Gay4Grunge: My Top 15 Pearl Jam Songs (1996-Present)

On my previous countdown I ranked my 20 favorite Pearl Jam songs from 1991-1995, which is when Pearl Jam was arguably the biggest rock band in the world. Starting with No Code in 1996 though Pearl Jam lost most of the mass audience they had been courting and went from being the biggest band in the world to the band with the biggest cult following. There are many reasons for this, with the first being Pearl Jam themselves. After the overwhelming success of Ten, Pearl Jam started to retreat from the spotlight. They stopped doing as many press interviews and they stopped making music videos. Now Pearl Jam was so popular that TV stations that played music videos found creative ways to still play new Pearl Jam songs, whether it was MTV using the band's performance of Animal at the 1993 VMAs during regular music video rotation or other stations putting together a cheap video collage for Daughter. 

By 1994 Pearl Jam got embroiled in a lawsuit with Ticketmaster that kept them off the road for 2 years and the only venues they could play were very out of the way and hard to get tickets to. On top of that Vitalogy, despite having some pretty big hits, also tested Pearl Jam's audience with 4 experimental tracks that were boring at best and grating at worst. The band also won a Grammy in early 1996 for Spin the Black Circle and Eddie Vedder basically said the award was worthless in his acceptance speech, further alienating fans and music industry insiders. 

Another reason Pearl Jam's popularity started taking a hit is that Grunge music was on its very last legs in 1996 with bands like Soundgarden, The Screaming Trees and Alice in Chains releasing their final albums before breaking up. There were also rumblings of a teen pop revival, which would push Grunge and Gen X as a whole off of center stage and put a relatively young Gen Y in the spotlight. The music industry found this new and much younger demographic to be much more appealing because we were more accepting of pop music and not as critical as Gen X had been about most things in the early 90s. After five years of not knowing what to do with Alternative Rock, the music industry was thankful to get back to the way things were again and they were rewarded with huge sales figures that eventually broke Pearl Jam's sales records earlier in the decade with acts like The Backstreet Boys, NSYNC, Britney Spears and The Spice Girls. 

When No Code came out in the fall of 1996 it's lead single Who You Are topped the rock charts as expected, but disappeared from radio after it ran out of steam. No Code meanwhile entered the charts at 1, but quickly tumbled down the chart and stalled at platinum. While selling a million records would be a great thing in the post Napster and post iTunes age, it was a huge decline for a band whose first album had sold well over 11 million copies five years earlier. While Pearl Jam had purposefully shunned the media initially, the media still came to them in the early 90s due to their popularity. Now the media no longer cared since the general public had moved on and I think this spooked Pearl Jam just a little because they changed things up for their 1998 album Yield.

Yield was a return to a much more classic rock sound for Pearl Jam and it was much more accessible than No Code or Vitalogy. The lead single Given to Fly recalled Led Zeppelin and was a big success on rock radio. Meanwhile the band also put out their first official music video since Ten with Do the Evolution, which received heavy rotation on MTV that summer. The band also announced their first arena tour in years since they put their battle with Ticketmaster behind them. In the end Yield was still nowhere near as big as Ten, Vs or Vitalogy, but it helped solidify Pearl Jam's core fanbase. Pearl Jam had finally found a happy medium of being popular enough to sell out arenas, while still flying under the radar of the mainstream by that point. 

I would argue that No Code and Yield are probably the last great Pearl Jam albums and I would rank them 4th and 5th after Pearl Jam's first 3 albums. In the 2000s Pearl Jam released 4 albums and none of them were as strong as their 90s albums. Some fans and critics prefer some of those '00s albums over others, but by that point only critics and diehard fans were keeping up with Pearl Jam. I will say that my favorite Pearl Jam album of the 2000s is Riot Act and my least favorite is the 2006 self-titled album (though I know I'm in the minority here on both counts). Still the difference in quality in the band's 00s album is pretty slight. I would say most of them rank as a B or B- for me. Again, not as good as their 90s albums, but generally ok with a few strong tracks on each album that are worthy of being on a best of Pearl Jam playlist. 

After the '00s ended Pearl Jam slowed down. They released only 1 album in the 2010s with Lightning Bolt in 2013 and it was followed up 7 years later with Gigaton in 2020. Both albums I'd describe as business as usual for Pearl Jam and while neither is bad, I really don't find myself listening to many songs on either album if I'm being honest. I've decided not to include anything from Pearl Jam's last two albums on this list because I really don't have much to say about them. Besides if you're just getting into Pearl Jam, those last 2 albums should be last on your list anyway. Also, if you're just getting into Pearl Jam go start at the very beginning and also check out my list from last week. That said, if you know early Pearl Jam well and you want to dig further than this is the list for you! Again, this is a mix of deep cuts and singles that rank among my personal favorites from Pearl Jam from 1996 through the present. While Pearl Jam's first 3 albums will always be their most iconic, there are definitely some gems to be mined from their later albums and that's what this list is going to do. So, let's jump in! 

15. World Wide Suicide (2006)

Pearl Jam hated George W Bush with a fiery passion, so it's no surprise that the band directly attacked the President on the two albums they released during the Bush administration. The biggest of their anti-Bush songs was World Wide Suicide, which was the lead single to Pearl Jam's 2006 self-titled album. Critics loved this album because Pearl Jam dropped the weird experimentation and became a straightforward rock band again. Personally, I find the album to be a bit too generic for my taste and I think that the more atmospheric moments on 2000's Binaural and 2002's Riot Act are the highlights of those records as you'll see later on. That said, I can hear why World Wide Suicide was seen as a return to form and welcomed by rock radio with open arms with the song topping the rock charts. Lyrically I find the song even more relatable in the year 2022 as it seems to capture the chaos and destruction we have been living through these past 6 years:

"Medals on a wooden mantle

Next to a handsome face
That the president took for granted
Writing checks the whole world pays
And in all the madness
Thought becomes numb and naive
Too much to talk about
And nothing for to say

It's the same every day
And the wave won't break
Tell you to pray while
The devil's on his shoulder
Laying claim to the take
That our soldiers save
Does not equate, and
The truth's already out there

The whole world
World over
It's a world wide suicide"

For those who like Pearl Jam at their most rocking World Wide Suicide should satisfy your appetite. 

14. Amongst the Waves (2009)

Eddie Vedder is a devout surfer and Amongst the Waves is one of his best odes to the joys of surfing. In the song he equates surfing with love as he sings 

"And once outside the undertow

Just you and me, and nothing more
If not for love, I would be drowning
I've seen it work both ways

But I am up riding high amongst the waves

Where I can feel like I
Have a soul that has been saved
Where I can feel like I've
Put away my early grave"

In a lot of ways surfing feels like Eddie's religion, the one thing he can count on to give him peace and quiet. He can escape all his troubles once he is surfing. Pearl Jam isn't known for being a surf band like The Beach Boys but the Beach Boys were not real-life surfers either like Eddie Vedder so I guess it evens out. Amongst the Waves was the third and final single off the group's 2009 Backspacer and while I didn't hear it on the radio it is deserving as being one of their better post 90s songs. 

13. No Way (1998)

After the sales disappointment of No Code, Pearl Jam decided it was time to finally give the people what they wanted and what they delivered was Yield. Yield is one of Pearl Jam's most overt classic rock sounding albums and it seems aimed at the people who loved Ten but fell off the Pearl Jam bandwagon sometime after Vs. Lead single Given to Fly sounds a lot like Led Zeppelin's Going to California, which I have to believe is intentional. Still, while Given to Fly is a solid song, I prefer the other Led Zeppelin flavored track, which is called No Way. No Way sounds a lot like Led Zeppelin's When the Levee Breaks and since that's my favorite song off Led Zeppelin 4, I dig Pearl Jam's spin on it. Lyrically this song seems to be about Eddie realizing that by trying to do a lot of good he ended up alienating a lot of people at the same time with the main chorus being

"'Cause I'll stop trying to make a difference

I'm not trying to make a difference
I'm not trying to make a difference
No way" 

Listening to that chorus I can almost see Eddie throwing his hands up in the air and deciding he'll stop trying to change the world since he gets nothing but guff for doing it. Of course, Eddie didn't stop trying to change the world, but because Pearl jam became more low profile from this point forward, his charitable actions were not questioned constantly like they had been in the past. Still this song was another sign that Pearl Jam wasn't going to challenge their audience on this album the way they had been challenging them during the mid-90s and for some fans that felt like a relief.  

12. I Am Mine (2002)

I Am Mine was the lead single to Pearl Jam's 7th studio album Riot Act and it came out during my initial flush with Pearl Jam and Grunge as a whole. At first, I didn't care for it because I only knew Ten and Vs at that point and I wanted something more in line with that. After hearing it a lot of rock radio though I eventually came around to it, which was close to when I Am Mine disappeared from rock radio. Still, I liked it enough to purchase Riot Act, which was the third Pearl Jam album I owned. This song seems to be very folk inspired and lyrically it seems to deal with the idea that while everyone is born into this world and everyone will die too, it's the in between that matters because that's when you get to decide how best to live your life. The song also has a nice guitar solo at the end as well. 

11. Nothing as It Seems (2000)

The lead single to Pearl Jam's 2000 album Binaural, Nothing as it Seems sounded very different from any other Pearl Jam song that had been released as a single up until that point. Nothing As It Seems is very spacey and very psychedelic and it sounds like you're floating into space as it plays. I can see where this might have taken some of Pearl Jam's fans by surprise since this song saw the band go into uncharted territory. While many of their peers got psychedelic or spacey at times such as Soundgarden, The Screaming Trees, Stone Temple Pilots and especially The Smashing Pumpkins, Pearl Jam never delved fully into that side of rock besides a track or two off of No Code. The guitar work is also really good and underrated on Nothing as It Seems, which shows the band wasn't resting on their laurels at this point. Pearl Jam were honestly trying to push themselves and their audience at the same time. Nothing As It Seems is the definition of a slow burn, but it does reward after repeated listens. 

10. Light Years (2000)

The second single off Binaural is another winner. Many fans point to this album as one of Pearl Jam's worst and I can understand why. It's definitely a step down from their five 90s albums and the rockers are a little too generic and forgettable as a whole. With all that said, Pearl Jam still shines on the album's singles, which are very clearly the highlights of Binaural for me. Like Nothing as It Seems, Light Years is another slow burn that rewards after multiple listens. The song has a very subtle build to it that's easy to miss, but by the end the song really has leveled up and ends on a very strong note. I don't listen to the two singles off Binaural as much as my favorite songs by Pearl Jam from the early the 90s, but when I'm in a Grunge or Pearl Jam mood I usually play these two songs a lot. 

9. Do the Evolution (1998)

Do the Evolution was the third single off of Yield and it's most remembered for its anime style music video, which showed the evolution of mankind and the planet. The music video depicted how we as a species have only gotten more & more selfish and greedy to the point that we are actively harming others, ourselves and the planet as a whole. In all honesty the music video is scarily prophetic of the times we are living in now, which once again shows how Pearl Jam continues to be on the right side of history. The song itself doesn't hold back either as it's one of Pearl Jam's most punk performances ever with Eddie possibly sounding even more angry than he was on Not for You. Here's the first part of the lyrics:

"Woo

I'm ahead, I'm a man
I'm the first mammal to wear pants, yeah
I'm at peace with my lust
I can kill 'cause in god I trust, yeah
It's evolution, baby, yeah

I'm at peace, I'm the man
Buying stocks on the day of the crash, yeah
On the loose, I'm a truck
All the rolling hills, I'll flatten 'em out, yeah
It's herd behavior, uh huh
It's evolution, baby, good"

Already we see Eddie attacking men who commit horrible deeds but hide behind religion, while simultaneously destroying the earth for their own selfish needs. Eddie dives deeper into that on the next part when he sings 

"Admire me, admire my home

Admire my son, he's my clone
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
This land is mine, this land is free
I'll do what I want but irresponsibly
It's evolution, baby, uh" 

We as a species are actively harming the planet but we just don't care because we think everything on this planet belongs to us. My favorite part though comes next with 

"I'm a thief, I'm a liar
There's my church, I sing in the choir
Hallelujah
Hallelujah"

Here Pearl Jam are calling out the hypocrisy of those in power who commit terrible crimes but hide behind their religion and think all their sins are absolved because they think they are holier than thou. Meanwhile these people are actively harming others and are also using religion as a weapon to demonize others. Pearl Jam are not having any of that. I also like how a choir starts singing at the hallelujah part, which is a nice touch too. 

8. MFC (1998)

MFC is a deep cut off of Yield that I've dug since the very beginning. Like Rearviewmirror, MFC has a feeling of escape to it, but it feels lighter and more soaring at times, which makes it feel even more optimistic. In the song Eddie describes a girl driving into the sunset:

"Sliding out of reverse into drive.

This wheel will be turning right, then straight.
Off in the sunset she'll ride.

She can remember a time, denied.
Stood by the side of the road.
Spilled like wine now.
She's out on her own and line high.
There's no leaving here.
Ask I'm an ear.
She's disappeared now."

The song itself is also short and to the point and doesn't overstay its welcome. 

7. You Are (2002)

Matt Cameron, the former drummer from Soundgarden, joined Pearl Jam at the end of the 90s after Soundgarden broke up. Binaural was the first record he played on, but Matt's influence on the band is really felt on the group's 2002 album Riot Act. On You Are the band filters a guitar through a drum machine, which gives it a very interesting and unique sound that stands apart from anything Pearl Jam had recorded up until that point. I will say this song's sound and production is what really drew me in when I first bought the album and this song has been added to many a playlist for me over the last 20 years as well. 

6. Present Tense (1996)

Present Tense has long been one of my favorite Pearl Jam deep cuts. Structurally the song reminds me a bit of Lightning Crashes by Live in that it starts very slow and quiet, but as the song unfolds it slowly builds up until it hits its exciting climax. That said, whereas Lightning Crashes climaxes with the chorus, Present Tense climaxes with an excellent guitar solo that always gives me an endorphin rush whenever I hear it. Something else I want to add about Present Tense is that I used the lyrics "It makes much more sense to live in the present tense" as my senior quote in the yearbook, because I obviously had to have a grunge quote to remember me by. 

5. Brain of J (1998)

Most Pearl Jam albums start with a fast-paced rocker to get the blood pumping, with Riot Act being one of the exceptions, which I'll get to soon. Brain of J is the opener to Yield and it sees Pearl Jam bashing through this garage rocker with reckless abandon. On this track Pearl Jam plays with just as much energy and punkiness that they did on Vs & Vitalogy, but was lacking a bit on No Code. I feel Brain of J was a statement of purpose for the band after the commercial indifference No Code received two years prior. After the 90s ended Pearl Jam would struggle to match the energy, they showcased in the 90s so I consider songs like Brain of J to be one of their last great full throttle rockers. 

4. In My Tree (1996)

Speaking of No Code, this track grabbed me before I even bought the album. I remember going to CD Now's website to listen to clips off No Code and within the 30 second clip I was drawn to In My Tree and knew I needed to get No Code eventually. As I stated earlier Pearl Jam doesn't get too psychedelic unlike many of their peers, but No Code came the closest since it felt very inspired by eastern music and the 60s. In My Tree feels psychedelic in terms of its instruments, production and structure. You actually hear lots of tribal drumming on this song as opposed to the more punk rock drumming heard on Vs or Vitalogy. This new style of drumming comes courtesy of Jack Irons, who was a former drummer for the Red Hot Chili Peppers and who joined the band after they fired Dave Abbruzzese. Irons' drumming gave this era of Pearl Jam a worldbeat type vibe that translated to something a bit more eastern and psychedelic. My favorite part of the song is the end though with the guitar solo, which is one of the coolest sounding guitar solos of the 90s. 

3. Can't Keep (2002)

Speaking of drummers, let's get back to Matt Cameron. As I said earlier, Cameron joined the band in the late 90s and while Binaural was the first album he drummed on, Riot Act is the first Pearl Jam album where you can really hear his influence. As I said earlier most of Pearl Jam's album openers up until that point were full throttle rockers. The minor exception being No Code, which opens with a short quiet number called Sometimes before Hail, Hail storms the speakers. On Riot Act, Can't Keep is the opener and it's very different from any album opener Pearl Jam has ever done before or since. The first thing that jumps out about this song is the drumming and it's very memorable, maybe the best part about the song but not the only good parts. I really like the acoustic guitar on it a lot too and the song's overall build is hypnotic but strange. On this song you can really feel Matt Cameron's presence and influence on the band and as a Soundgarden fan I dig it. Can't Keep seems to be a love it or leave it proposition for most Pearl Jam fans though. I think because Can't Keep is so different from their regular sound, fans either think it's not a credible Pearl Jam song or they love it because it stands out from the pack. I'm part of the latter group of fans. Remember too that Riot Act was the third Pearl Jam album that I bought back in 2002 so maybe I was more open to it as a result. Either way it's my favorite song off of Riot Act and my second favorite song by Pearl Jam after the 90s ended. 

2. Hail, Hail (1996)

Hail, Hail was the second single off of No Code and it's probably the one song off No Code that sounds the closest to early 90s Pearl Jam. Hail, Hail is the kind of full throttle rocker that Pearl Jam excels at though it has more texturing and production layering than say Last Exit or Go and that is because it's from No Code. Still, I've always wondered why Pearl Jam released Who You Are as the first single off No Code instead of Hail, Hail. Who You Are topped the rock charts on career momentum alone, but it quickly tumbled down the chart and was promptly removed from modern rock radio playlists. Hail, Hail became a solid top 10 rock hit afterwards, but the damage was already done. If Hail, Hail was released first it too would have gone to #1 on career momentum, but it might have stuck around on rock radio for a lot longer and gotten more people to check out No Code. Of course, you could say that Pearl Jam's plan with No Code was to shed their audience with Who You Are as the lead single, but I think that plan worked a little too well, which is why Pearl Jam ended up course correcting a bit on the follow-up with Yield. Either way Hail, Hail has slipped through the cracks for all but the most dedicated Pearl Jam fans. I think that's a shame because this is the type of song that people who love early Pearl Jam will love. The band wasn't rocking as much by No Code, but they could still rock out when inspiration hit and Hail, Hail is proof of that. 

1. The Fixer (2009)

To me The Fixer is not just the best post Vitalogy Pearl Jam song, but it's also probably Pearl Jam's last truly classic single as well. When The Fixer came out rock radio and Vh1 were all over it (by the late 2000s Pearl Jam finally decided to start making music videos again.) I remember people saying it was the best Pearl Jam song since the early 90s. My mom liked it a lot too. I think one of the reasons the song is so catchy is that Eddie Vedder draws out some vowels when singing and if you know me and have followed my blog you know I love when artists draw out a vowel for a vocal hook. The Beatles did it all the time, which is another reason their songs are so catchy. What stands out about the Fixer is how fun and upbeat it sounds! The band's 2009 album Backspacer came out at the start of the Obama administration and you can tell Eddie is joyous and relieved after living through the Bush years. The Fixer feels like a rare feelgood Pearl Jam song that lifts your spirits as it plays and to me it's a perfect way to close out the band's silver age.