Pearl Jam: Mind Your Manners (single)

5.

Speaking as a life long Pearl Jam fan, I have to say, this is a disappointing single, and even more, a generic punk rock song for them. At this stage in their career, it just doesn't come off sincere to release something that sounds like an indie Sub Pop band from 1989. Stylistically, this may go over well with the fans at shows, but as a teaser for a new record, a major disappointment. Pearl Jam once were a band who could pull off an homage to old school punk, being that they're officially pioneers of a genre: Grunge. But it's decades later, they've moved closer to a progressive rock band over the years and going backwards doesn't make sense to me. As much as I'd like to convince myself to love this song and get fired up for a new record, I feel it will be similar to the past few albums, albums with a few great songs and the rest are filler. In my opinion, they lost their way after Binaural. As good a drummer as Matt Cameron is, something about their songwriting ambitions changed for the worse when he joined the band. Perhaps they need a new incentive creatively, as this happens to all bands that stick together over twenty years. A band that was once innovative and unpredictable is now stale and unexciting, much like the new Rolling Stones records. If their goal is to parallel their career to The Stones, then Pearl Jam is directly on point. Unfortunately for me, I didn't see them that way, and hoped they'd continue to surprise. Eddie Vedder is one of the most prolific songwriters in history. I wonder if he sees it this way, or does he actually think this song is relative or substantial in the band catalogue in any significant way.