The Beat of a Different Drum, Part 1

For most bands, their life in the music business is always a question of longevity over success. Few bands stay together for more than a decade while experiencing continuous success. Then there are those bands who record a handful of albums to supreme notoriety – all in the span of five years. So what does contribute to a band’s combined longevity and success? Recently I saw Rush perform in Mansfield, MA. I guess they’re the exception – more than thirty years into their career, and they’ve just released a new album, Snakes & Arrows, which debuted relatively high on the rock charts. Seriously, though, they’re the only band I can think of that has lasted this long, has released only a few mediocre albums (the diehards would shoot me at this point…), and hasn’t had too many personnel changes (with exception of drummer Neil Peart who joined only after the first record…so he’s 16 for 17 albums).

So the issue of personnel comes to mind when I think of one of my favorite rock groups, Pearl Jam. Yes, they still write songs, and are actually more successful than you think. Pearl Jam message boards are flooded with crazed fans; you’ll even come across one with so much bravado, he challenges the other members that he has the highest fan club number. There’s another piece of Pearl Jam’s legacy – a functional, well-staffed, and extraordinary fan club. So extraordinary, that fans are still signing up every week. Hey, for only 20 bucks a year, you get a pair of trendy newsletters, access to the best seats during shows, and a collectible 45 RPM single typically featuring two unreleased tracks.

So why is it that Pearl Jam has continued to shake up their repertoire over the years? Yeah they’ve had personnel changes (almost a different drummer every two albums), but so has King Crimson. You can bet that the Crimson fans swear by every record (at this point Adrian Belew could sing about Fig Newtons and PVC but we’d still buy it), but Crimson doesn’t play as many big arenas like Pearl Jam. Nor do the Crimson albums sound all that different – shudder! – it turns out that Robert Fripp recycles his own guitar licks. Admittedly, King Crimson’s catalogue can be divided into significant eras and sub-genres, but Fripp's glaringly arrogant guitar dominates throughout. If most musicians, then, are inclined to the inevitable self-renewal, how did Pearl Jam avoid falling into this trap?

Why are Pearl Jam’s albums all so different and eclectic? It must be because they switched the right members at the right time...

[Part 2]