Pearl Jam was always a political, socially conscientious band. Some have taken offense, or acted surprised when the band has expressed itself politically, but this really should not come as a surprise. They have always been a very political band, if you are paying attention. Apparently, not many have, until well after the fact.
I remember seeing Pearl Jam get booed off the stage at a 2003 show in Nassau Coliseum, because they played their song, "Bushleaguer," which was a criticism of then President George W. Bush. They got in similar trouble just weeks before during a show in Denver, when they played that same song. Conservative commentator Ann Coulter claimed that Eddie Vedder had impaled a mask of George W. Bush. Obe friend of mine, the one who was originally supposed to go to that Nassau show with me, cancelled, and claimed that the band's actions were completely unacceptable. But these reports were greatly exaggerated. In fact, Vedder has positioned the mask on on the microphone stand. He did pretend to kiss the mask, so it was not completely respectable. But then again, neither is starting an unjustifiable and immoral war based on lies about Weapons of Mass Destruction, and which is the more serious offense?
Of course, Coulter also claimed that thousands of people had left after all of this, but in fact, people who were there said that maybe a few dozen people left, but hardly in droves as Coulter suggested.
But this band has always been quite political. It is part of what attracted me to them in the first place.
What got me into them was a friend telling me about "some band: who sang a song about suicide, and it was something like "Jeremy spoke in class today." I was intrigued. Eventually, I found out who the band was, when I heard it on the radio. Pearl Jam. I quickly got their album, "Ten," some days later, and got hooked. The rest, as they say, is history.
Recently, just a couple of weeks or so ago, Pearl Jam released an uncensored version of their "Jeremy" video, in order to raise awareness about gun violence. It seemed more than time for me to write this blog entry about that, and so here it is:
Pearl Jam releases uncensored 'Jeremy' video in hopes of drawing attention to gun violence Gary Dinges USA TODAY
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