The Pearl Jam bassman on the records that really matter to him: “I remember the hair standing up on my neck”

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN IS ON THE COVER OF THE NEW UNCUT – ORDER YOUR COPY HERE

SIMON & GARFUNKEL

Sounds Of Silence

COLUMBIA, 1966

One day, my first grade teacher, Mrs Robertson – not Robinson! – said, ‘Hey, I’m gonna put on this record, and I want everybody to sing along.’ And she passed out lyrics to “The Sound Of Silence”. I didn’t know what the words meant, but it was heavy: “Hello darkness, my old friend…” I remember the hair standing up on my neck. We were church-going folks, but I never felt the spirit moving through me the way that I did singing along with my friends to that song. I almost see it as the moment when I was really introduced to music. I go back to that song probably at least once a year. Usually it’s a moment when I’m by myself, so I can get weepy.

THE BEATLES

Let It Be

APPLE, 1970

My uncle had given me a couple of singles, including a copy of “Help”, but this was the first full-length album that I ever bought. If I had to name one favourite all-time song, “Across The Universe” might be that song. I didn’t know what he was singing about, but I knew it was magic. There’s something childlike about that melody that hit me super-hard, and I remember playing it over and over and over again. And my mom really liked “Let It Be”, so whenever that song was playing, she’d walk in the room and listen to it with me. In my twenties, I went back and listened to Revolver and Rubber Soul> and obviously ‘The White Album’ and Abbey Road. But this record still holds a special place.

KISS

Alive!

CASABLANCA, 1975

I grew up in a little town in Montana, so the way that I found out about music, a lot of it was just seeing stuff on TV. Kiss were on Midnight Special and I’d never heard of them before. There was a little local record store called Ricky’s Records, run by this Lester Bangs character. I said, ‘Hey, have you heard of Kiss?’ And he goes, ‘Yeah, they suck!’ But he ordered for me. The next year Alive! came out, and I just wore that record out. I think it was being so far away from live music – there was no live music really being played in our state. It gave me a little taste of what it must have felt like being at a rock show.

RAMONES

Leave Home

SIRE, 1977

I had been reading about the Ramones in Creem magazine, and then I had a couple of copies of this magazine called Rock Scene, which was kinda about the New York scene. There’s lots of backstage pictures of Patti Smith and David Johansen and Debbie Harry, and it was the first time I’d heard about the Sex Pistols. So I’d heard of those bands, but hadn’t heard them. I was at Woolworths going through the cut-out bins, and there were all these Sire tapes for two bucks. I bought Leave Home, Rocket To Russia, Dead Boys’ Young, Loud And Snotty and Blank Generation by Richard Hell. It completely turned the corner for me. Ted Nugent and Aerosmith were totally out, and I was fixated with buying punk rock records.

DEVO

Duty Now For The Future

WARNER BROS, 1979

In summer of ’79, skateboarding was at its peak for me. I was skating in contests, so there were all these freaky, punk rock skateboarders from all over the state that would congregate. It was the first time I was around 40 or 50 kids who were all punk rockers. Devo were getting talked about a lot in a skateboarder magazine that I read, and I saw them on Saturday Night Live when they did “Satisfaction”. Playing something in 7/4 time isn’t odd for me because of listening to Devo. I think it helped me in playing with a guy like Matt Cameron [Pearl Jam drummer] who loves those odd time signatures. I saw Devo last fall on their farewell tour and it was spectacular, better than ever.

PUBLIC IMAGE LTD

Second Edition

VIRGIN/ISLAND, 1979

I bought the first PiL record and I didn’t love it because it didn’t sound like Sex Pistols. But when I saw them on American Bandstand, it made me buy the second record, and now that probably gets played more than anything I own. There’s something hypnotic about it – it’s almost like watching a movie. Jah Wobble was a huge influence on my bass-playing. He was like a non-musician with a lot of attitude, picking up an instrument and making it his own by doing something totally original with it. I love listening to how he played on that record because it’s raw, but he’s very sure of his playing. It’s the strongest part of the music.

BRIAN ENO

Discreet Music

OBSCURE, 1975

In college, there was a group of older punk rockers that were always playing Roxy Music and the Brian Eno solo records. I didn’t really get it because I was into Black Flag at the time, but shortly afterwards I really got into Music For Airports and Discreet Music. I have a huge crush on Brian Eno, so I was having a hard time picking one record… there’s also The Pearl, the Harold Budd collab which I absolutely love. In my off-time I make ambient music at home, so there’s something about all those records that really hit me hard. He has such strong melodies, and I think that’s probably why he’s such a sought-after producer – he knows how to pull that out of bands.

IDLES

Joy As An Act Of Resistance

PARTISAN, 2018

When I heard that record, it was the first time since the hardcore movement where I was like, ‘Holy shit, this has every bit of the power and the economy and the vulnerability that Black Flag had.’ Most of the punk rock stuff in between didn’t really do it for me. But I saw Idles on tour in Seattle and I’ve been a huge fan ever since. I love how they play with a sparseness – there’s almost like a Wire / Gang Of Four element, the way that they don’t play over the top of each other, there’s just a stabbing of instruments. And they’re getting better and better. There’s not very many bands where I just can’t wait for the next record, but Idles are one of those bands.

Pearl Jam’s Dark Matter is out now on Monkeywrench/Republic