I wouldn't argue with those who say that Phish is the best classic rock band of the last 30 years, though! Amazing band!
(2021)
I just discovered the Pearl Jam version of the great classic rock song 'Last Kiss', the great 50's style classic song by J. Frank Wilson and the Cavaliers from the early 60's.
It was just as wonderful as the original.
What a wonderful band!
The early 90's was a dark and cynical time, but there were some real good things that came out of the Seattle grunge scene.
Pearl Jam made a crucial descision early in their career. They saw their fans taking positive inspiration from one of their sad, tragic songs. And the members of Pearl Jam chose to take positive inspiration from the way their fans took positive inspiration from that song.
And so, unlike the other Seattle Grunge bands, Pearl Jam never gave up on Life.
Their Grunge became sad music that still believed in Life. And that made all the difference. Because it's okay to be sad.
By the time Pearl Jam did their beautiful remake of 'Last Kiss' in 1999 their music had realized Grunge's true nature and become beautiful sad music for coming to terms with our sadness and having a good cry- like Greek tragedy. Beautiful healing sadness, like Aristotle appreciated in his artistic theory of Greek tragedy. Aristotle appreciated what it means to have a good cry.
What makes Pearl Jam great is that they discovered what Grunge is good at- getting our sad feelings out and letting us have a good cry!
Pearl Jam was, and still is, one of the great classic rock bands, an amazing band with an amazing singer that did a lot of real wonderful music and who have a lot of artistic integrity.
We can feel real lucky that there are still some bands that are that great out there.
This is my tribute to Pearl Jam, probably the greatest classic rock band of the last 30 years.
Sincerely,
David S. Annderson
By the way... I was in High School in the time of Grunge, but I did not identify with Grunge at all. (I can only imagine what it means to those who identified with it, though!) I discovered Pearl Jam more recently through my love of the Jam Band scene... I heard that Pearl Jam had gained the kind of cult following that the Grateful Dead had, and had developed a similar approach to their music as the great jam bands... creative and anticommercial. That piqued my interest, and I faintly remembered Pearl Jam as the most classic rock sounding and most universal of the great Grunge bands, and so I looked up a concert on YouTube... and sure enough... an amazing band... a band that sounds like Live at Leeds by The Who and is as creative and anticommercial as the Dead and Phish (a wonderful combination!)... what a great band!