Hear Me Out: It's Okay to Call Out Bands You Love
Anyway, suffice it to say that I was beyond excited to hear the first taste of their upcoming 11th studio album, Dance of the Clairvoyants, when it premiered last night. I stayed up despite having to work early this morning so I could dive into the new tune the moment it dropped. When it did arrive, I played it six times consecutively to be sure I was hearing what I thought I was hearing.
What I was hearing was this:
I will give Pearl Jam this: as the official lead single to your first new album in seven years to be dropped on a ravenous audience, this is ballsy as all get out. Those processed drums, that scratchy funk guitar, the A+ effort David Byrne impression Eddie's doing here, a series of left turns upon left turns that spin longtime listeners around so much that we have no idea what direction we're heading in by the time the song is over. Is Pearl Jam dance rock now? Did they replace Mike McCready and Matt Cameron with 3D printed clones? What's the subtext to these lyrics referencing doors to interpretation and boys who want to grow their dicks?
It's a bold move, to be sure, but it's also kind of garbage.
Dance of the Clairvoyants isn't offensively bad, and I'm sure it will do just fine on radio/streaming. However, as the song chosen to reintroduce the band and quell anticipation (because, if you recall, we were all pretty underwhelmed by standalone single Can't Deny Me a couple years back), there's a distinct lack of recognizable elements or exciting new sounds present here. It's only being considered as experimental because Pearl Jam's never attempted anything this synth-riddled and poppy before. To put it bluntly and perhaps a little too harshly: if Eddie Vedder isn't singing this song nobody even cares about it, that's how unremarkable the music is here.
Still, there are legions of fans out there quick to get out their claws when somebody dares to have a less-than-stellar opinion of the track. "If you don't like it, you don't really like the band." "You don't get it because it's experimental." "Change is good, and if you don't like it go listen to Nickelback." Let's get one thing straight here: I'm all for Pearl Jam exploring new sounds, and I applaud them for trying this style out. All I'm saying is if you're going to do that and the result is this musically uninteresting, maybe don't release it as the lead single to your highly anticipated album.
That said, as I've talked about before, Pearl Jam are the masters of leading with the unexpected. The rest of Gigaton might sound nothing like this, and the worry will have all been for naught. Then again, there's a chance that this is legitimately what they considered to be the best they could do in 2020 and, if that ends up being the case, we might be in for a lot more arguments come late March. If this is truly the band's new direction, I'll have to choose a side, either pro or against Pearl Jam taking a blowtorch to their legacy in an attempt to connect with a new generation of fans for whom mediocre is the new classic. There I'll be, metaphorical sword in hand, dying on the hill of common sense while a small army of fans who weren't even born when Vs. came out lambaste me for not being a true fan.
The point is, why is it so taboo to admit that what we love isn't as good as it used to be? Why do we have to take such offence when someone says something negative about a band we like, even when they do something sub-par? The urge to defend that which we love is ingrained in our souls, surely, but is it really so hard to stomach that a band we love could be interpreted in a less flattering, non-biased way? At what point do we look into the mirror and ask ourselves whether or not our own biases are preventing us from seeing things the way they are?
I'll be honest with myself when I say that Pearl Jam has had a colossally difficult time maintaining the quality of their '90s records over the last twenty years or so. Don't get me wrong, there are some great songs scattered here and there, but can anyone who fancies themselves a Pearl Jam fan say with absolute certainty that their favourite Pearl Jam record came out after Binaural? Because that was twenty years ago, and that was the last time Pearl Jam was truly and wholly relevant. I know, it's a hard pill to swallow; but, aside from the hardcores like us, almost nobody has been excited about this band in a very long time, not even themselves. They've taken longer and longer to make records, and have had less and less of their material live up to the standards they set over their world-conquering first decade. Part of that can be chalked up to slowing down with age, but even the staunchest champion of the band has to admit that they've been less engaged with making new music in recent years, and much more focused on keeping the merch and tour revenue coming.
Look into your heart and you know it's true, although it will offer little in the way of consolation. Pearl Jam are absolutely worthy of their Hall of Fame status, and they changed the lives of people around the world, myself included. They have earned everything they've gotten, and owe us nothing in return. Still, it's hard not to want more than what we got from this new single. I hope the rest of Gigaton eases my fears but, after hearing whatever this single aspires to be for the fifteenth time and facing the facts about my favourite band of all time, I sadly admit that my expectations are shot.
Maybe that was the idea all along; we'll find out when Gigaton is released March 27.
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