Flea is an incredible bassist and all of the guitarists they have had are tremendously talented musicians in their own right. I don't know what about that people can't enjoy...
Pablo Honey to me is laden with grunge and American college rock influences. Thom Yorke has said REM, Pixies and Nirvana were big influences on the band at the time and i think it shows. It doesnt sound very British at all to me.
myself and most people i know listened to Pearl Jam when we were younger and can still have a good laugh along to 'Vs' or whatever today, but i'd happily pistol-whip the sub-Bono MOR f*cker.
I'm all for the quality over quantity approach myself, too... there's nothing worse than 70 to 80 minutes of constantly droning, boring music with nothing to sustain your eagerly awaiting ears...