The 90s Alt-Rock Giant That Is Least Embarrasing Itself Today Is...

probably pearl jam tbh

either Pearl Jam or Green Day

went with Green Day

Some of these guys are pretty much strangers to embarrassment.

Trent Reznor or Beck or Bjork or Damon Albarn were they to count, but on the list there, yeah I'm w/Jordan...Pearl Jam.

I take it the lack of Smashing Pumpkins is indicative that they'd have no fucking chance in this poll?

skipped groups that (at least allegedly) no longer exist like NIN and Blur, didn't really consider solo artists. And yeah, i figured Smashing Pumpkins had no chance at all.

http://www.playbill.com/images/photo/a/m/americanidiotcover.jpg

love that these guys actually beat U2 to Broadway

though it's through no lack of effort on Bono's part, I'll admit

of all these groups i'm personally only still paying attention to green day's music but billie joe's face alone disqualifies them from winning this poll

i guess the foos aren't that 'embarrassing' but they're putting out severely diminished music

what is there left to say about U2?

RHCP were born an embarrassment

PJ have aged pretty well tho, that last single of their was pretty dope & vedder made a smooth transition to old rock dude pretty well

pearl jam, because they don't try to please anyone (as their music makes crystal clear).

yeah it's pearl jam because they play for themselves and hardline pearl jam fans only

pearl jam wins alone for that 'deadliest catch' commercial

I haven't heard any new music by any of these guys since 2005, except Pearl Jam who I haven't heard anything new since 1998. Going with the Foo Fighters.

green day

RHCP haven't put out an album since '06, so they're not really embarrassing themselves today per se. i actually enjoyed that one -- fair enough if you never liked these guys, but if you were into them in the 90s i don't really see what there was to dislike about it.

rhcp have been embarrassing themselves since the beginning.

first three RHCP albums are great, Blood Sugar Sex Magik is pretty good and I like to pretend the rest never existed

RHCP and Green Day are HOF-bound simply because they've stuck around for so long and managed to stay in the mainstream consciousness. Neither would've had a shot had they broken up 10 years into their career.

Foo Fighters = Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers if they'd ROCK OUT WITH THEIR TONGUES OUT!!!
Pearl Jam = Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers if they'd ROCK OUT WITH THEIR TONGUES KEPT SAFELY INSIDE THEIR MOUTHS OUT OF RESPECT FOR THE WOMENFOLK!!!
Green Day = because the kids deserve their own bloated-ass arena Who bullshit
REM = searching for an elusive middle ground between late Stones and late XTC
Red Hot Chili Peppers = "hey, if the Lakers would pay us to watch them play, we'd happily just do that"
U2 = the jizz-stained aftermath of a swordfight between God and The Devil

i liked "dani california" a lot

this is all I have to say re: U2:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XF_hxuMMcI

rhcp have been embarrassing themselves since the beginning.

http://img.sharedmp3.net/files/pics/451/450439/img_1_pr.jpg

xp: There are assorted RHCP songs off of the albums I pretend never happened that I like ("Dani California" yeah, also "Scar Tissue") but I think of them as albumless singles

Say what you like about Bono, but at least he didn't make the Edge walk around in just a sock.

altho i think everyone should remember that RCHP left us with a video that AT BEST could be described as "possibly racist"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OM9uMJWtNww

there could be a poll for what it is exactly about Green Day that makes them most embarrassing 90s alt-rock giant: the broadway show, the video game, the BMW DUI, or the fact the Foxboro Hottubs were created so they could put on their party faces and spray people with PBR anonymously

http://0.tqn.com/d/crime/1/0/n/6/armstrongbj.jpg

Foo Fighters = Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers if they'd ROCK OUT WITH THEIR TONGUES OUT!!!
Pearl Jam = Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers if they'd ROCK OUT WITH THEIR TONGUES KEPT SAFELY INSIDE THEIR MOUTHS OUT OF RESPECT FOR THE WOMENFOLK!!!
Green Day = because the kids deserve their own bloated-ass arena Who bullshit
REM = searching for an elusive middle ground between late Stones and late XTC
Red Hot Chili Peppers = "hey, if the Lakers would pay us to watch them play, we'd happily just do that"
U2 = the jizz-stained aftermath of a swordfight between God and The Devil

lol good post

i love this new ad

"why yes, it's me, bono. i'm in africa because, well, i'm bono. as you can see i landed a plane here in some african valley. oh what's this, it's just my new louis vuitton shoulder bag that i brought with me to africa."

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.luxist.com/media/2010/08/bono-edun-louis-vuitton-ad.jpg

I had never seen that video or heard that song ("Hump De Bump")

still not as embarrassing as "Elvis Ate America"

Arguably more embarrassing than playing guitar with a sock on your dick

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19KstSgU-c0&ob=av2e

"this is evil Bono..."

ha see I kind of think of that as the last time U2 wasn't totally embarrassing; THAT is how embarrassing they've become

No Radiohead, no credibility

Radiohead would win by default!

bono should be fucking a dead gazelle in that pic

imo

i've said it before, but to understand how big a tool Bono is, you have to realize that a middle-aged man who has covered his bald head with a hat for over 20 years and still calls himself "The Edge" is seen as a pretty cool, laidback guy - strictly because he stands next to Bono.

R.E.M. least embarrassing.

I thought this was obvious: even Stipe is a cipher.

Ciphers don't get to be embarrassing.

PJ is the only band still making music I buy.

ehhh recent r.e.m. records are at least a little embarrassing

Except for the last, loud one, the three post-1996 albums are low-key and boring -- no socks on dicks.

Stipe is kind of a dick in a sock imo.

Pearl Jam, without a doubt.

i never heard that elvis ate america song before. how come tom waits sues doritos but not u2?

a list has two bands i cared about in the 90s and hate now
and one band i hated in the 90s that i care about now

Stipe's bankrolled some good movies (Velvet Goldmine and Being John Malkovich) which is more than any of these other bozos can say

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1l0Gqj1whk

Fun Fact: Four of the bands listed here have been on "The Simpsons." Maybe we need a separate poll for that.

xp bonowned

i've said it before, but to understand how big a tool Bono is, you have to realize that a middle-aged man who has covered his bald head with a hat for over 20 years and still calls himself "The Edge" is seen as a pretty cool, laidback guy - strictly because he stands next to Bono.

― da croupier, Wednesday, October 6, 2010 3:02 PM (11 minutes ago) Bookmark

lol

that last pearl jam single was a fucking jam

didn't really love them back in the day but i got mad respect for the road warrior bros-until-death workmanlike vibe they throw down now.

j0rd, re: "Hump De Bump"

The video was shot in late December 2006, and was directed by Chris Rock. The video takes place at a city block party (On the set of Everybody Hates Chris) with Chris Rock as himself, being kept out of his own block party by a security guard (Craig Robinson), while the band is playing the song at the party. Rock agreed to direct the video only if "They were the only white people in it."[3]

weird

gotta say, at the very least at least RCHP intentionally look like dorks and try-hards in the video unlike Kings Of Leon

I was unaware that Pearl Jam was still a "thing" tbqh.

Kind of feel that embarrassment mostly comes from them unwantedly tugging your trouserleg whenever they have something out, even though they're middleaged men with families and stuff: "lookatme! lookatme!" Pearl Jam (and I guess REM anymore) don't do this - Pearl Jam have basically been disappearing from view almost ever since they came out. I almost never happen upon them at random, but I'm always glad when I do. So yeah, Pearl Jam.

pj's pretty huge still, in a low-profile kind of way, which is impressive.

i got mad respect for the road warrior bros-until-death workmanlike vibe they throw down now.

I agree, but you can say the same about the Foo and the Chili Peppers.

yeah but foo and chili peppers have more of a scuzzy GQ dude kinda thing going on. which is embarrassing.

tylerw otm, the Pearl Jam vibe is very much different from those two bands.

Stone Gossard and Mike McCready have been known to dress preppily.

yeah somehow they give off the vibe of having pulled off the unlikely trick of becoming somewhat normal adults who just happen to play is a popular rock band

think I saw one of them get in a fight with a Banana Republic clerk over a scarf.

banana republic clerks can be dicks

Confine those dicks to the sock department.

"The Fixer" is about Stone's tailor.

LOL

And apparently the original title for Life Wasted was Long Waisted

http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-images/Music/Pix/pictures/2008/01/04/stipe.jpg

http://hubcap.clemson.edu/~sparks/sfhorror/eyeroll.gifhttp://hubcap.clemson.edu/~sparks/sfhorror/eyeroll.gif

Was that when everyone thought he had HIV?

I had the dubious distinction of being present for the exact moment REM became uncool, in 1998 at the Tibetan Freedom Concert in Washington DC.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3dwHuzoDo8

REM stopped being my favorite band when I flipped by Michael Stipe dressed like The Vulture presenting at the VH1 Fashion Awards around that time. I distinctly remember thinking, "the singer in my favorite band doesn't do that."

I was there too...but then they became briefly cool anew when he visited the kids in the hospital hit by lightning.

I never liked Pearl Jam's music but recognize that they seem the least embarrassing. Vedder fought ticketmaster, does benefits, shows up at Dischord related events in DC, & hasn't done a dubstep remix. But his voice grates on me and I can do without most of what I have heard from their boringly consistent riff-rock catalogue.

i love dubstep, but a pearl jam dubstep remix is an awful, awful idea.

I do not get the appeal of Pearl Jam at all

I've more time for them now than in '94 actually.

Faith No More? Maybe they didn't sell enough to count.

they also broke up

for me, it's simply that PJ's music is composed of elements that just don't seem to work - Vedder's voice is awful, the rhythm section is leaden and lifeless, the melodies (what there is of them) forgettable or nonexistent, the riffs lacking in economy and tunefulness. I can't even tell what their reference points are supposed to be. Their songwriting is so much poorer than all their professed heroes (the Who, I guess? Hendrix? Zeppelin?) that I don't even see/hear the supposed connections.

I never liked Pearl Jam's music but recognize that they seem the least embarrassing. Vedder fought ticketmaster, does benefits, shows up at Dischord related events in DC, & hasn't done a dubstep remix. But his voice grates on me and I can do without most of what I have heard from their boringly consistent riff-rock catalogue.

― curmudgeon, Wednesday, October 6, 2010 4:59 PM (32 minutes ago) Bookmark

OTM/seconded.

And R.E.M. isn't interesting enough to be embarrassing.

Never paid PJ that much heed at the time, but now I think they're great. I've had them on a loop all evening and still not tiring of it* (had actually started that endeavour before the poll went up, so they were always getting my vote)

* well I am now, time for bunk

man the fixer is sooooo good

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_d6Km3QJFc

also matt cameron is not leaden and lifeless see above

? that's a standard 4/4 rock beat

sorry dude I'm not feelin it.

I don't think that is the best example for Cameron's skills, but "leaden and lifeless" is about the last thing I'd ever call him!

I've barely paid attention to Pearl Jam in the last 15 years, but I do like "The Fixer" quite a bit.

That blue stripe on Stipe's head is just going to keep getting wider until he qualifies to join the Blue Man Group.

Green Day had some embarrassingly annoying songs in the 00's that are more embarrassing and more annoying than anything they ever did in the 90's. Oh wait... Nimrod was 97... they already blew it before the 00's

Whatever. I'm just going to vote for Pearl Jam and call it a day.

I never liked Pearl Jam's music but recognize that they seem the least embarrassing. Vedder fought ticketmaster, does benefits, shows up at Dischord related events in DC, & hasn't done a dubstep remix. But his voice grates on me and I can do without most of what I have heard from their boringly consistent riff-rock catalogue.

― curmudgeon, Wednesday, October 6, 2010 4:59 PM (32 minutes ago) Bookmark

OTM/seconded.

And R.E.M. isn't interesting enough to be embarrassing.

― Sterling-Kinney (Tarfumes The Escape Goat),

Pearl Jam can be very boring too but I think I would rather play a new Pearl Jam album than a new REM album.
Foo Fighters, U2, RHCP, and Green Day have made some real embarrassing songs in the 00's

? that's a standard 4/4 rock beat

sorry dude I'm not feelin it.

― crude interloper of a once august profession (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, October 6, 2010 4:49 PM (19 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

^^dude you are like one step away from some time signature geirism!!!!!!!! ;)

srsly tho yeah it's a rock drummer who's really good goin' in, but i don't think it's lifeless at all! that song's almost got like some super misfits gang wooooaaaah chorus energy (like the misfits for ppl that go to sports bars)

that's a great tune

haha M@tt you said the S word, there's no way you're going to convince Shakey now

super?

sports

signature?

srsly

The near-unanimity of Pearl Jam votes on this thread is surprising to me since it feels like just a few years ago they were fairly widely regarded as embarrassing 90s has-been denialists - they had a longgg backlash, w/Vedder seen as constipated empty-angst role model for Creed and Nickelback, no? sorry for pointing out the obvious, just didn't realise the extent to which this had reversed again

ps have paid them 0 attention this millennium but The Fixer is ok, maybe I should get back round to them

anyway I have been pleasantly surprised by 00s songs from all the bands listed except U2, so all I know is that the answer is not them

i voted for pearl jam. i'm sad that i can't vote for r.e.m. -- they used to be a great band but their last few records have been pretty worthless.

(like the misfits for ppl that go to sports bars)

*vomit*

xxpost -- I wouldn't say it's reversed, it's more like the other choices have proven so ridiculous/irritating that there's a bar-band-comfort to be had with them.

(like the misfits for ppl that go to sports bars)

*vomit*

― crude interloper of a once august profession (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, October 6, 2010 5:26 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

dude i told you not to overdo it with the jalapeno poppers and jello shots...you better rally before the twins/yankees game starts bro

pearl jam is the most reliable & least embarrasing. i wish green day would just quit and be foxboro hottubs full time.

REM - actually in some sort of decent recovery phase at this point i think, plus get added bonus of being far less embarrasing than that shitbag monster record was nowadays
U2 - if theres something more embarrasing than releasing 17 versions of yer new album and then having them all tank i dont know what that is
Green Day - broadway show, their dumb cartoony mugs leering out of rock band ads. also seem to be secret jerks
Red Hot Chili Peppers - were good, old now, anthony kiedis is a jackass and not really all that good to begin with
Pearl Jam - as long as eddie vedder is still the singer this band will be tops in embarrasing to me
Foo Fighters - innocuous, dont care

so i guess im voting rem then

i think REM and Foo Fighters aren't really embarrassing either

wait actually i kinda think rem sucked the most in the 90s so idk what to vote for now

new adventures in hi fi is good!

yah but my hate for monster is too strong to be nullified - also was out of time in the 90s? because that is fucking godawful

yeah out of time is 91....

automatic for the ppl is good too tho

ok i am down w/automatic as well. fine i can still vote for REM then

And R.E.M. isn't interesting enough to be embarrassing.

today: true
early-to-mid 80s: crazy talk.

new adventures in hi fi is good!

That was 14 years ago.

. . . also, meh. half-good.

I think my dad liked it.

The Foo Fighters AIDS-denial bullshit makes me more angry than embarrassed for them. I thank Grohl eternally for opening The Black Cat, and "Everlong" is an all-time jam. Still, Pearl Jam walk with this, I think. It's not totally fair to blame them for a lot of the horrible stuff came in their wake.

I think my dad liked it.

ha! i feel old.

Sorry! Kids at my school were also into R.E.M., but they were seen as slightly boring generally.

god even the early 80s stuff?!? i guess you had to be there to get the excitement.

I didn't become aware of them till Shiny Happy People! Which came out when I was maybe 13 or 14. Like I say, lotsa people (and their dads) thought they were a nice pleasant band, but nothing more than that.

Shiny Happy Monsters + Muppet B-52 makes me forgive a whole lot of sins.

R.E.M. are stil embarrassed by Shiny Happy People (one of their better out and out 'pop' songs) yet feel no shame in covering Editors and forming spin-off groups with likes Gary Lightbody

Yeah but they cover everybody. Thus:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQbAizfsvrQ

gonna watch that later. midnight blue is a guilty pleasure.

I thank Grohl eternally for opening The Black Cat

Did not know this!

jesus crap, i didn't know about the AIDS denail thing. jenna mccarthy's whole vaccine deal doesn't surprise me much but c'mon dave.

I think it was spearheaded by the ex-Sunny Day Real Estate bassist, Nate Mendel, but yeah - it's some awful shit.

The whole thing was like ten years ago and they haven't been involved with it since.

Sorry! Kids at my school were also into R.E.M., but they were seen as slightly boring generally.

That sounds about right. A few years back, my teenage cousin was just discovering alt rock. So I made her a couple CDs. When I suggested she listen to early R.E.M. like Murmur, she looked at me like I was from Mars. Apparently the kids see R.E.M. as the ultimate old fart band that only boring old farts like.

depressing.

That's what happens when you release albums like Around the Sun and Up.

wtf @ aids denial bs

This thread defines tldr...

2010 versions of Pearl Jam & Foo Fighters aren't especially embarrassing IMO.. I would go with Pearl Jam since their most recent output is superior.

R.E.M. seem content with not being back in the spotlight, but their new stuff is kinda dated sounding. I'm not sure how one of their most recent singles ended up in SPIN's songs of the year.. It was hugely forgettable compared to something like "The Fixer" or "The Best Of You."

I'm a little stunned by all this Pear Jam love. Especially after the pathetically low voter turnout for their albums poll.

Wish that Sonic Youth was an option so I could vote for them. Wish that Sonic Youth would qualify as an Alt-Rock Giant - otherwise I'm not voting for anyone on this list.

Voted U2.

today: true
early-to-mid 80s: crazy talk.

― Daniel, Esq., Wednesday, October 6, 2010 7:04 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

Oh, absolutely. I should've qualified that. After Document I stopped paying attention, and whenever I poked my head in to see what they were up to, I was just reminded of what a powerful force they no longer were.

REM post New Adventures is kinda like if the first three Robert Plant solo albums were credited to Led Zeppelin and then the Firm's first album was credited to Led Zeppelin.

but I hear Michael Stipe reads the lyrics to old album tracks off a laptop at European shows sometimes. That's nice.

Voted U2. U2 and Green Day both released albums in 2009 that were among the best they've ever released.

The song that I heard on the radio maybe around a year after 'The Best of You' was terrible and the 'The Best of You' got played out pretty quickly and infinitely for me.

As someone who saw every tour in their first dozen years, I'll ask: REM still makes records?

guys i had a jarring thought and i think eddie vedder might be a contender for altrock neil young

wait, neg: he doesn't play guitar.

Def. Pearl Jam. Don't care for their music, but they haven't embarrassed themselves.

? that's a standard 4/4 rock beat

sorry dude I'm not feelin it.

― crude interloper of a once august profession (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, October 6, 2010 2:49 PM (6 hours ago) Bookmark

Most of 'The Fixer' is in 5/4 and 3/4. The verses and bridge are the only parts in 4/4, iirc. Perhaps it's a standard 5/4 rock beat?

last two PJ records are ptetty solid IMO - something I can't say about any of the other bands (though of course there are the Green Day stans to contend with.)

wait, neg: he doesn't play guitar.

Yes he does.

ps have paid them 0 attention this millennium

Their last album was their first #1 since No Code.

They'd had three #2s in between, so its not as much of a "comeback" as it looks

The whole thing was like ten years ago and they haven't been involved with it since.
― AIDS Denali (kkvgz), Thursday, October 7, 2010 1:18 AM (6 hours ago)

They also haven't said "hey, remember that dangerous, crazy shit we were playing benefit concerts in support of a few years back that spread misinformation that had the potential to put peoples lives at risk? Sorry about that!"

In the nineties while I listened to Tricky, Pulp, PJ Harvey, and Blur, I made fun of my buddies for sticking with Pearl Jam; the band was too tacky, so leaden. Yield impressed me though, and I subsequently went to several shows, moved by their dynamics and how Vedder's voice had become attractively grizzled. The s/t album from 2006 really made me pay attention, and last year's Backspacer nearly made my top ten. I'll never be a fan but they've accumulated enough good songs to never count'em out again.

guys i had a jarring thought and i think eddie vedder might be a contender for altrock neil young

do this poll in 1988 and Neil wouldve gotten zero votes.

xxp: Okay, I did some searching and there is definitely a creepy silence from the band on that matter. It won't much impact how much I enjoy "Best of You" or "Times Like These" though.

Like, as solid, non-embarrassing rock songs.

Don't get me wrong, I'm with you - love the first (self-titled) album; they had a run of totally solid rock singles -

I'm just saying it pains me that people bag on Pearl Jam's earnestness when they've spent years supporting great causes (both political and musical), and they get shit on, while Foo Fighters throw their weight behind something that is fucking psychotic and it's kind of scrubbed from their history.

(It's worth noting that there's a longer discussion of this stuff in the thread about every issue of SPIN being available on Google reader; SPIN covered the AIDS-denial movement in great detail (from a "pro" perspective, amazingly) back in the 90s).

xp I kind of hate Best of You a lot...less maybe than The Pretender and Let it Die, but that's only because Prince covered it in his Superbowl half-time show...

I'm just saying it pains me that people bag on Pearl Jam's earnestness when they've spent years supporting great causes (both political and musical), and they get shit on, while Foo Fighters throw their weight behind something that is fucking psychotic and it's kind of scrubbed from their history.

This is so otm.

REM appeared to have rowed back from their really embarassing phase, as defined by getting Q-Tip on a track.

U2 and the Chili Peppers have always been embarassing, so not vote there.

Pearl Jam appear to have become respectable but earnest and dull after being initially embarassing.

Green Day would probably still get you kudos with the kids but otoh Billie Joe's eyeliner.

The Foo Fighters are just a bit dull now, aren't they? They probably win this by default.

Okay I've just read up on that FF/AIDS thing and that's just fucking deranged.

what is REM's really embarrassing phase? the Shiny Happy People video? otoh they worked with rappers then too.

They've had three - 1991, 1994-95 and 2000-2004. The Stand video might count as well.

but I hear Michael Stipe reads the lyrics to old album tracks off a laptop at European shows sometimes. That's nice.

He's had a teleprompter onstage for the last 15 years

It must have been on the fritz this day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25GojFtBFI0

wait, neg: he doesn't play guitar.

Yes he does.

― raging hetero lifechill (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, October 7, 2010 12:58 AM (10 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

yea, generally not on the discs, but when I saw them in 2000 he played guitar on at least half of the tracks. often play sthe opening to Better Man too.

It won't much impact how much I enjoy "Best of You" or "Times Like These" though.

I'm always astounded when people say they like these songs.

I have a special playlist on my ipod for mediocre guitar rock from about '95 - '00. What can I say, I'm a sucker for that shit.

Oh crap! I forgot that the playlist didn't transfer when I got my new computer. I'm gonna rebuild that tonight and listen to some Foo Fighters & Bush!

don't forget this, markers:

http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h279/juicyfrt/Nickelback_-_The_State_-_CD_cover.jpg

Vedder plays guitar on Elderly Woman live and on the record iirc. it's the only PJ song I can listen to fwiw.

= it's essentially a Vedder solo song.

Vedder has played guitar on every record since Vitalogy.

"what is REM's really embarrassing phase? the Shiny Happy People video?"

embarassing turns to exculpatory:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7_xzAWLv-g

though there are limits to muppets redeeming a band. the spin doctors almost make it but not quite.

"what is REM's really embarrassing phase?"

They lost me the first time with Green, but I'd nominate the run from Up through Around the Sun as their worst phase.

I'd say more boring than embarrassing at this point.

Basically I can hang with REM right up to "Everybody Hurts", at which point I just want to punch them until I stop breathing

ok so in the spirit of fairness somebody give me the name of a recent pearl jam song to listen to and ill see if it makes me puke.

there's a youtube of one upthread that ppl like

wait didn't you like Vitology or at least "Bugs"?

I love "Bugs" because I use it to mark the start of my songs coming on the jukebox because no one else in their right mind will ever play it in a crowded bar

dont get any ideas other MN types, this one is mine and i call it

Why were U2 and Green Day not brutally murdered to death by hired killers after that terrible single they did together?

Pearl Jam appear to have become respectable but earnest and dull after being initially embarassing.

I'll submit that Pearl Jam started out as more embarrassing than all these other bands currently are.

dont get any ideas other MN types, this one is mine and i call it

wait until the next time we hang out, you are going to get treated to a veritable "Bugs" symphony

signed, the dude who has zero qualms about putting $20 into a jukebox

ok i listened through the fixer and i guess its ok? reminds me of a boring version of The Toadies but thats a hell of an improvement over that fucking ten album which is just about the shittiest thing ever imo

i think basically pearl jam and their ilk pretty much define the kind of rock i just dont like at all

i am getting alternately greatly amused and totally horrified by the idea of kicking off my reception with bugs now

Dan you got it wrong, you start with "bugs" then play a song jj likes, everyone thinks its him, then you get 5 shitty horrid embarrassing songs after it so he gets the blame!

I used to do that to someone in the pub before football, he always picked kiss and bon jovi, so i started with those then after it came karma chameleon,agadoo, and other crap.

ok never mind i just listened further and heard "Johnny Guitar" and it is just as awful and bloated and self-important as i remembered ugh this band is garbage

xpost dan ignore this terrible man and his terrible ideas

I think Dan will recognise the genius of the idea.

I distinctly remember at the time that you liked Vitalogy enough to own a copy of it and play assorted tracks off of it for me, notably "Better Man" and "Corduroy"

also you guys are really not giving my evil genius side enough credit

I am already writing down the titles of Katy Perry and Ke$ha album cuts for later

i am confused now - i srsly have never owned vitalogy, although im sure i had a gf that did and was kinda obsessed with it (not sure i remember which one now tho whoops) but naw seriously i have been a pretty virulent anti PJ dude from the get go thx to my co dj on college radio forcing one or 2 ten tracks into every setlist

I never found PJ embarrassing so they win by miles

oh you know I might be confusing you with college roommate J (who you will be unsurprised to learn thought "Bugs" was the best song on the album)

"what is REM's really embarrassing phase?"

They lost me the first time with Green, but I'd nominate the run from Up through Around the Sun as their worst phase.

I'd say more boring than embarrassing at this point.

I find their most boring phase to be those two post "Automatic For The People" mid 90s albums. "New Adventures..." lacked tunes, "Monster" may have had them buried somewhere, but they would be impossible to hear anyway. "Up" is a great album, and "Reveal" not far behind and much better than its reputation. "Around The Sun" was a tad too MOR though, even though "Leaving New York" is a fine single. Not too keen on their most recent "Document"-like album either, but I'd say the only really embarrassing things they did were "Radio Song" and "Shiny Happy People". And they were on an album that did also include some really great tracks, like "Losing My Religion".

Voted Pearl Jam. I've been a fan since the beginning so bias probably not exactly welcome...but with the last 2 albums especially it's like they've shifted into a new phase of their career, ie the 'Hey wow I actually want to listen to these albums more than once, and am happy to go back to them every now and again' phase. It's been a while, lemme tell ya. As a group, they're chill, they're happy, (they SMILE!) they've got Matt Cameron bashing away on drums permanently now (unless he dies in a terrible gardening explosion). I don't have to defend them quite as much now either, which is nice.

have liked vedder's voice ever since i heard him do 'against the seventies' on that all-star mike watt solo alb. i also like his version of 'all along the watchtower' on the I'm Not There S/T.

green day seem like the most pitiful useless group of all time

I never got over "here comes the rain again, falling from the stars".

It won't much impact how much I enjoy "Best of You" or "Times Like These" though.

I'm always astounded when people say they like these songs.

― a fucking stove just fell on my foot. (Colonel Poo), Thursday, 7 October 2010 19:04 (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Is the default/hipster attitude on the Foos, "I kinda liked the first album but don't really care much for the subsequent stuff"?

Cause it is mine.

I like a couple of songs on the 2nd and 3rd albums, but otherwise it is also my position.

Thread needs Metallica option, btw.

rem easily least embarrassing of these...

rhcp have been awful for so long. god that hump de bump video, had never seen that, that pretty much distils their eternal idiocy into a dreadfully potent shot.

i agree with the sentiment that pearl jam is the most respectable of these, for all the reasons stated, and also with the sentiment that i've never really liked them all that much (or, actually, i guess for me they're a singles band -- that best-of comp is pretty good). but i voted green day because my 6 -yr-old makes me play 21st century breakdown in the car on the way to kindergarten every day, and i still don't hate it.

(one of my favorite things each morning is seeing tiny fists fly up in my rearview mirror when the title track hits the big "hey!" moments)

Thread needs Metallica option, btw.

― Matt DC, Friday, October 8, 2010 10:47 AM (3 hours ago) Bookmark

They're not alt-rock though.

"what is REM's really embarrassing phase?"

It's called "Automatic For The People."

But yeah, Reveal/Around the Sun are weak without being particularly distasteful and embarrassing. The newest record is actually pretty enjoyable -- listened to it a lot the week I got it but haven't been moved to play it since then.

So I don't think they're particularly embarrassing themselves, but I have some vague sense without actually having heard the records that Pearl Jam is the right answer to this question, so I won't vote.

I think The Colour and the Shape is probably the best Foo Fighters album & "E-Bow the Letter" is probably the best R.E.M. single...

Basically I can hang with REM right up to "Everybody Hurts", at which point I just want to punch them until I stop breathing

― I got yr comedy modding right here (HI DERE), Thursday, October 7, 2010 8:00 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

totally. love Man on the Moon, though.

I eventually got into "Man on the Moon"; I don't know when I stopped hating it but it has a great chorus.

i really really hate that album though, it is a fucking bore. Ignoreland? sheesh.

^AftP is one of the better albums of the 90s imo. Document is a fucking bore tbh.

no fucking way

"The One I Love" is everything awesome about REM distilled into a creepy mid-tempo jam

4 good songs on Document (One I Love, Welcome to the Occupation, King of Birds, the Wire cover)

Automatic has more.

For a long time I thought Document was a mixed bag: spectacular first third, winds down at the end. Then I replayed the second side last week and warmed to "King of Birds" for the first time.

Still prefer Life's Rich Pageant though.

xxxp I like "Ignoreland." Also "Try Not To Breathe," "Nightswimming," "Drive," and, well, pretty much that whole album. "The One I Love" is good, but it's not a patch on, e.g., "Pretty Persuasion" or "So. Central Rain."

Still prefer Life's Rich Pageant though.

Yep.

My real problem w/"The One I Love" = write more lyrics, Stipe, we know you're capable.

Document and Ignoreland share the same faults, which is this really stilted, rectangular take on rock (one or two tracks aside). Thing is, Document makes sense for 1987 whereas Ignoreland just sounds clunky in the middle of Automatic.

Also: George H.W. Bush was a less worthy target of all that froth than Ronald Reagan was.

I've vented my ambivalence about REM in other threads; suffice to say, AftP is the only full-length album I've heard that I love without qualification...

the good songs on it:

Man on the Moon
Find the River
Drive
Try Not to Breathe
The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight
Nightswimming
Star Me Kitten
Monty Got a Raw Deal

I don't hate Everybody Hurts, but I prolley never need to hear it ever again...

Document and Ignoreland share the same faults, which is this really stilted, rectangular take on rock (one or two tracks aside).

^this is right on.

i was sorta underwhelmed by document on its release, because i'd loved everything up to then and it seemed sorta murky and dulled, especially side 2. but i'm pretty fond of it now. "finest worksong" i think is maybe their most convincing "hard rock" song. even "oddfellows local 151" i dig, it's got a good, dark groove.

It is hard to think of anything R.E.M. ever recorded that was more ploddingly rectangular then "Drive." He even fucking says "tick tock" in the middle of it, just to emphasize how metronomic and square the song is! Hey, what does "tock" rhyme with? YEP. CLOCK.

Compare with the great "Exhuming McCarthy," the layers at the end, the way Mike Mills syllables pop out of the mix by surprise -- it's pop but it's SLANTED. (I mean in the same sense Pavement, huge 80s-REM fans always, were slanted)

and "lightnin' hopkins" is kind of a jam. document is the one album post-fables that reminds me of fables, the dark weird side of r.e.m. it's not as good as fables, but i still think it's pretty good.

Love the way Stipe says "business a-cu-men."

"Drive" is rectangular like a grave hole: it's obvious, I grant you, but if you're feeling gothy & folky & October-y it can work. It's definitely not 1981 anymore, for better and for worse.

voted PJ fwiw even though I love REM through 1995 a lot, & even think Up has its moments, but think they're sillier today than PJ (don't listen to much PJ these days, which probably helps)

The people who diss "Automatic For The People" are so, so, so wrong. That album is R.E.M's one and only masterpiece album: Beautiful, melodic and smooth, without any annoying rough edges.

R.E.M. are at their best when they put away their electric guitars and amplifiers and go for all acoustic guitars, strings and mandolins.

a veritable musical brazilian

automatic has some of my fave rem album cuts; it's really marred by the presence of everybody hurts which just belongs on a completely different album

"Ignoreland" is the real stinker, I think; not feeling the analogy b/w it & Document above.

I love that Geir's argument is "REM is at their best when they stop being REM"

Everybody hurts isn't bothering me at all....I like Automatic.

eephus you are very wrong.

my problem is that Document is not enough like Fables; slanted, murky, dark, weird, dulled are not the adjectives I would use to describe that album. To me it's big and bright and bland and obvious. Its explicit political references gives the lyrical content an obviousness that the music had to my knowledge lacked before. And the music thanks to Scott Litt (did great work with the band, but he is beginning of the end) sounds bright and bouncy and bland. This shit fits right in with Live Aid and Rattle and Hum and Born in the USA and the rest of the bland American heartland rock that was going on in the 80s. This is the album when REM joins the pack.

It is hard to think of anything R.E.M. ever recorded that was more ploddingly rectangular then "Drive."

Then you probably need to listen to "Finest Worksong" again.

And I can't believe you are going to defend this album with "Exhuming McCarthy": that song is lame college boogie; precursor to Rusted Root. At least "It's the End of the World as We Know It" was managed to work in stream-of-consciousness into its power-pop framework.

Drive is circular rather than rectangular, I think. Finest Worksong is totally rectangular. Maybe even square.

What did American heartland rock ever do to you?

xpost to Drugs

the main "clanga clang clang" riff on finest work song always reminds me of gang of four

green is the best

i say that on every REM thread

I was very into all the hometown heroes' records from the Hib-Tone single through Document. "Stand" was the first indication that they were going to be a different beast on Warners, a fear confirmed by the MTV hits on Out of Time. Automatic for the People was the first one I didn't buy on release. I liked Monster (I still think it gets too much hate), so I went back to AftP and now grudgingly accept it as one of their better albums. The experimental aspects of Hi-Fi appealed to me, the band was trying to do new things, but then they lost Bill Berry. Up sounds like they're in mourning. Reveal was kind of fun at the time, but I haven't pulled it out since the summer it was released. Around the Sun is a total collapse; its existence diminishes the previous albums and makes the rock moves on Accelerate sound desperate instead of exciting.

I think their catalog is the best of the bands on this list, but then I would.

Monster was around where I lost the thread with R.E.M., having been on board since Reckoning, and only bought Accelerate after hearing so many reviews calling it a return to Lifes Rich Pageant form. But I have to admit that the other day, "Strange Currencies" came up on Pandora, and I thought, "Did I sell this album short?" Should give it another listen.

(Monster was best summed up for me by a Something Awful parody, "Honest Album Titles")

http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/346/fixelbrumpf1.jpg

what's the frequency kenneth is a bizarre hit.
so is jeremy (jock rock song about suicide?)
it's just struck me now how weird and unlikely these very, very popular songs are.

i'm all for bands embarrassing themselves if that's the result.
liz phair, please continue doing what you're doing.

I love that Geir's argument is "REM is at their best when they stop being REM"

― I got yr comedy modding right here (HI DERE), Friday, October 8, 2010 11:42 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

After Pageant (or, if I'm being charitable, Document), they sounded progressively less and less interested in playing with each other. The dynamism of their first few records seemed to come out of the energy (and/or channeling of that energy into quieter moments) of the joy and tension of playing together. By Out Of Time, not only did it sound like everything was ever-so-precisely pieced together out of separately-recorded parts, but it sounded like those parts weren't much fun; they were just...there. Bill Berry's uniqueness as a drummer completely vanished with that record, never to return.

I was a huge fan from Chronic Town through Fables and then suddenly I loathed them, and have loathed them ever since.

No mention yet of Bono's big Broadway project?

http://www.thelmagazine.com/images/blogimages/2009/10/23/1256329875-spiderman.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/0a/Spider-Man_musical.jpg

vs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4uTEhDqa_s

zoo-TV era U2 sounds strange on paper, but there's always this sense of ironic distance to it that they've managed to embarrass themselves without the benefit of producing something worth embarrassing themselves over, and a spider-man musical has the same feel of lack-of-investment to it. I feel like Bono has more invested of himself in his philanthropic activities, and as embarrassing as that might be for him, that seems like a more worthwhile tradeoff.

Which REM album was "Tongue" on (the song where Stipe sang falsetto)? I don't like them at all, but I liked that song.

"Tongue" is on Monster.

Tarfumes is all kinds of wrong.

^^^ co-sign

Pearl Jam apologia on this thread is o_0

never knew there were so many closet dad-rock fans here

keep flyin the flannel guys!

Who'd you vote for?

lol "closet"

I don't think I've voted yet but if pressed I would go for REM (as noted above) because while they're ignorable now they were never as flat out terrible as Pearl Jam were/are nor did they spawn the amount of garbage PJ did (is there a Nickelback equivalent for REM?), and in his dotage Michael Stipe has bankrolled some great stuff.

"is there a Nickelback equivalent for REM?"

this is an intriguing line of inquiry...

rob thomas? counting crows?

if you were yourself a dad and liked rock, why are you filled with such self-loathing?

If we're talking about bankrolling, then I'd pick Bono over any movie producer.

bit rich of shakey mo calling anyone else a dadrocker after he repped so hard for richard 'pipe and slippers' hawley

for a while it was hard to see the word 'jangle' without seeing "REM-influenced" in close proximity, but are we talking about the specific thuggish backwards baseball capness of a Nickelback, or just equivalent awfulness within the jangle-realm, like say Hootie?

bit rich of shakey mo calling anyone else a dadrocker after he repped so hard for richard 'pipe and slippers' hawley

lol Hawley does not "rock", he croons

Counting Crows is definitely REM's Nickelback tho, good call on that

if you were yourself a dad and liked rock, why are you filled with such self-loathing?

lol I'm not filled with self-loathing, I meant dad-rock in the genre sense

fwiw yes I am a dad and yes I like rock, but I do not like the strain of rock as typified by Pearl Jam, U2, etc. Maybe I should just call it "rock those other dads like"

(also Richard Hawley pisses on all the losers in this thread from a great height fuiud)

call it Benign Arena Rock

the whole "dad rock" thing seems weird cuz you know, like you could find dads that like every kind of music ever made.

the whole "dad rock" term becomes really silly to use when you yourself are or are old enough to be a dad

http://www.odomsbulldogs.com/My_dad_rocks.gif

http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQyKwsYCX0oEzzl_DMlsOKw1Jsbgu4_YR758SZ5a84I8Xuv5e8&t=1&usg=__TGCGiGSuAt58teja0LGGl6o4UQc=

GIS for dadrock is pretty funny

http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRy-LKdnM_UeK9zogOm4WDNdPdxh8mCfHM4z1Rls_RdPFXP8iE&t=1&usg=__fEHaEM8q6Js7IhvwZ2u1zuxETPs=

http://www.babywit.com/Merchant2/graphics/00000001/TOOLOUDHOODIElg.jpg

the whole "dad rock" term becomes really silly to use when you yourself are or are old enough to be a dad

so only kids under the age of 16 can use it?

the idea that Pearl Jam=dad rock is a major LOL

haven't heard Backspacer, thought the one before it was just decent, but Riot Act was awesome. in addition to the fantastic Ten, Vs. and Vitalogy (the rest I can take or leave)

i don't think pearl jam = dad rock is such an inappropriate designation, and actually kind of flattering considered they were jock rock in their heyday.

that description baffles me even more.

Pearl Jam were never really a grunge act in their early days per se, more or less just got stuck with the label due to where they were from, and their prior band connections (ie Mother Love Bone, Temple of the Dog, et al). They really became more straight out rock 'n roll after Ten though. and over time also absorbed more Neil Young-isms due to their association with him.

was speaking more to naming their band after a basketball player, fans mostly basketball players, and i think jeff ament was a pro college player?

oh right, when they were Mookie Blaylock....forgot about that tidbit

the whole "dad rock" term becomes really silly to use when you yourself are or are old enough to be a dad

so only kids under the age of 16 can use it?

Public Enemy and Soul II Soul = Dadrock today.

Stone and Jeff were in Green River, they practically invented Seattle Grunge! You mad!

the strain of rock as typified by Pearl Jam, U2

See, this is already Not A Thing, as those two bands . . . is the overlap among fans such that we can use the phrase "this strain of rock" really significant?

I mean, I like PJ, even though I skipped a couple of the post-Vitalogy albums. I saw them on their latest tour. But if I heard in the next ten minutes that all of U2 were killed in a plane crash, I'd still hate them for not having done it earlier.

I love that Geir's argument is "REM is at their best when they stop being REM"

R.E.M. were a pop band from the beginning. "Document", "Monster", "New Adventures In Hi-Fi" and "Acellerate" are their only rock albums, the rest are all pretty much melodic pop music with few rough edges.

Pearl Jam were never really a grunge act in their early days per se, more or less just got stuck with the label due to where they were from, and their prior band connections (ie Mother Love Bone, Temple of the Dog, et al).

xxpost

while PJ's lineage was definitely rooted in grunge, there's very little of it in PJ's actual music.

also this is going to touch off the argument over what is 'real grunge', and Melvins fans are going to take over this board once that happens

Hi there!

Says the guy with Melvins tickets for next week.

Regarding Pearl Jam I guess it depends whether you think that grunge=Nirvana or grunge=Pearl Jam. I would say Pearl Jam are more musically typical of the genre, like for instance Eddie Vedder very much defined the archetypical "alternative" American way of performing vocals, copied by acts as desperately pathetic as Hootie & The Blowfish, Dave Matthews, Nickelback and Creed.

there are also those who would say neither were grunge. I mean I can't say it's not there at all on Ten but that album doesn't exactly sound like a carbon copy of those 80's Subpop albums either. and after that album they veered pretty far from that sound.

(some say Nirvana's Bleach is punk. I get sick of labels. Bleach is just GOOD.)

i'd feel weird if my dad sang along with 'rape me' or 'milk it' or 'fight the power', not so much 'bugs' or 'radio free europe'
if you can parse out the inherent ageism, it's a pretty useful label.

there are also those who would say neither were grunge. I mean I can't say it's not there at all on Ten but that album doesn't exactly sound like a carbon copy of those 80's Subpop albums either.

Subpop is a lot of different stuff though. A lot of their most well-known post-1990 releases have been more powerpop than alternative rock.

Especially the early Earth stuff.

Public Enemy and Soul II Soul = Dadrock today.

― Tied Up In Geir (Geir Hongro), Friday, October 8, 2010 6:37 PM (47 minutes ago) Bookmark

Geir this might be one of your wildest claims ever. I wish my dad liked Soul II Soul...he mostly likes 70s classic rock (which is cool enough): I think the only recent-ish bands he paid any attention to was ones like Black Crowes, Tesla, Jeff Healey Band, & prolley the whole Springsteen/U2 axis.

i'm a dad and i like public enemy

Your kid will rebel by liking Pearl Jam, obv.

Geir this might be one of your wildest claims ever. I wish my dad liked Soul II Soul...he mostly likes 70s classic rock (which is cool enough): I think the only recent-ish bands he paid any attention to was ones like Black Crowes, Tesla, Jeff Healey Band, & prolley the whole Springsteen/U2 axis.

Lots of people who grew up in the late 80s/early 90s hating rock are also dads today, mind you.

dad&b

Sub Dad Records

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

the middle aged couple across the alley were playing jodeci really loud sunday nite, they have kids!

soon couch humping R&B will be the new dad rock

Tapes n Tapes

you changed your username again?

I think Green Day is the only one of these that is still making stuff that I'm aware of liking.

Drive is a great song.

voted REM. even tho the last decade has been iffy, i'd still be interested in hearing new stuff from them.

Out of all the frontmen, it seems like Vedder and Grohl would be the least embarrassing drinking company, but as a group Green Day might be the best to eat omelettes and coffee with, and wouldn't that trump any musical considerations?

eating coffee sounds pretty painful

i'm sure they'd be gentlemen and brew it for you first, unlike those ruffians in RHCP.

I think i wouldn't want to eat omelettes and coffee with any 40 year old dudes with green hair and eyeliner. Sorry.

I thought that was stage makeup? like Gwar doesn't go around eating breakfast in full-on monster gear, right? haha, not that that wouldn't be awesome watching a dude in 40 pounds of latex ask for help with an 8-letter word for Peruvian singer while sipping demurely from a very tiny glass of orange juice.

was tempted to vote for Pearl Jam but then I remembered the words "Target Exclusive"

xpost "Ms. Hymen? Your Visa card was declined, did you have another card you wanted to use?"

Waiter: Are you all ready to order?
Oderus: YES. I'll have a MEAT....SANDWICH!

may go with Foo Fighters, cuz Dave drummed for the Heartbreakers on SNL the same year Kurt shot himself, dude probably would always have been fine with singing "Times Like These" or "Wheels"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-QYAWXK7fo

really shouldn't win this

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

YES.

i would say that the results are 100% in the right order

^

Pearl Jam and REM are like Obama-McCain.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaD_fvehAaU

VICTORY CELEBRATION AT TARGET!!!