Why Pearl Jam is not only a better band than Nirvana, but also a more important band

I just finished reading a book about the band Jane's Addiction, "Whores: An Oral Biography of Perry Farrell and Jane's Addiction", (Whores is a name of a song by the band from thier first album. Basically it collected interviews with the band members, their freinds, girlfriends, associates, and contemporaries. What I found to the be most interesting aspect was that the band really started the entire alternative movement and was really the first 'alternative' band to get mainstream airplay and video play, first with "Jane Says" and then "been caught stealing'. So how does this relate to Nirvana and Pearl Jam? Well, Nirvana is consistently labeled as the band the broke the scene, which can be supported with the fact that they knocked Michael Jackson out of the top of the Billboard sales in late 1991/early 1992, (who is bigger than the King of Pop). But, I want to debate and support the idea that Pearl Jam is not only the best Seattle band of the original four (PJ, Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Alice in Chains), as far as talent goes but also that the band is more important historically in music.

1. Kurt Cobain wanted to be a rockstar - According to a well respected author, Christopher Cross, who wrote Heavier than Heaven, one of the most well researched and more recent Cobain biographies, Cobain always wanted to be a rockstar. Cobain's biggest idols were the Beatles. Cobain always wanted to be a star, the guys in Pearl Jam wanted to make music.

2. Pearl Jam as social activists - The band members have been involved in social activism, Vedder would write "pro choice" on his arm at Pearl Jam's MTV's Unplugged. As of late, one of the band member has been heavily involved with the alternative energy.

There are many songs in the band's catalog that address social issues Jeremy - school violence, Evenflow - homelessness, Daughter - learning disabilities (have to read the lyrics to get this one, but its there, Glorified G - gun ownership, W.M.A. - police violence and racism, do the evolution - man's impact on the enviroment. The band also toured on the Vote for Change in 2004, which they used as a podium to show their support for John Kerry. Although I don't agree with thier politics, they are free to express it, and do so in a way that is meaningful and memorable. It is not so much that Nirvana didn't do this, as is that the band just simply said things are bad, and shrugged, while Pearl Jam takcles the issue and says hey this is not right.

3. Musicianship - the musicianship of McCready, Gossard, and Ament are far superior to Cobain and Novoselic. The best way to support this is by listening to their music live, go find any of their live recordings they have released, you can hear musicianship that is quite impressive. Now, Cobain and Novoselic are not bad musicians, they simply have a different style that is meant to be raw.

4. Longevity - Since Cobain is dead Pearl Jam wins by default. But I mean longevity in the sense that the band has continued to make new music and good albums for years after thier intial peek in the early 90s. Personally, after Vs. and Ten, Yield released in 1998 is my favorite and band continued to tour and release new music and sell records. Nirvana has in some ways been encapsulated in time, albums and such have been released, but in many ways the band ended in 1994 and has stayed there.

5. Refusal to be mainstream - Pearl Jam didn't make a video from the release of Jeremy to 1998's Do the Evolution (which was animated), then not again until 2006 Life Wasted. But the band continued to have monumental chart success (VS. Vitalogy, and No Code all hit No. 1 on the Billboard sales chart and combined to sell 13 million copies in the U.S.) In a period that made the music video as the key to success, the feat is impressive that they were able to sell and have hit singles in a period when they were going against the grain. Also, they took on Ticketmaster for the company's monopoly in the ticket industry, and for the fact that the company was charging too much for thier tickets. Nirvana on the otherhand relased music video for their followup to Nevermind and toured.

Well, I think that about covers it for why I feel that Pearl Jam is a better band as music goes and why the band has had a greater impact. Nirvana is still an important band, but Pearl Jam simply has more going for it.