Friday, 11 May 2012

Pearl Jam Twenty.



Wanna know a slice of history of the early 90s "grunge" music scene, which by the way, is a "dirty" word amongst the true blue bands from its birthplace, Seattle? Then, this 2011 rockumentary by director Cameron Crowe (Singles, Jerry Maguire, Almost Famous) is a must watch. Charting the history of the seminal "Seattle sound" band Pearl Jam, from their influences, formations, achievements like debut album Ten, some funny moments (like Adam Sandler's spoof of Eddie's singing style in a segment), incredible live performances (particularly Eddie's heart stopping penchant for climbing scaffolds and ceillings and then jumped into the crowds), struggles like against Ticketmaster, as well as coping with fame, balancing accusations of being a mainstream band and alternative, brief spat with Kurt Cobain and perseverance, the rare footage and interviews contain revelatory wealth of information about each of the band members (even the ever changing lineup of drummers are included but in a quick but reasonable amount of time), captured within the framework of the music scene itself. It also features Chris Cornell and his insights. From Green River, Mother Love Bone, Temple of the Dog and eventually Pearl Jam, this is one of the most well captured documentary about a phenomenal music genre which briefly transcended across the entire American culture during the first half of the 90s.

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