Why Pearl Jam Dad?

Well, as an unofficial music writer and a huge fan of Pearl Jam my long awaited album of the summer finally came out this past Sunday. After a night of adult beverages I rolled out of bed, made plans with Sloan while she was at Kristen’s parents house, and ate a quick breakfast and drove to Target (yes it was about the time they opened their doors at 9 a.m., and yes Kristen knows that I am a dork). So, acting like a little kid, I grabbed my copy and proceeded to check out. Hoping none of the Target employees saw the huge smile on my face, to confirm I am a music geek in his 30’s.

So acting like an adult I made sure to be patient and take my time running errands, and getting home in time to have my first listen before Sloan got home from church. I got my first listen under my belt for the day, and took Sloan to the movies to see Cloudy with a chance of meatballs in 3D. (On a quick side note, if you have not seen a movie in 3D yet, go see one, it was the coolest thing I have seen in a while. Not the cheap red and blue 3D we had as a kid.) So we get back from the movies and start getting ready to go swimming at the indoor pool, and I put on PJ to listen to while we get ready. I also grabbed the iPod to listen to it in the car on the way to the pool.

I always make a point to make sure to include Sloan in any music listening I am doing. So while we are driving I am asking her opinion of what she is listening too, and of course after telling her no Matt and Kim today, it’s time to listen to my favorite band. Then she brought up a rather good question, “Dad, why is Pearl Jam your favorite band?” This made me think about that question for the past few days. Those of you that don’t have kids, they will ask rather great questions often, I feel deep down they know we don’t know the answers and therefore ask the question to mess with us.

So the past few days I thought about Sloan’s question, which should be an easy answer, but I came up with why. Not only why Pearl Jam is my favorite band, but why I hold music in general so personal. I can scroll through my iPod and can almost re-live and remember the specific time I first listened to a song or album, or for that matter the feelings of that time. Be it a break up, a loss, a party, a hilarious memory, and the first time I met Kristen. I guess just like places and things, music helps me remember times and places I have been. But onto the big question, why Pearl Jam. For me Pearl Jam has grown up with me, Ten was released my freshman year of high school, then came Vs. my senior year, and it feels that along my way to adulthood Eddie and company has been there. PJ broke my dependence to listening to what my friends did in high school, which was mostly hip-hop. They showed me there was more out there than where I was at in a small town in Oklahoma. To this day, anytime I hear “In My Tree” it puts a smile on my face, just hearing Matt Cameron playing the drums on that song, it just puts me in a good mood. I guess I understand my parents love for the Beatles, Pearl Jam to me are my Beatles. To me they changed music for me and opened me up to new things. Everyone has their one band that no matter what they love them, for Kristen its Dave Matthews (yes we are very opposite), and I know Sloan will find hers.

Of course I have branched out and I listen to a million other bands and styles of music, but my one constant that I know I will always love is Pearl Jam, and I will always have a soft spot in my heart for hip-hop (N.W.A was the first album I bought, still don’t know how I got that past my mom.). Now I just have to somehow break this answer down to a six year old. I need to figure out an analogy with Hannah Montana in it and she will understand.

This week’s music:
Well, I am sure everyone will know that one of the albums is Backspacer, but I have a few that have either been out or just came out to add to this week’s list. So after my gushing blog about Pearl Jam, let’s get it started.

Monsters of Folk- Monsters of Folk
I guess this is the mega folk band (if you can use that about folk music) started playing together in 2004. The members are M. Ward, Jim James, Conor Oberst, and Mike Mogis, all in their own right are great folk-rock musicians. I am a huge fan of My Morning Jacket and M. Ward, plus Conor Oberst isn’t too shabby. I haven’t listened to much of Bright Eyes which is where Mike Mogis and Conor Oberst worked together. I was eager to listen to this album and got my pre-order last night and listened to it before I went to bed. After my first listen I was very pleased, I feel they got the name right for the band. These guys are some great song writers and it shows in this album. Right now my favorite songs are Tezmacal and Whole Lotta Losin’.

Blitzen Trapper- Furr
This was their 2008 release from the Portland based band. I came across them listening to Xm radio and the song Black River Killer came on. I decided to give Furr a chance seeing it was critically acclaimed last year. They have an American classic rock band feel with a touch of Spacehog in it. This is really a great album, and I would recommend getting this when you get a chance. Check out the songs Black River Killer and War on Machines.

BLK JKS- After Robots
I have been hearing a lot about this band from Johannesburg, South Africa. They decided to move to America to record their first full album. This is becoming one of my favorite albums of 2009. They have incorporated South African music and chants into some great alternative rock. They remind me of a South African TV on the Radio. I have probably listened to this album atleast once a day for the past few weeks. Check out the songs Lakeside and Cursor.

Pearl Jam-Backspacer
Well, I am going to try and do this some justice. Being a fan will be hard to give an honest opinion of this album. For one, they still know how to rock and from what I have read that is all they want to do. I would put this album in my top five, I have listened to it atleast twice a day since Sunday. They still have it, not that they didn’t before this album. Listening to this album just gets me more excited to see them live in 12 days (man, I can’t wait!). It has the classic PJ feel to the album, just enough up tempo songs and just enough slow songs to really hear Eddie Vedder sing. As of right now my favorite songs are, Got Some, Just Breathe, Amongst Waves, and Unthought Known. For the time being, this will probably change by Friday.