Today on the OutQ In The Morning show, I was saying,
as I have before, how
Pearl Jam are sort of occupying a space like
The Grateful Dead and
Bruce Springsteen: they're at a place where they can pretty much tour whenever they want to, whether or not they have an album out, and sell out multiple nights at huge venues. I mentioned that they were like The Dead (and I know they were influenced by The Dead's business organization big-time, especially when it came to figuring out a fanclub based ticketing system and bootlegging policies) but also like Springsteen, in that their lyrics mean a lot to fans. My Deadhead fan took me to task for that one. I wasn't saying that the Dead's lyrics aren't good - in fact, I think that lyricist
Robert Hunter is great - but just that the lyrics aren't central to the experience of their music. Bruce's lyrics are central to the experience of listening to his music. The Dead covered a lot of country songs and blues songs, and those genres are based around the lyrics - and Bruce is also influenced by blues and country. Yes, I'm a much bigger Bruce fan, but I do own about 15 Dead CDs and I'm a fan. So, no harm intended!
Today on the OutQ In The Morning show, I was saying, as I have before, how Pearl Jam are sort of occupying a space like The Grateful Dead and Bruce Springsteen: they're at a place where they can pretty much tour whenever they want to, whether or not they have an album out, and sell out multiple nights at huge venues. I mentioned that they were like The Dead (and I know they were influenced by The Dead's business organization big-time, especially when it came to figuring out a fanclub based ticketing system and bootlegging policies) but also like Springsteen, in that their lyrics mean a lot to fans. My Deadhead fan took me to task for that one. I wasn't saying that the Dead's lyrics aren't good - in fact, I think that lyricist Robert Hunter is great - but just that the lyrics aren't central to the experience of their music. Bruce's lyrics are central to the experience of listening to his music. The Dead covered a lot of country songs and blues songs, and those genres are based around the lyrics - and Bruce is also influenced by blues and country. Yes, I'm a much bigger Bruce fan, but I do own about 15 Dead CDs and I'm a fan. So, no harm intended! 
No comments:
Post a Comment