I think the PJ doc effectively revealed these things about the band and the Seattle scene as a whole:
1. Mother Love Bone was set to become the biggest band out of Seattle and probably would have been bigger than Nirvana if not for Andy Wood's death.
I saw no reason whatsoever to think this other than the fact that everyone in the film bragged about how good he was. As you explain further below, they are not reliable sources.
2. Pearl Jam reached the big time much too quickly. Ten should have merely opened the door for mid-level venues, thus allowing them to create more music together before fame warped their idea of the kind of music they could create.
Whatever. I don’t feel too sorry for them. I don’t think it’s as hard as artists make out to stay in the shadows. At some point these whiny artists had to cave to their greed and that’s when they get caught in contracts forcing them to play big venues and such. I think what’s more accurate is that Eddie is a big ole emotional candy a$$ and had a tantrum after Ten was a success and drug the rest of them down into the subpar music doldrums…..Qualifier – Pearl Jam’s subpar music is still good of course. It just isn’t the pinnacle of what they can do.
3. Pearl Jam was superior to Nirvana in every way: musical talent, songwriting talent, lyrics, and performance. They never believed that fact and always felt the need to impress Kurt Cobain, who ironically was far more insecure than Eddie Vedder.
I think it’s short sited to say one band is better than the other. Is Guns & Roses better than Mettallica? But I do think it’s accurate to say that PJ had an unreasonable need to kiss Cobain’s a$$ which I just don’t get. And no I don’t think Cobain was as talented as even Dave Grohl but to compare the two bands’ music is just irrelevant for lack of a better word.
4. The great Seattle bands (PJ, Soundgarden, AIC, Nirvana) were very content to play small venues and seemed legitimately happy in their niche. You can actually see them go from wide-eyed, hungry rockers to cynical a--holes throughout Cameron Crowe's footage.
Agreeance.
5. Pearl Jam became Ticketmaster's minstrel puppet. Stone and Jeff unwittingly made fools of themselves before Congress.
Agreeance. They got a lot of praise but also looked foolish. They weren’t prepared properly for that. That’s not their fault. They should have had an attorney.
6. The band ceded too much creative control to Eddie, who was too musically insecure to have a vision.
Agreeance. I never understood that. Why they just stepped back and let him take over what they had built. But they seemed content to do so.
7. The Vitalogy album was a reaction to Time magazine putting them on the cover.
Or just another random tantrum.
8. The band had no intention of staying together this long, and their later work affirms this.
I don’t think they had a plan at all.
My favorite scene in the film: Stone Gossard is taking Cameron Crowe on a tour of his house, and Crowe asks him if he has any unique PJ memorabilia saved over the years. Stone looks all over his house for something, can't find anything except a couple of old CDs and a coffee mug, so he takes him down to the basement. As he's digging through his sh!t, he spots something in the corner and says, "Oh, here's a Grammy." That scene spoke volumes to me.
Yeah, he certainly doesn’t give a sh!t about acceptance does he?
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