Bum

The word bum has so many connotations in the current diction. You can bum a cigarette, and I have many times. You can bum around the house, and again, I have many times. You can be a bum at life, I try to not but again...yup...sure have. Now there's "to be bummed". I am currently this. If you are not into good music then perhaps you didn't hear that Pearl Jam's "Ten" was re-released...having been REMASTERED. It's the remastered part that has me in the current state of bum-ed-ness.

You need some personal history to understand...

I grew up in a neighborhood where everyone played sports. Namely basketball. I played basketball everyday from 4th grade until 9th grade with neighborhood friends. I played in the local rec league. It was my favorite thing in the world. So with that came a love of hip hop. Which my parents hated. I snuck in Dr. Dre, House of Pain, Snoop Dog...and the list goes on. Well in 8th grade something changed. I was befriended some the weird kids in school. The kids with long hair, who listened to that "grunge" crap that no one in my neighborhood listened to. These kids were outcasts and they lavished in it. They didn't care. And they didn't care what I was like either. They just wanted to hang out. Which I was stoked on. So with these new friends came new music, new clothes, and new hair. That's right...I grew my hair out. Then came the day I bought my first "grunge" tape. It was Pearl Jam's "Ten". I knew the singer used the "F-word". So I still couldn't let my parents hear it. But there was no parental advisory sticker. When I got it home I grabbed my next door neighbor and a battery powered tape player and went out back and head banged my way through side-A. I was hooked.

You have to understand that in many ways this album defined my view of music. I listened to it on countless Saturday's while cutting grass. I listened to it on countless drives to and from...any number of places. I know feel every note and every word.

Fast forward back to today. The remastered version...yea...sure it sounds better. It's cleaner. The drums are snappier. The guitars cleaner. Eddie's vocals are mixed better. But perhaps one of the reasons it was so good was because it was so raw. It perfectly captured that moment in time. Things were raw. Nirvana had dismantled the hair metal thing. The glitz and pomp of the 80's were out. People were starting to ask questions again. The mood of the country was raw.

I listened to the remastered version of the first song. It was pretty much what I expected...clean and sanitary. Everything that the band, who wrote the song Jeremy and made a political statement about being "Pro Choice" during a, of all things, unplugged performance, wasn't.

But if this re-release turns some other kid on who might not have been, then perhaps it's forgivable.