July 10, 2025 • 38 mins
This week's Mixtape Rewind takes you back to our first Intro mix ever, when Matt introduced Sam to Pearl Jam.
Pearl Jam's music walks a fascinating tightrope—raw, energetic rock paired with profound, often dark storytelling. This episode takes you on a journey through their three-decade evolution, perfect for both newcomers and longtime fans wanting a deeper appreciation of their artistry.
We explore how their debut album Ten created an instant impact with songs like "Jeremy"—a haunting track based on the true story of a student's classroom suicide—and why that album's four standout tracks remain essential listening. The emotional range of Eddie Vedder's voice shines through as we contrast high-energy anthems like "Even Flow" with more introspective pieces like "Black," revealing how the band masterfully balances intensity with vulnerability.
What's particularly fascinating is how their audience has shaped their music's meaning over time. "Alive," originally written as a painful reflection on family trauma, transformed through concert performances into an empowering anthem of survival—something Eddie Vedder himself acknowledges changed his relationship with the song. It's this connection between band and listeners that makes Pearl Jam's catalog so compelling.
Later albums showcase their artistic evolution, from the politically charged "Corduroy" to acoustic gems like "Just Breathe," demonstrating why they've remained relevant while many of their 90s contemporaries faded away. We even touch on Eddie Vedder's solo work, highlighting how the distinctive voice of Pearl Jam translates into different musical contexts.
Whether you missed the Pearl Jam phenomenon the first time around or want to rediscover what made them revolutionary, this mixtape offers the perfect entry point into their world of authentic, powerful rock storytelling. Which Pearl Jam song will become your unexpected favorite?
You can find the playlist on Spotify here:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6mK1lDmg6nsOSqfDV8IIcQ?si=c76b52fafa9740a4
You can also find the playlist on YouTube Music:
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLpQYsbkgm3L4XGudn53dqQ4aE_KW6YmIL&feature=share
- Jeremy
- Even Flow
- Black
- Alive
- Go
- Elderly Woman Behind the Counter In a Small Town
- Corduroy
- Better Man
- Yellow Ledbetter
- Thumbing My Way
- Just Breathe
- Far Behind
Visit us at https://www.superawesomemix.com to learn more about our app, our merchandise, our cards, and more!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
welcome back to another super awesome mix.
My name is matt said home,alongside my co-host and
co-founder of super awesome mix,sammer ab Samer.
How are we doing this week?
Speaker 2 (00:30):
I am doing real well.
You know, it's always a goodweek whenever I feel that you
understood the assignment and,like you, really understood the
assignment this time.
Well done.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Thank you.
Thank you.
Yeah, we're doing a new formaton this week's show, something a
little different, and you knowwe've got a few different
formats on this show.
Obviously, we do the new music.
We've done a couple of DesertIsland mixes.
We did our first Countdown mixa few weeks back.
But this week what we're tryingand this was one of your ideas,
(00:57):
but you know, we're doing akind of intro to a band mix.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Yes, exactly, so we always do the 12 songs, so that
part never changes.
So you know you're getting 12songs on a mixtape, which is
always fun and a challenge,right?
That's like the whole thing.
No one really wants a 500 songplaylist, but yeah, we thought
you know what there's, at leastfrom my experience, and maybe
you're like me.
There are bands out there thathave been out there for a while
(01:26):
and they have a huge discographyand it's like wow, I kind of
missed the boat on that and if Iwant to get back into them,
like I don't know where to beginand like, yeah, like some, you
know, services like Spotify andApple Music have like essentials
or introduction to and, butit's always kind of better to
have someone who grew uplistening to it or really are
into the band to kind of pointyou in a direction and not
(01:48):
necessarily just like popularsongs or most listened to.
So with that, this week was anintroduction to Pearl Jam.
So Matt will be introducing hiskind of journey of Pearl Jam
listening and growing uplistening to Pearl Jam to me,
because that is a group thatI've always felt like I should
love and just felt sointimidated by the fact that,
(02:09):
like they've been around over 30years and I'm still like I
don't really know where tolisten or where to start.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Yeah, I remember you said on one of the shows that
you kind of only recentlydiscovered some of their music
and that kind of blew me away.
Because, as I'll talk about, Imean, it was pretty much
freshman year of high school forme, when they kind of you know,
their first album, 10, came outand they've just been massive
(02:36):
like my entire life, sothroughout high school and
college, and then you knowthereafter, but then you know,
and obviously you're you'reabout 10 years younger than me,
so you know, for the listenersout there obviously that's going
to make a difference.
Okay, so for me it was obviouslya really different experience
with Pearl Jam than, like yousaid, I mean, you came in kind
(02:58):
of well after the fact that thisis just a band that is out
there and sort of wellestablished In the, in the same
way that when I was growing upthe Rolling Stones always
existed, right, but I never hadthis experience with them where
it's like they were kind of anunknown and then sort of came to
be so yeah.
So we thought this would be areally good way to start and
just a ton of good music tochoose from.
(03:20):
I will tell the like, if thereare diehard Pearl Jam listeners
out there, I'll tell the like,if there are diehard Pearl Jam
listeners out there, I'll tellyou.
You know this is anintroduction mix, so it was real
heavy on the first like threealbums because there were so
many big hits off of that and Ithink if I was introducing to
someone which I am, that's what,that's the whole point of this
I would go heavy on those albums.
And then I at the end I put afew tracks from some of the more
(03:45):
recent stuff.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
Yeah, well, like I said, I think you really
understood the assignmentbecause I was jamming out to
this mix.
Oh my God, I just was jammingout.
No, I'm not going to make thatjoke, even though I already did.
But yes, really enjoyed thismix a whole lot.
So with that, let's kick it off.
So the first pick that youchose on this mix is Jeremy.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
Yeah, so the first four tracks from this mix and
this was really hard is thattheir first album was called Ten
and I ended up picking fourtracks from it because I think
they're all kind of indicativeof you know the band, and I
picked Jeremy first.
Now, interesting side note, soPearl Jam, like four core
members, right, eddie Vedder, ofcourse he's the lead singer and
(04:31):
guitarist.
Okay, jeff Amant, stone Gossard, mike McCready Okay, jeff
Amant's a bassist, stone Gossard, mike McCready are guitarists,
and then eventually, you know,it wasn't until 1998 that they
settled on a drummer and MattCameron has been the drummer for
Pearl Jam since then.
But prior to that it was almostlike spinal tap, in that the
drummer would sort of change outperiodically for Pearl Jam
(04:55):
Didn't affect the band too much,but, yeah, they didn't have a
stable position there, but yeah,so ended up picking Jeremy from
the album 10.
And this song is based on atrue story and it was actually
here.
You know, I live in Dallas andit was just in Plano, Texas a
(05:16):
story about a high school kidwho comes into his classroom one
day and shoots himself in frontof the class, kills himself.
And you know, for me this comesout I'm like 13, 14 years old
and I'm just like, oh my God,this is a true story and I'd
kind of heard about it in thenews but, like when you're that
young, like how much are youreally watching the news?
(05:37):
And this is pre-internet, soit's not like you're just going
to see stuff about it everywherethe way you would things now.
So you know, it was kind oflike a familiar story.
But then just to hear this andI think this was the song and
the music video was prettyimpactful too, and so this is
always the song I think of firstwhen I think of Pearl Jam,
(05:59):
because it was like they wrotethis song about it.
And obviously nowadays,unfortunately, there's still
news of school shootings, butit's students coming in and
shooting other students and inthis case it was this really
shocking event in the news thatthey wrote about and it was a
student shooting himself and itwas because of the ridicule and
(06:19):
the pain that he was goingthrough at that point in time.
So, yeah, song that just Idon't know, it just really
resonated with you.
It's a really powerful song andfor me at that point in time in
my life it obviously resonatedquite a bit.
So this is always the firstsong I think of when I think of
Pearl Jam.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Yeah, I had heard this song before, like loosely.
You know, I sure got a lot ofradio time, so at some point in
my life I'd come across it.
I recognize the chorus a lot,but I had never known any of
that and so in my own researchof this I was like, oh my
goodness, this is like reallytragic.
What a, what a horrifying likenews event that I'd never known.
(06:59):
Like you said, I, you know, Iwas really young at the point
that this has happened and thenews is just endless, right, so
never really caught up to it.
But yeah, what a really sadstory.
But, wow, it like completelychanges the meaning of this song
.
The one verse that I reallythought was so powerful, given
that context, is that he, youknow, writes here the best
(07:20):
revenge is to live on and proveyourself, be stronger than those
people, and then you can comeback.
You know he like says thatabout the song in the sense that
like don't, don't take it outon people by by, you know,
removing yourself from theequation, like show them by by
putting more into your life oryou know, whatever it is.
And of course bullying isreally complicated, but I just
(07:43):
thought that that was like areally powerful message of like
you are the one losing, sadly.
You know it's not everyone elsethat's losing.
Anyway, everyone loses.
It's rough, but I had no ideathat any of this was happening
and didn't know that that waswhat the song was about.
So very strong, opener and very, very good song, musically too,
(08:04):
like really it opens up therest of the mix for sure.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
Yeah, I think it's indicative of their sound that
carries on, you know, even tothis day.
But yeah no, you're right.
I mean really.
You know, as you'll find out ifyou read the lyrics of a lot of
their songs, it doesn't alwaysmatch the energy that maybe the
song is bringing with it, and sothat is kind of something I
(08:29):
thought was appropriate too withthis song is that you know
they're a great rock band, butwhen you dig into some of these
lyrics it's like, oh, this iskind of a sad song or the song
is about this and you know notto.
You know they don't bum peopleout with it, right, but the
message there is a more powerfulmessage there in a lot of their
lyrics, so definitely worthnoting there.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
So track two you went , like we said, off of the 10
album still, and it is the trackEven Flow.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
Yeah, so you talk about not understanding the
lyrics, right, like this was onethat was just classic, just a
high energy type of song.
And I remember, you know, adamSandler when he was on Saturday
Night Live kind of doing animpression of this and just
doing just nothing but gibberish.
Because if you're trying tolisten to Eddie Vedder on this
(09:21):
track like and sing along, it'sreally hard to do.
Listen to Eddie Vedder on thistrack like and sing along, it's
really hard to do.
But again, like, it's one ofthose things when I finally sat
down with the lyrics and readthem and then revisited them as
I'm preparing for this.
You know, and Eddie Vedder'stalked about this it's kind of
about homelessness and some ofthe you know challenges that
(09:41):
people face there.
You know, like someone evenstruggling beyond just hey, I'm,
I'm short on money, I'm livingon the streets, right, you know,
there there ends up being amental illness aspect to this
that they touch on.
You know, like thoughts arrivelike butterflies, they they
mention that in the lyrics andthen he chases them away and so
they kind of paint this pictureof someone who you know is kind
(10:03):
of in their, their own headbecause of their given situation
or vice versa.
Like you know, whatever we'renot, we're not going to comment,
you know we're not here tocomment on all that, but yeah, I
mean really kind of a sad, asadder song and it's something
he would point out in concertsis just, you know, some of the,
some of the people out there whoare suffering.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
And that's what this song is about.
Yeah, right, again, as you said,there's definitely a theme of
what the song sounds like andthen what happens when you
listen to the lyrics, becausethe song is like this incredible
rock song I mean, I think theyall are.
The guitar solo in the middle isunbelievable, like the drums in
this song are also really,really good.
This was one of the ones where,you know, I found myself
turning it up as I was listeningto it because, especially in
(10:50):
the guitar solo part, like justunbelievable guitar play Eddie
Vedder, of course, like you know, one of the greats in that
regard.
But yeah, I, you know, thoughtit was again a very powerful
song and, like you said, saidthat's something that I, that I
also kept coming back to.
I was like, wow, you know, notonly are these really powerful
rock songs, but lyrically, yeah,they're all really interesting.
(11:12):
They all kind of touch onsomething.
They have that kind ofstorytelling element to each one
which is, um, makes sense thatthat you grew up listening to
them and really liking them,because, if you know you're, if
you're a long-time listener, weknow that Matt loves a good
story being told in the songlike many people.
So this definitely checks thatbox.
But um on to track three, umagain off of the 10 album and
(11:34):
this is the track black so funnything about the 10 album before
we get into black.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
okay, so their original band name they're fans
of the NBA, especially JeffAhmet, the bassist, and their
original band name was MookieBlaylock, which was the name of
a point guard for the AtlantaHawks in the late 80s, early 90s
, and they realized as they wentalong they were just using this
(12:02):
guy's name as their band name.
It was kind of weird becausenot all their fans were
necessarily nba fans, so it'slike it held no meaning for them
, so they changed it.
They eventually landed on pearljam and um they named their
first album 10 because that wasmookie blaylock's uh number, his
jersey number so um funnylittle story about, about that,
um.
So this one little differentenergy wise, right like it.
(12:23):
So this one a little differentenergy-wise, right Like it's a
little slower and this one isjust more of like a
straightforward kind ofrelationship song and
specifically Eddie Vedder'salways said this is about like a
first relationship and how thatheartbreak can hurt you.
And I think this is where youreally see, and not that you
(12:44):
don't see the power in EddieVedder's voice in all their
music, but when he slows it downI think this is when you really
see it, especially at the endof this song.
You know when he's talkingabout I hope someday you have a
beautiful life, you know, butwhy can't it be mine?
And just sort of that longing.
And so I think this really, Imean it's an amazing song.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
Agreed.
Yeah, I wrote that exact samething.
I was like his voice is perfectfor this kind of reflection on
loss.
It's specifically a verypowerful ending to the song that
I absolutely adored.
Yeah, like it's funny, I wasreading that he didn't want this
to be released as a singlebecause he felt it like such a
personal and like fragile song.
I believe he used the wordfragile and he said that like
(13:30):
fragile songs get justcompletely obliterated by the
music business.
Um, so they had originallyplanned to like make this a
signal or someone was pushingfor it, and he refused.
Um, and despite that, despiteit not even being single off the
album, like, like you said,it's just like a huge, huge
track.
And I think, again, it justspeaks to the power of like what
he's singing about and howrelatable it can be.
And you know, funny enough, likeI listened to this mix
primarily on a day when it was,you know, it's fall here or
starting to be fall, gettingclose to it, and so it's kind of
(13:52):
like a cold and rainy, likecold front day and like this is
a perfect mix for that type ofmood.
I think he, you know, it'd belike really tough to kind of
listen to this when it is likesunshiny and beautiful out and
like you just want to go frolicin the, in the park or something
, but having it be cold andrainy, so you're like very
introspective and reflective andit's, it's perfect.
And he lands that, um, thatmood like really really well.
(14:14):
So that was another element ofwhy I really enjoyed listening
to this mix is because it likereally matched what was going on
in the world and I love whenthat happens.
So on to track four, um lastone off the album and it is one
that I was really familiar with.
So this is one that I knewright off the bat and it is
Alive.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
Okay, so this was a really personal song for Eddie
Vedder, because you know thestory that he lays out here is
that you know the character,which I mean it resonates really
closely with Eddie Vedder.
The character finds out thatyou know the person he knows, as
his father was actually astepfather, and his father had
(14:53):
passed away.
Now he throws this middle versein here where it kind of implies
there's this sort of incestuousrelationship with his mother
that results from this Kind ofweird family setup he has.
And then in the third verseit's kind of like he's still
alive, like throughout.
You know, I'm still alive isthat, you know, kind of
(15:14):
overriding refrain.
And you know, the way hepresents it in the third verse
is that it's almost this curse,like he has to live with this
right, all this horrible thingthat's happened to him and so.
But when you hear the song right, all this horrible thing that's
happened to him and so.
But when you hear the songright and again, it's kind of a
running theme with some PearlJam songs.
There's so much energy here andat concerts people were just
(15:36):
using this as some sort of likeempowering anthem.
You know you talked about whenyou were talking about Jeremy,
how you know the way to get backat people is to just survive
right, is to get through thesethings and show them your value
and sort of prove them wrong.
And people were kind of takingthis chorus of I'm still alive
(15:56):
like hey, I'm still here, right,they were really like
channeling this power through it.
And Eddie Vedder said over time,rather than this you know him
screaming about this I'm stillalive, being this curse.
He said the audience reallychanged the meaning for him and
and as he put it, they broke thecurse Right.
Put it, they broke the curseright.
(16:20):
But it really it changed and Ithink that's pretty rare for a
songwriter to say that.
You know, the audience reactionto it completely changed how he
felt about a song.
But that was the case withAlive.
So really famous song andeverybody gets into it and
obviously you could just screamout the refrain.
But really interesting storybehind it.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
Yeah, I love that and I agree I have to imagine
that's like a short list of of.
You know, we talk a lot abouthow people interpret songs and
how often the artists will comeback and be like no y'all, like
that has.
That has nothing to do withwhat I was thinking about.
It was just this right but Ithink even rarer is for them to
recognize like, oh, that is acool interpretation, like, maybe
(16:58):
that is one way to think aboutthis and to have it be freeing
instead of imprisoning.
So I loved reading about that.
I thought it was so interestingand I again never would have
guessed that that's how I mean.
My interpretation, hearing itall these years, was yeah, it's
like a, especially the way hestings it, like I'm still alive.
Like the way that hits hits,it's almost as if he's like
(17:21):
again an achievement, I'm stillhere.
Like I'm okay.
Um, not this like agonizing,like, oh, I'm still here.
And it's probably the use ofthe word alive, like we never
really think of the word aliveas a negative connotation.
But great song.
Last minute of this song too islike my absolute favorite, like
the drums and the guitar andall of that.
It just checks that rock boxfor me.
So really nice.
But with that let's move on toa new album here.
(17:43):
So track five you go with.
Go on the album Versus.
Speaker 1 (17:50):
Yeah.
So 10 was such a massive hitand you know that's the concern
whenever a band has a massivehit album is what's the follow
up going to be.
That's the concern whenever aband has a massive hit album is
what's the followup going to be.
And I love this.
I had forgotten how much I lovethis song, but this is the
first track off of versus.
So not only do you get okay,here's our second album and it's
going to be awesome too, butlike just this first track you
(18:11):
know, cause we had included onceis the first song off of 10.
And I put that on a bestopening tracks mix that we had
done.
And so here, like Go, I thinkis also worthy of being on a mix
like that, because I just lovethe energy from this one and I
mean it is just right in linewith its title.
(18:32):
I mean it just makes you wantto go.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
Yeah, he like really ratcheted up the energy between
these two albums.
Like it is the intensity it'sso much harder of rock music,
like very, very grungy you cantell.
Like that grunge influence ishidden right around, it's like
peeking around.
This time period it's 1993.
Um, you know, we were talkingabout interpretations of song
and this one's made me laughbecause everyone has kind of
over the years interpreted thisone to be about like an abusive
(18:57):
relationship or you knowsomething really negative.
But he apparently claims thatit's just about his truck.
Uh, he had a 1990 toyota truckthat he still drove and it's
apparently just about hisrelationship with his truck or
his struggles with his truck.
So who's who knows?
Speaker 1 (19:13):
you win some, you lose some, I guess and if you've
ever had an old car and been ina hurry somewhere and you're
trying to get it started, Ithink you could bring out the
energy that he brings out here.
Please don't go out on me Justlike go, yes, yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
I need you to move, all right.
Well, great pick.
And yeah, absolutely love whatthey did with that opener.
So, track six off of a.
Speaker 1 (19:40):
I believe is this a different album but, um, still
the same, I think, I think it'sstill okay still the same album
yep cool, um so.
Elderly woman behind the counterin a small town yeah, so long,
long title uh, great song, alittle quieter song than you
know.
So pearl jam really fluctuatesbetween, like you know, the
really quiet reflective songsand just the high energy rock
(20:00):
songs, but this one's a littlequieter.
Um, you know it.
He tells the story here aboutsomeone you know kind of
returning to a small town andthe person at the counter
recognizes this person and, uh,but you know, she doesn't think
he recognizes her because timehas changed us.
Even though maybe inside wethink we look the same, we
(20:23):
really don't on the outside toother people, especially if they
haven't seen us in a while.
And yeah, and just kind ofthese moments and then they get
reflective about where they arein life and all of that.
So I love the story here andeven if you're not from like a
small town, I feel like you knowyour high school or your
college or you know some cohortyou're a part of almost becomes
(20:44):
that small town in a way for anyone of us.
And yeah, just seeing peopleafter a while I think not only
makes you reflect about wherethey've been this entire time,
when they kind of reenter the TVshow of your life, but also you
know what you've been doing inthe interim right and how much
you've changed.
So yeah, just a great song.
(21:05):
I think it just makes me thinkof kind of the passing of time.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
Yeah, absolutely I agree, and I love what he, you
know he's kind of says somethingthat sound you know to me is
kind of obvious once he said it,but it was still interesting.
It's like people kind of eitherfeel that they're you know the
large fish in a small pond in asmall town, or they feel stuck
there and they like can't waitto leave, um, or they're I think
(21:30):
he might've even offered thethird option, which is like or
they're just okay there and it'slike, yeah, like I think that
kind of works out for any place,not a small town or not.
But yeah, just kind ofreflecting on exactly what you
were saying, and I just I lovethis song.
It's kind of funny.
I noticed that it had a littleheart next to it because I had
heard this and I remembered whathappened.
(21:50):
It was like an autoplay songand I was just like cleaning one
day and Siri put it on and nearthe end was like, oh my god, I
love this song, what is thissong?
And I told siri to like add itto my library and like it so I
wouldn't lose it.
Um, and it was this song.
Yeah, and I think it's becauseI just love the way that he
sings.
At the end, hearts and thoughtsthey fade, fade away yeah over
and over and again.
(22:12):
It speaks to like what you'retalking about, how, like things
change over time, so hearts andthoughts, thoughts, they fade,
so things that seemingly couldhave been really important to
you at some point eventually arenot.
Things just change, life haschanged, so really beautiful
song in that regard.
All right.
Track seven I believe this isthe one that I was thinking
about on a new album and it isCorduroy.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
Yeah, this is off the third album, vitalogy, and yeah
so Corduroyroy.
This is a pretty popular song.
I think the line that allstands out to me here is can't
buy what I want because it'sfree.
And uh, yeah, I mean he talksabout, you know, just over time.
You know he says something likeyou know, well, whatever it is,
like love or time itself, likeyou can't buy any of those
(22:58):
things.
And so I think at this point,when you think about where the
band is at now, they're justthis global, you know, world
famous band, and so I think thisis an interestingly placed song
with where they are in life,because they're still relatively
young at this point, like thisis still in the nineties when
this song comes out.
This is their third album and Ithink, probably getting a
(23:20):
little bit reflective on, likeyou know, they're kind of at the
point where they can you know,materially buy whatever they
want.
And so I think this song kind ofstands out just with where they
are in life themselves, becausethere are those more important
things that you just can't buy,no matter how much money you
have.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
there are those more important things that you just
can't buy, no matter how muchmoney you have.
Yeah, it's, I read it also.
I was doing some research on it, of course, and and he
apparently wanted to write thissong when he saw that someone
was selling a 500 corduroy vestthat was labeled the pearl jam,
eddie vetter corduroy shirt, um,and he saw this in a shop
somewhere and he was just likethis is ridiculous, like what
(23:59):
fame can do and like what, howpeople try to like, take that
and, you know, monetize and allthat kind of stuff.
And I think that you know thefirst chorus he sings I don't
want to take what you can give,I would rather starve than eat
your bread.
And I think he's just kind of,you know, rejecting what people
are trying to sell to him.
And then to your point, instead, he only wants the things that,
like, money can't buy.
(24:20):
Um, and that's like what weshould focus on, like all the
intangible things that are hardto purchase, um, so, yeah, a
really powerful song, again inthat regard, and also just like
I love the interlude there's aninterlude in here where it gets
kind of quiet and then buildsback up.
I'm a huge sucker for that, so,so absolutely loved it
musically.
Yeah, great, great track, allright Track.
(24:42):
Number eight, better man off ofthe same album.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
Yeah.
So this one maybe their biggestpop hit and it's funny because
they kind of refer to this asjust a shameless pop song.
But I think it kind of combinesthe two things that we've seen
in the track so far, which islike you get the the quieter
sort of Eddie Vedder voice thereat the beginning and then this
song kicks in and just turnsinto a full-on rock song, and so
(25:10):
I think that combination ispretty cool and it stands out
amongst their tracks because ofthat.
But I also think it's coolbecause he paints such a great
picture here of this woman whois clearly not happy with her
relationship but, you know,can't find a better man, so
she's just kind of staying in it, and I think it's rare that you
(25:30):
get a songwriter who can writefrom an opposing point of view
right, like obviously EddieVedder's not a woman.
So you know, he may haveexperienced this in his life,
but certainly not from thatperspective.
So I think that's also a prettygood skill to have, if you can
sort of change perspectives likethat.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
Yeah, and apparently, on top of that, he wrote this
in high school, so this was asong that he chose to sing,
having written it many yearsearlier, which I think is also
incredible.
We always talk a lot abouttalented people and what they're
capable of doing, and here'sthis guy who's like oh yeah, I
wrote this song in high school,let me sing it and have it
become a smash hit.
All right, what are?
Speaker 1 (26:09):
we going to record next?
Well, there's this song I wrotewhen I was 15.
Let's try it, and that's amassive hit.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
It's like how talented are you?
Speaker 1 (26:16):
Like what is that?
Speaker 2 (26:19):
It's really incredible.
But yeah, I think you know,anytime I hear a song about a
relationship too, I just end upthinking about it as any form of
relationship, not even betweenpeople, but it could be between
you and your job or you and yourlike you know how you spend
your days or whatever.
It might be a family member,your days or whatever it might
be a family member.
And yeah, sometimes we findourselves stuck in a
(26:40):
relationship that you kind ofknow you want to leave but you
just can't find something better.
So you're just kind of you feelstuck, you feel trapped, and
that's like very much how Iinterpret this song, even
outside of the confines of justlike a romantic relationship.
So very, very powerful song inthat regard.
And yeah, it makes me feel alittle behind in life that he
just wrote this when he was inhigh school.
But here we are, it's all good.
(27:01):
Let's move on to track nine, areally interesting one and one
that I've heard a lot on TikTokand Reels, and I can discuss
that in a moment if you don'tmention it.
Speaker 1 (27:11):
But Yellow Lead Better no-transcript and so it
(27:32):
kind of came likechronologically.
It sort of came out later,although fans of the band were
familiar with the song already,but it was written.
The reason I talk about thetiming is because it was written
around the time of the 10 album, which was the original Gulf
War at the beginning of the 90s,and the song is you know the
character in the song has abrother going off to war who is
(27:54):
killed and you know he hearsabout this.
He's torn up inside but EddieVedder talks about how kind of
outwardly he looks, like theydid at the time, which was like
kind of this young sort of Imean long hair, kind of rock and
roll-ish whatever yourstereotypical rock and roll kid
might be or alternative grunge,that type of thing.
(28:15):
Now he's going through something, or alternative grunge that
type of thing.
Now he's going throughsomething and you know this, you
know he talks about, you knowhe sees people and he waves but
they won't wave back and it'slike he's trying to relate to
these other people who have lostfolks in the war and but all
people are seeing in them.
Is this outward appearance, andI think from Jeremy all the way
through, like I think you couldkind of see this songwriting of
(28:39):
kind of a don't judge a book byits cover type thing and just
this.
We've all got more going oninside of us than you know, and
so sometimes not necessarilyjudging exactly what your eyes
see is pretty valuable, and Ithink that's what this song kind
of hits on.
Speaker 2 (28:55):
I love that's what this song kind of hits on.
I love that interpretation.
I think that, yeah, that'sreally powerful and a very
important message, because weoften jump to conclusions that
other people you know are onlyout to like bother us and it's
like no, they've got like a lotof things going on, I'm sure you
know.
Give them the benefit of thedoubt.
They might have something goingon Same as you do, something
(29:19):
going on same as you do.
The reason I know this fromTikTok and Instagram Reels is
the I believe the opening verseis just kind of sung
nonsensically.
And so there's all of these.
It's all these like memes abouthow people are, you know,
really feeling the lyrics here,as they like drink a cup of
coffee and like stare out theirwindow, and it's just
essentially kind of nonsensesounding.
It's really difficult to knowwhat he's singing, um, and so I
(29:41):
absolutely love that, um.
You know that even when he'skind of like mumbling into the
microphone, uh, he's stillproducing great music.
That's awesome.
Yeah, it's good stuff, okay, uh, home stretch here last three
tracks and track number 10 is amore.
Speaker 1 (30:11):
You know, relatively newer ones from all of these.
And it is Thumbing my WayBecause, again, even though I
love the energy they bring in somany other tracks, I also just
like something that's a littlelighter sometimes, although,
again, you read into the lyricshere it's not as light as you
think, but lighter sounding, Iguess you'd say.
But you know the lyric thatstands out here is no matter how
cold the winter, there's aspringtime ahead.
And you know he has said thisis about hitchhiking through.
(30:39):
A broken heart is the way hekind of describes this.
Speaker 2 (30:41):
And so very literal, thumbing my way, you know,
reference to hitchhiking, but,um, really great song yeah, I, I
also called out that linebecause it was one of my
favorites, uh, because it's justso hopeful um, and no matter,
yeah, no matter how cold thewinter, there's a springtime
ahead.
I really enjoy that and I thinkit's important to think about
that sometimes, whenever you'regoing through a dark time or
anything that's reallychallenging, like things.
(31:01):
You know, going back, thingschange, so you just have to be
hopeful that things change forthe better and that there's
something good on the horizon,as long as you keep pushing.
So, yeah, really, really nicesong and I love the.
I love the imagery here of,like you said, hitchhiking your
way through a broken heart,which is always a really
difficult thing to do, and Ilove the idea of it being
hitchhiking because it's likethere's not necessarily a step,
(31:25):
there's not just a solid.
Okay, here's the course you'regoing to take when you're trying
to get over a bad relationship.
It's so haphazard you may get ina car that leads you astray.
It's like all these differentthings.
I love the metaphor.
I think it's so powerful, soreally nice.
Okay, this next one we go evenfurther into the future.
So this is Just Breathe off of,I believe, Backspacer.
Speaker 1 (31:49):
Yeah, 2009.
This one got quite a bit ofradio play, I think, when it
came out, which you know.
Pearl Jam just generallydoesn't get a ton of radio play,
especially a lot of their newerstuff, but this one did, you
know, I think, when I waslooking at.
You know my notes here.
If Black is about firstrelationships and the heartbreak
there, I feel like this isabout last relationships, you
(32:12):
know, because this very muchkind of you know thematically
hits for me as like sayinggoodbye to someone right and
saying goodbye to a loved oneyou know, possibly the love of
your life, and just kind of, youknow, asking them to just keep
breathing and stay with you andsort of regretting not saying
more loving words along the wayand all those things, but also
(32:35):
being grateful at the same time.
So so I mean, I just love thissong and I think the songwriting
here is just perfect.
But yeah, no, I mean it andit's really kind of interesting
that you know Black is about 20years prior to this and he says
it's about first relationshipsand so when, when I hear this
one you know next to that one,like, yeah, this is more that
(32:55):
last relationship.
Speaker 2 (32:58):
I love that and, yeah , I think I just love this song.
I love that it's an acousticsong.
Again, you know, going back tohis voice, it works so well even
on an acoustic track.
It's absolutely beautiful, andso I really liked that.
You, you know, includedsomething that was very
different than all the rest inin that regard, because it just
shows again, like the, the rangethat he's got, um, that it's
(33:20):
not just like a you know onetrick pony type thing, um, and
clearly not right.
They've had so many albums anda lot of commercial success, but
it's just really cool to kindof hear whenever artists can
also release an acoustic track,that just is incredible and you
just want to keep listening toit over and over again, and this
certainly is that.
I loved it.
All right, the last track ofthe mix is just Eddie Vedder.
(33:43):
So you know, I'm interested tohear your thinking on this one,
and it is the track Far Behind.
Speaker 1 (33:50):
Yeah.
So Eddie Vedder's done quite abit of solo work and so I
thought I would just highlightone track here.
So I stole one track off thePearl Jam mix to just kind of
show all right, eddie Vedder onhis own.
This is from the moviesoundtrack for Into the Wild,
which I believe he was nominatedfor an Oscar for one of the
songs.
But again, that movie is aboutyou know kind of a younger guy
(34:13):
giving up everything, going onthis journey and that's you know
.
This song, I think, just hitsthat exactly right, just leaving
things behind.
He works with some really coolartists on this soundtrack, so
it's definitely worth checkingout the whole thing.
But it is kind of a slightlydifferent sound than just, you
know, pearl Jam.
But I think if you like PearlJam, this is the direction you
(34:36):
can go and write into EddieVedder's solo work that I think
you'll love that as well.
Speaker 2 (34:42):
Yeah, I loved that you included this I wrote it's
almost like an alt rock versionof like Pearl Jam you know,
having him just do solo workhere Absolutely love the lyrics.
I also think it's reallyappropriate as a closing mix or
as a closing song to this mix,because it's like you said, it's
just all about kind of likeleaving everything behind, like
not containing yourself into ashape and how sometimes having
(35:06):
less is more.
You know I love the secondverse empty pockets will allow a
greater sense of wealth.
Why contain yourself like anyother book on a shelf, Like such
powerful, empowering lyrics andones that I'm very excited to
take with me?
I always love.
I feel like Pearl Jam has somany lyrics that you could just
like put on a poster or writedown and kind of be inspired by,
(35:28):
and this certainly checks thatbox as well.
So this was awesome.
I love listening to this mix.
I feel like I've beenintroduced to Pearl Jam, so
thank you so much for spendingthe time to put this together
for me and, hopefully, all ofyou listeners.
If you're not familiar withPearl Jam, you've got like a
pretty good base to start offwith and now you can feel a
little bit more comfortabletalking about them and knowing
(35:50):
their history.
And yeah, it was awesome.
Thanks, Matt.
Speaker 1 (35:54):
Oh, this was great and it was really cool.
For me it's like when we weretrying to figure out a band that
it would make sense, for, likeI said, they came about, you
know, when I was like 14.
So I was like I feel like I'vealways just I've kind of grown
up with this band, so it'sreally interesting to see the
evolution of their music.
But, yeah, so many songs thatjust brought me back to like
(36:15):
high school and college andsongs I heard over and over
again and I will say, you know,for people who maybe aren't as
familiar with them, I will fullyconcede it's not like I was
digging into the lyrics when Iwas 14 and knew, like, what
Evenflow meant to me.
It was just, you know, laughingabout.
Adam Sandler just saying it wasgibberish on Saturday Night Live
(36:36):
.
I just couldn't understand aword.
But yeah, no, there's somegreat songwriting.
Sometimes it's a littledifficult to understand, but
trust us, it's there All right.
Well, there you have it Anothersuper awesome mix for your
collection.
We've got plenty of mixes to doand plenty of more bands to
introduce to each other, sowe're looking forward to this
series as well, but we'll get towork on that.
(36:57):
And so for Sam, this is Matt,and we'll see you next time.
welcome back to another super awesome mix.
My name is matt said home,alongside my co-host and
co-founder of super awesome mix,sammer ab Samer.
How are we doing this week?
Speaker 2 (00:30):
I am doing real well.
You know, it's always a goodweek whenever I feel that you
understood the assignment and,like you, really understood the
assignment this time.
Well done.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Thank you.
Thank you.
Yeah, we're doing a new formaton this week's show, something a
little different, and you knowwe've got a few different
formats on this show.
Obviously, we do the new music.
We've done a couple of DesertIsland mixes.
We did our first Countdown mixa few weeks back.
But this week what we're tryingand this was one of your ideas,
(00:57):
but you know, we're doing akind of intro to a band mix.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Yes, exactly, so we always do the 12 songs, so that
part never changes.
So you know you're getting 12songs on a mixtape, which is
always fun and a challenge,right?
That's like the whole thing.
No one really wants a 500 songplaylist, but yeah, we thought
you know what there's, at leastfrom my experience, and maybe
you're like me.
There are bands out there thathave been out there for a while
(01:26):
and they have a huge discographyand it's like wow, I kind of
missed the boat on that and if Iwant to get back into them,
like I don't know where to beginand like, yeah, like some, you
know, services like Spotify andApple Music have like essentials
or introduction to and, butit's always kind of better to
have someone who grew uplistening to it or really are
into the band to kind of pointyou in a direction and not
(01:48):
necessarily just like popularsongs or most listened to.
So with that, this week was anintroduction to Pearl Jam.
So Matt will be introducing hiskind of journey of Pearl Jam
listening and growing uplistening to Pearl Jam to me,
because that is a group thatI've always felt like I should
love and just felt sointimidated by the fact that,
(02:09):
like they've been around over 30years and I'm still like I
don't really know where tolisten or where to start.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Yeah, I remember you said on one of the shows that
you kind of only recentlydiscovered some of their music
and that kind of blew me away.
Because, as I'll talk about, Imean, it was pretty much
freshman year of high school forme, when they kind of you know,
their first album, 10, came outand they've just been massive
(02:36):
like my entire life, sothroughout high school and
college, and then you knowthereafter, but then you know,
and obviously you're you'reabout 10 years younger than me,
so you know, for the listenersout there obviously that's going
to make a difference.
Okay, so for me it was obviouslya really different experience
with Pearl Jam than, like yousaid, I mean, you came in kind
(02:58):
of well after the fact that thisis just a band that is out
there and sort of wellestablished In the, in the same
way that when I was growing upthe Rolling Stones always
existed, right, but I never hadthis experience with them where
it's like they were kind of anunknown and then sort of came to
be so yeah.
So we thought this would be areally good way to start and
just a ton of good music tochoose from.
(03:20):
I will tell the like, if thereare diehard Pearl Jam listeners
out there, I'll tell the like,if there are diehard Pearl Jam
listeners out there, I'll tellyou.
You know this is anintroduction mix, so it was real
heavy on the first like threealbums because there were so
many big hits off of that and Ithink if I was introducing to
someone which I am, that's what,that's the whole point of this
I would go heavy on those albums.
And then I at the end I put afew tracks from some of the more
(03:45):
recent stuff.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
Yeah, well, like I said, I think you really
understood the assignmentbecause I was jamming out to
this mix.
Oh my God, I just was jammingout.
No, I'm not going to make thatjoke, even though I already did.
But yes, really enjoyed thismix a whole lot.
So with that, let's kick it off.
So the first pick that youchose on this mix is Jeremy.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
Yeah, so the first four tracks from this mix and
this was really hard is thattheir first album was called Ten
and I ended up picking fourtracks from it because I think
they're all kind of indicativeof you know the band, and I
picked Jeremy first.
Now, interesting side note, soPearl Jam, like four core
members, right, eddie Vedder, ofcourse he's the lead singer and
(04:31):
guitarist.
Okay, jeff Amant, stone Gossard, mike McCready Okay, jeff
Amant's a bassist, stone Gossard, mike McCready are guitarists,
and then eventually, you know,it wasn't until 1998 that they
settled on a drummer and MattCameron has been the drummer for
Pearl Jam since then.
But prior to that it was almostlike spinal tap, in that the
drummer would sort of change outperiodically for Pearl Jam
(04:55):
Didn't affect the band too much,but, yeah, they didn't have a
stable position there, but yeah,so ended up picking Jeremy from
the album 10.
And this song is based on atrue story and it was actually
here.
You know, I live in Dallas andit was just in Plano, Texas a
(05:16):
story about a high school kidwho comes into his classroom one
day and shoots himself in frontof the class, kills himself.
And you know, for me this comesout I'm like 13, 14 years old
and I'm just like, oh my God,this is a true story and I'd
kind of heard about it in thenews but, like when you're that
young, like how much are youreally watching the news?
(05:37):
And this is pre-internet, soit's not like you're just going
to see stuff about it everywherethe way you would things now.
So you know, it was kind oflike a familiar story.
But then just to hear this andI think this was the song and
the music video was prettyimpactful too, and so this is
always the song I think of firstwhen I think of Pearl Jam,
(05:59):
because it was like they wrotethis song about it.
And obviously nowadays,unfortunately, there's still
news of school shootings, butit's students coming in and
shooting other students and inthis case it was this really
shocking event in the news thatthey wrote about and it was a
student shooting himself and itwas because of the ridicule and
(06:19):
the pain that he was goingthrough at that point in time.
So, yeah, song that just Idon't know, it just really
resonated with you.
It's a really powerful song andfor me at that point in time in
my life it obviously resonatedquite a bit.
So this is always the firstsong I think of when I think of
Pearl Jam.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Yeah, I had heard this song before, like loosely.
You know, I sure got a lot ofradio time, so at some point in
my life I'd come across it.
I recognize the chorus a lot,but I had never known any of
that and so in my own researchof this I was like, oh my
goodness, this is like reallytragic.
What a, what a horrifying likenews event that I'd never known.
(06:59):
Like you said, I, you know, Iwas really young at the point
that this has happened and thenews is just endless, right, so
never really caught up to it.
But yeah, what a really sadstory.
But, wow, it like completelychanges the meaning of this song
.
The one verse that I reallythought was so powerful, given
that context, is that he, youknow, writes here the best
(07:20):
revenge is to live on and proveyourself, be stronger than those
people, and then you can comeback.
You know he like says thatabout the song in the sense that
like don't, don't take it outon people by by, you know,
removing yourself from theequation, like show them by by
putting more into your life oryou know, whatever it is.
And of course bullying isreally complicated, but I just
(07:43):
thought that that was like areally powerful message of like
you are the one losing, sadly.
You know it's not everyone elsethat's losing.
Anyway, everyone loses.
It's rough, but I had no ideathat any of this was happening
and didn't know that that waswhat the song was about.
So very strong, opener and very, very good song, musically too,
(08:04):
like really it opens up therest of the mix for sure.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
Yeah, I think it's indicative of their sound that
carries on, you know, even tothis day.
But yeah no, you're right.
I mean really.
You know, as you'll find out ifyou read the lyrics of a lot of
their songs, it doesn't alwaysmatch the energy that maybe the
song is bringing with it, and sothat is kind of something I
(08:29):
thought was appropriate too withthis song is that you know
they're a great rock band, butwhen you dig into some of these
lyrics it's like, oh, this iskind of a sad song or the song
is about this and you know notto.
You know they don't bum peopleout with it, right, but the
message there is a more powerfulmessage there in a lot of their
lyrics, so definitely worthnoting there.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
So track two you went , like we said, off of the 10
album still, and it is the trackEven Flow.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
Yeah, so you talk about not understanding the
lyrics, right, like this was onethat was just classic, just a
high energy type of song.
And I remember, you know, adamSandler when he was on Saturday
Night Live kind of doing animpression of this and just
doing just nothing but gibberish.
Because if you're trying tolisten to Eddie Vedder on this
(09:21):
track like and sing along, it'sreally hard to do.
Listen to Eddie Vedder on thistrack like and sing along, it's
really hard to do.
But again, like, it's one ofthose things when I finally sat
down with the lyrics and readthem and then revisited them as
I'm preparing for this.
You know, and Eddie Vedder'stalked about this it's kind of
about homelessness and some ofthe you know challenges that
(09:41):
people face there.
You know, like someone evenstruggling beyond just hey, I'm,
I'm short on money, I'm livingon the streets, right, you know,
there there ends up being amental illness aspect to this
that they touch on.
You know, like thoughts arrivelike butterflies, they they
mention that in the lyrics andthen he chases them away and so
they kind of paint this pictureof someone who you know is kind
(10:03):
of in their, their own headbecause of their given situation
or vice versa.
Like you know, whatever we'renot, we're not going to comment,
you know we're not here tocomment on all that, but yeah, I
mean really kind of a sad, asadder song and it's something
he would point out in concertsis just, you know, some of the,
some of the people out there whoare suffering.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
And that's what this song is about.
Yeah, right, again, as you said,there's definitely a theme of
what the song sounds like andthen what happens when you
listen to the lyrics, becausethe song is like this incredible
rock song I mean, I think theyall are.
The guitar solo in the middle isunbelievable, like the drums in
this song are also really,really good.
This was one of the ones where,you know, I found myself
turning it up as I was listeningto it because, especially in
(10:50):
the guitar solo part, like justunbelievable guitar play Eddie
Vedder, of course, like you know, one of the greats in that
regard.
But yeah, I, you know, thoughtit was again a very powerful
song and, like you said, saidthat's something that I, that I
also kept coming back to.
I was like, wow, you know, notonly are these really powerful
rock songs, but lyrically, yeah,they're all really interesting.
(11:12):
They all kind of touch onsomething.
They have that kind ofstorytelling element to each one
which is, um, makes sense thatthat you grew up listening to
them and really liking them,because, if you know you're, if
you're a long-time listener, weknow that Matt loves a good
story being told in the songlike many people.
So this definitely checks thatbox.
But um on to track three, umagain off of the 10 album and
(11:34):
this is the track black so funnything about the 10 album before
we get into black.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
okay, so their original band name they're fans
of the NBA, especially JeffAhmet, the bassist, and their
original band name was MookieBlaylock, which was the name of
a point guard for the AtlantaHawks in the late 80s, early 90s
, and they realized as they wentalong they were just using this
(12:02):
guy's name as their band name.
It was kind of weird becausenot all their fans were
necessarily nba fans, so it'slike it held no meaning for them
, so they changed it.
They eventually landed on pearljam and um they named their
first album 10 because that wasmookie blaylock's uh number, his
jersey number so um funnylittle story about, about that,
um.
So this one little differentenergy wise, right like it.
(12:23):
So this one a little differentenergy-wise, right Like it's a
little slower and this one isjust more of like a
straightforward kind ofrelationship song and
specifically Eddie Vedder'salways said this is about like a
first relationship and how thatheartbreak can hurt you.
And I think this is where youreally see, and not that you
(12:44):
don't see the power in EddieVedder's voice in all their
music, but when he slows it downI think this is when you really
see it, especially at the endof this song.
You know when he's talkingabout I hope someday you have a
beautiful life, you know, butwhy can't it be mine?
And just sort of that longing.
And so I think this really, Imean it's an amazing song.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
Agreed.
Yeah, I wrote that exact samething.
I was like his voice is perfectfor this kind of reflection on
loss.
It's specifically a verypowerful ending to the song that
I absolutely adored.
Yeah, like it's funny, I wasreading that he didn't want this
to be released as a singlebecause he felt it like such a
personal and like fragile song.
I believe he used the wordfragile and he said that like
(13:30):
fragile songs get justcompletely obliterated by the
music business.
Um, so they had originallyplanned to like make this a
signal or someone was pushingfor it, and he refused.
Um, and despite that, despiteit not even being single off the
album, like, like you said,it's just like a huge, huge
track.
And I think, again, it justspeaks to the power of like what
he's singing about and howrelatable it can be.
And you know, funny enough, likeI listened to this mix
primarily on a day when it was,you know, it's fall here or
starting to be fall, gettingclose to it, and so it's kind of
(13:52):
like a cold and rainy, likecold front day and like this is
a perfect mix for that type ofmood.
I think he, you know, it'd belike really tough to kind of
listen to this when it is likesunshiny and beautiful out and
like you just want to go frolicin the, in the park or something
, but having it be cold andrainy, so you're like very
introspective and reflective andit's, it's perfect.
And he lands that, um, thatmood like really really well.
(14:14):
So that was another element ofwhy I really enjoyed listening
to this mix is because it likereally matched what was going on
in the world and I love whenthat happens.
So on to track four, um lastone off the album and it is one
that I was really familiar with.
So this is one that I knewright off the bat and it is
Alive.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
Okay, so this was a really personal song for Eddie
Vedder, because you know thestory that he lays out here is
that you know the character,which I mean it resonates really
closely with Eddie Vedder.
The character finds out thatyou know the person he knows, as
his father was actually astepfather, and his father had
(14:53):
passed away.
Now he throws this middle versein here where it kind of implies
there's this sort of incestuousrelationship with his mother
that results from this Kind ofweird family setup he has.
And then in the third verseit's kind of like he's still
alive, like throughout.
You know, I'm still alive isthat, you know, kind of
(15:14):
overriding refrain.
And you know, the way hepresents it in the third verse
is that it's almost this curse,like he has to live with this
right, all this horrible thingthat's happened to him and so.
But when you hear the song right, all this horrible thing that's
happened to him and so.
But when you hear the songright and again, it's kind of a
running theme with some PearlJam songs.
There's so much energy here andat concerts people were just
(15:36):
using this as some sort of likeempowering anthem.
You know you talked about whenyou were talking about Jeremy,
how you know the way to get backat people is to just survive
right, is to get through thesethings and show them your value
and sort of prove them wrong.
And people were kind of takingthis chorus of I'm still alive
(15:56):
like hey, I'm still here, right,they were really like
channeling this power through it.
And Eddie Vedder said over time,rather than this you know him
screaming about this I'm stillalive, being this curse.
He said the audience reallychanged the meaning for him and
and as he put it, they broke thecurse Right.
Put it, they broke the curseright.
(16:20):
But it really it changed and Ithink that's pretty rare for a
songwriter to say that.
You know, the audience reactionto it completely changed how he
felt about a song.
But that was the case withAlive.
So really famous song andeverybody gets into it and
obviously you could just screamout the refrain.
But really interesting storybehind it.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
Yeah, I love that and I agree I have to imagine
that's like a short list of of.
You know, we talk a lot abouthow people interpret songs and
how often the artists will comeback and be like no y'all, like
that has.
That has nothing to do withwhat I was thinking about.
It was just this right but Ithink even rarer is for them to
recognize like, oh, that is acool interpretation, like, maybe
(16:58):
that is one way to think aboutthis and to have it be freeing
instead of imprisoning.
So I loved reading about that.
I thought it was so interestingand I again never would have
guessed that that's how I mean.
My interpretation, hearing itall these years, was yeah, it's
like a, especially the way hestings it, like I'm still alive.
Like the way that hits hits,it's almost as if he's like
(17:21):
again an achievement, I'm stillhere.
Like I'm okay.
Um, not this like agonizing,like, oh, I'm still here.
And it's probably the use ofthe word alive, like we never
really think of the word aliveas a negative connotation.
But great song.
Last minute of this song too islike my absolute favorite, like
the drums and the guitar andall of that.
It just checks that rock boxfor me.
So really nice.
But with that let's move on toa new album here.
(17:43):
So track five you go with.
Go on the album Versus.
Speaker 1 (17:50):
Yeah.
So 10 was such a massive hitand you know that's the concern
whenever a band has a massivehit album is what's the follow
up going to be.
That's the concern whenever aband has a massive hit album is
what's the followup going to be.
And I love this.
I had forgotten how much I lovethis song, but this is the
first track off of versus.
So not only do you get okay,here's our second album and it's
going to be awesome too, butlike just this first track you
(18:11):
know, cause we had included onceis the first song off of 10.
And I put that on a bestopening tracks mix that we had
done.
And so here, like Go, I thinkis also worthy of being on a mix
like that, because I just lovethe energy from this one and I
mean it is just right in linewith its title.
(18:32):
I mean it just makes you wantto go.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
Yeah, he like really ratcheted up the energy between
these two albums.
Like it is the intensity it'sso much harder of rock music,
like very, very grungy you cantell.
Like that grunge influence ishidden right around, it's like
peeking around.
This time period it's 1993.
Um, you know, we were talkingabout interpretations of song
and this one's made me laughbecause everyone has kind of
over the years interpreted thisone to be about like an abusive
(18:57):
relationship or you knowsomething really negative.
But he apparently claims thatit's just about his truck.
Uh, he had a 1990 toyota truckthat he still drove and it's
apparently just about hisrelationship with his truck or
his struggles with his truck.
So who's who knows?
Speaker 1 (19:13):
you win some, you lose some, I guess and if you've
ever had an old car and been ina hurry somewhere and you're
trying to get it started, Ithink you could bring out the
energy that he brings out here.
Please don't go out on me Justlike go, yes, yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
I need you to move, all right.
Well, great pick.
And yeah, absolutely love whatthey did with that opener.
So, track six off of a.
Speaker 1 (19:40):
I believe is this a different album but, um, still
the same, I think, I think it'sstill okay still the same album
yep cool, um so.
Elderly woman behind the counterin a small town yeah, so long,
long title uh, great song, alittle quieter song than you
know.
So pearl jam really fluctuatesbetween, like you know, the
really quiet reflective songsand just the high energy rock
(20:00):
songs, but this one's a littlequieter.
Um, you know it.
He tells the story here aboutsomeone you know kind of
returning to a small town andthe person at the counter
recognizes this person and, uh,but you know, she doesn't think
he recognizes her because timehas changed us.
Even though maybe inside wethink we look the same, we
(20:23):
really don't on the outside toother people, especially if they
haven't seen us in a while.
And yeah, and just kind ofthese moments and then they get
reflective about where they arein life and all of that.
So I love the story here andeven if you're not from like a
small town, I feel like you knowyour high school or your
college or you know some cohortyou're a part of almost becomes
(20:44):
that small town in a way for anyone of us.
And yeah, just seeing peopleafter a while I think not only
makes you reflect about wherethey've been this entire time,
when they kind of reenter the TVshow of your life, but also you
know what you've been doing inthe interim right and how much
you've changed.
So yeah, just a great song.
(21:05):
I think it just makes me thinkof kind of the passing of time.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
Yeah, absolutely I agree, and I love what he, you
know he's kind of says somethingthat sound you know to me is
kind of obvious once he said it,but it was still interesting.
It's like people kind of eitherfeel that they're you know the
large fish in a small pond in asmall town, or they feel stuck
there and they like can't waitto leave, um, or they're I think
(21:30):
he might've even offered thethird option, which is like or
they're just okay there and it'slike, yeah, like I think that
kind of works out for any place,not a small town or not.
But yeah, just kind ofreflecting on exactly what you
were saying, and I just I lovethis song.
It's kind of funny.
I noticed that it had a littleheart next to it because I had
heard this and I remembered whathappened.
(21:50):
It was like an autoplay songand I was just like cleaning one
day and Siri put it on and nearthe end was like, oh my god, I
love this song, what is thissong?
And I told siri to like add itto my library and like it so I
wouldn't lose it.
Um, and it was this song.
Yeah, and I think it's becauseI just love the way that he
sings.
At the end, hearts and thoughtsthey fade, fade away yeah over
and over and again.
(22:12):
It speaks to like what you'retalking about, how, like things
change over time, so hearts andthoughts, thoughts, they fade,
so things that seemingly couldhave been really important to
you at some point eventually arenot.
Things just change, life haschanged, so really beautiful
song in that regard.
All right.
Track seven I believe this isthe one that I was thinking
about on a new album and it isCorduroy.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
Yeah, this is off the third album, vitalogy, and yeah
so Corduroyroy.
This is a pretty popular song.
I think the line that allstands out to me here is can't
buy what I want because it'sfree.
And uh, yeah, I mean he talksabout, you know, just over time.
You know he says something likeyou know, well, whatever it is,
like love or time itself, likeyou can't buy any of those
(22:58):
things.
And so I think at this point,when you think about where the
band is at now, they're justthis global, you know, world
famous band, and so I think thisis an interestingly placed song
with where they are in life,because they're still relatively
young at this point, like thisis still in the nineties when
this song comes out.
This is their third album and Ithink, probably getting a
(23:20):
little bit reflective on, likeyou know, they're kind of at the
point where they can you know,materially buy whatever they
want.
And so I think this song kind ofstands out just with where they
are in life themselves, becausethere are those more important
things that you just can't buy,no matter how much money you
have.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
there are those more important things that you just
can't buy, no matter how muchmoney you have.
Yeah, it's, I read it also.
I was doing some research on it, of course, and and he
apparently wanted to write thissong when he saw that someone
was selling a 500 corduroy vestthat was labeled the pearl jam,
eddie vetter corduroy shirt, um,and he saw this in a shop
somewhere and he was just likethis is ridiculous, like what
(23:59):
fame can do and like what, howpeople try to like, take that
and, you know, monetize and allthat kind of stuff.
And I think that you know thefirst chorus he sings I don't
want to take what you can give,I would rather starve than eat
your bread.
And I think he's just kind of,you know, rejecting what people
are trying to sell to him.
And then to your point, instead, he only wants the things that,
like, money can't buy.
(24:20):
Um, and that's like what weshould focus on, like all the
intangible things that are hardto purchase, um, so, yeah, a
really powerful song, again inthat regard, and also just like
I love the interlude there's aninterlude in here where it gets
kind of quiet and then buildsback up.
I'm a huge sucker for that, so,so absolutely loved it
musically.
Yeah, great, great track, allright Track.
(24:42):
Number eight, better man off ofthe same album.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
Yeah.
So this one maybe their biggestpop hit and it's funny because
they kind of refer to this asjust a shameless pop song.
But I think it kind of combinesthe two things that we've seen
in the track so far, which islike you get the the quieter
sort of Eddie Vedder voice thereat the beginning and then this
song kicks in and just turnsinto a full-on rock song, and so
(25:10):
I think that combination ispretty cool and it stands out
amongst their tracks because ofthat.
But I also think it's coolbecause he paints such a great
picture here of this woman whois clearly not happy with her
relationship but, you know,can't find a better man, so
she's just kind of staying in it, and I think it's rare that you
(25:30):
get a songwriter who can writefrom an opposing point of view
right, like obviously EddieVedder's not a woman.
So you know, he may haveexperienced this in his life,
but certainly not from thatperspective.
So I think that's also a prettygood skill to have, if you can
sort of change perspectives likethat.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
Yeah, and apparently, on top of that, he wrote this
in high school, so this was asong that he chose to sing,
having written it many yearsearlier, which I think is also
incredible.
We always talk a lot abouttalented people and what they're
capable of doing, and here'sthis guy who's like oh yeah, I
wrote this song in high school,let me sing it and have it
become a smash hit.
All right, what are?
Speaker 1 (26:09):
we going to record next?
Well, there's this song I wrotewhen I was 15.
Let's try it, and that's amassive hit.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
It's like how talented are you?
Speaker 1 (26:16):
Like what is that?
Speaker 2 (26:19):
It's really incredible.
But yeah, I think you know,anytime I hear a song about a
relationship too, I just end upthinking about it as any form of
relationship, not even betweenpeople, but it could be between
you and your job or you and yourlike you know how you spend
your days or whatever.
It might be a family member,your days or whatever it might
be a family member.
And yeah, sometimes we findourselves stuck in a
(26:40):
relationship that you kind ofknow you want to leave but you
just can't find something better.
So you're just kind of you feelstuck, you feel trapped, and
that's like very much how Iinterpret this song, even
outside of the confines of justlike a romantic relationship.
So very, very powerful song inthat regard.
And yeah, it makes me feel alittle behind in life that he
just wrote this when he was inhigh school.
But here we are, it's all good.
(27:01):
Let's move on to track nine, areally interesting one and one
that I've heard a lot on TikTokand Reels, and I can discuss
that in a moment if you don'tmention it.
Speaker 1 (27:11):
But Yellow Lead Better no-transcript and so it
(27:32):
kind of came likechronologically.
It sort of came out later,although fans of the band were
familiar with the song already,but it was written.
The reason I talk about thetiming is because it was written
around the time of the 10 album, which was the original Gulf
War at the beginning of the 90s,and the song is you know the
character in the song has abrother going off to war who is
(27:54):
killed and you know he hearsabout this.
He's torn up inside but EddieVedder talks about how kind of
outwardly he looks, like theydid at the time, which was like
kind of this young sort of Imean long hair, kind of rock and
roll-ish whatever yourstereotypical rock and roll kid
might be or alternative grunge,that type of thing.
(28:15):
Now he's going through something, or alternative grunge that
type of thing.
Now he's going throughsomething and you know this, you
know he talks about, you knowhe sees people and he waves but
they won't wave back and it'slike he's trying to relate to
these other people who have lostfolks in the war and but all
people are seeing in them.
Is this outward appearance, andI think from Jeremy all the way
through, like I think you couldkind of see this songwriting of
(28:39):
kind of a don't judge a book byits cover type thing and just
this.
We've all got more going oninside of us than you know, and
so sometimes not necessarilyjudging exactly what your eyes
see is pretty valuable, and Ithink that's what this song kind
of hits on.
Speaker 2 (28:55):
I love that's what this song kind of hits on.
I love that interpretation.
I think that, yeah, that'sreally powerful and a very
important message, because weoften jump to conclusions that
other people you know are onlyout to like bother us and it's
like no, they've got like a lotof things going on, I'm sure you
know.
Give them the benefit of thedoubt.
They might have something goingon Same as you do, something
(29:19):
going on same as you do.
The reason I know this fromTikTok and Instagram Reels is
the I believe the opening verseis just kind of sung
nonsensically.
And so there's all of these.
It's all these like memes abouthow people are, you know,
really feeling the lyrics here,as they like drink a cup of
coffee and like stare out theirwindow, and it's just
essentially kind of nonsensesounding.
It's really difficult to knowwhat he's singing, um, and so I
(29:41):
absolutely love that, um.
You know that even when he'skind of like mumbling into the
microphone, uh, he's stillproducing great music.
That's awesome.
Yeah, it's good stuff, okay, uh, home stretch here last three
tracks and track number 10 is amore.
Speaker 1 (30:11):
You know, relatively newer ones from all of these.
And it is Thumbing my WayBecause, again, even though I
love the energy they bring in somany other tracks, I also just
like something that's a littlelighter sometimes, although,
again, you read into the lyricshere it's not as light as you
think, but lighter sounding, Iguess you'd say.
But you know the lyric thatstands out here is no matter how
cold the winter, there's aspringtime ahead.
And you know he has said thisis about hitchhiking through.
(30:39):
A broken heart is the way hekind of describes this.
Speaker 2 (30:41):
And so very literal, thumbing my way, you know,
reference to hitchhiking, but,um, really great song yeah, I, I
also called out that linebecause it was one of my
favorites, uh, because it's justso hopeful um, and no matter,
yeah, no matter how cold thewinter, there's a springtime
ahead.
I really enjoy that and I thinkit's important to think about
that sometimes, whenever you'regoing through a dark time or
anything that's reallychallenging, like things.
(31:01):
You know, going back, thingschange, so you just have to be
hopeful that things change forthe better and that there's
something good on the horizon,as long as you keep pushing.
So, yeah, really, really nicesong and I love the.
I love the imagery here of,like you said, hitchhiking your
way through a broken heart,which is always a really
difficult thing to do, and Ilove the idea of it being
hitchhiking because it's likethere's not necessarily a step,
(31:25):
there's not just a solid.
Okay, here's the course you'regoing to take when you're trying
to get over a bad relationship.
It's so haphazard you may get ina car that leads you astray.
It's like all these differentthings.
I love the metaphor.
I think it's so powerful, soreally nice.
Okay, this next one we go evenfurther into the future.
So this is Just Breathe off of,I believe, Backspacer.
Speaker 1 (31:49):
Yeah, 2009.
This one got quite a bit ofradio play, I think, when it
came out, which you know.
Pearl Jam just generallydoesn't get a ton of radio play,
especially a lot of their newerstuff, but this one did, you
know, I think, when I waslooking at.
You know my notes here.
If Black is about firstrelationships and the heartbreak
there, I feel like this isabout last relationships, you
(32:12):
know, because this very muchkind of you know thematically
hits for me as like sayinggoodbye to someone right and
saying goodbye to a loved oneyou know, possibly the love of
your life, and just kind of, youknow, asking them to just keep
breathing and stay with you andsort of regretting not saying
more loving words along the wayand all those things, but also
(32:35):
being grateful at the same time.
So so I mean, I just love thissong and I think the songwriting
here is just perfect.
But yeah, no, I mean it andit's really kind of interesting
that you know Black is about 20years prior to this and he says
it's about first relationshipsand so when, when I hear this
one you know next to that one,like, yeah, this is more that
(32:55):
last relationship.
Speaker 2 (32:58):
I love that and, yeah , I think I just love this song.
I love that it's an acousticsong.
Again, you know, going back tohis voice, it works so well even
on an acoustic track.
It's absolutely beautiful, andso I really liked that.
You, you know, includedsomething that was very
different than all the rest inin that regard, because it just
shows again, like the, the rangethat he's got, um, that it's
(33:20):
not just like a you know onetrick pony type thing, um, and
clearly not right.
They've had so many albums anda lot of commercial success, but
it's just really cool to kindof hear whenever artists can
also release an acoustic track,that just is incredible and you
just want to keep listening toit over and over again, and this
certainly is that.
I loved it.
All right, the last track ofthe mix is just Eddie Vedder.
(33:43):
So you know, I'm interested tohear your thinking on this one,
and it is the track Far Behind.
Speaker 1 (33:50):
Yeah.
So Eddie Vedder's done quite abit of solo work and so I
thought I would just highlightone track here.
So I stole one track off thePearl Jam mix to just kind of
show all right, eddie Vedder onhis own.
This is from the moviesoundtrack for Into the Wild,
which I believe he was nominatedfor an Oscar for one of the
songs.
But again, that movie is aboutyou know kind of a younger guy
(34:13):
giving up everything, going onthis journey and that's you know
.
This song, I think, just hitsthat exactly right, just leaving
things behind.
He works with some really coolartists on this soundtrack, so
it's definitely worth checkingout the whole thing.
But it is kind of a slightlydifferent sound than just, you
know, pearl Jam.
But I think if you like PearlJam, this is the direction you
(34:36):
can go and write into EddieVedder's solo work that I think
you'll love that as well.
Speaker 2 (34:42):
Yeah, I loved that you included this I wrote it's
almost like an alt rock versionof like Pearl Jam you know,
having him just do solo workhere Absolutely love the lyrics.
I also think it's reallyappropriate as a closing mix or
as a closing song to this mix,because it's like you said, it's
just all about kind of likeleaving everything behind, like
not containing yourself into ashape and how sometimes having
(35:06):
less is more.
You know I love the secondverse empty pockets will allow a
greater sense of wealth.
Why contain yourself like anyother book on a shelf, Like such
powerful, empowering lyrics andones that I'm very excited to
take with me?
I always love.
I feel like Pearl Jam has somany lyrics that you could just
like put on a poster or writedown and kind of be inspired by,
(35:28):
and this certainly checks thatbox as well.
So this was awesome.
I love listening to this mix.
I feel like I've beenintroduced to Pearl Jam, so
thank you so much for spendingthe time to put this together
for me and, hopefully, all ofyou listeners.
If you're not familiar withPearl Jam, you've got like a
pretty good base to start offwith and now you can feel a
little bit more comfortabletalking about them and knowing
(35:50):
their history.
And yeah, it was awesome.
Thanks, Matt.
Speaker 1 (35:54):
Oh, this was great and it was really cool.
For me it's like when we weretrying to figure out a band that
it would make sense, for, likeI said, they came about, you
know, when I was like 14.
So I was like I feel like I'vealways just I've kind of grown
up with this band, so it'sreally interesting to see the
evolution of their music.
But, yeah, so many songs thatjust brought me back to like
(36:15):
high school and college andsongs I heard over and over
again and I will say, you know,for people who maybe aren't as
familiar with them, I will fullyconcede it's not like I was
digging into the lyrics when Iwas 14 and knew, like, what
Evenflow meant to me.
It was just, you know, laughingabout.
Adam Sandler just saying it wasgibberish on Saturday Night Live
(36:36):
.
I just couldn't understand aword.
But yeah, no, there's somegreat songwriting.
Sometimes it's a littledifficult to understand, but
trust us, it's there All right.
Well, there you have it Anothersuper awesome mix for your
collection.
We've got plenty of mixes to doand plenty of more bands to
introduce to each other, sowe're looking forward to this
series as well, but we'll get towork on that.
(36:57):
And so for Sam, this is Matt,and we'll see you next time.
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