The Many Mysteries of My Music Tastes

One of the strangest phenomenons in the development of my music taste is finding that I am not interested by Pearl Jam. It's a strange phenomenon; I am fascinated by both the music, history and theory of Grunge, and Nirvana and Soundgarden are two juggernauts of my iTunes library. My only song on iTunes from Pearl Jam is "Jeremy." It's undeniably one of Pearl Jam's greatest songs, and I've listened to it a lot recently trying to get into it, but to no avail. I appreciate the skillful progression and guitar work, and the dynamic lyrical content--the lyrics are much more profound than anything Kurt Cobain ever came up with. Yet, I can't get into it like I can "About a Girl" or "Spoonman."

It's not a matter of not being brash enough or being two arena-oriented for punk--I love Big Star and Cream, who are much less bombastic than Pearl Jam and not as skilled in terms of songwriting. What I find myself often complaining about is Eddie Vedder's voice. Unlike Kurt Cobain or Chris Cornell, Vedder's voice is brooding, meandering, and, to me, uninteresting. Granted I find Eric Clapton and Paul Westerberg's voice pretty uninteresting as well, but they make up for it with an intense, masterfully crafted song structure that works well with their voice (which I why I basically don't have any interest in Clapton's work outside Cream). For me Pearl Jam's music and Eddie Vedder's voice don't have much in common, and the fact that they don't really do anything to help each other out is one major thing that holds me back.

One of the most common misconceptions about punk rock is that it's nothing but a matter of attitude. Yes, attitude plays a central role to punk's appeal, but punk is nothing without manifesting that attitude into music, whether through the pace and crunch of guitars, the snarl of a voice, or the vibrancy of a lyric. An ideal punk song is menacing in every element, while still being well-developed, carefully designed, and, at least in terms of musicianshup, professional. Pearl Jam is the least punk of the major grunge bands and have very little menace; they sound more like the Allman Brothers than the Stooges. What draws me to Grunge is the expansion of Punk's legacy to incorporate a metallic sound with popular style of music and the exceptional circumstances that led to Grunge's rise. While for some they may be the hope of grunge, for me they did little musically to expand the boundaries of Punk, or for that matter Rock 'n Roll.