Pearl Jam 20

It's hard to believe it's been 20 years of Pearl Jam.  Wow.  This is the first band I really followed extensively and probably needed to join a support group for.  It was an obsession, and I tried my everything I could to get a hold of the latest bootleg or unreleased song. Today you can download entire albums in seconds, and I remember dialing into AOL on Windows '95 and waited an hour to download a 5 minute shitty live recording of "Breath" without thinking twice about it.  From the late night album release parties, Ten Club memberships, and driving to a shady area of Richmond (at the time) to purchase a $40 bootleg, I really needed to get laid more often.  But I wouldn't trade it for anything.


As part of their 20-year anniversary, the band released a fantastic documentary directed by Cameron Crowe (of Vanilla Sky, Jerry McGuire, Almost Famous, Singles, and Elizabethtown fame).  Crowe is a long time fan of the band and Pearl Jam played a part in the movie Singles as members of Matt Dillon's band Citizen Dick.  Although I knew most of Pearl Jam's history, Crowe did an excellent job chronicling the band through the 20 years from their beginnings in Seattle, connections to other grunge rockers Soundgarden and Nirvana, the incident at the festival in Roskilde, Denmark, and other intimate moments in PJ's career.  It's definitely weird watching a doc on a band that you grew up with.  I feel old. 20 years?  Where did the time go?  I can picture showing my kids this documentary one day and them saying "aw, dad, who the hell are these guys?"  I know I did when my dad introduced me to Led Zeppelin for the first time.  But, I think they'll grow to love them in time, just as I did with the pioneers of hard rock.


Today, I'm not such a huge fan of the band as I once was, but they'll forever be a part of me. They haven't really released a great album lately but still thrive in a live setting.  Aside from My Morning Jacket, you could make a strong argument that this is one of the best touring bands around today.  This documentary embodies everything that was amazing about the band in their 20 year career, and they're still going strong.

Check out:

Pearl Jam 20 trailer.  The opening is hysterical.  To-to-today juniah.


Purchase:
http://www.amazon.com/Pearl-Jam-Twenty/dp/B005LLXB9K


The entire doc can also be seen on Netflix streaming, if you haven't cancelled your subscription yet.