Nirvana vs Pearl Jam

[bakapenpen]

i gave it as a clean sweep to pearl jam.
being in my teens when nevermind and ten were debuting i found that i was much more drawn in by the songs that pearl jam had than the ones that nirvana put out. infact there were only three songs tops that i cared about on nevermind while there were eleven that i liked on ten. i also thought that pearl jam was the better live band and even preferred their mtv unplugged set even though nirvana's unplugged was infinitely more famous.

[xerichx07]

Pearl Jam, always vote for the underdog, not the overrated peice of crap!

[shogun290]

PJ on every thing but songwriting and drums.

I like Grohls drumming, and Cobains songwriting i think was deeper (but thats just me).

But PJ's musical abilities and the lead singers voice is much better.

[I_LOVE_HMX]

I like both bands.
Ten > In Utero > the rest of both bands' discogs.
So Pearl Jam wins this one IMO.

[an1m051ty]

I gave songwriting, vocals, and Rhythm to Nirvana, Guitar to PJ, Overall to Nirvana. I can't stand Eddie Vedder's voice. Plus I think the writing is better for Nirvana. But I can't deny McCreedy's talent.

[U2Phreak1969]

I don't think that is true. Nirvana was popular before Cobain died.

I lived in Seattle at that time and I got soooo sick of hearing about Kurt Cobain this and Kurt Cobain that. . . Before he shot himself all that was talked about was all the great bands coming out of there and how cool it was to be at the center of that movement and if any band was highly regarded at that point, it was Pearl Jam, maybe Alice in Chains as well, but Nirvana was on the same level as Blind Melon, Seven Mary Three or Better Than Ezra - right until Cobain offed himself and then overnight they were the greatest band ever!
I'm sorry, I refuse to glorify a heroine addict who had one pretty good album before he enjoyed a cowards death and killed himself.
How many other artists have experimented with drugs and then ponied up, got sober and enjoyed renewed success. I'm thinking of Aerosmith at the moment, but they are a good example - Any of those guys could have died back then, but didn't and I guarantee you, the heroine aged Steven Tyler, had he died in 1978 or abouts would have made Aerosmith probably bigger than they are today. For what, a handful of hits? But look at the depth of the Aerosmith panacea now. They are amazing.
Nirvana could have been amazing. Honestly, if I was a Cobain and Nirvana fan, I'd feel ripped off. How many more "Smells Like Teen Spirit's" (which I will grant you was the theme song of my latter teen years) would have been released had Cobain not taken a cowards way out. What would have been the depth of Nirvana's legacy had they lasted another 20 years?

[polishdog90]

I lived in Seattle at that time and I got soooo sick of hearing about Kurt Cobain this and Kurt Cobain that. . . Before he shot himself all that was talked about was all the great bands coming out of there and how cool it was to be at the center of that movement and if any band was highly regarded at that point, it was Pearl Jam, maybe Alice in Chains as well, but Nirvana was on the same level as Blind Melon, Seven Mary Three or Better Than Ezra - right until Cobain offed himself and then overnight they were the greatest band ever!
I'm sorry, I refuse to glorify a heroine addict who had one pretty good album before he enjoyed a cowards death and killed himself.
How many other artists have experimented with drugs and then ponied up, got sober and enjoyed renewed success. I'm thinking of Aerosmith at the moment, but they are a good example - Any of those guys could have died back then, but didn't and I guarantee you, the heroine aged Steven Tyler, had he died in 1978 or abouts would have made Aerosmith probably bigger than they are today. For what, a handful of hits? But look at the depth of the Aerosmith panacea now. They are amazing.
Nirvana could have been amazing. Honestly, if I was a Cobain and Nirvana fan, I'd feel ripped off. How many more "Smells Like Teen Spirit's" (which I will grant you was the theme song of my latter teen years) would have been released had Cobain not taken a cowards way out. What would have been the depth of Nirvana's legacy had they lasted another 20 years?

I can't really argue about if they were the center of the grunge movement or not at the time because I was still young, but they definitely had mainstream success before Cobain killed himself. Smells Like Teen Spirit was released in 1991 and it was critically acclaimed and successful by 1992. Kurt Cobain didn't kill himself until 1994. They were definitely already popular when Cobain killed himself. Did it make them more popular? I don't know because I was too young at the time. Also I enjoy all of Nirvana's albums not just Nevermind. I also enjoy Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, and Soundgarden, but Nirvana just happens to be my favourite grunge band along with a lot of other people in this world. So by saying that Nirvana sucks your basically saying that your musical taste is so ****ing good that we are all wrong and should probably just stop listening to the music we enjoy. You should probably get over yourself dude. I don't care if Cobain was a heroin junky I enjoy the music he wrote.

[KillBox]

I don't care if Cobain was a heroin junky I enjoy the music he wrote.

I'm staying out of this one except to point out that anybody who likes certain groups over others based on drug use...uhhh...that might leave like 3 bands ever left for you to like

[RockBandRocker]

Both bands ROCK in my opinion.

This is like comparing Apples and Oranges.

Nirvana had darker lyrics, with darker subject matter. "Nevermind" and "In Utero" are some of the darkest albums I have listened to. Not to throw fuel to a fire, but I would call Nirvana an emotional band (notice I didn't say "emo"). I mean, most of the lyrics talk about suicide, so we hould have seen Kurt's death coming. However, I do find it strange that in "Come As You Are" he sings the lyric "I don't have a gun/ No, I don't need a gun".

Anyway, on to Pearl Jam.

Pearl Jam's material was more political and more "real". Listen to "Jeremy" and tell me that those lyrics couldn't happen. Also "Alive" is one of the best, under-rated songs. I mean the idea of a mother hiding the fact that her son's father isn't his father is the subject matter of today's talk shows.

I understand that both bands have their followings, but if I had to pick one (not saying I am), it would be Pearl Jam, based on the fact that most people only started to listen to Nirvana after Kurt Cobain's death. It sort of undervalues the band to only listen to them becuase the lead singer killed himself. Pearl Jam was popular (and still is) based on their musical offerings, and the band isn't tainted by followers who only like them "after the fact".

[Runesmith]

Although both PJ and Nirvana are great bands, I prefer the latter. I voted Nirvana on all accounts. While Mike McCready is a highly talented guitarist, compared to the "so-so" skills of Kurt, I've always liked Kurt's guitar playing style better because of the way he was able to perfectly syncopate it with his lyrics and singing.