Is it Just me? How Come No one has ever heard of MMJ?

[tbear]

I was outside during an intermission of a Dark Star Orchestra show in Charleston SC recently, talking music with a group of college students. Obviously we talking about the Dead, but when I asked them how they felt about MMJ all I got was blank stares. Never heard of them.

My nephew, is at a NE boarding school and  listens to the Dead all the time. When I asked him if his friends are getting into MMJ - - "who?" - - - he asked around: none of his friends had heard of them.

A budy of mine was at a bar in Gainsville FL recently and was playing MMJ on the Juke. He called me later. "man, not one kid at that bar has heard of MMJ. They need to own this shit!"

Look, I came to the game late. Hell, I am 40 and I caught up.

Is it just me? I cant stand the idea of the younger generations missing out on this. To me it would be like missing Zeppelin or the Dead (etc, etc) in the 70's - tragic!

MMJ is that good. Where are the kids? This should be their band.

(all this has just occured to me recently - - so I havent really been looking around at the shows. )

[e_wind]

I agree. I live in Louisville, and many people here haven't heard of them. Kids on campus (I go to u Of l) ask what my shirts mean. I'm pretty surprised that 20 something's don't know of such a popular band from their home town

[tbear]

Well I will be in Louisville in the middle of July - - so I can do my own survey!!!!

[MMJ_fanatic]

I was on the phone with a rep from Best Buy's Geek Squad the other day and in the course of routine chit chat she revealed her location as Louisville.  SO I immediately asks how much she love MMJ and I also recieved th "Who?" response!  I almost fell out of my office chair--c'mon you're in their stomping ground and you never heard them???  UGH ::)

[Darkstarflashes]

I have been to the two Best Buy stores in Louisville, and they only had a couple of copies of Circuital and one copy of Yim Yames' Tribute CD. I work in Louisville and live near Elizabethtown which is about 45 minutes south of Louisville. Elizabethtown's Best Buy only had Circuital. I told the managers at all three stores how shameful it was for them to not be more supportive of Louisville's best band. But to tell you the truth, they have been decreasing their entire stock of music recently. They blame it on digital downloads. I blame them! Without stores offering music, there won't be as much interest in or opportunity to explore new and older music. On a more positive note... The FYE store in the mall in Elizabethtown does have more MMJ. They have copies of It Still Moves, Evil Urges, Okonokos, and Circuital. I REALLY MISS EAR-X-TACY!!!!! That is where I got most of my MMJ stuff. Here is what Jim James had to say when Ear-X-Tacy shut their doors for good.

"there is a tear in my eye right now as i hear about the closing of one of my favorite places on earth- ear-xtacy. i send thanks and healing vibes to john and everyone who has worked so hard at the store over the years...the presence of that sacred place will be sorely missed. people- let this be a big wake up call to us...we need these places to gather as a community and share ideas about music and art and love and life and.... for the love of god.... it cant all take place online...or i fear that one day we will all wake up bleary-eyed and hung over from our technology binge and find the real world long gone... let us be inspired by places like "please and thank you," "carmichaels," "pops retail and consignment," "heine brothers" and all the great independent ma and pa stores around the globe- leading us into a new era of what a creative business can be...we need to support these places and help create more...the mp3 has killed the idea of what a traditional record store used to be, but that should only be cause for us to re-invent and support things the computer can never kill...we need these real places... where you can still buy a record from a local band or a hard to find label or root thru stacks of used vinyl...or get a cup of coffee...or buy an old stereo system or a synthesizer or a pair of jeans...or learn a new skill...or teach a new skill...and love your fellow human in person and face to face and all in the same place. lets brainstorm. lets build more of these places. lets stick together. lets support each other. lets figure it out." – jim james

[De1euze!]

just posting to say I'm 20 and have seen MMJ 9 times, first when I was 16, and I have a fairly large number of friends who also like them and have seen them play on numerous occasions. One of my favorite bands, and certainly my favorite live band

There are fans out there!

[Tracy 2112]

Having seen them in 2003 with about 100 people at the Exit In in Nashville, I'd say I'd much prefer to go back to those days rather than these days when "no one has heard of them" and you are encouraged to join something called Roll Call to ensure that you have a decent place in line for tickets for their shows...

[rincon]

just posting to say I'm 20 and have seen MMJ 9 times, first when I was 16, and I have a fairly large number of friends who also like them and have seen them play on numerous occasions. One of my favorite bands, and certainly my favorite live band

There are fans out there!

Clearly there are fans out there, or we would not be typing so much stuff about them, and they would not be touring as much as they do. The point being made by the OP, I think, is how unknown they are to a large segment of population that would love them if they knew about them. In a relative sense, they are very unknown considering what they have achieved musically, and what they have to offer as far as unparallelled rock and roll shows. The local reviews here in Ca. are like a 9 on a scale of 10, and one even stated Jim is taking over for what Springsteen meant to live music in the 70's and 80's. He was on the cover of Time and Newsweek THE SAME WEEK, before he ever had one hit.

[rincon]

Having seen them in 2003 with about 100 people at the Exit In in Nashville, I'd say I'd much prefer to go back to those days rather than these days when "no one has heard of them" and you are encouraged to join something called Roll Call to ensure that you have a decent place in line for tickets for their shows...

There is some truth to this statement, but let's face it. Your logic is based solely on selfish reasons. Nothing wrong with that, but I am sure the band does not want to be playing in front of 100 people every night. They probably would have split up if that continued.

[Tracy 2112]

Having seen them in 2003 with about 100 people at the Exit In in Nashville, I'd say I'd much prefer to go back to those days rather than these days when "no one has heard of them" and you are encouraged to join something called Roll Call to ensure that you have a decent place in line for tickets for their shows...

There is some truth to this statement, but let's face it. Your logic is based solely on selfish reasons. Nothing wrong with that, but I am sure the band does not want to be playing in front of 100 people every night. They probably would have split up if that continued.

I am selfish, yes. But the idea that "no one has ever heard of MMJ" is silly. I'm just glad I got in when I did before they became so unpopular  ;)

[baconus66]

I agree it's weird.  I go to The University of Arizona and I'm always talking about MMJ and no one has ever heard of them.  I can't think of many other bands that frequently play basketball stadiums all across the country and yet so few people have heard of them

[rincon]

Having seen them in 2003 with about 100 people at the Exit In in Nashville, I'd say I'd much prefer to go back to those days rather than these days when "no one has heard of them" and you are encouraged to join something called Roll Call to ensure that you have a decent place in line for tickets for their shows...

There is some truth to this statement, but let's face it. Your logic is based solely on selfish reasons. Nothing wrong with that, but I am sure the band does not want to be playing in front of 100 people every night. They probably would have split up if that continued.

I am selfish, yes. But the idea that "no one has ever heard of MMJ" is silly. I'm just glad I got in when I did before they became so unpopular  ;)

It is all relative. Considering what they offer, and how the general public is not familiar with them, it is fair to categorize them as "unknown". They could not sell out Santa Barbara, yet Radiohead sold out the same venue instantly. They could not even sell out The Gibson, a 3,000 seat venue in the second biggest market in the U.S. That is weird.

[johnnYYac]

I agree that "unknown" is somewhat subjective.  They're selling out some big venues, they've got celebrity fans, they're darlings of the festival circuit and late night talk shows, they've got two Grammy noms.

Here are the reasons I think MMJ is still relatively unknown.

1.  Weird name
2.  That band on American Dad was real?
3.  They release singles like "Holdin' on to Black Metal", not the most representative example of their music
4.  The only video they've done, for HOTBM, was fun for fans, but probably kinda "meh" to everyone else
5.  They don't make pop music
6.  Long hair and beards
7.  A lot of people I've tried to turn on to MMJ find Jim's voice "harsh" and "annoying" (I know, I know...)
8.  They don't play the game
9.  No T & A anywhere, 'cept in the pit  ;)
10. No big arrests for drugs, DUI, punch photographers, paternity suits, etc.

[joey_rogo]

I actually first heard of MMJ on the music channel Fuse back in 03. They played the OBH video on a show called Oven Fresh. I figured they were on their way to stardom back then as Fuse was the channel all us 'cool' highschool kids watched to find out about the cool new bands out there. It's kind of amazing that a band that was on a music tv channels 10 years ago has remained so 'unpopular.'

The day after seeing that video when I went to the music store to buy It Still Moves, I was intrigued and somewhat confused that there was no name on the cover. I like it that way, I think it is neat, but I think that may also have an effect on their popularity. Kids walking up and down the aisles of the music store never actually see the words 'My Morning Jacket' (until their latest album). I've seen the names of hundreds of bands that I have never listened to. When people say 'have you heard of XXXXXX?' I say yeah, but not because I have actually ever listened to them, I just saw their record at the store.

[lucylew]

A year or so ago the hubby and I were road trippin' from Portland back home to Sacramento and we hit up a rest stop.  Parked next to a car with a big steal your face sticker on the back window.  Hubby, being a big dead fan, starts chatting up the guy sitting in the car.  They share some sweetleaf and hubby asks the guy if he is in to MMJ?  The guy has no idea what hubby is talking about.  Hubby immediately proceeds to remove the It Still Moves disk out of our player and hands it to the guy and tells him it'll change his life.

I bet it did.

[tbear]

I kinda had a front row seat to what popularity did to the Grateful Dead.

I joined up when I was 15, 16 in the early/mid 80's to the bemused looks of the grizzled Dead veterans who (for the most part) took us under their collective wings. It wasnt long, though, that swelling crowds out grew or tore down (literally in Pittsburgh) the smaller venues. Summer shows were soon relagated to to the souless canyons of Giants Stadium and RFK and the delights of Merriweather Post and Red-Rocks were a distant memory.

It was sad to lose that intimacy but there was also something comforting in the massive recognition: that there were so many like me who saw how special that band was.

That being said, I will happily spend a night (or two or three) every summer til the end of time seeing MMJ at MWP, scratching my head and wondering why it isnt full.

[BigHerm]

I think the biggest factor is a lot of people just don't like Jim's voice. My boss, for example,  says "he always sounds like he's whining or crying."


Also the lyrics being hard to understand may turn new listeners away.

.02

[smhoffmann02]

It is bizarre.  It doesn't bother me so much that they're not more popular and/or recognizable than they are - it's just a shame.  For me, it's more about spreading the Jacket love because I know what I've gotten from the music and being a fan. ;)

[Fully]

On the one hand, I wish everyone knew how great this band is. I've turned several students on to them and anyone else that will listen to me. On the other hand, most bands that get as popular as I think this band should be play really shitty, radiohit music. Also, the people that come to the shows are there because they know one or two songs instead of being diehard fans. Plus, it will be that much harder to get tickets. I think that people who really love music are into this band. People who jump on the bandwagon because of one hit song don't tend to think about music as much. If MMJ were selling out 20,000 seat arenas every show, we would have a much more difficult time enjoying our favorite band.

[Crispy]

My thinking is that most people don't actually like music. Of course, when asked, anyone will say they LOVE music, but they really don't care to hear stuff that sounds different from what they're used to or challenges them, and most prefer to stay comfortable with something that they know they like, or that they know that other people like and will approve of. Hence, the state of radio today. As Fully says, that's fine with me, more for us!