Filmmaker

I just read an interview with Pearl Jam's Mike McCready wherein he confirms his least favorite Pearl Jam tune is "Corduroy" which, as it happens, is very possibly my favorite track of theirs. He fails, however, to give even the slightest hint as to why it ranks so low for him. So what gives? Why doesn't McCready recognize what a gem of a track "Corduroy" is? Anyone have the inside track...?

boobietheclown

It was referenced in this article hear about 3 years ago:

http://www.fivehorizons.com/archive/...re_may01.shtml

Dawn Anderson: Here's a question. What's the worst Pearl Jam song?

Mike Mcready: Oh, wow. What do I not like of ours that we play? Maybe some odd song that we don't ever play called "Bugs." I get a little tired of playing "Corduroy," but don't tell Eddie that because he'll get pissed. We play that almost every night.

I always thought is was because the song was a little basic and if I recall it was written/recorded when Mike was in rehab for alcohol...THEREFORE...I dont think he plays lead on it. If you remember there isnt much lead guitar on Vitalogy. He did say that "nothingman" is one of his favorite songs which is also on Vitalogy so who knows.

It's also one of my favs.

dolphinboy

GREAT, GREAT song.

I was hoping for a PJ thread because a friend of mine asked me if there was one song of theirs that was my favorite to hear live. I had a few, but I mentioned that I had never gotten the chance in 4 concerts and 2 dvd concerts to hear them do "Porch" live. If I could ever hear one band play one song live before I die that would be it.

It will never happen.

They played Corduroy 3 of the 4 times that I've seen them.

astrochimp

Since he plays guitar and guitarists always think of the song in that context i would guess he doesnt find in that interesting or perhaps challenging to play but personally(and as a guitarist myself) i like the song.

Rypro 525

if you were interested, the second night of the New york city shows (the first night is on dvd) has Porch.

SpaceBoy

I believe also he dislikes the song, because it's always played, thus he gets burnt out on it. I believe I've read this somewhere. I know personally I grow tired of the song, and a few others, that are no doubt good songs, just something you don't want to hear.

It's funny I remember on the touring band 2000 dvd, there is a shot of the crowd, and a guy has a corduroy sucks sign.

dolphinboy

But the second night isn't on dvd or being released on dvd, right?

So, there is no way to see them perform the song?

I've probably seen my last PJ concert too. A little old, kid/wife, too long to drive to Phoenix for nothing really new.

Maybe I'll feel differently in 5-10 years if they are still making music and touring, but they don't seem to play "Ten" songs too much, so I doubt I'll ever see "Porch" unless it ends up on a dvd.

story

Ditto. I love that song.

Filmmaker

Huh, I would have figured it would have amounted to more than just burnout and lead guitarist ego but fair enough. Thanks for the insight. For the record, Eddie's right and McCready's wrong...

Cusm

He hates Bugs, and that is one of my favorite PJ songs.

BinaryTB

Bugs is one of your fav PJ songs? You're kidding right? It's barely even a song. Don't want to start a flame or anything, but may I ask why?

Cusm

It is in my top 10 fave PJ songs. How can you not love distorted accordian? Plus it is so infectious, I have not been able to get it out of my head ever since I saw it mentioned in this thread.

Filmmaker

I'm with you, Cusm; I love "Bugs"...it's particularly refreshing in the midst of a body of work that its creators (understandably) take so seriously.

Either that, or it just appeals to Okies...

ChiTownAbs, Inc

Damn, I'm suprised Jeremy isn't on top of his shitlist.

Matt

Not in my case. It's just another one of the several wasted, skippable tracks on Vitalogy, in my opinion.

Filmmaker

It's funny how people either detest or revere VITALOGY, in both cases based on the extreme experimentation on hand...

chess

I have an old bootleg VHS of PJ doing Porch at a show in Amsterdam (I think). It was in the 1993-94 timeframe, so the band had a lot of energy, and Ed was just going apeshit during the jam/solo part...jumping off 20ft camera booms into the crowd. Probably the most intense performance of any song I've ever seen.

Matt

I neither detest or revere that album. Most of the tracks, I like quite a bit, actually. It's just the junk tracks like "Pry, To," "Bugs," and (of course) "Hey Foxymophandlerevolution9mama, That's Me" that leave me scratching my head. They bring down what would have otherwise been one of the best PJ records out there.

And as long as Binaural's around, Vitalogy can never be considered their worst album.

Filmmaker

Yes, but you do target the most experimental tracks, so the point stands that people's overall ranking of the album is predicated on their appreciation, or extreme lack thereof, for the aforementioned tracks. Personally, I really enjoy them--"Foxy..." is phenomenally creepy; it sounds like it belongs on the soundtrack to TWIN PEAKS...

Matt

I'm all for experimental tracks from bands like Sonic Youth and Radiohead, but coming from a band like PJ, they just seem kind of silly, in my opinion. They were kind of interesting back in '94, I guess, but the older I got, the more-skippable those tracks became. And they were experiments that apparently failed, because they really haven't attempted that same kind of thing since.

Maybe I'm just a fan of the formulaic, verse-chorus-verse rock and roll.

dolphinboy

Thanks for rubbing it in.

Josh H

Porch is great live, they did it when I saw them in Pittsburgh in 2000. Did it right after Black (my fave) and before the first encore break.

That was the year they started doing the "official" bootlegs so I have it on CD as well. You can still find them, here's a link to this show cd on Amazon. A bit pricey though, might want to search around if interested in picking it up.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...music&n=507846

Filmmaker

I'm sure that's due to the appreciable tidal wave of flack they took from fans such as yourself. With any luck, they'll branch out into a little more experimentation in the years ahead; I wouldn't want tracks such as "Bugs" and "Foxy..." to dominate any future albums, but as I mentioned, I do find them to be welcome "come up from air" moments from the otherwise relentless ache and dourness of the majority of the rest of Pearl Jam's material.

Michael Corvin

I'm down with that. I actually like Vitalogy quite a bit. "bugs" is definitely one of the better experimental tracks they've done. But after Binaural and Riot Act, I've lost my appetite for PJ.

Matt

If you only knew how many strongly-worded letters I've written to the Ten Club over the years. . .