Pearl Jam or Nirvana?

[dmor173]

Ok so two of the best bands of the 90's, who is your taste?

I often debate this with my friends and its usually pretty lively. I think you'll find pearl jam has more fans, but nirvana has more devoted ones.

I also see this is going to go down the road of 'pearl jam has been around now for fifteen years and if nirvana had lasted that long they'd be just as good. So in the interests of fairness how about we just make this with comparative life spans?

Nirvana's first three albums vs Pearl Jams first three albums.

Nirvana:
BLEACH, NEVERMIND, IN UTERO

PEARL JAM:
TEN, VS, VITALOGY


Also for the record, favorite nirvana songs are About a girl, heat shaped box, lithium and the cover of 'the man who sold the world'. Favorite pearl jam songs are 'corduroy, black, hail hail and the cover of 'baba o'reily'.

Im Pearl Jam all the way. I like nirvana, but for every one song that nirvana has that I like, I can name three of pearl jams that i like better. Pearl jam was the first concert i went to and have seen on every aussie tour since (only four times). Saw them in november and the best part of the concert was the fact that they were having more fun than me.

I also rate vedder as being a better song writer than cobain. Kurts a better guitar player, but i dont think anyone will disagree that eddie is the best voice of the two.

This is the first time ive done a poll. Hope it works.

 

[Assassin]

nirvana ftw

 

[britrogue]

Tough call, but I'd have to say Nirvana

 

[ermmm_no]

I voted for Pearl Jam. I just didn't think Nirvana was that great of a band before Kurt Cobain killed him self and then when he did they got blew totally out of all proportion. I still see little kids going to rock clubs and talking about how Kurt Cobain and his death affected their lives 'YOUR 17 YEARS OLD, YOU WHERE 4 WHEN HE DIED DAMNIT!' Praise them for their music not for something people twice your age will praise them for. *Rant over*

So yeah I voted for Pearl Jam (though I have to say I always preferred Alice in Chains).

 

[Avangarde]

Pearl Jam for me.

 

[mrvlknight21]

Pearl Jam, although, if Kurt hadnt killed himself, this debate could be different.

 

[Prognosticator]

I voted Pearl Jam because even though this is a 90s question, they're still together.

Plus, if Cobain hadn't killed himself, would the Foo Fighters have had the success in music that has transpired? We'll never know!

I would say as a whole Nirvana might have the edge in terms of talent.

 

[Wilhelm-Scream]

Pearl Jam is not fit to tie Nirvana's shoes.
They were just an Emo/Hair Metal band when they started out, only they got more "cred" 'cause Eddie fancies himself a "poet" and because the guitarists suck.

Pearl Jam is so musically boring, drab and if I never hear that manly joWul of Vedder's again I'll be pleased.

Nirvana employed some genius minimalism and most importantly they Rocked.
Pearl Jam no Rockie.

 

[Memphis Slim]

Tony Toni Tone

 

[Wilhelm-Scream]

Toyfare reader

 

[Memphis Slim]

Toyfare reader

 

[Mr Sparkle]

Pearl Jam is not fit to tie Nirvana's shoes.
They were just an Emo/Hair Metal band when they started out, only they got more "cred" 'cause Eddie fancies himself a "poet" and because the guitarists suck.

Pearl Jam is so musically boring, drab and if I never hear that manly joWul of Vedder's again I'll be pleased.

Nirvana employed some genius minimalism and most importantly they Rocked.
Pearl Jam no Rockie.

I have to disagree.
while Mother love bone sucked in ways previously unseen by humanity, Pearl Jam all the way from it's inception showed a lot of potential.
the First full fledged Pearl Jam album while strongly reminiscent of Hair Metal was actually an oddity at the time.
sure, a lot of people liked the lyrics (the lyrics meant nothing to me) but the fact that these guys while not technically proficient were pretty good was underscored by Vs, that to me is the best Pearl Jam album.
that had some pretty good songs and they rocked as much as Nirvana, but in a different way.
this is the problem, a lot of people compare the two because they were "grunge" but they are two very completely different things.
Nirvana was at it's best in the pre-ripping off-gang of four phase.
Nevermind was such a meshing of styles that it was awesome to listen to if you knew about 70's and 80's music and even better if you didn't.
I mean, I remember reading about the Bassist ( who struck himself in the face with his Bass on stage, the dumbass) saying something like "Smells like Teen spirit sounded like the Pixies" or something like that.
so, while Nirvana had a dissonance that Pearl Jam would only play with much, much later in their careers both bands have deep technical flaws that are overcome by their songs effect on people.
and Maybe, maybe if Eddie Vedder had shot himself after the third Album they be better appreciated.
you know? since pretty much everything after Vitalogy sucked.

 

[Wilhelm-Scream]

so, while Nirvana had a dissonance that Pearl Jam would only play with much, much later in their careers both bands have deep technical flaws that are overcome by their songs effect on people.

The only stuff I admire at all was some later stuff that had more punk energy, but even then, I only admired it because it was at least more interesting than their FM radio stuff. I'd never actually listen to it, just saw them on Letterman doing a sort of cool "ugly" sounding thing.

I also liked Downtown which as far as I know was pretty much Pearl Jam with Neil Young replacing Vedder on vocals.
The absence of Vedder's Proto-Creed, Swanson's Man-Sized TV dinner singing made it listenable.

Part of the problem for me is that I am a guitar freak and none of the Pearl Jam guys should be playing guitar.
They play like....KEYboard players trying to play guitar.
And I'm not talking about flash or technique, 'cause the whole galaxy knows that Kurt Cobain was not a "good" guitarist, but he had "it".
He was a songwriter who could make cool music with his guitar.
No one in Pearl Jam has that gift.

and Maybe, maybe if Eddie Vedder had shot himself after the third Album they be better appreciated.

Hear this often, the idea that Nirvana is thought of too highly just based on the suicide mystique.

Hogwash.
I was there, while Kurt was alive.
There had always been cool bands with cool influences adding their own twists.
But Nirvana was the lifeline out of Hair Metal for MILLIONS of people who were leaning that way anyway.
At the same time, I was hearing "Aw-ee-AY-I-uh IIIIiii -mmm- I'm steeyul uhLIVE! AY-ee ay-I-uh-IIii" on the radio, which sounded like a freaking cross between Jethro Tull and Harry Chapin.

And just speaking for myself, I really enjoyed the cooler stuff I was hearing when they came out, but I don't even think about them now, post-suicide.
Not enough product, as opposed to a post-death, say, John Lennon or Freddie Mercury or Marc Bolan or JOHN BONHAM, etc.

 

[Mr Sparkle]

"Proto-Creed, Swanson's Man-Sized TV dinner" LMAO. I can't argue with that.
poor Eddie.
but yeah, that's why I said "maybe" maybe they wouldn't be more respected.
I just think they are too different to be compared.
but come to think of it.
Cobain was pretty Emo himself when not singing about Mexican food giving him diarrhea.
he was sooo Emo he shot himself, the ULTIMATE CUT!
of course this is neither here nor there, doesn't make Nirvana any less awesome.
however, and this does make kind of sad.
out of Nirvana I seriously thought that Chris was going to be the one to rise out of the ashes.
poor Chris.

 

[Wilhelm-Scream]

Baldness and a double chin are the death knell.

Anyway, I don't see KC as "Emo".
I think you can be a total downer, self-pitying, pessimistic, depressed, weepy emotional artist and not be "Emo".

I see "Emo" as a posed, contrived emotional "sensitivity" for calculated effect. OR, genuine dark feeling, but felt by a ****ing moron who has no life experience, no intelligence, and has never really enjoyed life enough to realize what the ABSENCE of pleasure is really like.

Like, many great men have blown their heads off...and I admire their decision.

"Emo", to me, would be the teenaged girl who does take a whole bottle of sleeping pills, but THEN calls her Mom, her Dad, her best friend, her Aunt, her teacher, her high school crush, her lesbian fling, her boyfriend, her priest and her stylist...to tell them all "I love you and I'm so sorry. I have just taken a bottle of sleeping pills and I'm in my bedroom and am going to lay down in bed and go to sleep forever. So I had to say goodbye one last time. Good Bye."
...knowing they will all drop everything and come running and smother her limp body with hugs and tears and get her stomach pumped and then smile down at her with flowers and shape their lives around "helping" her and "listening to her" from now on.

Huge difference.

 

[Mr Sparkle]

yeah, Kurt just got murdered by his wife.
:courtneysad:

 

[jaguarr]

Soundgarden. ****.

jag

 

[Mr Sparkle]

I wish Chris Cornell would ****

 

[Kool-Aid]

Nirvana. I never liked Eddie Vedder's voice.

 

[jaguarr]

I wish Layne Staley would come back from the dead and monkey-stomp everyone.

jag

 

[Wilhelm-Scream]

They really should've had a touring exhibit with marrionettes made of the mumified bodies of Cobain and Staley.

That is one area where I have great disrespect for Kobain.
If he was GOING to blow his head off, why.the.F***. didn't he do it ON STAGE?!?

Woulda been such a legendary show.

 

[KingOfDreams]

Nirvana. I like Pearl Jam but I can only take Eddie's voice in small doses.

 

[jaguarr]

They really should've had a touring exhibit with marrionettes made of the mumified bodies of Cobain and Staley.

That is one area where I have great disrespect for Kobain.
If he was GOING to blow his head off, why.the.F***. didn't he do it ON STAGE?!?

Woulda been such a legendary show.

Come...as you are....as you were....as you waaaaaannnnt me to be. BLAM!!!!!!


jag

 

[Lightning Strykez!]

Nirvana. There's no comparison. LOL

 

[Noon]

I like both, but Pearl Jam hands down