Pearl Jam recently announced the discontinuation of the annual Ten Club single after 27 years, which as led to a backlash from fans on the Ten Club boards, which we previously reported on, and the criticism has continued with a new Ten Club forum thread titled ‘A New Beginning or The Final Chapter?’ For those asking why we’re covering these fan comments, the Ten Club is a vital part of Pearl Jam, and the fan community has really become one with the band itself over the years due to their great fan friendly nature, with releases of numerous live shows and singles.
vaggar99 posted:
i’ve heard the guys complain about hearing loss issues. i would say this might be the biggest factor in this sort downsizing that’s been going on over the last several years. if thats the case, perhaps we need to cut the guys a little slack.
lowbudgetlushlowbudgetlush posted:
As someone posted earlier. This is the final [nail] in the coffin that they are an active band. They are a legacy band at this point. I will still go to their concerts, they will still be my favorite band. They know there is no money in a new record and the majority of the people that come to their shows want to hear the old stuff.
PJNBPJNB posted:
The facts are they are making a new album. It will be out in 2019 or 2020. After the album comes out they will be doing a tour to promote that album. At least 3 continents and probably 4 with Australia finally getting more shows will be played. Who knows if this is the last album or not but nothing has changed really since 2013 or 2009 for that matter.
They are still playing 2hr 30min to 3hr 30 min shows with the setlist mixed up every time. When this changes then my tune will change but right now these guys are the best in the business and I can’t wait to see what they are going to come up with next.
bootlegger10 posted:
I don’t think it is the end, but it is clear now that the band can’t be bothered to put out just one single a year. They took all of 2017 off remember. This is not an active band. It is an annuity to them and little more than a part of their investment portfolio. If they are not excited about the band than not quite sure why we should be anymore.
tbergs posted:
I agree with this. I definitely don’t think they’re breaking up and retiring, but it’s just one more indication of a band that is either unable to or creatively not inspired to make new music together. They have fully succumbed to legacy act and I for one am disappointed that seems to be the route they’re on. I really wanted them to keep churning as a band, but they need to do what’s best for them. That doesn’t mean we as fans are going to like it.
I’m annoyed as much as anyone else about the debacle that has become the annual single and as much as I try to give 10C the benefit of the doubt, their communication about these things sucks at best and has for years. I think their level of failure to deliver on a clearly stated membership level cost associated item is ridiculous. Seems to be the state of our world though, fold up and quit instead of fix the issue and provide a little something that says, oops, we fucked up so here’s this as well. They’ve got to feel like complete jackasses at this point and as others have mentioned I don’t know how much of this falls on the band themselves or is truly the management side of the house. I’m afraid it’s the band and that is why I think the slow decline we have seen over the last decade is really starting to become glaringly clear and confirmed each year.
Another theory, completely my own, is that Ed’s voice becomes less and less Ed’s voice every year, if that makes sense. He struggles on a lot of their catalog these days. His voice still is great for Ed solo material, but I don’t think it can effectively deliver for what they need for Pearl Jam the band on a consistent level anymore. I think that’s why the last album had so many “Eddie” songs on it and why we keep hearing that they’re working on new music, but nothing is happening. I’d love to be proven wrong on that because I want his voice to last forever, but that’s not realistic. We’re lucky his voice, and the band, have sustained this long. Although it’s looking more and more like PJ20 was the capstone and that everything since has just been out of a need to continue existence because, as someone else already stated, they need to be Pearl Jam in order to achieve everything else they want to do philanthropically for the better of the planet and humanity.
So to wrap this up, I think they’re not going anywhere, but we’re going to need to accept the reality of what it means to be an almost 30 year old band and also 40 years overall as professional musicians individually.
