The History of MMJ

[Schmokenvontoken]

Hey!!! I hope all is well in the world with y'all and hope MMJ is still groovin along as the soundtrack to your lives : )

From what I can gather, I think y'all would agree that MMJ is pretty epic and soon to be legendary, if not already.  The band itself is already almost a teenager, and has 5 superb studio albums out, not to mention the ridiculous amount of underground and live material there is floating out there.  Even my history of rock n roll teacher at the university is well aware of their musical mastery.  We have to put together a 10 minute presentation of a historic band, and I think that despite the fact that they are still in their prime, there is enough newsworthy history in the MMJ world to fill the ten minutes, especially including the examples I will show, of which I am unsuccessfully trying to narrow down.  
*My humble request is simple.
-Post what you think is a pivotal, or unique moment in the history of MMJ up until this point.  
-Post what you think are some of the most telling and signature songs of MMJ... I dare you to narrow this down : )
-Post any interesting tibits about band members lives

*Clips, Photos, and Quotes are also highly encouraged

I really am doing this to see how MMJ has influenced and changed the course of Music already in the first decade of the 21st century.

I thank you kindly for your contributions.

Sincerely,
- A Fellow Fan

[SaraBananaBear]

Did anyone say quotes?  :D Here's a few of my favorite ones, not sure if they're necessarily relevant to your project, but quotes are always nice! Hope some of them work :)

"We're not one of those bands that deliberately doesn't want a lot of people to get into us. We welcome anybody of all ages, races, and creeds to get into it."
- Yim Yames, January 2004

"My Morning Jacket, isn't that a brand of cigarettes?"
- Johnny Quaid, September 2003

"I wish it was possible to get people the music without them seeing what you look like at all. To me, music is about closing your eyes and letting the sound destroy your brain. It's not about gimmicks."
- Yim Yames, September 2003

"When I went to the UK college my roommate's name was Todd and he was very intelligent. We used to have this saying, whenever we would say something that we really liked we'd say eee. Like if a hot girl walked by, eee that girl is hot. So in this song, there's a place where I do that."
- Yim Yames, talking about the song Into the Woods, June 2007

"I love getting away from it all and going to museums and Gothic cathedrals — just to walk in complete silence. Something to contrast the rest of your day is so important. I like quiet, because I make a lot of noise."
- Patrick Hallahan, August 2008

"It's about falling in love with someone because of the way they make you feel, as opposed to them wearing tight jeans and being hot. I'm just trying to escape from the fuckin' constant, physically driven fashion show that the world has become."
- Yim Yames talking about the song Steam Engine, September 2003

Okay, so maybe I could go on all day and all night and probably add every quote I've ever read... so yeah, you can find all my favorites at: http://fuckyeahmymorningjacket.tumblr.com/ and http://lovemonsters.tumblr.com/tagged/My_Morning_Jacket that might be easier... ;)

Other than that, hm, I don't know about signature songs, seems to me like there aren't really such a thing, but if you talk signature sound, well maybe what the band said in a 2006 Pitchfork interview:

Broemel: Jim's voice is a huge part. Patrick's right foot is a huge part of it. Everybody has their own little thing to contribute. As far musical ideas, the sky's the limit. There's things we probably don't think about that will always be there, but I have no idea what the next record will be like. We'll work and rework a song. "Into The Woods" had three or four incarnations that we thought were pretty cool before we finalized what we wanted to do with it. The same goes for "Off the Record" which wasn't a reggae-feeling song at first. All the songs are great as just acoustic songs, too.

Tommy: Obviously, the reverb-- especially on the vocals and drums. I think those sounds are kind of a signature. You always know it's My Morning Jacket when you hear the drums start. Songwriting-wise we'll always be all over the map but production wise there's always little hints of what came before, a My Morning Jacket vein that runs through everything.

Hallahan: If you don't have any prejudice in the music you listen to you shouldn't have any prejudice in the music you play.

Koster: There's a certain mysterious quality to everything. I always feel like I'm in another time or place when I play this music. Sometimes I feel like I'm in a movie or something. That's a testament to Jim and his imagination. His songwriting is very non-literal a lot of the time, and there's a fantasy element to some things.

Interesting tidbits about the band members lives... does it count that Jim James thinks icecream should always be called icecreams in plural?  ;)

I think a lot of other forum members would be better than me at picking out the unique moment in the history of MMJ up until this point, so other than what I've already added... best of luck!

[Penny Lane]

"It's about falling in love with someone because of the way they make you feel, as opposed to them wearing tight jeans and being hot. I'm just trying to escape from the fuckin' constant, physically driven fashion show that the world has become."
- Yim Yames talking about the song Steam Engine, September 2003

(sighhhhhh) I know, Yim. I know.  :) :)

[darkglow]

i'll throw in a few things:

the prom in athens

the dutch documentary

return to thunderdome

the early recordings (two whole LPs)

the conan tv debut

the farm in shelbyville (grain silos and bathrooms)

the Z cd software fuck up by Sony and MMJ's commitment to burn copies of the cd

the coors light commercial incident

madison square gardens!

the fan shot music video during the lollapalooza


- if i can think of more i'll post them.. those should get you in the right direction

[rmpotsy]

the coors light commercial incident

what is this?

[e_wind]

NYE 06 in San Francisco is Rolling Stone's #5 best show of the last decade. Thats pretty note worthy. Also throw a clip of Okonokos in there.

[e_wind]

shit you could even throw t5 in there

[aMillionDreams]

the coors light commercial incident

what is this?

Mahgeeta was featured in an 'Aspen Edge' commercial which was Coors Light's "Low carb" beer during the Adkins craze.  MMJ thought it would be a Coors Light ad and when in aired decided to donate all of their earnings from the commercial to charity (juvenile diabetes if I remember right).  Since then they haven't done commercials.

[Tracy 3000]

I'd say the end of 2003 when Johnny Quaid and Danny Cash left the band. They were scheduled for Nashville the first week of January and cancelled. I had 10 tickets for the show and had to get refund.

They re-scheduled for Knoxville and we saw them on my 40th birthday, the 3rd show with Bo and Carl. Some dude next to me must have had some huge man crush on Johnny, b/c he went on and on and on (and on) about how he could not believe Johnny left the band and he didn't even know it until they came out on stage and said, "Who's that guitar player?" I had to explain to him what happened during the breaks of the first 3 songs.