My TiVo grabbed a half hour show looking back at Pearl Jam's debut album Ten and I watched it tonight. It was basically a half hour infomercial for the remastered re-release of the album, but I ate it up anyway. (side note: no, I haven't bought it. Yet. )
I like to think I have a wide range of musical appreciation, but when it comes down to it I'm a sucker for bare bones rock and roll. I never considered Pearl Jam to be any ground breaking band or anything. They were associated with a particular time and place (call it what you will), and whether that's good or bad or just coincidence so be it. I loved that time and place in my own existence, and I made that band a small part of it.
And here it is, almost twenty years later and I still listen to the band. One of the few left that I still buy their records, still make a point to see them live when they come to town. And one song in particular off that first album, the last tune before the hidden track, it still hasn't lost it's power. I'm sitting here in the dark with headphones on and letting the sound surround me, grabbing me by the chest and lifting me up into the air and taking me to another place outside myself. If only for a few minutes.
I wish more songs and more artists still had the same effect after all these years.
"i'll ride the wave where it takes me..." Some of you may know the rest.
UPDATE 4/24:
I caved and ordered the Ten remaster and it arrived in the mail today. After a long week at work and running on 3 hours sleep in the last 40 due to nasty insomnia last night, I crashed at home tonight, turned out the lights, flopped on the couch and spun the disc (can't remember the last time I actually used the CD player in my stereo). Gotta say, it was pretty amazing. Not saying better than the original, but noticeably different. There are layers to the songs I haven't heard before, so in some respect it was like listening to the album for the first time again cause even though I knew the songs, I didn't know what was coming next. If you're a fan, definately check it out.