As most people who know me know, I am a huge Pearl Jam fan, and have been for years. They are, without question, my favorite band. Here's my Pearl Jam story. In early 1992, I first heard "Even Flow," and took notice of this up-and-coming band from the "it" place of that time: Seattle. After seeing the videos for "Even Flow," "Alive," and "Jeremy," I knew this band was really something and asked for Ten for Christmas. I got it and realized something that has always held true to this day- Pearl Jam may have great singles, but there are so many great album tracks that go unnoticed, and that their albums work best as an entire package. Even their singles have a flow to them. Through the years "fans" came and went as Pearl Jam progressed and grew from album to album. 1994 comes and they fire Dave Abbruzzese. I'm miffed for a while, but then I hear their new acquisition, Jack Irons, in action and I'm totally blown away by this new, somehow more tight and mature-sounding Pearl Jam. The first single from my favorite Pearl Jam album (No Code), "Who You Are," baffles the general public and Pearl Jam loses a large amount of its so-called fans as they release the two best albums of their catalog so far: No Code and Yield. I see them live in 1996, and am mesmerized for possibly the best 2 hours of my life. Then Jack Irons must leave the band, for he has a bipolar disorder. I'm devastated, but hopeful that his replacement, Soundgarden's Matt Cameron, will be just as good. I see them live twice in 1998. He's not. He destroys a large percentage of post-1994 stuff (Jack Irons era) by radically altering the drum lines. I am a vehement Matt Cameron hater for a while, but then I think about it and realize he's doing the best he could on short rehersal time. The Bridge School Benefit shows come and I decide to give Matt another chance. I'm glad I did, he has improved greatly. As I hear more songs from the upcoming Binaural, I know that Pearl Jam is not in trouble after the loss of Jack Irons. They have continued their growth, and bassist Jeff Ament has turned out the best song I have ever heard written by him, "Nothing As It Seems." The album came out May 23, and is right up there with Yield and No Code, with Matt now fitting in perfectly. I saw them live September 4, 2000 (concert #4 for me), and I can now say they are back to their old energetic selves. It's comforting to know my favorite band is still as great as ever. Check out any of the official live recordings of the 2000 tour to see for yourself. You'll be blown away.

Emm Gryner
I first saw Emm on November 3, 1998, when I saw her open for The Cardigans. I didn't know what to expect, so I just went with the flow. For her entire 40-minute set, I was mesmerized. And not just because there was a cute Asian girl putting on a great performance on stage, but it didn't hurt! Emm's live show consists of only her. She plays guitar or bass on certain songs, but in general it is just her and her piano. And that is all she needs. Her voice is somewhat like Sarah McLachlan's, since they are both Canadian, but Emm's is much more expressive. The best description I have heard of it is "calm, yet emotional". Right after the show, I went up the street to Tower Records and got her only major-label album, Public. While it was a different experience- nearly all songs on Emm's albums feature a band, or her playing numerous instruments to flesh them out, it was still as great as her solo show. After Mercury/Polygram got envoloped in the gigantic Universal Music Company, Emm got dropped from that label, but it didn't stop her from making music. In 1999 she released my favorite album or hers, Science Fair, which is eleven songs self-produced and featuring every instrument track played by Emm herself, with a few guests here and there. Check out the samples at her website to hear how great this album is. Last year (2000), she released an album of B-sides and demos, Dead Relatives, featuring many fan-favorite songs previously only played at concerts, and other unreleased material. This summer saw the release of Girl Versions, a new studio album featuring nearly every cover song she performs at her shows. She does a really great version of Def Leppard's "Pour Some Sugar On Me," which I saw her perform this year. Check her out in concert if you're interested, otherwise I recommend you check out the song samples and other stuff at her website.

S Club 7
S Club 7 is, in my opinion, the best pop act around today. They were created by Simon Fuller, the man responsible for the Spice Girls (who I am also a fan of), but this time he set out to do it right. In case you didn't know, the Spice Girls dropped him as their manager a few years ago. The members of the S Club 7 are, clockwise, starting top left, Tina Barrett, Jon Lee, Jo O'Meara, Paul Cattermole, Rachel Stevens, Bradley McIntosh, and Hannah Spearitt. They are a group a 7 young men and women who are incredibly good singers. They have 3 full-length albums to their credit, and each is progressively better than the last, but I think it is a close call between their new album, Sunshine, and the one before it, 7. The 7's scored a moderate hit here in the U.S. with "Never Had a Dream Come True," which I think is one of their weakest singles. But then again, I like upbeat songs more than ballads. "Natural" and "Don't Stop Movin'" are my favorite singles of theirs. S Club 7 also has a television series, currently in its third season. It is a great mix of lightearted humor, story, and musical performances, in my opinion. It can be seen on Saturday and Sunday mornings at 11:00am on ABC Family. The current series is S Club 7 in Hollywood. Previous seasons followed them getting their start in Miami, and then moving to LA to try and get their big break. I'd recommend you check it out, you might end up liking them as much as I do! And in case you were wondering, yes, members of the group do write/co-write some of their songs. They have since their first album, S Club.

Kylie Minogue
Kylie is definitely one of my favorite performers in the music business today. "But why, Jefferson, why?" you ask. "Isn't she that chick who sang 'The Loco-Motion' back in 1989?" Well, indeed she is, but that doesn't mean that she's still with Stock/Aitken/Waterman making the same old tunes she was in 1988. In 1994 she broke away from that cookie-cutter Aussie pop star image with her album titled, simply, Kylie Minogue. I don't know what you'd call it, I guess most would call it pop, but there's a certain maturity in her new sound that defies placing it within a certain identifying year, such as how you tell an 80's pop song is an 80's song. I always find it hard to believe "Confide in Me" is six years old this year. In 1997 came Kylie's second album of her new style, Impossible Princess, which featured many great songs and a techno/rock edge to it, no doubt in part to her collaborations on two tracks, "Some Kind of Bliss" and "I Don't Need Anyone," with the Manic Street Preachers. 1998 saw Intimate and Live, a great example of how to do a live album right, featuring many imaginative updates of her old 1980s material. In 1999 Kylie released a book following the first 10 years of her career through photographs and written submissions from friends, called Kylie. You can order a copy for yourself here, if you are so inclined. 2000 saw the release of Kylie's latest album, Light Years. It hearkens back (in a way) to Kylie's pop roots, as it's definitely more dance-oriented than rock-oriented. In someone else's hands, this could be a bad thing, but Kylie pulls it off with no problem. Perhaps you saw her performance of "On a Night Like This" at the closing ceremony of Sydney's Olympics. It was definitely the highlight of the show for me. In October 2001, Kylie You can keep track of all Kylie news at the best Kylie site on the web, LiMBO.

Manic Street Preachers
The Manics are one of the best bands out there, consistently winning "best band" from various publications and groups around Great Britain. In the U.S., however, they don't seem to have much recognition. For one thing, in Europe they are on Sony, but here, they are licensed to Virgin Records America, and don't get much advertising or publicity. The band, left to right, is bassist Nicky Wire, guitarist/vocalist James Dean Bradfield, and drummer Sean Moore. The band once had another guitarist named Richie Edwards, but he disappeared on February 1, 1995, and has never been seen since. The Manics are a politically-driven Welsh band, which, as you may imagine, don't like the monarchy, but also have some other ideas they speak out on as well, some of which I agree with. Even if you don't like the subject matter of some of their songs, their music is still some of the best around. For more info on the band and their lyrics, visit their website, Manics.co.uk. Also, check out their two newest albums, This is My Truth Tell Me Yours and Know Your Enemy. They are some of the best albums released in recent years, I think.

This page is still under construction, but here are bands I will be posting info on soon: Agents of Good Roots, Rockwell Church, Spacehog, Catatonia, REM, Stone Temple Pilots, The Cardigans, Radiohead, Local H, They Might Be Giants, and more I can't remember off the top of my head.