Tag Archives: pop music

There are a lot of bands I love and a wealth of genres of music on my iPod, but there is one band that will go down in history as my favorite — Pearl Jam. I discovered the band at 12 and it changed my relationship to music forever — two decades, 10 live shows later, and many discarded flannel shirts later, I am still just as moved by their music as I was back then; I’m just better at containing my hysterical shrieks. This week, the band celebrates their 20th anniversary with the release of “Pearl Jam 20,” a documentary film directed by Cameron Crowe which tells the real story of how the band came to be and how they’ve survived this long. (A week-long run in select theaters starting on Friday and the movie will air on TV in October.) In addition to the film, the band has released a double-disc soundtrack filled with rare demos and live performances, as well as a book documenting their 20 years together. If you are a fan, you need both, trust me. Right now, I am singing along to the demo version of “Nothing As It Seems,” while looking at old photos of Jeff Ament and wondering whether he kept all his ugly hats. As Eddie sings in a tune he recently penned for the occasion, I’m so glad they’ve made it “to when it all got good.”