I woke up this morning with Pearl Jam’s “Alive” in my head for no discernable reason. It has been months since I heard any Pearl Jam and possibly years since I heard this song, “Alive”, Memory is a funny and sometimes random thing.
Back in school the question was frequently “who do you like more, Pearl Jam or Nirvana?” I was always a Nirvana fan. Though endearing now 15 years later, Pearl Jam was just “alright” to me at the time. I didn’t seek them out like I did Nirvana. Nirvana seemed more edgy and extreme and that appealed to me, though I am neither. I suppose I wish I were. I know I didn’t need to choose either one but such is the ridiculousness of middle school and high school, where you feel like you have to choose this or that to define yourself. Screw that! Have both if you want both! Don’t let silly questions like that or social boundaries define you. And definitely don’t let it limit your musical tastes!
Whoa! Hello 1984! This song sparks memories of my youth. Short shorts and big collars on my shirt. Innocence and ignorance I have since lost.
And oh my god does Bruce look young in the video! He is like a baby! And yet in just this past Superbowl XLIII he was sliding across the stage, bumping his crotch into the camera…
… I guess he is just still young at heart.
I was watching when it happened too (the slide into the camera). I felt bad for him because clearly he underestimated how slick the stage was. I thought for sure there’d be another “Nipplegate (RE: Janet Jackson) because Americans are so incredibly stupid about such things, but Bruce’s friends, let’s call them “Big Jim and the Boys”, stayed inside that night, so it was all “ok”. Janet Jackson’s bare breast = OUTRAGE! Over 100 people dying every day in car accidents in the USA = SNORE! Now perhaps if the car accidents were on football fields they’d feel differently?
Heavy Metal is not my default. I tend not to listen to it with regularity. But sometimes I just get in a mood… like an itch, and all that will satisfy it is some metal. Today’s back scratcher is Megadeth. Some awesome speed metal passages and guitar riffs!
It is funny how so many of the most popular heavy metal songs seem to be a bit on the soft and sweet side of heavy metal. Maybe it is just me.
It is also funny that this song was basically written in five minutes, Slash’s warm up guitar exercise being the creative spark that ignited it, and probably my favorite part of the whole song.
And finally it is funny that I remember trying not to like Guns N’ Roses in school because there was this other kid who was a jerk to everyone, and he liked Guns N’ Roses. I don’t see that guy anymore, so I think the coast is clear.
G reminded me of this song and video a few weeks ago. All the little bits of images and text in the video are mesmerizing. Whether it is the political or personal bits that pull at your heart strings, the video is bound to get you thinking about something you care about. For me it is frequently “Opportunity is passing you by.” Here they all are:
Right now,
- Ed is playing the piano.
- People are having unprotected sex.
- Opportunity is passing you by.
- Justice is being perverted in a court of law.
- Blacks and whites don’t eat together very much.
- You could be outside.
- The light from a star in M-5 is heading toward earth, right now, light that left M-5 a thousand years ago is getting to your house.
- God is killing moms and dogs because he has to.
- Guilt is turning someone inside out.
- VanHalen is planning a world tour.
- There’s a bomb factory hard at work.
- You are sitting to close.
- Somebody’s got the wrong idea
- Oil companies and old men are in control.
- It’s business as usual in the woods.
- Nothing is more expensive than regret.
- People who can’t breathe are bumming.
- Is just a space between ice ages.
- Youth is king.
- Maybe we should pay attention to the lyrics.
[lyrics:
Miss a beat, you lose a rhythm
An nothin' falls into place. No!
Only missed by a fraction
Slipped a little off your pace. Oh!]
- Is a good time to repent.
- The truth is being obscured.
- Science is building a better tomato.
- Pigs are becoming lunch.
- Someone is working too hard for minimum wage.
- A convenience store is open.
- Mike is thinking about a solo project.
- Your parents miss you.
- Oysters are being robbed of their sole possession.
- No one is safe from loneliness.
- It is cold where someone you love is.
- It’s nicer in Cabo.
- A mad man is wandering the streets of the town you live in.
- A tired man with a wounded heart is sitting in a coach seat on a east-bound transatlantic flight looking out the window wondering how to say “dog”, “howl” and “moon” in French in case it comes up.
- She is going on with her life.
- Time is having its way with you.
- Forces are aligning against you.
- Someone is walking onto a nude beach for the first time.
- Ed’s got his hands full.
- You wish you had a larger tv.
- Write NOW!
- Our government is doing things we think only other countries do.
- You aren’t doing what you most wish you were.
- Is harder than it looks.
- Your memory is getting longer while your life is getting shorter.
- Dogs have it good.
- Is not the fault of the Japanese.
- There is no cure.
- People are doing it for money.
- A bowl of soup would be nice.
- Keeps happening.
- We must be going.
I have read different interpretations of this song. Some say it is about Eric Clapton’s cocaine habit back in the 60s. Others say it relates to the Vietnam War. I think it is just about lost and lonely people, wandering the shadows. Great song whatever Cream intended.
Oh also during the line “Platform ticket, restless diesels, goodbye windows” I keep hearing it as “Platform dickhead”. Perhaps it is just me?
I liked this song before playing Guitar Hero 2, but after listening to it a gazillion times, I now love it. Familiarity makes music more endearing and I think Guitar Hero and Rock Band are perfect for that. So if you do not want to like a particular song, do not listen to it over and over.
This is another great climax builder my siblings use to play on the record player when I was young. The slow rolling march of the snare drum in the beginning draws me in too. It always felt a little short though. Like there was room for more. I love it, and yet feel a bit unsatisfied at the end.
When I was young I though the song was “In a Garden of Evil”, though I know “In the Garden of Eden” was another popular misinterpretation. I am definitely one of those people who will make up lyrics if I cannot understand what they are singing, which then makes me look like an idiot when I happen to quote them to anyone else. I’m sure many of you have had the same experience.
At over 17 minutes, this song is a monument, or perhaps more accurately a foundation, for hard rock and heavy metal. I am frequently amazed as the creativity and artistry of the early rock artists of the 60’s and how they literally created styles and genres of music single handedly that where unlike anything before. I think Iron Butterfly is a perfect example. So cool.
This song is too cool. It is packed with awesome riffs. It appeals to the geek in me too because YYZ in Morse Code ( - . - - - . - - - - . . ) is played over and over in the song.
Listen on Blip.fm!