I’ve never been one to really participate in these Madness threads, but I figure if I start now, I might as well take control of one rather than just play.
Pearl Jam - they’ve been referred to many times as the best active American rock band. There was a time in the 90s when they were the biggest band in the world, but due to Green Day and Oasis trying to steal the limelight, and the bands’ non-willingness to work on staying mainstream, they were pushed aside for a while…where they kept their loyal fans, kept putting out new albums (one of their problems is they ventured a bit away from their grunge style. Some people liked it, many more didn’t) and kept touring, but it wasn’t until their latest release that they really got big again. They have 8 albums, a B-sides double-album, a greatest hits double-album and more live albums than any other band in history. In 2008, they are still the hardest ticket on earth to get, and rightfully so, because they put on the best music show you’ll ever see.
Because they haven’t had a steady stream of singles (because they wouldn’t play the MTV or top-40 radio game), this Madness tournament may be difficult to participate in for casual fans. I’ve broken the conferences down to the four consistent members of the band. They are mostly grouped by the writing credit, but since three of their albums only had the “all songs by Pearl Jam, except…” credit, I had to disperse those songs to make the conferences more even. I have not included any cover songs (those of you who came in here just to vote for Last Kiss can leave NOW) but did include some of the more popular B-sides. Top seeds are the big singles, and lower seeds is a diverse collection of good songs and most of my personal favorites.
Remember that you are voting for the one of two songs which you want to ADVANCE to the next round. I’ll let the opening round run through until Saturday night, or until there aren’t any posts for 24 hours, whichever comes first. Enjoy!
Eddie Vedder conference:
Alive
vs 16. Off He Goes
World Wide Suicide
vs 15. Cropduster
Daughter
vs 14. Green Disease
Black
vs 13. Mini Fast Car
Betterman
vs 12. Yellow Ledbetter
I Am Mine
vs 11. Man of the Hour
Corduroy
vs 10. Porch
Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town
vs 9. Wishlist Jeff Ament conference:
Jeremy
vs 16. Tremor Christ
Life Wasted
vs 15. Rats
Why Go
vs 14. Garden
Low Light
vs 13. Blood
Nothing As It Seems
vs 12. Oceans
God’s Dice
vs 11. Unemployable
Smile
vs 10. Sleight of Hand
Severed Hand
vs 9. Nothingman Stone Gossard conference:
Even Flow
vs 16. Mankind
Do The Evolution
vs 15. All Those Yesterdays
Once
vs 14. Thin Air
State of Love & Trust
vs 13. No Way
Wash
vs 12. Satan’s Bed
Of The Girl
vs 11. Bushleaguer
Who You Are
vs 10. In Hiding
In My Tree
vs 9. Last Exit Mike McCready conference:
You need to study up! Their fifth album is their best one, and their newest is my second favorite. Besides, do you want Justin Credible to dictate the winners?
Eddie Vedder conference:
16. Off He Goes
2. World Wide Suicide
3. Daughter
4. Black
12. Yellow Ledbetter
11. Man of the Hour
10. Porch
8. Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town
Jeff Ament conference:
16. Tremor Christ
2. Life Wasted
14. Garden
4. Low Light
12. Oceans
11. Unemployable
7. Smile
8. Severed Hand
They’re one of three acts I always wanted to see on stage, the others being Jethro Tull and Jeff Wayne’s War of the Worlds (which I didn’t and did see respectively). I caught them down in Dublin last year, it was a real blast.
Jeff Ament conference:
16. Tremor Christ
2. Life Wasted
14. Garden
4. Low Light
5. Nothing As It Seems
11. Unemployable
10. Sleight of Hand
8. Severed Hand
Stone Gossard conference:
At this point, there is a 16 seed which is only one point behind a #1 seed! It’s been a pretty diverse set of votes so far, as only 6 songs have not received any votes yet! Keep them coming…if you don’t know both songs, you can leave them blank (I’d prefer if you didn’t vote if you only know one of the two, but I’m not going to dictate HOW you decide to vote).
Corners always have to be cut when there’s a limit to the # of songs. I didn’t want to include TOO many B-sides (and tried to keep a balance between albums too), so not everything was able to make it in. Believe me, this was not an easy list to make.
I just realized that only one song from Ten was left off of this list (Deep), but since it was by far their best selling album, it seems fitting.
Okay, the voting is closed. Discussion is still open, but I will be starting a second round thread after I finish posting this.
Very diverse set of votes. A couple upsets, no big SURPRISES (although Tremor Christ nearly dethroned a #1 seed) but almost every song got at least 1 vote. There were a couple of ties, in which case I asked my girl Moofy (who was too busy and not enough of a PJ fan to vote in the entire opening round) to cast the deciding vote.
Vedder:
Alive (8) over Off He Goes (3)
Suicide (8) over Cropduster (2)
Daughter shuts out Green Disease
Black shuts out MFC
Yellow Ledbetter (7) upsets Betterman (5)
I Am Mine (7) defeats Man of the Hour (2)
Corduroy (7) BARELY defeats Porch (6)
Elderly (9) over Wishlist (1)
Ament:
Jeremy (7) over Tremor Christ (4)
Life Wasted shuts out Rats
Why Go (6) over Garden (3)
Low Light (5) over Blood (3)
Oceans (6) over Nothing As It Seems (5)
Unemployable (7) upsets God’s Dice (2)
Nothingman (7) over Severed Hand (2)
Gossard:
Even Flow shuts out Mankind
Do The Evolution (6) over All Those Yesterdays (4)
Once (6) over Thin Air (3)
State of Love & Trust (9) over No Way (1)
Satan’s Bed (6) upsets Wash (3)
Of the Girl (5) narrowly defeats Bushleaguer (4)
In Hiding (5) defeats Who You Are (2)
Last Exit (6) defeats In My Tree (3)
McCready:
Given To Fly shuts out Habit
Rearviewmirror (7) over Animal (2)
Release (6) upsets Spin The Black Circle (3)
Hail Hail (8) shuts out Inside Job
Go (6) over Brain of JFK (3)
Marker in the Sand (4) narrowly defeats Leash (3)
Light Years (7) defeats Faithful (2)
Save You (6) defeats Comatose (2)
