There was a thread earlier about how/when you got into everybodys favorite band, i thought id elaborate on that a little bit by sharing my story of how i got into the band, forgot about them, then came back with a vengeance.....so this is for anybody who may have a similar experience.

Now that i think about it, its hard to believe that at one point in my life i wasnt that into Pearl Jam. This would have been between 95-98. At the time i was heavily into punk (early 80's-90's) and listening to dead kennedys, minor threat, operation ivy, etc...and PJ didnt really fit into my style at the time. It's not that i didnt like them. I still owned Ten, Vs & Vitalogy, but rarely listened to those albums.
Then one day i was sitting in a pool hall chilling with some friends and went to check out the jukebox. It was mostly filled with the usual tpo 40 crap, but when searching through i happened across a copy of Ten and figured "what they hey!" and threw on a few of the choice album cuts, like Alive, Even Flow, and Jeremy. Fuck i forgot how great they really were. While it was enough to get me listening to my old records again, it wasnt enough to get me to buy the new ones. Pearl Jam werent really on the radio around here so it wasnt until Napster came around and i download Binaural, No Code, and Yield and i was once again hooked for like. The other main clincher was when i finally heard Wishlist on the radio while driving around in my work van, and thought "damn those are some great lyrics!"...

So from that point on I was officially hooked again and never looked back!

I'm embarassed for having strayed...im glad they took me back


*EDIT please don't flame me, ive learned my lesson

no need to flame mikef... bands like dead kennedys, minor threat, and operation ivy are not flammable in my opnion. Now, if you would have stopped listening for awhile because you got heavy into creed/limpbizkit/linkin park/nickeback etc... then I think we'd all have something to say!
I know I've taken breaks from PJ here and there (my longest stint was probably 1 1/2 years (mid '95 to end of '96) but No Code pulled me back in. I think it's healthy to take short breaks quit honestly, listening to the same band for long periods of time without hearing anything else isn't a good thing. Variety is the spice of life. Pearl Jam are my 'meat and potatoes' band, they'll always be there. (i'm no vegitarian... not that there's anything wrong with that.)
D

I strayed after Vs. Pearl Jam came with me to university back in 1992, heck I bought Ten before I even had anything to play it on. Loved it like a son. Bought tons of boots back int he day before they were shared. Remember paying $50 a pop for boots? Damned crazy seeing as I started school with two cds and left my first year with 85! anyways, after Vs., my love seemed to fade for other vices, The Tragically Hip, and downhill mountain biking. I also had this negative attiude of Ed for a while that was based on some uneducated opinions I made on his attitude...

It wasn't until I passed over Single Video Theory for the umpteenth time on dvd, finally picked it up and fell in love with Stone and jeff's aweosme skills. I know Mike is the man, but I have a soft spot for rythym and bass, not much of a guitar leader. Ever since then, I've been hooked. Having a girlfriend (who will become my wife in three weeks) who was into the band has only solidifed my appreciation for them. Almost getting shot by a scalper before the Buffalo HSBC show pretty much sealed the deal as to how important they are in my life. Love them.

only in buffalo will you almost get shot by a scalper at a pearl jam show...I LOVE MY CITY...

thats just messed. why would he try to shoot you? did you try to counter offer his price and he got pissed?

Long story, very short: trying to impress my lady friend (and get some primo seats) by trading up our seats, the guy pulls a fast one on me and switches tickets. I chase him down, threaten to knock his teeth into his ass if I don't get my original tickets and my money back, I get both, then let go of him, he pulls a gun and asks why he shouldn't shoot me. We're in the industrial park area by the arena now, and by the grace of God, a trolley car drops a bunch of people off right near us.. I start yelling "go ahead and f-king shoot me!" Everyone looks at us, so he bolts...not a good scene...

wow, what a story rocketsan22! congratulations on your wedding!

about my straying experience, i can say that my whole PJ story is one of coming back. only it took me about twelve years to make the way back. i've told this story a thousand times, but ... here it goes (in more detail): i saw Jeremy on mtv. then they showed it on national tv (in Brazil), on a sunday evening (it was about the time Colombine happened, the reporter made the connection between the song and the story). i remember telling my father how impressive it was. i thought Ed was great, but scary. some time later, i had moved in with my ex-husband and i saw TEN at a record store and decided to buy it. i listened to it and was not impressed, though i could recognize the Led Zeppelin influences (my favorite band since i was 15). and he said "it's too noisy". in my mind i thought that they were the best thing that had happened in rock music since Led Zeppelin, and that Ed had the best voice ever. but i did not become a hardcore fan. i recorded Even Flow and Garden on tape so that i could listen to them in my walkman (i could never listen to it in the car, it made him nervous ). every now and then i'd see a clip on mtv (they were rare, and i remember thinking, "they're so good, why aren't they on mtv?, totally unaware of all the anti-media, anti-ticketmaster stuff), i fell in love with Hunger Strike, but i didn't understand much about the TOTD story. thinking about it, after i got into that relationship music was out of my life (but for Dave Matthews Band, which also made him nervous..., ok, some revolution was made with Björk and The Indians; and we came to terms with William Ackerman and Michael Hedges), i just wrote two songs during that period (one in the beginning, one in the end...). i was working my ass off, got into a lot of professional turmoil, got sick, got separated, got back, i mean, life got in the way and set me and the band apart. when i found myself at a turning point (end of the relationship, about to get another job), PJ was there. 03/30/03, mtv again (sorry, what can i do, it's true, mtv saved my life! just kidding...). and i've lived happily ever after!

I never went away, I just failed to catch up for a while. Before the commercial shit and garage came along to ruin it, I was heavily into hardcore when I 1st heard Pearl Jam - it was a ten and versus tape of my brothers. He made me a copy, with versus on side one. When the drum and bass came in on daughter I was hooked. Vitalogy came along and I loved it and got a copy, then Dave got sacked. I thought that was the beginning of the end, and that in any case Pearl Jam as I knew them were gone. No Code and Yield came and went, both of which my brother got, but I never got round to listening to them. I was drifting further and further away from ever being able to catch up, but I was still into the Pearl Jam that I already knew. Then came the darkest time, a real double hammer blow. 1st Roskilde, then Binaural coming out - surely I would never catch up with the new stuff now, and my 1st favourite Pearl Jam song it seemed, would never sound the same again. I went to Florida for New Years 2000-01, and was on my way back to the airport on the way home when we were in a record store when I stumbled across some Pearl Jam bootlegs. The rest is history. I got Verona, and in a short space of time listened to Verona, Glasgow, live on 2 legs and of course, No Code, Yield, and Binaural. I didn't make the same mistake with Riot Act - listened to it as soon as I got it as a present. Roll on the next album.

In the 8th grade, 1997-98, I started to find music on my own. I went from listening to mainly country with Elvis (who's rock and country) and Michael Jackson thrown in. Well, besides a Coolio cd when Gangsta's Paradise came out. When I started looking into music I found Black Sabbath, Metallica, Megadeth, Nirvana, Pantera, Alice In Chains, etc. I also thought I should check out Pearl Jam. The first cd, tape actually, that I bought of theirs was Vs. I liked it for the most part, but after the first side, I started to lose a little interest. But I liked it enough to pick up Vitalogy next. I can't fathom why, but Vitalogy wasn't that great to me. Insane to think considering it's my favorite PJ cd now. Anyway, after that I only listened to Vs. here and there. The thing is after a few years, I kept thinking about PJ. I just figured I would like them a lot. When Riot Act came out, I had my cousin get it for me as a present. I really liked the cd, and I decided to get everything I didn't have. I was hooked, they are awesome, and there is no looking back.

how strange