The 500 - #485 - Pearl Jam - Vitology

I was inspired by a podcast called The 500 hosted by comedian Josh Adam Meyers. His goal, and mine, is to explore Rolling Stone's 2012 edition of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. 

My plan. 

• 2 records per week & at least 2 complete listens.
• A quick blog post for each, highlighting the important details and a quick background story.
• No rating scale - just an effort to expand my appreciation.

Album # 485

Album Title: Vitology
Artist: Pearl Jam
Released: November, 1994
My age at release: 29
How familiar am I with it: Very
Song I am putting on my Spotify Mix: Corduroy
Great Lyric: (So many to choose from - Eddie was in the zone by this record)
Ransom paid the devil. He whispers pleasing words.
Triumphant are the angels if they can get there first.
Little secrets, tremor, turned to quake
The smallest oceans still get big big waves.

I was going to talk about my introduction to Pearl Jam and grunge, but I realized that I had already covered that territory with this post from last year. 

Instead, I will share a story about working for a slightly shady, but decent, guy named Bruno - selling stereo equipment from a bare-bones retail space in a strip mall in St. Mary's, Ontario. 

In 1994, I was bartending full-time at Kelsey's Restaurant, saving  money for Teachers College. I was making a great living and was reluctant to give up my lifestyle for a year away at school - but I also knew that this gig was not sustainable. Late night restaurant service work was a young man's game - and I was nearing 30.

In the plaza where the restaurant was located was a small stereo store. It had done well in the previous decade, but was now struggling. The early 90's marked the rise of the big box store and several warehouse-style electronics outlets had opened nearby (Best Buy, Future Shop & Costco). 

The aforementioned Bruno, who owned the store, was in survival mode. He had hired two brothers who agreed to work there for less money because he provided them with a room at the back with two cots. 

That's right - they agreed to live in the back of a stereo store & shower at the local gym. They ate in our restaurant almost every night.

Bruno should have made the switch to high-end audio & video, perhaps transition to a boutique store. Instead, he dug himself in and bought a literal truckload of lower to mid-range equipment in order to get better pricing. The problem was that his store was too small to house it and he needed to move it quickly. 

That night at the bar, he asked me and my coworker Kris if we were interested in working that weekend in the small town of St. Mary's. He offered us a deal that justified missing a Saturday night at the bar...

• $12 an hour
• 5% of all sales we made
• Accommodation & Gas
• Lunches, Dinners & an open bar tab at the local tavern

The two brothers had traveled in the truck to St. Mary's the night before. Bruno had rented an empty unit in the only plaza in the town - right beside the grocery store - and the brothers had dutifully filled it with boxes of VCRs, Amplifiers, Car Stereos, televisions and CD Players (even the new 5 disc carousel style ones).

 Saturday was a whirlwind. The word got out quickly in the village and people filled the store all day. Sales were brisk and effortless. The prices were good because the equipment wasn't high-end and people left satisfied.

That night we celebrated at the local bar "The Creamery" and drank entirely too much. I vaguely remember weaving toward the hotel - a manor style home along the river called "The Westover Inn".

The next day, through a hazy hangover, I made more sales. By mid-afternoon - we were pretty much sold out and we headed back to London with our pockets full of cash.

Bruno was ecstatic - and so were the brothers. A few weeks later, Friday, December 8 to be exact (the day after Vitology was released on CD) we were set up again - this time in London in a larger, but equally barren, strip mall concrete bunker.

We opened at 10 am and I put the Pearl Jam disc into one of the better stereo systems in the store. As the cacophonous intro to Last Exit rang out, I prepared for a busy day that would never arrive. 

It was a bust. The five of us stood around for hours - only occasionally would someone wander in - look around - check prices - and leave (probably for a nearby Big Box Electronics Outlet). 

Bruno had misjudged the popularity of a Pop-up Stereo store in a larger municipality. In little St. Mary's, it was big news. In London...crickets. Well, crickets and the sound of Pearl Jam's Vitology. That disc is now inexorably tied to the events of that day...or rather... the absence of events. 

I wasn't a huge fan of the album at first. I absolutely loved both Ten and Vs. and this seemed uneven to me - maybe even rushed. However, over the years it has grown on me and it gets at least one play a year - usually at the gym in headphones.

Stuff I learned

• When Pearl Jam appeared on Saturday Night Live in 1994 they were so popular that they played 3 songs, instead of the customary 2, including this great version of RearViewMirror
• This SNL appearance was also 11 days after Kurt Cobain killed himself. Vedder revealed a K over his heart at the end of the show as a tribute to his contemporary.
  
• The album was released on vinyl two weeks prior to being made available in any other form (including the more popular compact disc). For the next twenty years it held the record for most vinyl sales in a week at 34,000.
• When Vedder was fell ill with food poisoning, he was forced to leave a show in San Francisco. Neil Young replaced him, singing 14 songs with the band.
• The song Corduroy is about a thrift-store jacket that Vedder bought for about $12. It was copied in the height of Grunge Popularity and was being sold for over $500.