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Why the dislike for Jeff Ament?

Anyone refusing to correlate commercial success with the quality of the product is fooling themselves. It may be possible for a hack to catch a tiger by the tail and have a successful single, maybe two. You don't sustain that over a couple dozen albums and a couple decades unless you have something to offer. You just don't.

You can look a the tens of millions of albums Pearl Jam has sold, and at the 25 years across which they have had a significant presence in the rock music scene, or at the fact that almost every singer in every rock band in the 90s was trying to sound like Eddie Vedder - and you can say that none of that matters. What, then, does matter?

If all that matters to you is what you think, then more power to you - but you're in the wrong room arguing that Pearl Jam is not a "good" band. Please visit next door; the conversation there is about "bands you like."
 
I don't know why people equate record sales with quality. Does that mean a band that sells less records is less good?

Anyway, I don't listen to Pearl Jam but I always thought their bass player was considered...a good bass player.
Well of course record sales alone don't reflect on the quality of the product. In fairness, my quote was paraphrased. How about the omitted mentioning of selling out shows around the world for the past 25 years straight part? Not to mention, the fans have been fans for just as long without much wavering. Does that not convey that they have a (unfathomable) following who give them merit of "quality"? Again, not a huge fan. They're just not a "terrible band". Nobody sounded like Pearl Jam when they first came out. Nobody. The appeal and success was ALL their own making. They aren't "the machine". They aren't Justin "the child star" Beiber, whom has no concept of a dive bar. They're a band who made it. They played the bars and paid their dues.

If we're talking things we don't understand, I don't understand why people (generally speaking) in a bass community, who are looking for advice on how to better their playing, better their gear, their performance and on and on, take the advice to their own benefit, but when the tables turn and it comes to a successful band, they don't approve of their success and accomplishments.
 
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Justin Beiber has sold more than 15,000,000 CDs so I don't think you can equate sales volume with quality of music. :thumbsup:
This is probably an indefensible position, and for the record I hate Justin Bieber's brand and don't like the style of music he makes. However, he is not the entirety of the product. His stuff is being played and produced by some of the top professionals in the industry.

In particular, Rick Rubin has produced him. You guys all love "Blood Sugar Sex Magic", don't you. Dan Kanter is Bieber's musical director; when he isn't working with Bieber, he's working with Stevie Wonder, Carlos Santana, Bob Weir, Mike Gordon, and Jon Fishman. I'm sure many of you think of those people differently than you think of Justin Bieber.

Again, it's fine to not like something. It can be "good" in an objective sense without you liking it. And yes, commercial success is a very solid indicator of quality, more so over a period of time.
 
Its like McDonalds vs a fine food restaurant.
Precisely. Setting aside very recent trends, McDonalds has been a fantastically successful business for a very long time. You can say you don't like McDonalds - I don't - but if you say it's not a "good" business I don't know what you mean. Or if you say it's not a fine dining restaurant, well, no s**t. Justin Bieber isn't a jazz musician either.

Actually I do like the fries.
 
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Nobody held a gun to their head to sell it to him so good for him. Also, 1992? That would have been early into their success so whos to say how much money he had at that point.
Yes, no guns, But you must be a major fan - because if you don't think this was an a***ole maneuver, well, I don't know what to say. Regarding year, I'm ballparking it. But rest assured they were stadium level at the time. Huge.
 
Jeff Ament is a fine player and a major contributor to Pearl Jam's sound and vibe. I met and hung out with him, Stone Gossard, Mike McCready and Matt Cameron in 2005 and they were all super cool.

I get not liking what Pearl Jam do, but they have been around for 25 years and continue to release new music and do sold out tours in large venues. They do this having not had any real mainstream play since the late 90s at best and really mainstream interest began to wane after VS. This was apparently a conscious decision of the band. The massive success of Ten and the spotlight it put them under made them uncomfortable so they went out of their way to get out of the spotlight. Vitalogy and No Code are good evidence of this attempt move out of that space. Personally, I love both of those records but they're a bit dense and I can see why they wouldn't appeal to the mainstream listener. They also had a massive influence on a slew of other bands (not all of it good, by any means :D).

Anyway, any band that has had a 25 year career and is still releasing new music and doing successful tours has my respect even if I'm not a big fan of the music.
 
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Jeff Ament is a fine player and a major contributor to Pearl Jam's sound and vibe. I met and hung out with him, Stone Gossard, Mike McCready and Matt Cameron in 2005 and they were all super cool.

I get not liking what Pearl Jam do, but they have been around for 25 years and continue to release new music and do sold out tours in large venues. They do this having not had any real mainstream play since the late 90s at best and really mainstream interest began to wane after VS. This was apparently a conscious decision of the band. The massive success of Ten and the spotlight it put them under made them uncomfortable so they went out of their way to get out of the spotlight. Vitalogy and No Code are good evidence of this attempt move out of that space. Personally, I love both of those records but they're a bit dense and I can see why they wouldn't appeal to the mainstream listener. They also had a massive influence on a slew of other bands (not all of it good, by any means :D).

Anyway, any band that has had a 25 year career and is still releasing new music and doing successful tours has my respect even if I'm not a big fan of the music.

I remember the first time I heard "Bugs" on Vitalogy and thought.... "Well they can't call them sell outs now." LOL!
 
Yes, no guns, But you must be a major fan - because if you don't think this was an a***ole maneuver, well, I don't know what to say. Regarding year, I'm ballparking it. But rest assured they were stadium level at the time. Huge.
Nah, not a big fan of PJ or JA at all. Big fan of a free country though. Its your opinion and thats cool but as a business owner, no way I let anyone "take" any more than Im comfortable with. One the flip side I also dont expect just because someone "can easily afford it" that they wont try to get a better deal (actually IME, the more well off a client is the more they try to negotiate...but again I go as far as I am comfortable and no further). In the end he could be a major dick for all we know!
 
Here's my personal 'why': a guy came into a vintage guitar shop I worked in and tried out a rare Ric 8-string bass we had and just chiseled and chiseled away at the price (remember asking price was ~$800, 1992 money). Upon finally ending negotiations, Amet revealed who he played with, with a wry smirk. Don't know a thing about his skills as a bassist, only his joy at getting over on a deal he could have easily afforded and rubbing our faces in it.
You were selling a bass, he haggled on the price, you agreed to it, he could afford the initial asking price, and you don't like him for it after 24 years? You still don't like for him getting a deal on a bass 24 years later because he could afford it? That's one heck of a grudge.
 
Here's my personal 'why': a guy came into a vintage guitar shop I worked in and tried out a rare Ric 8-string bass we had and just chiseled and chiseled away at the price (remember asking price was ~$800, 1992 money). Upon finally ending negotiations, Amet revealed who he played with, with a wry smirk. Don't know a thing about his skills as a bassist, only his joy at getting over on a deal he could have easily afforded and rubbing our faces in it.
That's a really funny story. More power to Jeff Ament.:cool: Did his smile look like that?

I don't care how much money a person has or I have, I would have done the same thing.
 
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Ok, fanboys. You win. I'm a jerk for thinking a well heeled low baller behaved like a d**k. BTW, we operated in a bohemian neighborhood and tried to accommodate players in need as much as possible. But it's a free country, and people can try to get over as much as they want to. I wish you all good luck in all future endeavors because its a jungle out there.
 
Ok, fanboys. You win. I'm a jerk for thinking a well heeled low baller behaved like a d**k. BTW, we operated in a bohemian neighborhood and tried to accommodate players in need as much as possible. But it's a free country, and people can try to get over as much as they want to. I wish you all good luck in all future endeavors because its a jungle out there.
LOL!

Nobody called you a jerk and nobody here needs to be called names. You have impeccable skills of holding a grudge over a few bucks for 24 years, was what I pointed out. You're right it's a jungle out there...
 
Ok, fanboys. You win. I'm a jerk for thinking a well heeled low baller behaved like a d**k. BTW, we operated in a bohemian neighborhood and tried to accommodate players in need as much as possible. But it's a free country, and people can try to get over as much as they want to. I wish you all good luck in all future endeavors because its a jungle out there.

I would say that he accomplished his mission. 24 years later, you are still talking about the day he came in.
 
I'll throw this out there. I happened to be at the Pearl Jam Wrigley Field show the other day. The band played for 3 hours. Then, after the noise curfew, Eddie Vedder came back out with his guitar and minus the band and played some more. I left before he was done because I'm old and I got tired.

The band wants the fans to get the most possible experience and entertainment out of one of their shows. They bust their asses. That counts for much.
 
Ok, fanboys. You win. I'm a jerk for thinking a well heeled low baller behaved like a d**k. BTW, we operated in a bohemian neighborhood and tried to accommodate players in need as much as possible. But it's a free country, and people can try to get over as much as they want to. I wish you all good luck in all future endeavors because its a jungle out there.
I always found those with money are the tightest with it and will lowball their own mother to save a dime. Nothin new here.
 
If there's one thing I've learned from TB, it's that bassists hate it when other bassists wear hats.

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That's all about to change...
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