I don't quite understand the hate for Vedder. There are plenty of other singers who have vocal styles not to everyone's liking, some of which are revered on this site. Perhaps it's more what he represents over his musical abilities.
Personally, Ten and Vs. were played ad nauseum by me my freshman and sophomore years in college when they came out. At the time, it was something new and different from what I had been listening to. He emotes more feeling in his voice than a lot of other singers. His performance on Pearl Jam's MTV Unplugged is fantastic. I love Ten, Vs. and Yield. The rest of their catalog is spotty for me - some really good, others unlistenable. I really like his Into The Wild material, too.
Ten is a legendary record, by almost any standard. LEGENDARY. I think the key to Pearl Jam is something Stone Gossard said in the "20" documentary. He and Ament had been together since '84, starting with Green River, and they always wanted something more. They didn't want to be a niche regional band, they wanted to be rock stars, even if it was "rock star with a conscience". They hooked up with Andrew Wood to further that goal. Stone did a lot of the songwriting, and Jeff did a lot of the "other stuff" (it's not a coincidence that the art styles of the MLB releases, the Tempe of the Dog releases, and the first Pearl Jam record were similar; that's Jeff Ament). Even "10" was largely all written (musically) prior to Ed joining. Pearl Jam was CLEARLY the Stone and Jeff show, with Ed singing. Then they exploded, and around... Vitology (might have been later than that) the dynamic changed, and Stone/Jeff had a choice: we either fight for 'our band' and see where it goes (including having to likely find a new singer) or we let this become Ed's band and we go along for the ride. I think you can guess where the choice went.
I love his singing, I don't really like HIM. I think he's a little too far up his own ass if you ask me. I've seen Pearl Jam three times, all very good, and certainly as an early DT fan, there are a lot of similarities (no two setlists alike, the ability to play almost anything at any time, long epic shows with well-thought out setlists) but there's an air of "church" to them and not in a good way. It seems like every show is at some point a platform for Ed to spew his personal beliefs and not in an inclusive, tolerant way (unless you're with him). I think that's why I loved the Temple of the Dog show so much; it was Pearl Jam without Ed and with Chris, and it was so... FREE. Where else are you going to hear "Temple", "Mother Love Bone", "Bowie", "Black Sabbath" (and War Pigs at that), "Harry Nilsson", and "Led Zeppelin" (and Achilles Last Stand at that), all followed by a quiet, solo acoustic performance of "Seasons" by Chris. It was FUN in a way that Pearl Jam isn't.
Topic: Pop/Rock Singer of the Day thread (I wanna hear you scream) (Read 18144 times)