September 22, 2020: No Way

Hi Branden,

I just listened to your episode with Ryan Bauer on going over "No Way." When I was looking to sign up for a track off of Yield, "No Way" was actually my first choice. I was pretty surprised to see it wasn't available when I gave my top 3. To be honest, I'm really glad Ryan came on for this episode. He seems to have had a great appreciation for this song since it came out in 1998. What really caught my attention was comparing the message of the song to be in-line with the war with Ticketmaster. The band, and namely Stone, took on "the man" and unfortunately weren't able to make a difference. I'm not sure if this was accurate, but I believe that period of Pearl Jam was highly contentious and I am sure taking on Ticketmaster added onto the stress. It's as if Stone wrote this song to say, I'm going to just focus on what I love most and that's making music. The line "Let's call in an angel," does have me wondering if there is any truth to this being a message of trying to make a difference and realizing you can't always do so, who would be the angel in the Ticketmaster standoff?

With regard to the music, I wish I had the technology to drown out the vocals (no offense to Ed) just to hear the riff from Stone throughout and then the bass during the end of the bridge in the song. It's such a cool and groovy song and I have appreciated it more and more through the years. I'm very lucky to have been present for the 12th time they played it live.

Looking forward to hearing the upcoming episodes on Yield, especially "In Hiding!" Also excited to get to airing some "Grievance" with you in November! (That was a Seinfeld reference if you caught it)

Forced to endure, what I could not forgive,

Chris

Comments

October 17, 2010: RIP Mozart for Guitar

Hi Brad and Brad, I first want to mention that I can't remember the last time I laughed as hard as I did while listening to you two and Clint Wells go on about spoonfuls of flour and uncooked spaghetti. I almost had to pull my car over as I was driving home during that part of the episode! Since Eddie Van Halen passed away on October 6th, I've been listening to a lot of Van Halen. I didn't really get into them until 10-15 years ago, but I consider them to be one of my favorite bands of all-time. Eddie was truly an innovator on shredding guitar solos and may be my favorite lead guitarist ever. I saw Mike's comment on Pearl Jam's Twitter feed referencing how he began playing guitar shortly after their first record came out. He goes so far to say "it sounded like Eddie was from another planet" and "Eddie was like Mozart for guitar. Changed everything and he played with Soul." I know the guys have covered Van Halen here-and-there and I looked

December 26, 2020: Someday at Christmas

Hi Brad and Brad, First, I hope you guys have had a Happy Holidays. Secondly, I really enjoy your solo episodes. They have a deejay format to them which also feels personable in getting to know each of your lives and what has influenced you to be who you are now. I hadn't taken the time to get to know Someday at Christmas until after listening to BradB's recent episode. Pearl Jam does a great job in covering the song, and I prefer Stevie Wonder's version over the Jackson 5. Especially, after reading the lyrics and reading some interpretations of the song. At the time the song was released, the Vietnam War was still underway. The lyrics seem to voice opposition to the war itself, but also express the hope for racial and economic equality. Unfortunately, that message still resonates strongly. Stevie Wonder was one of the artists that shaped my musical interests when I was a teenager. I'm very glad the guys chose to cover this song for a Christmas single and have

December 31, 2020: Low Light

Hi Jessi and Kate, I have been way behind on my podcasts the last several weeks. The main reason is because myself and a friend started our own podcast! It's not Pearl Jam themed , however it's consumed a decent amount of my week preparing for each recording. So we now have a hit on the Dink-O-Meter for both of you. First Jessi and now Kate! I can't remember if I have proposed the Dink-O-Meter to you yet, but I have it as a three-tiered system: Dinky: Just your average dinky, will only skip if streaming Rinky-Dinky: Automatic skipper, even when listening to vinyl Stinky-Dinky: It's like nails on a chalkboard to you Based on Jessi's response to Parachutes, I have that somewhere between Rinky-Dinky and Stinky-Dinky. I would have to let Jessi be the final judge on that. For Kate's remarks to Low Light, I have it somewhere between Dinky and Rinky-Dinky, however I'm inclined to believe it's closer to Dinky because I wasn't able to note as many hot

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