the dreaming tree

a debate rages…nirvana v. pearl jam. first i have to say that i’ve listened to way more pearl jam than nirvana, and also that it’s been only recently since i’ve begun listening to pearl jam-type stuff on a regular basis. of course, the reason i’ve listened to more pearl jam is because they caught my ear to a greater degree than did nirvana. it’s clear that pearl jam was able to branch out a little further from the “grunge” label, but i can’t necessarily fault nirvana for not getting that far since they were destroyed by cobain’s death. who knows what kind of stuff nirvana might be putting out now, had he lived? maybe i should only consider what pearl jam had put out up to 1994, the year cobain died, when comparing the two bands. i would say that vs. (1993) is one of the most brilliant rock albums i’ve ever heard. i’m not too sure about putting the label of genius on kurt cobain (or eddie vedder, for that matter), but i can’t deny that he had considerable influence on the re-emergence of rock. (random pearl jam trivia: they originally wanted to be called mookie blaylock, after the nba player, but they weren’t sure that would fly with the record company, so they went with pearl jam after also considering reenk roink [close call!].) i think i should listen to more nirvana, but i also know i’ll always love pearl jam. this is a really inconclusive post…please weigh in with your thoughts…