I see the words on a rocking horse of time.


I see the birds in the rain.

Today in 1991 Pearl Jam’s debut studio album Ten was released. I have pretty much followed this bands success from that moment on. Say what you will about Mookie Blaylock’s (bands original name) politics with Ticket Master, MTV videos, commercial success and there is one thing that remains. Their music has stood the test of time and as one of the last continuously standing “Northwest Seattle Grunge” bands still performing and making music to this day, that says something. Nirvana? Alice in Chains? Sound Garden? (ok Sound Garden is semi out of retirement but you see the trend)

Does anyone remember 1991 musically? I do. We were on edge of the abyss with makeup and hair metal staring into the dark void of what we would call pop music by a bunch of tween Mickey Mouse Club kids. Lets not forget the boy bands who banked on choreographed dance moves and lip syncing to account for the fact their voices hadn’t dropped with the onset of puberty.

Did grunge save music in the early 90’s? No. What it did do is give a few of us generation x’ers a horse to attach our wagons to. We got the hell out of the 90’s musically in a car that may have looked like shit but she was running on a tuned and supped up V-8 with a decent stereo. That engine today is still running she’s got some miles on her but she is still firing on all eight cylinders. The stereo fades in and out and sometimes plays political ads no one really cares about, but if you listen past the static and the creaking suspension, that music blaring about lost love with hands cradling broken glass and momentarily everything going to Black, in the end we’re all still Alive.

I have seen Pearl Jam live every time they have been to Florida in the last twenty years. I have stood on line for tickets I have stood on line to get to the front of the stage at venues. After all these years and their politics aside, when a band can sell out 15,000-20,000 seat outdoor arena’s every night and watch 20,000 people on their feet with hands in air sing every single verse to every single song the band has ever recorded, and in some way that music somehow touches your life, thats a pretty good F’ing horse to have hooked your wagon to.

Thank you Pearl Jam.

<insert Yellow Ledbetter here>

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