Pearl Jam songs make me nauseous

[dsteinschneider]

Our band plays originals selected from three CD's our alt-rock indie singer recorded in the 90's.

A friend of his who worked in A&R at Atlantic recommended we play covers from the 90's or songs from other periods that fit in with those.

Our crowd is people in their 50's and 60's who tell us they enjoy hearing REM, The Church, The Smithereens, The Lemonheads, Elvis Costello, Violent Femmes, Seven Mary Three, Screaming Trees, Sublime, Nirvana, Weezer, Green Day, RATM, Foo Fighters, Soundgarden, RHCP, Oasis, Collective Soul, STP, Counting Crows, The Wallflowers, Smashing Pumpkins, Lit, Cake, Harvey Danger and The Gin Blossoms.

We don't play any Pearl Jam songs.

 

[dougjwray]

The grunge fashion craze was hilarious. People paid money, and often stupid money, to dress like slobs.

That happened in the late '70s too, when the department stores had "punk" t-shirts and jeans that were torn and covered in safety pins.
Hey, why make them at home when you can pay lots of money for them at a fancy store?
On a related note: I was once hanging out with my college girlfriend when her roommate came into their room, very upset. She had forgotten to buy her mother a birthday card, and it was so late that now she would have to make one. "She'll never forgive me for making one instead of buying her a nice one!" I thought this was one of the most backwards things ever. Ahhh... consumer culture!

 

[StatesideRambler]

I just stared playing with a new band. First meeting went well, basic classic rock up to 90s rock.

After the meet we got a group text wanting to add Alive and Even Flow for the next meeting. I tried but both of these songs make me nauseous when I listen to them.

Reminds me when I was a kid and my father had an old Pontiac that leaked carbon monoxide into the back seat.


They both seem like the same song in a different key.
Do you guys like these songs?

Will this band be gigging or just playing Madison Square Garage? If you’re playing out then your preference needs to step back in favor of what the audience likes and what they’re paying to hear. They may like what you hate. On a gig you need to be a pro. I started playing bass in the mid-60s and learned fast that if I wanted an audience I had to do what they wanted or I wouldn’t get hired or paid. Too many guys never figured out why they couldn’t get gigs.

 

[allanhearn]

suck it up, you probably will throw in songs others can't stand. And I'm not a fan of PJ just a team player

 

[salmon256]

What's really interesting: seen first going back to the longhair counterculture phenomenon in the late 60s-early 70s: people giving someone who looks a certain way a hard time, and seeing those same poeple adopting that very thing (long hair, punk) a few years later, when it becomes acceptably different and "cool" or whatever.

Everybody's swimming in it without thinking about it.
I personally think it's pretty important to question what's going on.
I read a lot of history.

Great reply!
I also read a lot of history as well - might do my Masters in it unsure - but anyway - the long hair trend can even be dated back to early Irish history when the English took over - having long hair even as Catholics was very acceptable and consider rebellious to the English since it was a pride of what the Ancient Celts did.

As you said tattoos, hair color, t-shirt brand you name it. If you think you're fighting the man - ya ain't in my opinion. I am friends with a Punk band and when I go to see them I just see so much irony in the ideas they speak if you know the history of Punk and stuff... I also don't wanna get ban so we will end it there.

Great reply again!

 

[DownRound]

I also read a lot of history as well - might do my Masters in it unsure - but anyway - the long hair trend can even be dated back to early Irish history when the English took over - having long hair even as Catholics was very acceptable and consider rebellious to the English since it was a pride of what the Ancient Celts did.

I did not know that. The bit about the Irish.
Thanks!

Reminds me of something: A few years earlier, but still flows into that early 90s era in my memory. I'll bet there aren't too many bands trying to cover these guys. But boy if they could do it....


Another Irish band.
I saw these guys in a place called the Fabulous Rainbow Tavern.
No promotion really, they came across the big water, probably ended up in the red, maybe 12 people showed up because no one had heard of them. I felt bad for them, they worked that little tavern full-on, putting everything into it.
Late 70s, punk was still just around the corner for the most part. Maybe just the Ramones and Stooges.
Just a little bit of Celtic touch in some of their songs. The flute sets this one apart. Like Tull.

 

[oldrocker]

Will this band be gigging or just playing Madison Square Garage? If you’re playing out then your preference needs to step back in favor of what the audience likes and what they’re paying to hear. They may like what you hate. On a gig you need to be a pro. I started playing bass in the mid-60s and learned fast that if I wanted an audience I had to do what they wanted or I wouldn’t get hired or paid. Too many guys never figured out why they couldn’t get gigs.

There are gigs to be had. Every band I've played in has been able to get gigs.

I gravitate towards bands that play out once or twice a month. Typically breweries or tiki restaurant/bar type shows with mixed aged audiences.

As I mentioned I play for fun and very little money so the pressure is off to play to a specific audience, so I'm sure we'll be able to get by without these 2 PJ songs.

 

[Wood and Wire]

I dig Pearl Jam. That being said, Corduroy has never failed to clear the dance floor for us.

 

[Wood and Wire]

I did not know that. The bit about the Irish.
Thanks!

Reminds me of something: A few years earlier, but still flows into that early 90s era in my memory. I'll bet there aren't too many bands trying to cover these guys. But boy if they could do it....


Another Irish band.
I saw these guys in a place called the Fabulous Rainbow Tavern.
No promotion really, they came across the big water, probably ended up in the red, maybe 12 people showed up because no one had heard of them. I felt bad for them, they worked that little tavern full-on, putting everything into it.
Late 70s, punk was still just around the corner for the most part. Maybe just the Ramones and Stooges.
Just a little bit of Celtic touch in some of their songs. The flute sets this one apart. Like Tull.

What in the hell is that bass he's playing?

It's like a bizarre mash-up of an Alembic, a B.C.Rich, and a Gibson EB-3, with the gigantic headstock of a Gretsch 6070.

 

[pfschim]

have you considered Zofran ?

 

[Ben Clarke]

I can't remember any time that I refused to play a song in a cover band because I didn't like it. I guess I've always embraced the effort of learning new material as part of working on my craft.
However, if the *message* of the song bothers me, I have a harder time. One bandleader went on a Charlie Daniels kick and decided that we should play "The South Will Rise Again" precisely during the aftermath of the George Floyd murder in May 2020. Now, I do believe that it was a coincidence. And I have no evidence whatsoever that Daniels himself was a racist. And the song is not explicitly racist. But it's a Confederate flag waver, and the timing was insensitive and awful. I mentioned this to the bandleader ("Ummm... this might not be the best time for this song...") but he didn't get it.

I have no problem vetoing a song for those reasons, even if I'm not the leader.

My main (original) project added The Replacements' "Androgynous" this year. I suggested we change the line "something meets boy, and something meets girl" to "someone". I got a hearty thanks for catching that semantic nuance.

 

[TBird1958]

I did not know that. The bit about the Irish.
Thanks!

Reminds me of something: A few years earlier, but still flows into that early 90s era in my memory. I'll bet there aren't too many bands trying to cover these guys. But boy if they could do it....


Another Irish band.
I saw these guys in a place called the Fabulous Rainbow Tavern.
No promotion really, they came across the big water, probably ended up in the red, maybe 12 people showed up because no one had heard of them. I felt bad for them, they worked that little tavern full-on, putting everything into it.
Late 70s, punk was still just around the corner for the most part. Maybe just the Ramones and Stooges.
Just a little bit of Celtic touch in some of their songs. The flute sets this one apart. Like Tull.

Love that Horslips song, I have it on vinyl, as I recall Ian Anderson played the flute for them on that recording.

 

[woodyng2]

I'll just leave this here

That ISN’T Eddy Vedder?!
His vocals are the main reason I don’t listen to PJ.

 

[pklima]

I played a Men At Work song. It made me nervous.

 

[richntiff]

I played a Men At Work song. It made me nervous.

But, how was the breakfast?

 

[DownRound]

But, how was the breakfast?

I think it was Vegemite. That's pretty much all you need to know.

 

[DownRound]

Love that Horslips song, I have it on vinyl, as I recall Ian Anderson played the flute for them on that recording.

Horslips is a pretty interesting band. The Man Who Built America was their most conventional rock album. Prior to that they were much more folk and Celtic-influenced. A lot of their following from the prior ten years didn't follow them in the shift to heavier rock.

The last concert has a great story:
(from Wikipedia) "At a time when The Troubles were at its peak, Horslips played gigs in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland without prejudice and were accepted everywhere. Their last recordings were from live performances at the Whitla Hall in Belfast April and May 1980. A few months later, on 12 October 1980 they played their final gig in the Ulster Hall. They made no public announcement. They simply gave an encore — the Rolling Stones' song "The Last Time" (this was a reference to the recording studio of their first album) and the final act was Charles O'Connor throwing his mangled fiddle into the audience. Ten years after they formed, they disbanded."



Another very interesting band (Kiwis): The Muttonbirds.

 

[richntiff]

I think it was Vegemite. That's pretty much all you need to know.

bonus points for spelling 'Vegemite' properly!

 

[DownRound]

bonus points for spelling 'Vegemite' properly!

Once eaten, never forgotten.

 

[DownRound]

The Vegemite thing got me thinking about the whole question of taste, and how people differ.
Not true in every case, but it seems generally true:

With food, literal taste, we usually just like something or not. Someone might like Vegemite or anchovies, and just accept that other people don't.
With visual art, and things like movies, books (if people read) we assume that our tastes are better, and the people who like something we don't are a little bit off somehow.

But when it comes to music, it's different.
Then it almost comes into the realm of religion or politics.
We simply can't understand that they actually like that (expletive) stuff, we have a strong reaction against it, to point of annoyance and some degree of anger, and figure they are doing something almost personal, an affront, and that they are seriously, willfully idiotic.

Again, a slight exaggeration, maybe, but the flip side is that it is an indication that music is important to people in a way that is greater than other things.
Which overall is a good thing.
(Depending on the music. I could name exceptions...)

And...we don't choose our tastes, decide to like or not like something, they just are.