Recorded during breaks on their strenuous Vs. "Daughter", by contrast, is plaintive and lovely, and "Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town" has survived nearly two decades of dorm-room slaughtering intact, an effortless and sunlit acoustic ballad that Rod Stewart could have written for Every Picture Tells a Story.īy the time of 1994's Vitalogy, Pearl Jam had spent a lot of energy on extra-musical fights.
For all their clenched fury, songs like "Go", "Animal", and "Blood" mostly just thrashed awkwardly in place. appears as the moment where it became crystal-clear that Pearl Jam's ballads were ultimately stronger than their rockers. Hell, even "Glorified G" boasts a killer bridge. But the way Vedder hollers "she gave him away," you'll catch yourself momentarily shaking your head in disgust at the woman's cowardice. Nevertheless, Vedder's anguished tenor anchors us through some rough waters- including "Dissident", which, for some reason, focuses on the Lifetime movie-worthy story of a lonely spinster giving shelter to and falling for a charismatic young revolutionary, only to surrender him to the authorities. is filled with this sort of clumsily wielded, early-90s political indignation, and it can make for precarious listening. "Kindred to being an American," Vedder pronounces in a hokey fake-jingo accent, over a corn-pone Skynyrd guitar lick: it's the sort of wince-inducing mess we get when he attempts to be caustic. At its most winning, Pearl Jam's music exudes his best personality traits: warm, earnest, generous, passionate, and, yeah, harmlessly dopey sometimes.Ĭonsider, for example, Vs.'s cringe-inducing gun-control song "Glorified G". It is this burning and self-evident need for human connection, more than anything else, that has always elevated and redeemed their most dubious efforts, and it was a quality personified by Eddie Vedder, an empathetic lead singer who transmitted a vivid emotional intensity. But focusing on these flaws, as most rock critics did and still do, misses out on the music's signature virtue, which is communication.
Pearl Jam's retooled take on classic rock was often lumpy and flat-footed, and they sounded hopelessly unfashionable next to their punk-influenced contemporaries.
Their music, as always, remains the least complex part of this equation. But as a band, this remains their most vital and endearing period- the last time the entire world cared deeply about what Pearl Jam would do next. Their huge-selling debut, Ten, hit with an impact that could not be repeated, and they would go on to make some very good music later in their career. and Vitalogy, and it makes them Pearl Jam's most resonant and affecting records.
TOP PEARL JAM ALBUMS SKIN
Their protracted feud against Ticketmaster seems similarly remote now that Pearl Jam seemingly never stop touring: whether you live in Albany, West Palm Beach, Ljubljana, or Katowice, Pearl Jam probably just stopped by or will be there shortly, treating their entire discography like an all-you-can-eat buffet. These days, few bands are more comfortable in their own skin than Pearl Jam, and the monolithic mass culture bearing down on them in 1993 has vanished into thin air.īut even if the media context has long crumbled, the sound of a young band absolutely freaking the fuck out is still loud and clear on Vs. Consider: The opening salvo in Pearl Jam's war against commercialism was their decision, for 1993's Vs., not to make a video for MTV, a situation with no present-day analogue. This willful abdication of fame has become their most well-known, oft-told story, and seeing these records given lavish repackaging only highlights that it feels like ancient history now. and Vitalogy bear their struggle's deepest marks. In the years that spanned the original release of these two albums, they spent most of their effort scrambling to escape stardom, and Vs. It's an unusually protracted foray into the limelight for what was once a chronically spotlight-averse band, but they seem to be wearing the moment lightly, savoring it for its valedictory worth and gladly soaking up the adulation. It's their 20th anniversary, and they're marking the occasion with a blowout, yearlong victory lap: a massive curated festival, a career-spanning documentary directed by Cameron Crowe, and loving reissues of their second and third albums, Vs. In 2011, Pearl Jam celebrate the achievement of having been Pearl Jam for a very long time.
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