Back in 2015, I started writing an article about my relationship with Pearl Jam. I stalled after a few paragraphs; how could I find the words to describe the emotional and cognitive connection to a band and their music that has existed for most of the decades of my life?
Having never found a way to adequately answer that question, I shelved the article and it remains as a draft. While celebrating the band since high school, the only book I’ve read that includes “their” story is Grunge Is Dead: The Oral History of Seattle Rock Music. It’s an interesting book, and I think my favorite element are the remarks about how unfair it was that Chris Cornell could sing like a god – and looked like one too. (He is missed….)
So I was intrigued when I saw a new book releasing this Fall on the band, Not For You: Pearl Jam and the Present Tense. Being locked away from many enjoyable activities due to COVID-19 restrictions, I have been trying to read more often when not completely devoted to playing Hades. I reached out to the publisher and asked if I could get a review copy of the book and speak with the author, Ronen Givony, on my Ego Check podcast.
They agreed!
I took the opportunity to speak with Ronen quite seriously; here’s someone that spent a few years writing a book about the band. Surely this was a like-minded soul that would be fun to engage with about our shared interest in all things Pearl Jam. I cracked open the book and read through it, taking various notes along the way. Prior to speaking with Ronen, I emailed him 6-7 pages of “Show Notes” with possible questions and explanations for why I was asking those questions.
Overkill? Probably.
Thankfully he was not scared off by that and we enjoyed a good conversation about his background, his motivations for writing the book, the choices made about how the book is structured, and why the band has persisted while their contemporaries have long (and often tragically) faded away.
Along the way, I offer details about why I gravitated toward the band in the first place, and how songs ignite memories of my father and brother. We close out the interview by exploring a topic near and dear to my heart, Philly. I grew up in South Jersey and the band always seems to have memorable shows in Philadelphia. At one book early in the book Ronen wrote, “If there’s one thing Pearl Jam people agree on, it’s this: never, ever miss them in Philly.” We talk about why the band seems to get to another level in that city and – spoiler alert – the mentality of the fans is likely a big factor.
Perhaps I’ll return to my article about Pearl Jam one of these days. The impressive thing about Ronen’s book is that while he certainly offers his opinions about the band, he spend more time placing the band’s prominence in context with a wide variety of socioeconomic and political forces that transpired over the years and decades.
Enjoy the episode, and certainly check out the book!
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