Pearl Jam are a 5/5. They have one of the deepest, strongest catalogs out there. and Iāll still enthusiastically back everything they did through Riot Act. One of my biggest regrets is allowing myself to be convinced into selling my ticket to see them in 2003.
Theyāre a band that I got into accidentally. The big Ten singles had never done much for me growing up, but then in 1998 I fell in love with two songs on the radio - one was very sad and bluesy, the other uncomfortably tense and full of doom. The early internet wasnāt much help in figuring out what they were, so I bought every album one by one in search of them. This wasnāt successful given that Yellow Ledbetter and I Got Shit arenāt on any album, but it worked out because I ended up getting a new second favorite band.
I think theyāre an unfair victim of early 90s and indie elitism. Itās never sat well with me how Eddie Vedderās anger is dismissed by so many people as fraudulent or somehow less than that of Kurt Cobain. To this day I still hear people call him a poser, which is really so embarrassing. Eddie strikes me as someone who in his core has a natural intolerance for injustice, and I love how he uses his platform (both in his music and outside of his music) to call out bullshit and enact change. Taking on Ticketmaster, being openly feminist and pro-choice in 1991, eviscerating right wing pricks, speaking out against the Iraq War before it was remotely socially acceptable, and devoting his time and resources to fighting to free the West Memphis Three from wrongful imprisonment are way more punk rock than affecting disinterest in commercial success will ever be.
I get that Eddieās voice is divisive but personally I love it. I think he has one of the most forceful and surprisingly versatile voices out there. Sure, a lot of shitty bands tried to copy him, but a) thatās not his fault and b) they never got it right. Donāt think many people, if any, can pull off the incredible performance he turned in on Vitalogy in particular.
I guess Iāll just very briefly talk about each album and try my best to limit myself to posting two songs - thatās going to be hard, especially for the Vs. - Vitalogy - No Code run, which is going to get the bulk of the focus.
Ten
Ten is a very good album but despite what a lot of people who stopped there will tell you, it isnāt their best and certainly isnāt all you need from them.
Love how bouncy and noisy Why Go gets:
Porch is a monster of a song, still canāt believe itās only 3 and a half minutes.
Vs.
Vs is a furious, exciting blast of political anger. As others have pointed out, itās really unfair that people label Pearl Jam as mopey and self-pitying - the album is centered on calling out racist cops, domestic abuse, power imbalances, gun violence, and the general shit nature of humanity, and it even ends with a statement calling for self sacrifice to make the world a better place (and they certainly walked the walk on this). Go is one of the most relentless album openers ever recorded and Leash one of the most joyously anthemic Fuck You songs there is. Rearviewmirror of course is a perfect song and Iām happy to see it leading the poll even if I probably wonāt be able to vote for it myself. Love that final buildup where they lock in and how you can hear Dave A throwing his sticks against the wall at the end.
Vitalogy
Vitalogy is their best album, as much as it pains me not to give that title to No Code. Itās every bit as pissed off as Vs is, but thereās an added darkness and sadness running through it. The 8 song sequence from Last Exit to Corduroy is one of the most perfect, exciting stretches of music by any band (people should study it for a lesson on album pacing). It took me years to fully realize it, but Corduroy is a masterpiece. Itās a microcosm of the album as a whole - thrashing, angry, wounded, anxious, and beautiful. The āeverything has chainsā bridge is such an incredible, iconic moment. And speaking of incredible bridges, Not For Youās sudden twist from seething anger into fuzzed out sadness is one of the best there is. Immortality is an all-time great album closer (ignoring Stupid Mop) - just a genuinely sad song, you can feel the pain in his delivery and in the guitar solo, both in the quiet part and when it explodes. The album sounds incredible too, the drums and guitar are so raw and powerful. Back when I had my band I wanted my drums to sound like the drums on Last Exit (they didnāt).
No Code
No Code is like a warm, sad hug coming out of Vitalogyās storm. Itās their prettiest and most introspective album, and you can really hear the Neil Young influence on it. Off He Goes and Present Tense are two of the best and most beautiful ballads of the 90s (the build and burnout of the latter is a truly magical sequence), and Smile is their We Only Come Out at Night - such a simple song but so moving with that soaring āI miss you alreadyā chorus. It still has some great classic Pearl Jam rockers in Hail Hail, Habit, and the minute long paranoid blast of Lukin. Jack Ironsā drumming on this album is perfect, I love how bouncy and pretty it gets.
I hope people who only know the Ten singles give this one a shot, itās really a special album that got me through some awful times when I was younger.
Yield
Yield is another great and especially cohesive mix of beautiful and heavy material. Brain of J and Do the Evolution are two of their very best loud songs (the latterās music video is a classic, love that their return to the spotlight was calling out how shitty everything is. Very on brand), and Low Light is like that magical, fuzzy feeling of being tucked into bed when youāre a kid before aging / life rob you of your ability to sleep restfully. A true hidden gem.
Binaural
An extremely underrated album. At this point you might be able to say theyāve settled into a formula, but the songs are still great and thereās enough variation in tone that itās still rewarding and enjoyable. The most experimental song on the album, Sleight of Hand, is one of their few best and perfectly captures that horrifying feeling of realizing youāve wasted your life grinding away at a job you hate.
A nice, Vitalogy-esque fast one:
Riot Act
Another underrated album that varies between their most conventional and most experimental material. Iāll always respect them for shitting on Bush before it was acceptable - releasing this after 9/11 could have been career suicide. I canāt think of another band so massively successful who consistently jeopardized their career (and at times actually damaged it) to do the right thing the way they did.
An amazing experimental one:
A great pissed off one that didnāt fully hit until last year for some reason:
S/T
I like this album a lot more than most people. It hasnāt stood the test of time the way their others have (when it came out I was obsessed with it), but I appreciate the ramshackle approach and the anti-Iraq War sentiment. Army Reserve, the song they co-wrote with one of the West Memphis Three, remains a classic and their best song since Sleight of Hand in 2000. Love the contrast between the sad verses and the anthemic chorus.
B-Sides
Pearl Jam are a great B-Sides band.
Backspacer / Lightning Bolt / Gigaton
Feels unfair to lump Gigaton in with the others since itās a considerable step up but Iām crashing hard. Think after S/T they fell into inessential / comfortable legacy band territory, but there are still some gems scattered in there. I really like the lead single off of Gigaton, itās a departure for them and I think they nailed it.
So yeah, Pearl Jam are a 5/5. Great music and great people (and they treat their fans exceptionally well).
