Given the microanalysis of The Fixer, tour dates, Target partnerships, etc, etc, I am asking myself the question, have PJ fans (SOME not all) exhausted themselves? Going to dozens upon dozens of shows, listening not only to every obscure track but also their demos, live versions, numerous shows and THOUSANDS and THOUSANDS of hours of one band, is there anything left? Can fans like this possibly listen to the band wide-eyed anymore?

Personally, around 2002 I was pretty knee-deep in my fandom and naturally expanded my horizons to many artists from many genres and many eras. This saved my status as a PJ fan. By keeping my PJ-listening to about 10% of the total music I listen to, I really appreciate it when I listen to them or hear something new. I have a fresh set of ears now and I can genuinely say I listen to them because they are just a really great band, otherwise I was perfectly ready to leave for good. I do not get this sense from others, especially here in Red Mosquito land- after having some distance from the band, it's really weird around here these days w/ people going off their rockers about the most minute details. I guess that's the downside to having such an intense fanbase. I'm all for open criticism and not blind love but it's got to a point where it's simply weird. Is it just me? I would love new blood and new people to get into the band, personally, that would make the fanbase much fresher and less jaded.

Thoughts?

Some people take the band and its dealings too seriously, yes.

Some people take the people who take the band and its dealings too seriously too seriously, yes.

For *some* people, absolutely they've jumped the shark and it peaked somewhere in The Fixer thread.

They're the Micro's who have lost any and all ability to see the Macro. (the cool/ironic thing for these people to do would be to put "Micro" underneath their avatar - then they could hold arguments like these at arm's length, coolness soundly intact).

Some overanalyze b/c they've genuinely had too much Pearl Jam.

Some crawl up their own ass with overanalysis, ceasing to make anything resembling a coherent point, especially a point that takes into account the larger scheme of band history and music in general.

Some have had so much Pearl Jam, they are now too cool to like Pearl Jam. This is the malignant form of Micro. Like they've gone so far down the heart of darkness river of PJ fandom that the only thing left to do is bash away at Colonel Kurtz, er, the band.

And with that, I am finished overanalyzing the overanalyzers.

my name is kevman, and i approve of this message.

Jumping the shark is the one thing I will remember as : hey, that's the funniest thing I learnt through RM. Such a funny saying.

My mate in Oz told me the origins of this saying back in June.
Apprently there was an episode of Happy Days where Fonzy jumped over sharks on his motorbike. This episode is widely regarded as when Happy Days went crap. Thus, whenever anything's shit, it's jumped the shark. Fucking brilliant.

Have PJ jumped the shark with the Fixer?

Pearl jam jumped with shark with Last Kiss

that being said i still love them, and will always love them, and listen to & buy everything they produce.

Yes they have jumped the shark quite a lot of them, but in a really really weird way it's a good sign..it heralds longevity..Dylan, Springsteen, the Who (kind of especially) all have these kinds of fans..front row every night and giving the band disapproving looks for setlist choices, onstage behaviour etc..

Pj are already there in a lot of ways in terms of fan relationship, and not to be harsh, but I kinda see those kinds of people, with that much devotion, as missing something else in their lives..whatever that happens to be. For some it's a dependancy 'cos they're single or kinda skinny on the real life friendship/love life front, for others it's nothing more than they have nothing to do but sit in front of a computer all day, 'cos of their job or whatever.

And then some people just like fuckin' bellyaching. I hated S/T, I didn't fell the need to write hundreds of posts about it( I did write a few though, but I thought hard about what I wanted to say instead of just saying 'this is the worst turd ever!' I HATE those posts!), and meself and Randall there have a healthy ability to debate the pros and cons, ups and downs of Pj 'cos we view the band from almost exact opposite angles so I guess I'm lucky.

It'll only ever get worse though..gotta just filter it out 'cos no way can any band fulfill everyones expectations. There will always always always be people who just wanna kick the legs from under whatever the band do. Sad but true.

yeah, someone explained me the origins before and although I have seen every Happy Days episode, I will still remember this saying as something RM. Don't ask me why.

I'm a far, far bigger fan of the live act than the studio product, and there's much, much more to being a touring fan than just merely focusing on the live act while being on tour. That's just a tiny part of this most wonderful lifestyle.

This is something I am always scared of happening. No matter how good a bands music, or a film etc. is, if you listen to/watch it too many times without breaks or listening to/watching other things it will become so monotonous that it will hurt. Pearl Jam almost did this to me a few years ago. I was at a point where I'd wake in the morning and instead of "what music will I listen to on the way to work?" it was "which Pearl Jam will I listen to." And I don't care how much you love a particular band, it will become stale eventually. You need to take a break or atleast listen to other stuff as well to appreciate your favourite artist. I have also had a similar problem with Kings of Leon recently.

The other thing is, some people who listen to their favourite artist alot seem to think they own the band. If the band releases something they don't like or in a direction they don't approve of, they get offended. Pearl Jam is a classic example of this. I can't say I've never been dissapointed with a release, but you have to accept it. They can't please everyone as some people want another Ten, some another Vitalogy, Yield etc. The fact is Pearl Jam are a band that will make music they like and enjoy making. If you like it, good. If not, tough shit.

Ones-you did that to yourself..pearl jam didn't 'do' that to you. There's a difference.

Well said. When I followed them across Canada in 2005, the shows for the most part were not the high point of my days. It was the new city, new people, new stories. Pearl Jam were just the soundtrack to the adventure.

That was fucking awesome. I haven't seen much Happy Days, but if this is it when it went bad, I'm so looking forward to checking the early stuff out.

Absolutely. I was the one at fault for indulging too much. I was just using the term "did to me" loosely. Like a Heroin addict saying the drug has fucked them up, when in reality it's them that has willingly indulged.

Wow, haven't seen that clip in a long time. Fonzie really looks like a fembot waterskiing.

This is what I'm getting at - some people appear unreasonably crushed about not liking something. To the point that they will aggressively post again and again and again that they don't like it. This seems a little weird. Like, I heard you already, you don't like it, but why are you trying to convince everyone else and why are you this upset?

Like I said, I listen to a lot of bands, alot of really good bands, and some their stuff no matter how much I like the band I don't like a song or an album. My point is, after getting into lots of bands, that's it's not uncommon to be turned off by something once in a while and it shouldn't jeopardize whether you like the band or not or even if you like the album. It seems to take a little bit of a more extreme turn around here.

Similiar to Hinny above I look more forward to the tours more so than I do the fresh music. I'm sure I will like at least some of the new material and will look forward to how it translates live. I try not to get caught up in frantic RM works itself up with every release.
Plus any time you have a band/musician with longevity you'll have fans who liked them better "back when..."

Anyway,
I have some other stuff to contribute other than Fonzie

1. i agree with ones & dime : it's not a good lifestyle listening to too much pearl jam. I had that period as well where I would only think : what bootlegs will I listen to today? right now, I'm totally not interested to hear the new shows. Haven't heard a show that I didn't attend since 2005, when i was at my peak of fandom. I regularly listen to the studio albums I love now, but I kinda lost my love for the live shows. I don't think there's a single PJ song of which I prefer a/the live version over the studio version. which puts me in a pretty lonely group inside the PJ community.
to be honest : now I regret wasting away so much valuable time on Pearl Jam and about every concert they ever played during my college years. I could have seen so many movies, could have discovered so many music, could have read so many books, could have shagged so many female students... Things I lack the time for now that I have a job, a house, ...

2. However, I still love to travel for PJ. Not the 6 shows in 7 days anymore. But going away for a weekend to a city and meet up with some absolutely faptastic people. My best memories of Canada, Copenhagen & Dublin have absolutely nothing to do with the PJ shows. I'm a bit unhappy to miss out this year, but I just cannot afford it right now.