who thinks Johnny Guitar was not a very good song?

[TroubledSoul]

johnny guitar is a horrid song. one of pearl jam's worst songs they've ever written... IMO (now I've said IMO I can't get flamed... clever).

ok the intro maybe promises something.. then ed just jumps in ranting in that first line..

then it gets to "Now Johnny he be having lots of women.. oh the reason he'd be smiling known to him".. that line.. ok all the lines.. there's no melody anywhere, it's rushed, it's disjointed. there isn't even a decent mike solo that can try and redeem it.

and what's with that crap rap interlude at the 1:03 mark?.. into that shit bridge about the light on.

"I'll hide my disappointment cause for years I have been hoping"
interesting line in the context of the discussion of pearl jam's recent works, although i haven't hidden my disappointment in this song.

[danny]

i disagree!

[BinFrog]

Don't love it. Don't hate it.

[smanchac1]

I actually love Johnny Guitar. It has that very 70's sounding riff similar to the way Unemployable does. It's very Ace Frehley I think and although it's not a classic it's great fun to hear live and gets you jumping around. I prefer it to the singles from the album along with The End and Force Of Nature. I don't think the album has enough quality to rate anything as a classic but JG is really underrated for me.

I would agree with this but we can't forget unthought known.. That will be a live show staple from now on..

Then again so is just breathe so what do I know?

[FrankieG]

I always skip it

+1

[deserteddotse]

Then again so is just breathe so what do I know?

I hope the play Just Breath at every show I attend this year, cause then I know I'll always have time to go to the toilet...

[smanchac1]

I'll say I agree about Johnny Guitar. I always skip it or don't pick it for a setlist - but if it comes up at random i don't skip it.

I can say its tough on bass. Took me quite a few tries but once I got it I destroyed it on rock band 3 expert bass and am ranked in the top ten for that song.

Fun song to play on bass.

Can we also say its the same feeling for most of backspacer? The post earlier speaking about how Amongst The Waves feels forced I couldn't agree on more. Unthought Known is a good song - but I'll never go bananas for Gonna see my Friend, the fixer, got some, Johnny guitar, Amongst The Waves, Just Breathe, Supersonic, Speed of sound, force of nature or the end.

I'll say I do like most songs and speed of sound w Ed solo is great...

This is from someone who saw 6 shows on the backspacer tour as well as owning the cd, vinyl and full cd for rock band 3. It just, for me, doesn't touch their other albums. I'm actually excited for the shows I'm heading to because I know I'll hear less backspacer than usual and I'm not forced to hear 4-8 songs I don't know.

[pjhawks]

johnny guitar is a horrid song. one of pearl jam's worst songs they've ever written... IMO (now I've said IMO I can't get flamed... clever).

ok the intro maybe promises something.. then ed just jumps in ranting in that first line..

then it gets to "Now Johnny he be having lots of women.. oh the reason he'd be smiling known to him".. that line.. ok all the lines.. there's no melody anywhere, it's rushed, it's disjointed. there isn't even a decent mike solo that can try and redeem it.

and what's with that crap rap interlude at the 1:03 mark?.. into that shit bridge about the light on.

"I'll hide my disappointment cause for years I have been hoping"
interesting line in the context of the discussion of pearl jam's recent works, although i haven't hidden my disappointment in this song.

pretty much agree 100% with you here. i expect way more from Ed than these lyrics.

[SVRDhand13]

In the bottom 10% of pearl jam songs for sure

[foriginalsin]

On a mostly pretty boring album, I think this one sticks out in a positive way. Think PJ brought something fresh and cool compared to their usual forays into punkier territory.

Thank you. Its so different than any pj song. This is one of the few songs that strays from regular pj territory. Also the time signature is unique and not 4/4. Its more interesting to play than other songs. And the vocals and lyrics are GREAT. Do you guys see how eddie had to write vocals that intertwined with the odd time signature? And one my favorite Eddie tactics when write lyrics is his ability to create new words like foriginalsin . He has done this in many other songs too and its awesome.

I swear sometimes I think a lot of pj fans just want them to write Jeremy and even flow 12 times on an album. You guys are boring.

[Soulfire42]

I find it to be a breath of fresh air on an album that mostly bores me. Pearl Jam has usually had a knack for tossing in some surprises. Sometimes they didn't work (see stupid mop), but Johnny Guitar is a nice little surprise that I think works just fine.

I think it does point out a problem that Backspacer has as an album though. It's not an album that works very well as a whole or that has great flow.

[JonnyPistachio]

On a mostly pretty boring album, I think this one sticks out in a positive way. Think PJ brought something fresh and cool compared to their usual forays into punkier territory.

Thank you. Its so different than any pj song. This is one of the few songs that strays from regular pj territory. Also the time signature is unique and not 4/4. Its more interesting to play than other songs. And the vocals and lyrics are GREAT. Do you guys see how eddie had to write vocals that intertwined with the odd time signature? And one my favorite Eddie tactics when write lyrics is his ability to create new words like foriginalsin . He has done this in many other songs too and its awesome.

I swear sometimes I think a lot of pj fans just want them to write Jeremy and even flow 12 times on an album. You guys are boring.

I agree here..
Originally, Iwasnt into the song, and could take it or leave it. But I grew to appreciate how different it is. I dont ever go out of my way to listen to it. I like the delivery of the vocals..someone else here said it was rushed and disjointed -- thats exactly what I like about it, and never realized the 4/4 thing.

I also like how its a weird story.

Threads like this are great too, because I think all the people on the boards are very vaired in their opinions of Backspacer...I would guess more so than other albums.

[javis el errante]

not saying it's bad but I ranked it #11 out of 11 songs on Backspacer, it's all right but nothing special just an okay song in my estimation, all opinions wanted

my opinion too, nowadays I don't program CD songs, but in the old times I used to do it, a lot, johnny guittar would have been one of those I skipped in those days...

[wayne823]

It is my least favorite on Backspacer.

[pandora]

yum ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlhHuBqjH-0 .... this song is sexy as hell

especially when you are a few feet away