It's a bit cliched to reminisce, out loud at least, about when and where you first heard a certain song and the effect said song had on you. I'm going to do it anyway. I have three songs that I heard, coincidentally all while driving to or from work or school in the early 1990s, that I can distinctly remember the place, time, and circumstances surrounding the first time I heard them. One was "Smells Like Teen Spirit." One was "Cherub Rock," and one was "Even Flow." Each one of these songs stimulated my auditory nerves like I can only imagine that first hit of your drug of choice did. I wouldn't know the ins and outs of how a first hit of heroin or coke might feel. I'm straight edge as far as that stuff is concerned. Nevertheless, I know what it feels like to feel high. My highs are linked explicitly to good music, good books, and good art. All of which have swirled around the bands who produced the music mentioned above. Only one of those bands has continued to give me repeat experiences of the type of "you remember where you were when you heard it first" moments. It's quite an accomplishment for a band, 32 years on from that "Even Flow" moment to recreate, for this listener at least, a similar experience. That's what happened with Pearl Jam's latest single, "Dark Matter." This time though, the urgency and the call to action in the music is tempered with the power of authority that only longevity, and a track record for evoking a change in the consciousness of their listeners, can provide.
Amazingly, I heard "Dark Matter" for the first time on my (current) car's stereo, much like I heard "Even Flow" on my (then) car's stereo. Back then though I heard the song on a rock station broadcasting over FM radio waves from Charlotte, NC. Today, I hear most of my car radio music over satellite, or streaming, waves. It was over satellite that I first heard "Dark Matter." SiriusXM's Pearl Jam radio is a radio utopia for Pearl Jam fans, especially fans who have been listening to the band for 30 plus years. It makes the drive to school, and on some rough days the drive home, much more bearable (now I am teaching school instead of attending it). What makes being a lifelong Pearl Jam fan, who still gets chills and remembers the time and place where they hear a new song from the band, so rewarding is the length of time Eddie, Stone, Mike, Jeff, and Matt have been a part of the fabric of my being. That sounds heavy, a bit cosmic, and maybe a little trite, but when it comes to Pearl Jam, and a new single from them, if you are a fan, you understand.
I have been listening to, pondering over, and being enriched by Pearl Jam's music for over half of my life. That equates to 3 decades, the amount of time the band has existed. From the first time I heard a PJ song, back in high school, through all of the various stages of my life, personally, publicly, politically, and professionally, Pearl Jam has been there helping me make sense and develop a sense of solace and equilibrium with the world around me. Vs. arrived on the heels of a whirlwind first year of college, and captured the raw and alive feeling I was experiencing towards the life unfolding before me. The world seemed to be opening up to a rather sheltered and shy youth, not so much blooming into existence, but rather ravenously devouring the thoughts, ideas, and potential before him. Vitalogy arrived in a time when the inevitable hang over and ultimate come down (not let down) arrived and limits that were tested were found and moments of quiet introspection became a norm. No Code ushered in a mature and articulate phase of study where the raw student became a polished academic. College ended with the release of Yield, as did a time of high profile, grand statement, and world changing pronouncements for the band and the maturing academic.
The next several albums, from Binaural through Gigaton flew by. Each album delivering powerful statements, musical and lyrical, but in a stature somewhat purposely reduced, meant to speak to the "fit though few" who still carried a wish list laden with pleas for a cure to the green disease plaguing humanity and its mother, Earth. Time, for the student turned academic turned business manager, flew by as well. Suddenly, the manager was almost 50 and, although the music and the love was still powerful, the fire had begun to go out under the weight of the everyday monotony of nepotism and paradigm that Eddie warned him about so poetically decades ago. A change was needed. The manager became an academic again, and the fire reignited.
Pearl Jam's fire has reignited as well. "Dark Matter" is not a return to Vs. era anger and desire. It is a new kind of anger and desire. One tempered with wisdom, age, and a sense that the fire, albeit rekindled, won't burn forever. Most of the known universe is composed of dark matter. Dark matter appears to be pushing the universe apart. It is unrelenting. It is inevitable. It is time to take advantage of the time we still have before dark matter renders us so utterly alone that projection, outcome, reconfiguration, and planning will no longer matter. Pearl Jam are once again advocating for decisive action in the face of inevitable nonexistence, but this time the band knows that it, and we (as fans and as a species) don't have forever to rescue ourselves from the powers that continue to push us apart and force us to be alone. Grasp onto each other while we are still in proximity to one another. There can be no room left for intolerance, of one another, of ourselves, of the unaccountable:
"No tolerance for intolerance so I've
No patience left for impatience no more
No love lost for lost loves
No sorrow for the unaccountable
No comments:
Post a Comment