Not for You Audiobook By Ronen Givony cover art

Not for You

Pearl Jam and the Present Tense

 Preview
LIMITED TIME OFFER

3 Months Free + $20 Audible credit

$8.99/mo. after 3 months. Cancel anytime.
Get this deal
Offer ends on July 15, 2026 at 11:59 PT.
More purchase options

Not for You

By: Ronen Givony
Narrated by: Stephen Graybill
Get this deal

$8.99/mo. after 3 months. Cancel anytime. Offer ends July 15, 2026 at 11:59pm PT.

Buy for $27.16

Buy for $27.16

There has never been a band like Pearl Jam. The Seattle quintet has recorded 11 studio albums; sold some 85 million records; played more than a thousand shows, in 50 countries; and had five different albums reach number one. But Pearl Jam's story is about much more than music.

A study of their role in history - from Operation Desert Storm to the Dixie Chicks; "Jeremy" to Columbine; Kurt Cobain to Chris Cornell; Ticketmaster to Trump - Not for You explores the band's origins and evolution over 30 years of American culture. It starts with their founding, and the eruption of grunge, in 1991; continues through their golden age (Vs., Vitalogy, No Code, and Yield); their middle period (Binaural, Riot Act); and the more divisive recent catalog. Along the way, it considers the band's activism, idealism, and impact, from "W.M.A." to the Battle of Seattle and Body of War.

More than the first critical study, Not for You is a tribute to a famously obsessive fan base, in the spirit of Nick Hornby's Fever Pitch. Partly social history, partly autobiography, and entirely outspoken, discursive, and droll, Not for You is the first full-length treatment of Pearl Jam's odyssey and importance in the culture, from the '90s to the present.

©2020 Ronen Givony (P)2021 Tantor Biographies & Memoirs Entertainment & Celebrities History & Criticism Music Celebrity
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_t1

People who viewed this also viewed...

Long Road Audiobook By Steven Hyden cover art
Long Road By: Steven Hyden
Total F*cking Godhead Audiobook By Corbin Reiff cover art
Total F*cking Godhead By: Corbin Reiff
All stars
Most relevant
I loved how the author weaved the journey of Pearl Jam, particularly the first decade, into context of what was going on in the world of music and beyond

Amazing immersion into Pearl Jam!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A pretty good book on a successful band while also covering the events that surrounded it. About 50% of the book focus on the first 4 years of the band, when they were on top of their game. The author admits to being a major fan, but is objective throughout the book. He does call the band out a few times for their work post 1998. This book does take a few turns off the beaten path. Covering topics like the Seattle WTO protest, 911, and the war on terror. Overall, an enjoyable read for any Pearl Jam fan.

Pearl Jam from the fans perspective

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
narrator sounds like a robot. Story is 25% Pearl Jam 25% other bands 25% war and 25% politics. It's all over the place and mentions the same stories three times.

robot voice and boring

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The author documents the history of Pearl Jam’s live performances very well, and goes in-depth on the political actions and movements that made the band special beyond just the music. However, the opinions on his choice of “good” music and “bad” music displayed and tortiously hammered throughout the book is quite off-putting and annoying. The extreme praise for an unfortunate album like No Code compared to the disgust he verbally vomits about Backspacer and Sirens makes me wish I didn’t give him the respect I thought he deserved, as a true journalist, at the start of the book. At the end, the author comes off as an old-school angry Pearl Jam fan who holds an extreme grudge against the band’s choice of musical path in the 2000s and has an apocryphal childish spite directed at drummer Matt Cameron. It’s a shame, because the first half of the book is excellently written and well documented. Unfortunately, his disagreeable biases are enforced like fact and the overall narrative becomes unattractive. A shame he couldn’t stay out of his own way to accept his listening/reading audience’s feelings towards Pearl Jam’s beautiful work—covering their entire 35+ year catalog with an open heart to “indifferences.”

Well documented but Extremely biased to his own personal musical taste. Very Off-Putting.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The stories are ok, some doesn't belong. But the narrator! He sounds like a robot with a nasal voice. And why does he have to articulate all the interjections like "um, ahh, oh" when reciting interviews. It didn't need to be literally transcribed.

ok, not more

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews