Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Wednesday video - Pearl Jam

It is hard, and sometimes difficult, to believe that Pearl Jam's debut album Ten is twenty years old.  That also means that Nevermind is twenty years old, that I moved into my freshman dorm* at the University of Arkansas twenty years ago this fall, and that I've essentially been "grown-up"** for twenty years.  Being thirty-eight years old, married for five years, and being a father already once over (and soon to be for the second time), it is becoming increasingly more unsettling to realize that I'm approaching the fulcrum where I have more life behind me than I have in front of me.  This is not meant to be morbid in any sense -- I mean "unsettling" in the sense that there's that weird sensation, a realization, that you've lived in this world for a long while now and seen, heard, and experienced so much.  And that memories you have, such as listening to Ten (or Nevermind or Siamese Dream) for the first time happened a long time ago.  That there are "grown-up" kids that moved into their freshman dorm at the University of Arkansas this fall that were not yet born when I was air-guitaring to "Black," "Alive," or "Even Flow" -- which in 1991 and 1992 were fantastic new songs by this new band Pearl Jam!

Well, enough of all that.  As a live band, PJ have few peers.  Here's a 1992 performance of "Alive" from SNL.


And here's a bonus live clip of my favorite track from 1993's album Vs.



*  My dorm was Gladson-Ripley, which at the time was one of the co-ed Honor's Dorms.  I lived in Room 113 my freshman year with my friend Mark and in 114 my sophomore year by myself.  Glad to see that they finally got air-conditioning, which was not an option way back in 1991.
**  If the definition of "grown-up" is limited to someone else cooking or preparing your everyday meals for you that is not your mom.

2 comments:

  1. I think that this is going to be my favorite year of my life. 30 is good. You have childish things behind you. Grown up things in front. So, this is the only year I can really enjoy :-)

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  2. I'm 38, too. So it has really been 20 years? Re-visited Rearview Mirror a lot in the past year. Such a fan-fucking-tastic song (oops - can I cuss here?).

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