I read this article in NUVO and Jeff Ament stated that he thought about leaving Pearl Jam in the mid 90's because of creative differences. At the time Eddie Vedder was doing most of the writing. If he had left the band who do you think would have replaced him at that time and do you think he wouldhave rejoined the band later?

http://www.nuvo.net/nuvo/pearl-jams-jeff-ament-on-backspacer/Content?oid=1359017

I dont know if Jeff would have been replaced, I think the band would have just broken up if he, Stone, or Eddie had left.

I think both Jeff and Stone have gone on record stating that they questioned their role in the band in the Vitalogy/No Code era, it must've been pretty tough seeing what you imagined being your band transform into Eddie's band (more or less) in that period.

Yield seemed like a pretty conscious step towards restoring some harmony in the band - is it on SVT where someone talks of how much it meant to the other guys in the band that Ed insisted that their songs be the first ones worked on for that album? Clearly the inference is that the opposite was true for the preceding two records, that Ed's songs were treated as more important than those that Jeff/Stone brought in.

This post has brought up a question I've been meaning to ask here for a long time and have just kept forgetting to. I read somewhere(I forget at this point) that Jeff didnt play the bass on the studio version of Do The Evolution. Is that true? If so who did? I'm assuming O'Brien did but you never know.

I can't remember about DTE, but Stone plays bass on the studio version of No Way. DTE is another Stone song, so I guess there's a chance.

Only other one I can think of is I Got Shit, where Brendan plays bass.

Yeah, Brendan OWNS I Got Shit, it's one of the best jobs on the bass in their catalog. That's why I've always wondered about this(but never remembered to ask about it here.)

and vitalogy/merkinball/no code are easily the bands best work

not a knock on ament

The guys in the band seem to be spectacularly bad judges of their own work.

Remember Stone's statement around the time of Backspacer that he thought all of their albums from Vitalogy onwards were sub par and that Backspacer was their strongest effort since the first two? Oh man.

And leaving In The Moonlight, Sad, Education and Fatal off of Binaural? Er, hmm. I wonder if that was a one-off or if they always leave such quality tunes off each album in preference to crappier ones - I'd love to hear what was left off of S/T and Backspacer, especially as we've had no b-sides to give us any indications (at least we had Down, Undone and Other Side from Riot Act).

I've also read Stone saying how Binaural "dosent carry people" or something like that and I couldn't disagree more.

Maybe Backspacer is what was left over from S/T?

Yah, Education, Sad, and Fatal are easily some of the bands best songs ever.

I'm surprised that the Backspacer B side hasn't surfaced yet. I read there's only 1 and it was originally included on the "beta" of Backspacer that was only distributed to family, friends and insiders.

Yeah, I know Tom Tomorrow stated the copy of Backspacer the band gave him had one more track than what's on the retail version.

They must run a pretty tight ship.

I didn't know Brenden O'Brien played bass on the I Got Shit recording! I live in Atlanta and have been meaning to stop by Southern Tracks.

Be careful...

oh yes

I remember reading it was Stone playing bass on Evolution.

I thought there was a couple songs from the second half of the 90s that Stone played bass in the studio, including No Way?
Not really a secret that there was a couple of times a founder came close to quitting. Jeff mentions that he thought about leaving the band in the notes on Lost Dogs. And Stone was ready to walk away after Roskilde.
I always thought one of Jack Irons' main contributions to the band history was keeping them together after Vitalogy was recorded and leading up to the No Code sessions.

I always thought that if Stone ever left, they'd just get Steve Turner to replace him. And Ben Shepard in Jeff's case.

to me, Jeff, Stone and Eddie are the essence of this band.

for better or for worse, PJ last functionned like 5 guys on the same plane long ago. maybe up until Vs.

You can't really cite those three members and leave Mike out. He's integral to the sound of the band. You could say Eddie's the focal point, but those four together are the essence, considering their revolving door of drummers.

I'm actually really glad none of them have walked away. They did the smart thing with side projects over the years.