Let's talk Pearl Jam

[saenima]

Is there another band with such a confident, consistent, high quality start to their career as Pearl Jam?

Here's their output in the 90s:

Ten - 91
Vs. - 93
Vitalogy - 94
No Code - 96
Yield - 98

These are their first five albums. All of them are filled with instant classics and great songs that bloomed with time. Pearl Jam is one of those rare bands that seemed to find their own unique voice and identity within their first recording. And then managed to keep it fresh for a whole decade of steady output. Every single one of these should be on a list of the best rock albums of the 90s. Ten, Vs. and Vitalogy are arguably among the best rock albums of all time.

This is how they start their debut album:




This is probably my most played PJ song:




And then there's the classics everyone knows:




And the classics everyone should know:




Talking straight up 90s rock'n'roll, Pearl Jam might be the best band of that period. It's certainly my favourite.

Any PJ fans on Era?

 

[uncelestial]

Used to love them but that was during the 90s. They've been lost for 20 years now. Still, for all the hoopla about Nirvana's Unplugged set, the real best one was Pearl Jam's. Dave's drum work on that is some of the finest that MTV ever televised. They had some amazing moments.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llOpE85bmW0

Also, I don't know why, but watching this video makes tears stream down my face. Is it joy? I'm not sure.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVHVgDn9Rzg

 

[TheDestructiveSquirrel]

 

[uncelestial]

I actually love the Jack Irons era because there was something so pleasingly simple about his style but also he just had a ton of groove. I mean, he was the original Chili Peppers drummer, and wasn't Eddie in a Chili Peppers-related band in SoCal before PJ? It meshed really well in a garagey, gritty way that wasn't so over the top like the first three records.

They sounded earthy and humble and bittersweet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOAzJFd4KDA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p14GKXhN5O8

The line "if just once I could feel love stare back at me" is kind of heartbreaking.

 

[saenima]

Used to love them but that was during the 90s. They've been lost for 20 years now. Still, for all the hoopla about Nirvana's Unplugged set, the real best one was Pearl Jam's. Dave's drum work on that is some of the finest that MTV ever televised. They had some amazing moments.

Click to shrink...

Yeah they kinda fell off a bit after Binaural, but their 90s streak remains unmatched imo. I still rock them every other day.

As for the Unplugged, i completely agree. They are both outstanding, but Vedder is in a moment the whole way through. Highly emotional.

 

[Deleted member 14518]

Yeah loved them when I was a teenager. Ansty emotional times... Great to sing along too.

 

[DonMigs85]

I'm the first mammal to wear pants

 

[joecanada]

One time in a Sunday three of us were at work and on the radio they're like Pearl Jam tix still available for tonight! We were like wtf ? That's impossible then within 30 minutes we were like let's go ! This was a 3 hour trip so we left work early without telling anyone then drove straight there. By the time we were there the tickets were sold out lol so we doubled down and bought floor seats off a scalper for 150 each.
Epic show .
Then we walked like 2 hours to my buddy's cousins ex bfs house (yes it was weird ) with his pregnant wife to sleep the night.
Oh to be young again lol

 

[T.Rex In F-14]

First show I ever went to (2000, the stretch where they were releasing all their shows on CD). Have always preferred the Vitalogy/No Code/Yield trifecta to Ten/Vs.

 

[nilbog]

Don't forget Mirror Ball, it gets overlooked since it's labeled as a Neil Young album.

It's Neil Young's lyrics but all the musicians are Pearl Jam.

Eddie Vedder can be heard in background vocals and has a few solo parts.

Great, underrated album.

 

[Flambe]

Them along with Tragically Hip were my go-to bands for the whole damn 90s

 

[Paches]

All timer of an MTV Unplugged session. Incredible performance:

 

[signal]

 

[Artdayne]

So I still adore Ten and Versus but I feel like Vitology was largely a step down and No Code was a considerable step down. The band that I wasn't initially that high on because I wasn't a huge fan of their biggest hits, Soundgarden, has grown on me a ton. I'll take Soungarden's output in the 90s over theirs and I'm a much bigger fan of Tool over Pearl Jam as well. Also, let's look at Bad Religion's 90s output:

• Against the Grain (1990)
• Generator (1992)
• Recipe for Hate (1993)
• Stranger than Fiction (1994)
• The Gray Race (1996)
• No Substance (1998)

Good god!

 

[Ubik]

Vedder's soundtrack for Into the Wild is pretty great.

 

[AcidCat]

Meh, they were OK, they were one of those bands you were *supposed* to like, and sure I could kinda see it, but they just never really spoke to me and were just something MTV overplayed the hell out of and made me even further disinterested.

 

[31GhostsIV]

I adored PJ in the 90's, and I think No Code is overlooked and deserves more attention. The kinks in the armour started to appear for Yield though, and since then I will always try a new album when it releases but ultimately be underwhelmed - they became incredibly bland and sound like their coasting despite their obvious amount of talent.

it was also very typical of 90's acts to run away from a successful formula, hence they never made a Ten Pt 2. See also: Nirvana not playing Teen Spirit live when it was at its peak.

 

[pitt_norton]

I actually love the Jack Irons era because there was something so pleasingly simple about his style but also he just had a ton of groove. I mean, he was the original Chili Peppers drummer, and wasn't Eddie in a Chili Peppers-related band in SoCal before PJ? It meshed really well in a garagey, gritty way that wasn't so over the top like the first three records.

They sounded earthy and humble and bittersweet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOAzJFd4KDA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p14GKXhN5O8

The line "if just once I could feel love stare back at me" is kind of heartbreaking.

Click to shrink...

I miss Jack Irons in PJ so much. Yield and No Code are my favs easily.

 

[Sunster]

Black got me through my breakup

 

[TheSkullPrince]

Not gonna lie, sometimes on my commute home I sing the fuck out of Yellow Ledbetter lmao

 

[Mekanos]

Pearl Jam have a song named after me so they rock pretty damn good.

Alice In Chains will always be my favorite of the Seattle Four though.

 

[RandomDazed]

My fave pearl jam:

 

[Deleted member 5028]

Vedder's soundtrack for Into the Wild is pretty great.

Click to shrink...

It got me on board with him as a performer

 

[Tragicomedy]

I still love their 90s output to this day. The only grunge band that made it out alive.

 

[SM0KE]

Pearl Jam can't be discussed without talking about the fact that they are one of the greatest live bands of all time.

Though their 90s concerts rocked harder I personally love them the most after Boom Gaspar joined the band on keyboards and organ. Their concerts in Japan and Mexico in 2003 and the Live at the Gorge concerts from 2005 and 2006 are amazing.

I love their live albums even more than their studio work so my favorite PJ albums are:

Live at Soldier Field 7-11-1995
Live in Tokyo 3-03-2003
Live in Mexico City 7-19-2003
Live at the Gorge 9-1-2005
Live at the Gorge 7-22-2006


This concert is freaking awesome

 

[Epinephrine]

Those first five albums all range from good to great. Honestly, I'm not huge on Ten at this point in my life, it's my least favorite of that set of albums.

1. No Code
2. Vitalogy
3. Yield
4. Vs.
5. Ten

Jack Irons brought something special to that album with his drumming. As much as I enjoy and respect Matt's skill as a drummer, Jack had something unique. Eddie's lyrics were just killer on both No Code and Vitalogy. I think Vitalogy is their creative high point, but No Code still edges it out as my favorite.

I don't love their five most recent albums, self titled and Backspace would be my two favorites out of the group. You could cobble together one or two solid rock albums (that would appeal to me) together between all five. Honestly, I found Lightning Bolt so underwhelming that I've only listened to it twice in six years.

I have been to see them 4 times, first was in 2000, last in 2006. They were all great shows. I'd love to catch them again, hopefully on their next tour.

I'm glad they're still at it and I'm glad they're still making music. People change and tastes change, I'd much rather them make the music they enjoy making rather than trying to appeal to a subset of their fan base. Maybe I'll grow into those latter albums as I move quickly towards my 40s and beyond. Maybe they'll just never be for me, don't know, doesn't matter. I've got those first five and I love them all.

 

[B. Spaceman]

I've never been able to get into them. For example the song Jeremy, it sounds incredibly tacky and corny to me. And for an "alternative" band they don't sound all that influenced by punk. Nirvana and them are universes apart really

 

[acheron_xl]

Vs. is their best album by far. Ten is big, dumb, and iconic, but it got tired really fast, and every imitator it spawned was just utter garbage.

 

['3y Kingdom]

They always struck me as the most boring and straightforwardly rockin' of the "grunge" bands (and that was never a favorite genre of mine), and I've never really enjoyed any of their albums as a result. I love some of their songs, though, "Corduroy" in particular. Vedder can be a very charismatic frontman.

 

[GrimmGrinn]

Ten is the perfect album for me.

Love PJ <3

 

[kukubrew]

I really enjoy their music and I love this track. I like songs that build up to a crescendo, and the message and lyrics about abuse are so on point here. Eddie is really good at writing lyrics that are prose but feel poetic.

 

[Mona]

Ten - 91
Vs. - 93
Vitalogy - 94
No Code - 96
Yield - 98

Click to shrink...

great scores, they just kept getting better and better

 

[EloKa]

Pearl who? Oh ... that other Nirvana band.



I think they were the best of the grunge bands from a musical perspective, but unfortunately never really got the mainstream success that they deserved.

 

[teruterubozu]

Great band when they first arrived but somewhere down the line they decided to turn into a flacid "Americana" type band where their bootleg stuff became more important than albums with fans (kinda like the Grateful Dead). But they did find a formula to survive all these years, no doubt about that.

 

[zerosum]

I never loved them, but I liked a lot of what they did in the 90's.

Even back then I thought Ten was kinda bloated and overrated. VS. was great, and Vitalogy is by far my favorite of theirs.

Been awhile since I've went back to them. Thanks to this thread, I'll give them a revisit this weekend.

Used to love them but that was during the 90s. They've been lost for 20 years now. Still, for all the hoopla about Nirvana's Unplugged set, the real best one was Pearl Jam's. Dave's drum work on that is some of the finest that MTV ever televised. They had some amazing moments.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llOpE85bmW0

Also, I don't know why, but watching this video makes tears stream down my face. Is it joy? I'm not sure.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVHVgDn9Rzg

Click to shrink...

Agree 100% about the Uplugged set.

 

[teruterubozu]

I think they were the best of the grunge bands from a musical perspective, but unfortunately never really got the mainstream success that they deserved.

Click to shrink...

Well that's largely on them. They decided to shun the traditional model of mainstream success. It was their choice.

 

[Rangerx]

Out of the "big four" of the grunge era, Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, Nirvana and Pearl Jam I always like PJ the least. Ten is an absolute quality album though.

 

[Deleted member 9241]

Pearl who? Oh ... that other Nirvana band.



I think they were the best of the grunge bands from a musical perspective, but unfortunately never really got the mainstream success that they deserved.

Click to shrink...

From their Wikipedia page:

The band had sold nearly 32 million albums in the United States by 2012,[2] and by 2018, they had sold more than 85 million albums worldwide.[3] Pearl Jam outsold many of its contemporary alternative rock bands from the early 1990s, and is considered one of the most influential bands of the decade.[4]AllMusic editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine referred to Pearl Jam as "the most popular American rock & roll band of the '90s".[5] Pearl Jam was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on April 7, 2017, in its first year of eligibility.[6] They were ranked at no. 8 in a reader poll by Rolling Stone magazine in its "Top Ten Live Acts of All Time" issue.[7

 

[Biggersmaller]

I was always a fan, but Pearl Jam became my GOAT band with Binaural.

I also saw them live a few times. The unapologetic anti-Bush/RIP-Wellstone political rants were what I needed to hear in 2003.

 

[thecouncil]

Binaural and Riot Act are also really good.

Pearl Jam and Backspacer have their moments.

I never listened to Lightning Bolt, actually.

No Code is my favorite.

 

[EloKa]

Well that's largely on them. They decided to shun the traditional model of mainstream success. It was their choice.

Click to shrink...

From their Wikipedia page:

Click to shrink...

Guess I ment "mainstream success" more in the way like at some point Pearl Jam will already be long forgotten while people will still wear Nirvana shirts in public.

 

[Venatio]

First band I ever fell in love with after I bought Ten.

Rear View Mirror is my jam.

 

[saenima]

great scores, they just kept getting better and better

Click to shrink...

And then everyone gave Binaural a 00 D:

 

[RedMercury]

Vitalogy was a weird album. I remember I got it as a kid, it was kind of a booklet that had weird medical stuff in it, it was actually kind of creepy.

 

[nightstalker962]

Eddie Vedder is a great singer. This is evident in Dissident, one of my favorite songs of 1993.

 

[Ryuhza]

Binaural is madly underrated.





I also really enjoy Riot Act, though it could have cut a song or two. Still trying to get into what came after -- the slight shift in Eddie's vocal style come the eponymous album kinda threw me. The meme of not being able to understand what he sings never rang true for me before that. I really love his Into the Wild music though. And then Backspacer and Lightning Bolt waffle between my issues with the avocado album and a corniness to me, with a couple of cuts I like.

Vitalogy was a weird album. I remember I got it as a kid, it was kind of a booklet that had weird medical stuff in it, it was actually kind of creepy.

Click to shrink...

I always found it strange that many fans shunned No Code for being 'weird' while praising the shit out of Vitalogy. Both fine albums.

 

[Disco Stu]

Still great live. We saw them in Milan last year when we were traveling through Italy and Eddie's wife wore a "I care. Why don't you?" jacket trolling Melania.

That's gold Jerry, gold.

 

[Triggerhappytel]

I only got into Pearl Jam about 10 years ago. Absolutely loved 10, didn't really give Vs. much of a chance and I thought With Teeth was fairly average except for a couple of tracks. What else should I listen to next?

My favourite track is probably Jeremy.

 

[Ryuhza]

I only got into Pearl Jam about 10 years ago. Absolutely loved 10, didn't really give Vs. much of a chance and I thought With Teeth was fairly average except for a couple of tracks. What else should I listen to next?

My favourite track is probably Jeremy.

Click to shrink...

...Isn't that a Nine Inch Nails album?

 

[Deleted member 12028]

Binaural would be a lot better if the mixing on it wasn't so atrocious. I love every album from the 90s. Nocode and Yield are near the top for me.

I enjoyed backspaced when it came out, but don't feel the need to revisit it. Didn't even realize lightning bolt came out.