#damienechols — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #damienechols, aggregated by home.social.
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Self-Titled Saturday | Pearl Jam (2006, US)
For our next STS 2.0 spotlight, we’re going to take a look at number 1076 on The List, submitted by gavin57. Technically an album without a title, this is the eighth studio album from one of the seminal (and longest running) bands of Seattle’s so-called “grunge” scene. Lyrics touch on anger and frustration about a warmonger being re-elected, mourning friends, and living in scary times (any of that sound familiar?). As Pearl Jam has never been a band to shy away from activism and addressing real issues, the then current US-led war on Iraq is a topic of three songs. One such song is "Army Reserve", which was co-written by Damien Echols of the West Memphis Three while he was on death row for crimes he didn't commit.
Want to read more? See the full spotlight on the Fediverse at @1001otheralbums.com or on the blog: https://1001otheralbums.com/2026/08/08/self-titled-saturday-pearl-jam-2006-us/
Want to skip straight to the music? Here's a Songlink: https://album.link/i/220206594
🥑
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Self-Titled Saturday | Pearl Jam (2006, US)
For our next STS 2.0 spotlight, we’re going to take a look at number 1076 on The List, submitted by gavin57. Technically an album without a title, this is the eighth studio album from one of the seminal (and longest running) bands of Seattle’s so-called “grunge” scene. Lyrics touch on anger and frustration about a warmonger being re-elected, mourning friends, and living in scary times (any of that sound familiar?). As Pearl Jam has never been a band to shy away from activism and addressing real issues, the then current US-led war on Iraq is a topic of three songs. One such song is "Army Reserve", which was co-written by Damien Echols of the West Memphis Three while he was on death row for crimes he didn't commit.
Want to read more? See the full spotlight on the Fediverse at @1001otheralbums.com or on the blog: https://1001otheralbums.com/2026/08/08/self-titled-saturday-pearl-jam-2006-us/
Want to skip straight to the music? Here's a Songlink: https://album.link/i/220206594
🥑
-
Self-Titled Saturday | Pearl Jam (2006, US)
For our next STS 2.0 spotlight, we’re going to take a look at number 1076 on The List, submitted by @gavin57. The rundown:
- Point of origin(s): We also have two earlier albums from this band on The List, so we’re going to skip the bulk of Pearl Jam’s origin story for now and just say: this is the eighth studio album from one of the seminal bands of Seattle’s so-called “grunge” scene, formed in 1990 after the untimely end of guitarist Stone Gossard and bassist Jeff Ament’s band Mother Love Bone, due to the tragic death of frontman Andrew Wood. While by this album many fans from Pearl Jam’s early days already felt the band no longer had the je ne sais quoi that had made them fall in love with the band, others see this album as a return to form. This is Pearl Jam’s first album to feature some lyrics by other founding guitarist Mike McCready. Similar to what we’ve seen elsewhere in the STS series where the s/t isn’t the band’s debut, this album technically doesn’t count as a s/t because, as per vocalist Eddie Vedder, “it’s actually Nothing by Pearl Jam.”
- Tasting notes: Anger and frustration about a warmonger being re-elected; mourning friends; living in scary times (any of that sound familiar?)
- Standout track: “Gone” is the one that makes my ears really perk up, and the closer “Inside Job” (the one with lyrics by Mike) is quite beautiful. And also “Army Reserve” – one of three tracks on the album that deal with the then current US-led war on Iraq – because it was co-written by Damien Echols (West Memphis Three). Wrongfully convicted of murder in 1994 along with friends Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley Jr. when they were just teenagers (due to completely dubious “evidence” including listening to metal music), at the time of this album’s release, Echols had already spent over a decade on death row. Following a series of documentaries (the 1996 Paradise Lost, plus sequels in 2000 and 2011) highlighting the utterly problematic trials and convictions, many musicians rallied to fight for the freedom of the innocent WM3, including Henry Rollins, Metallica, and Eddie Vedder. This song (in both its content and credits) is just one example of the activism that has been at the band’s core from the beginning.[1]
- Where are they now?: Following this s/t, even though each member went on to release solo albums and/or worked on other side projects, Pearl Jam has released four more studio albums (the most recent being Dark Matter [2024]) and is still kicking, making them one of the longest running bands from Seattle’s 80s/90s alt rock music scene – elder statesmen of grunge, if you will. Until just a year ago, the lineup even remained the same as on this s/t, with originals Eddie, Mike, Stone, and Jeff plus Matt Cameron (also of Soundgarden) on drums. After 27 years in the band, Matt left in July 2025; Pearl Jam’s new drummer is expected to be revealed next month at this year’s Ohana Festival (a festival founded by Eddie in 2016). The band as a group and individuals also remain very vocal about political, social, and environmental issues, making them still cool af.
- Websites: Band website
Hope you enjoy.
- It wouldn’t be until 2011 – after serving 18 years for crimes they had no part in – that the WM3 would be released (though, at the time of writing, have still not been exonerated). ↩︎
-
Self-Titled Saturday | Pearl Jam (2006, US)
For our next STS 2.0 spotlight, we’re going to take a look at number 1076 on The List, submitted by @gavin57. The rundown:
- Point of origin(s): We also have two earlier albums from this band on The List, so we’re going to skip the bulk of Pearl Jam’s origin story for now and just say: this is the eighth studio album from one of the seminal bands of Seattle’s so-called “grunge” scene, formed in 1990 after the untimely end of guitarist Stone Gossard and bassist Jeff Ament’s band Mother Love Bone, due to the tragic death of frontman Andrew Wood. While by this album many fans from Pearl Jam’s early days already felt the band no longer had the je ne sais quoi that had made them fall in love with the band, others see this album as a return to form. This is Pearl Jam’s first album to feature some lyrics by other founding guitarist Mike McCready. Similar to what we’ve seen elsewhere in the STS series where the s/t isn’t the band’s debut, this album technically doesn’t count as a s/t because, as per vocalist Eddie Vedder, “it’s actually Nothing by Pearl Jam.”
- Tasting notes: Anger and frustration about a warmonger being re-elected; mourning friends; living in scary times (any of that sound familiar?)
- Standout track: “Gone” is the one that makes my ears really perk up, and the closer “Inside Job” (the one with lyrics by Mike) is quite beautiful. And also “Army Reserve” – one of three tracks on the album that deal with the then current US-led war on Iraq – because it was co-written by Damien Echols (West Memphis Three). Wrongfully convicted of murder in 1994 along with friends Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley Jr. when they were just teenagers (due to completely dubious “evidence” including listening to metal music), at the time of this album’s release, Echols had already spent over a decade on death row. Following a series of documentaries (the 1996 Paradise Lost, plus sequels in 2000 and 2011) highlighting the utterly problematic trials and convictions, many musicians rallied to fight for the freedom of the innocent WM3, including Henry Rollins, Metallica, and Eddie Vedder. This song (in both its content and credits) is just one example of the activism that has been at the band’s core from the beginning.[1]
- Where are they now?: Following this s/t, even though each member went on to release solo albums and/or worked on other side projects, Pearl Jam has released four more studio albums (the most recent being Dark Matter [2024]) and is still kicking, making them one of the longest running bands from Seattle’s 80s/90s alt rock music scene – elder statesmen of grunge, if you will. Until just a year ago, the lineup even remained the same as on this s/t, with originals Eddie, Mike, Stone, and Jeff plus Matt Cameron (also of Soundgarden) on drums. After 27 years in the band, Matt left in July 2025; Pearl Jam’s new drummer is expected to be revealed next month at this year’s Ohana Festival (a festival founded by Eddie in 2016). The band as a group and individuals also remain very vocal about political, social, and environmental issues, making them still cool af.
- Websites: Band website
Hope you enjoy.
- It wouldn’t be until 2011 – after serving 18 years for crimes they had no part in – that the WM3 would be released (though, at the time of writing, have still not been exonerated). ↩︎
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Look what showed up in our store's mini library. YOINK. #WestMemphisThree #DamienEchols