any the band’s official bootleg releases out of respect for the dead.
  • pj recently debuted a new song, “ole,” on late night with jimmy fallon and is giving it away as a free download.
  • dogfish head (an excellent craft brewery) is making a special beer in honor of the band’s 20th anniversary—and, apparently, it all started because some fans thought it would be a good idea.

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