When I was 13 years old, I had an earth-shattering crush on a boy named Matt, who was in my 8th grade history class.  He was all heaven and light and floppy hair and dimples, wrapped up in a heartbreakingly grungy, flannel-clad package.  Matt was obsessed not with preppy, Clinique-wearing, pre-pubescent little me, but with a band named Pearl Jam–and so, naturally, I had to know everything about them in the hopes of winning his nicotine-laced heart.  Fast forward 16 years (has it really been that long?), and the middle school crush has long faded…but the Pearl Jam obsession has endured, burning more brightly than 13-year-old Jolie could have ever imagined.

I am dorky about countless things, but my all-consuming, lifelong love for Pearl Jam surely takes the cake.  My first Pearl Jam concert, in 1998, during my 1st week of college, remains one of the highlights of my life: $28 for a day-of-show, lucky first row ticket at Madison Square Garden!  The memory still gives me goosebumps.  Earlier this year, I had the pleasure of dragging (erm…escorting) my music-loving friend D. to her first Pearl Jam concert.  She was intrigued, but mostly because she wanted to see opening act Ben Harper in concert.  Three hours, nearly 30 songs and 2 encores later, she couldn’t stop trying to convince me how she would never see a better live show.  Preaching to the choir, sister!

Pearl Jam will inevitably come up in various conversations, and people will say, “Oh, yeah, Pearl Jam!  Dude, I totally liked them…you know…in the early 90’s.”  Nein.  Unacceptable!  Musical taste is obviously a hugely personal thing, but I will tell you that millions of cultish Pearl Jam fans do not sell out arenas in minutes flat because we even remotely care about hearing “Jeremy” played.  If you haven’t had the pleasure of ruminating over a recent Pearl Jam album, check out their latest release Backspacer.  It’s a crowd-pleaser, particularly the sweeping “Unthought Known”, (check it out here) which has recently taken the top spot as my number one, all-time favorite PJ song.  (“Force of Nature“ is also pretty badass, not to mention simultaneously super romantic.)

So, why the random Pearl Jam post?  I just realized that today is Eddie Vedder’s 45th birthday…and yes, I am that rabid of a fan that I actually (usually silently) commemorate EdVed’s cake day every year.   He remains the only celebrity that would make me faint on the spot, and while I’ve fleetingly met the other PJ members, I don’t know if I could handle the Eddie.  I dread the day when my beloved musical soulmates cease to exist…but until then, I just adore, listen, give thanks, and enjoy every last second of their music.  I hope you, at some point, might rediscover them, too!

Jolie’s beginner Pearl Jam playlist:

- Unthought Known
- Force of Nature
- The Fixer
- Against the Waves
- Just Breathe
- Betterman
- Black
- Rearviewmirror
- Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town
- Down
- Off He Goes
- Red Mosquito
- Wishlist
- Love Boat Captain
- Parachutes
- Alive
- Yellow Ledbetter

Tags: Eddie Vedder, I will love Pearl Jam until the day I die, Pearl Jam, Pearl Jam playlist

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009 at 2:48 am and is filed under JOLIE/NADINE. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

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