My Thoughts on Pearl Jam 20...... the movie, shown worldwide 20th September 2011
The film is made by Cameron Crowe, and he has known PJ since the beginning when they were playing as Mother Love Bone, before the Eddie Vedder times.
The whole way through there are touching moments as people they came into contact with are lost.
Their original singer Andy, Kurt Cobain...and later during a disaster that changed their focus competely.
The whole film made an impression on me and my initial thoughts were... if people were watching who were not fans.. they surely would be at the end... The music was amazing and the insight into the story of the band was enlightening... it is easy to see how so many others have been inspired.
Yet PJ themselves admit they too had inspirations, Kurt Cobain was one, as was Neil Young who they credit with being the person who influenced them in such a way that they were really able to become who they wanted to be.
The thing that struck me the most was the passionthey have... passion for music, not really worrying about upsetting people in the business, passion for each other and passion for the fans... wanting to ensure the fans were fairly treated. Things like having a different set list for every show, and the famous time they took on the mighty Ticketmaster and their monopoly.
It surprised me that one of my favourite songs "Alive" was one of their first songs as it is so mature and feels like it should be written later in the career, other songs like "Jeremy" were explained, as was "Release" which has particular memories for Eddie of his father, and explains why he sings with such passion. In his early years his passion on stage is amazing... and his behaviour reminded me of a certain Mr Foster.... as he flung himself backwards into the crowd.... My plea to Alex is... please please dont climb as high as Eddie did... my nerves would not stand it!!!
The toughest time for the band was at Rosskilde 2000 in Copenhagen when 9 fans died in a crush. They realised then the fragility of life and this made them reevaluate their lives.
My final thought on Pearl Jam and how this documentary impacted on me was:
Forget Muse, Forget The Chili's, The Foos, and any other "supergroup". There is only one band in the world that everyone should see perform at least once in their lives, and thats Pearl Jam. I feel very priviledged to have had the opportunity to do that.
