Not for You cover art

Not for You

Pearl Jam and the Present Tense

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Not for You

By: Ronen Givony
Narrated by: Stephen Graybill
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About this listen

There has never been a band like Pearl Jam. The Seattle quintet has recorded 11 studio albums; sold some 85 million records; played more than a thousand shows, in 50 countries; and had five different albums reach number one. But Pearl Jam's story is about much more than music.

A study of their role in history - from Operation Desert Storm to the Dixie Chicks; "Jeremy" to Columbine; Kurt Cobain to Chris Cornell; Ticketmaster to Trump - Not for You explores the band's origins and evolution over 30 years of American culture. It starts with their founding, and the eruption of grunge, in 1991; continues through their golden age (Vs., Vitalogy, No Code, and Yield); their middle period (Binaural, Riot Act); and the more divisive recent catalog. Along the way, it considers the band's activism, idealism, and impact, from "W.M.A." to the Battle of Seattle and Body of War.

More than the first critical study, Not for You is a tribute to a famously obsessive fan base, in the spirit of Nick Hornby's Fever Pitch. Partly social history, partly autobiography, and entirely outspoken, discursive, and droll, Not for You is the first full-length treatment of Pearl Jam's odyssey and importance in the culture, from the '90s to the present.

©2020 Ronen Givony (P)2021 Tantor
Entertainment & Celebrities History & Criticism Music Celebrity

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Most relevant
This is definitely not for you if, unlike the author as far as I can tell, you like pearl jam, it is merely a list of news reports and such which seem to focus on Eddie vedders politics.
I won't be finishing it.

Not for you if you are a pearl jam fan

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