Gay4Grunge: My Top 20 Pearl Jam Songs (1991-1995)

Pearl Jam's career can be divided into 2 phases. The first phase being when Pearl Jam was the biggest band in the world, which took place roughly between 1991-1995. The second phase, which began with No Code in 1996, is when Pearl Jam went from being the biggest band in the world to the band with the biggest cult following in the world. In a lot of ways, Pearl Jam themselves are the cause for this divide as they purposefully shunned fame and the media in order to survive as a band with their sanity intact. As a result, the music Pearl Jam released from 1991-1995 is the music that most people think of when you mention Pearl Jam. During those years Pearl Jam were not only the biggest band in the world, but the hits they released during those years continued to receive heavy rotation on rock radio for decades after they were released and those hits are still blanketing rock radio today. 

Pearl Jam's debut album Ten came out about a month before Nirvana's Nevermind, but it took a little longer to take off, meaning some thought Pearl Jam were bandwagon hoppers after the success from Nevermind. This couldn't be further from the truth, but hey critics love telling lies about Pearl Jam and every other Grunge band in order to build up Nirvana. Still, once Ten began to gain traction it exploded across pop culture turning Pearl Jam into instant superstars overnight and it's not hard to hear why. Ten is a perfect album with great songwriting, great production and lots of passion. While the band would later dismiss the slick but atmospheric production of Ten, I actually love it. There's a certain aura to that first Pearl Jam album that the band never quite recaptured again. 

The group's second album Vs saw the band forgo music videos entirely, which some saw as career suicide at first, but those people were quickly silenced when Vs broke sales records for selling the most copies of an album in a single week. Vs was also the first album to be produced by Brendan O'Brien who would go on to be Pearl Jam's main producer for years to come. On Vs the gloss from Ten is stripped away and we hear Pearl Jam get more punky on the rockers and more folky on the ballads. While it didn't match the sales of Ten, Vs still sold over 7 million copies and a lot of Pearl jam fans point to Vs as their favorite album by the group. 

By 1994 Pearl Jam was facing some really heavy times of trouble. First there was the suicide of Kurt Cobain, which rocked the entire music world, but especially the Seattle Grunge musicians who felt adrift afterwards. Eddie in particular took this very badly because he and Kurt had both been thrust into the spotlight as the voices of Gen X, which neither had been comfortable with. After Kurt died Eddie felt even more alone than before. Then there was Pearl Jam's legal battle with Ticketmaster, which ended up keeping the band off the road and unable to tour properly since they were boycotting any venue connected to Ticketmaster. Finally, things came to a head with Pearl Jam's drummer Dave Abbruzzese, who was fired by the end of the year. The band in general was fraught with tension too and all these things contributed to Pearl Jam's third studio album Vitalogy, which is easily the darkest album Pearl Jam has ever released. 

Vitalogy was also Pearl Jam's weirdest album up until that point with 4 experimental tracks that tested the patience of some of their fans. Vitalogy marks an important turning point for not only Pearl Jam, but for many of their fans as well. For some fans this is the album where they turned their backs on Pearl Jam and started listening to other more mainstream post-grunge acts such as Live and Bush. For others Vitalogy is the last truly great Pearl Jam album that saw the band still at full flight when inspiration hit, but by No Code most of those fans would also jump ship. Vitalogy was not as big as Ten or Vs but it still went #1, sold over 5 million copies and had some of Pearl Jam's biggest and best hits such as Betterman and Corduroy. Those hits off Vitalogy also mark the last hits by Pearl Jam that stuck around on rock radio long after they were first released. After Vitalogy Pearl Jam continued to have rock radio hits, but once those hits ran their course they would be dropped completely and rock radio would return to the songs off the band's first three albums. 

Vitalogy marks the last Pearl Jam album where the band was still courting a mass audience and it's the last album casual fans remember. This is why I've decided to split up my countdowns of Pearl Jam's songs. When most people tell me they want to get into Pearl Jam I tell them to start at the very beginning with Ten and then go forward chronologically and see how far they get. Many of those same people usually love Ten, like Vs, enjoy parts of Vitalogy and then they hit a wall much like fans did in the late 90s. So, if you're new to the band start here with this countdown. While I leave off some fan favorites, I think many of my picks showcase the band at their most accessible. 

Another reason I wanted to separate this era too is that early Pearl Jam were the great storytellers of Grunge. Whereas Layne Staley and Kurt Cobain sang about their own personal struggles and demons, Pearl Jam would have songs about other people struggling, especially women. I would argue that there is no other white straight cis male in rock music who has been able to sing about the mistreatment of women as convincingly as Eddie Vedder. Eddie really seems to come from a place of true compassion and empathy in all of Pearl Jam's songs and this is another reason early Pearl Jam connected with so many people, especially those who were struggling. 

In general though Pearl Jam inserted their liberal politics into most of their early material and they were not afraid to sing about topics that might have been considered too dark, depressing or taboo for rock and roll. Many of these early Pearl Jam songs discuss school shootings (Jeremy), homelessness (Evenflow), molestation (Daughter) white privilege & police racism (W.M.A. aka White Male American), spousal abuse (Betterman), addiction (Deep), gun culture & toxic masculinity (Glorified G) abuse in mental health facilities (Why Go), the dangers of the music industry & the way it destroys lives (Immortality) and more. These are all issues that are still relevant today and perhaps they are even more pressing now than they were in the early 90s sadly. Still it's why the power of these songs still holds up 3 decades later and why Pearl Jam's message is still as important and as vital as ever. So, with that said let's dig into these songs. 

20. Glorified G (1993)

When I first bought Vs in the fall of 2002, Glorified G was one of the first songs to grab me because it had a nice bounce to it that was very catchy. It reminded me a bit of the Spin Doctors, which probably isn't a coincidence since 1993 was the year of The Spin Doctors thanks to their double smash hits Little Miss Can't Be Wrong and Two Princes. The fun bouncy nature of the song though is juxtaposed with Eddie singing from the point of view of a man who likes having a gun so he can feel more powerful and masculine:

"Got a gun, fact I got two

That's O.K. man, 'cause I love god
Glorified version of a pellet gun
Feels so manly, when armed"

Later on, you can hear Eddie speak on top of the music where he says "It's ok because he's an American." Pearl Jam let their entire audience know they hated guns right from the jump and Glorified G is one of their most damning anti-gun songs they've ever written. With mass shootings now happening on a daily basis across this country, we've now seen where this mixture of guns and toxic masculinity is killing people and destroying lives every single day and it's going to get worse if nothing is done.

19. Better Man (1994)

Better Man is one of Pearl Jam's most beloved singles and they almost didn't record it. Eddie didn't want to sing it at first because he thought it was too commercial. Luckily the rest of the band kept pushing for it and Better Man ended up becoming the biggest song off Pearl Jam's 1994 album Vitalogy. One of the reasons it's so beloved is the structure of the song, which starts very slow and quiet before building up more and more until it becomes a bona fide anthem that can be sung by an arena full of people. Better Man is also one of Pearl Jam's most misunderstood songs too, since many thought it was a simple love song and would request the song on radio stations back in the early 90s and dedicate it to their partner. If those people listened to the lyrics though they'd maybe realize that this song is actually about spousal abuse. The song begins with Eddie singing:

"Waitin', watchin' the clock

It's four o'clock, it's got to stop
Tell him, "Take no more"
She practices her speech
As he opens the door, she rolls over
Pretends to sleep as he looks her over

She lies and says she's in love with him
Can't find a better man
She dreams in color, she dreams in red
Can't find a better man"

This woman is trying to build up the courage to tell her lover that she is through with them and she will leave this time, but by the time he comes home she simply goes to bed and lies to herself that she can't find a better man. When I saw Pearl Jam live in 2006, many of the proceeds from ticket sales were going to a battered women's shelter in Boston. It's clear that this is another issue that Pearl Jam cares about intensely and it's why this song has the power it has once you realize it's not a love song. 

18. Last Exit (1994)

Vitalogy was Pearl Jam at their darkest and their most desperate. As the first track to the album, Last Exit sets the tone perfectly as Eddie sings from the point of view of someone who is at the end of their rope and is ready to give up or give in, depending on the circumstance:

"Lives opened and trashed..."Look ma, watch me crash..."

No time to question...why'd nothing last...
Grasp and hold on...hold tight and fast...
Soon be over...and I will relent...
Let the ocean swell dissolve 'way my past
Three days and maybe longer won't even know I've left"

While Pearl Jam never came across as suicidal as Kurt Cobain, they did feel like a deer trapped in headlights and were doing all they could to escape the crushing weight of fame. Vitalogy is the last album where Pearl Jam is battling their own stardom and the music machine as a whole, which is why a lot of people love it. It's also why many fans feel Vitalogy is Pearl Jam's last great album, because a lot of their best songs come from a place of friction and defiance and by No Code they seemed to have come to some sort of peace. More on No Code and Pearl Jam's later albums in my next article.  

17. Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town (1993)

The longest song title in Pearl Jam's catalogue, Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town is also one of their most straightforward and stripped-down songs. On Vs Pearl Jam got rid of the atmospheric gloss of Ten and went for a rawer approach. The ballads are much folkier on Vs and Elderly Woman sounds like it could have been a folk pop hit for Simon & Garfunkel or The Byrds back in the 60s. It's also a song about aging and how you can never truly hold on to the past, which feels very Paul Simon to me. When I saw Pearl Jam live in 2006, this song was a highlight due to the entire arena singing along to every lyric. 

16. Once (1991)

As the opening track to Pearl Jam's debut album Ten, Once does a great introducing Pearl Jam's sound and vibe right out of the gate. Once starts with some very atmospheric production that the band cut out on the Greatest Hits and the remaster of Ten, but I love it. It gives the album this moody quality before erupting into a sea of guitars as Eddie delivers one of his most intensely reckless performances ever. Although Once wasn't officially a single, rock radio still played the heck out of it anyway and it's become one of Pearl Jam's most popular songs. Once even opens Pearl Jam's 2004 Greatest Hits, but sans that atmospheric intro. 

15. State of Love & Trust (1992)

As one of two original songs that Pearl Jam contributed to the 1992 film soundtrack for Singles, State of Love and Trust ranks high amongst many Pearl Jam fans. Many fans say it's in their top 5 songs if not their best song ever. While I wouldn't go that far personally, hence its #15 ranking, it does kick a lot of ass. Early Pearl Jam had a ferocity to them when they really wanted to crank up the guitars and this is one of the band's most kickass rock songs ever. The whole band is on fire on this track and it really demonstrates how great they were as a band and why they took off as quickly as they did. The guitar solos are fantastic too. 

14. Nothingman (1994)

Nothingman is the quietest moment on Vitalogy and it's also one of the loveliest ballads Pearl Jam has ever done. The song itself deals with a relationship where a woman realizes that the man she is with is never going to better themselves or achieve anything. She used to love him and believe in him, but now she realizes it was all for naught"

"Isn't it something?

Nothingman
She once believed in every story he had to tell
One day she stiffened took the other side
Empty stares from each corner of a shared prison cell
One just escapes one's left inside the well
And he who forgets will be destined to remember oh oh oh
Nothingman
Isn't it something?
Nothingman
Oh, she don't want him
Oh, she won't feed him after he's flown away
Oh, into the sun ah, into the sun"

Whenever I hear this song I also think about my high school talent show my junior year, because two class seniors did stripped down versions of Black Bird and Nothingman. Most people in the audience were much more gung ho for the Beatles song, but I of course loved the Grunge song even more. Probably my favorite performance at the talent show that year, especially since I can't remember the rest of that Talent Show. 

13. Indifference (1993)

Vs sees Pearl Jam on the attack throughout and it rarely lets up, which gave us one of the most intense albums of the 90s. Its closing track is a different story as it sees the band really turn down the volume. Pearl Jam goes for a desolate nighttime vibe on Indifference, where it feels like you are completely alone in a place that's mostly just silence. When I first bought Vs in high school, I didn't think too much of this song, since I was more into Leash and Animal where the rocking and angst is dialed up to 11! As I've gotten older though, Indifference has slowly but surely become one of my favorite Pearl Jam songs. The song is really just a mood, but if you're in the right mood it's a perfect song to chillax too on a quiet night when you're alone in the house or even outside with the stars above you. 

12. Not for You (1994)

Not For You probably represents the tone and vibe of Vitalogy best, because this song sees the band, and especially Eddie Vedder, lashing out to the point that it sounds like Eddie is spitting venom out of his mouth while he sings. Eddie is beyond pissed off here, as he attacks the music industry and media who swarmed down on Seattle and picked the city clean before throwing a lot of those bands in the trash can. Eddie hates how this music scene was completely co-opted and exploited to youth culture in order to make money for those at the top.

"All that's sacred, comes from youth

Dedications, naive and true
With no power, nothin' to do
I still remember, why don't you?
Don't you?

This is not for you
This is not for you
This is not for you
Oh, never was for you
Fuck you"

That last part where Eddie sings Fuck You is probably the most vicious moment Eddie Vedder has ever had on record and you can still feel its sting to this day. 

11. Garden (1991)

Garden is a deep cut on the back half of Ten and due to its placement and the fact that I've never heard it on FM radio, I think this song sometimes gets overlooked. The atmospheric but slick production on Ten really shines here on Garden and it really envelopes you as it plays. Like Indifference, this was a song that I originally felt, well, indifferent towards, but over the years Garden has become a real favorite of mine. I think Garden is also a big favorite of Creed's as well since they've lifted that opening guitar part for at least half a dozen of their own songs in the late 90s and early 00s. 

10. Rearviewmirror (1993)

Many of Pearl Jam's songs deal with victims of abuse, which can be very dark but unlike most of their grunge peers, Pearl Jam is not without hope. Rearviewmirror is about the feeling of freedom you get when you leave behind those who either abused you or were toxic to you. In this case they are escaping in a car and leaving behind those who hurt them in the past. The song itself is fantastic and apparently the group performed it over and over again in the studio until they got it just right. It was so exhausting that when they finally nailed it you can hear the drummer throw his drum sticks at the wall in frustration in the end and you can hear it at the end of the song when listening to Vs. 

9. Immortality (1994)

Immortality is one of my favorite Pearl Jam ballads. I love the atmosphere of it and the guitar work on it is so good but subtle at the same time. It's a song that really creeps up on you the more you listen to it. Lyrically this song seems to be dealing with Kurt's death, but also the idea that pop music treats musicians as products that can be thrown in the trash when they are no longer useful:

"Immortality

As privileged as a whore
Victims in demand for public show
Swept out through the cracks beneath the door

Holier than thou, how?
Surrendered, executed, anyhow
Scrawl dissolved, cigar box on the floor"

This sentiment reminds me of something Pete Townsend said years ago in which he said the idea of pop music being this everlasting flame that never goes out is so appealing at first. Yet, when you get closer to the flame you realize that thing that's keeping the flame alive is bodies. The Who are also Eddie Vedder's favorite band of all time so I gotta think he's heard this quote from Pete Townsend as well. That fire not only took Kurt, but it would also end up taking most of Pearl Jam's peers in the years to come. Pearl Jam managed to avoid it thankfully, but you can tell there's probably a bit of survivor's guilt there with Eddie as well. 

8. Daughter (1993)

Daughter is an acoustic ballad that seems nice and gentle at first until you realize that it's about a dad sexually abusing his own daughter. It's not super obvious when listening to the lyrics, but once you know what it's really about everything clicks:

"She holds the hand that holds her down

She will rise above, uh uh

Don't call me daughter, not fit to
The picture kept will remind me

The shades go down"

Daughter captures this trauma as it's happening in real time and those last lines about the shades going down gives us an ominous ending, because there really is no end in sight for the abuse this father is inflicting on his daughter. With that said, I like to think of Rearviewmirror as the sequel to Daughter where she finally packs up and leaves her home behind forever. Despite its dark subject matter, I think the message of Daughter went over most people's heads much like Betterman did, because it became one of Pearl Jam's biggest hits ever. Daughter spent weeks at number 1 on the Mainstream Rock chart as well as topping the Alternative Rock chart. In the two times I saw the Pearl Jam live they didn't perform Daughter unfortunately so here's hoping when I do get around to seeing them live again, I will hear Daughter. 

7. Breath (1992)

The other song off the Singles soundtrack is one of my personal favorites. I like this one even more than State of Love & Trust though I'm probably the only person who thinks that. Both are great songs though and I've always loved the guitar solo at the end quite a bit. The Singles soundtrack is one of the definitive documents for Seattle Grunge in the early 90s as is the movie itself. Pearl Jam appears in the movie, but as Matt Dillon's backing band. This fictional Seattle Grunge band is called Citizen Dick and their signature song is Touch Me, I'm Dick, which is a reference to the Mudhoney song Touch Me I'm Sick. Two of the members of Mudhoney used to be in a band called Green River in the mid-00s, which also featured two members who would go on to be in Mother Love Bone and Pearl Jam. So, to me there are multiple levels of Seattle Grunge history happening within that single joke alone. 

6. Animal (1993)

Animal is as ferocious as its title might suggest and was an instant favorite of mine when I first listened to Vs. This track starts at 11 and continues to stay at 11 for its entire run time and it pulls no punches either. While Ten is still my favorite Pearl Jam album, I can understand why many fans prefer Vs, because tracks like Animal are much more raw and immediate than anything off Ten. It feels like this song could cut you if you're not careful. Eddie keeps repeating the mantra "1,2,3,4,5 Against 1," which seems to refer to the band itself standing in solidarity together against those that would try to tear them down or exploit them or co-opt them, but it also feels like a rallying cry for the band's fans as well. Pearl Jam has always had a deep connection with their fan base and maybe more than any of their peers in all honesty and that connection really started to deepen on Vs. While Pearl Jam had stopped making music videos by this point, they did perform Animal on the 1993 MTV VMA awards so MTV played that performance during their music video rotations all the time back then so they could at least play something by Pearl Jam at that point. Pearl Jam did a great version of Animal live on the VMAS where you can see Jeff Ament literally jumping across the stage while he plays. The energy level is unreal and it's a great reminder of what a great live band Pearl Jam really is. 

5. Jeremy (1991)

Jeremy is probably Pearl Jam's most iconic single and the biggest reason why is the music video. The story in the actual lyrics of Jeremy is a little oblique in some ways and it's easy to miss that this is about a boy who shoots himself in front of his classmates one day because he can't take their taunting anymore and his home life is terrible. The video depicted this in a very stark way that left little room for interpretation, but that's also what made it so powerful as well. There's a reason that this music video swept the 1993 MTV VMAS and is regularly listed as one of the greatest music videos of all time. The success of Jeremy is also the moment Pearl Jam's popularity went supernova and they would become the biggest band in the world. The song itself is great and Eddie Vedder delivers one of his best vocal performances, especially at the end, which can still give me goosebumps at times. Also love the way the song opens which is very creepy and always sets the mood as soon as it starts. Jeremy pre-dates Columbine and the rash of school shootings that would grip the nation not too far after, but it now acts as a disturbing prelude to what was coming. Jeremy is a song about bullying, mental health and the dangers of guns in this country and all those things have become even more severe in the 30 years since Jeremy was released as a single. As a result, the song still feels as powerful as ever and still has some important lessons to teach for those willing to hear it. 

4. Go (1993)

Go is the opening track to Vs and it establishes how much more punk and blistering Vs is going to be in places compared to Ten. I'll admit I wasn't too taken with this song in particular when I first bought Vs, but after seeing Pearl Jam perform it live in 2003 that quickly changed. Go was the second song Pearl Jam performed at that show after opening with Oceans and it was explosive on stage! It was one of the best live performances I had seen up till that point and I'll never forget it. Ever since then Go is now my favorite song off Vs and I listen to it constantly. The best part of the song is the last 30 seconds where Pearl Jam just keeps upping the intensity level more and more before climaxing with some great drumming from Dave Abbruzzese. I feel Dave's contributions to the band have been ignored and under-appreciated over the years because Pearl Jam fired him, mostly because he enjoyed success from what I've gathered. I think the punk fury and intensity you hear on both Vs. and Vitalogy is aided greatly by Dave's drumming and why those 2 albums rank among many fan's favorites by the group. Pearl Jam will never admit that now, but it's true in all honesty. 

3. Alive (1991)

Alive was Pearl Jam's debut single and one of the first songs the group recorded together. Eddie drew upon his own life when coming up with the lyrics to Alive. When Eddie was growing up there was a gentleman who was a friend of the family that Eddie would see all the time. After that man died, Eddie's mother finally told him that his father was actually his step-father and his biological father was the man who was friends with the family. This revelation was crushing for Eddie, because now he could never get to truly know his father anymore. Eddie injected a lot of that story in here while embellishing it and making it more epic. It helps to have a band like Pearl Jam to add a sense of weight and majesty to the proceedings, because Alive sounds like one the greatest anthems in all of rock history. Easily applicable to the classic rock anthems from 60s and 70s while still having a fresh and updated spin to it. The guitar solo at the end could honestly be the best and most epic guitar solo of the decade. I remember seeing Pearl Jam perform this live in 2006 and it was certainly a moment I'll never forget. While Alive comes from a dark place lyrically, the chorus is so anthemic and life affirming that it becomes an anthem of hope when performed live as thousands of people sing the lyrics back to Pearl Jam. 

2. Corduroy (1994)

Corduroy is a big fan favorite among Pearl Jam fans and there's a reason for that. The reason being that it's awesome! Another reason is that there really is no other song that really sounds like Corduroy, even in Pearl Jam's own catalogue. The song slowly fades in at the start and it has an interesting structure that keeps you on toes throughout. It also features great interplay between all the band members to the point that you can hear nobody else doing this song like Pearl Jam does it. Corduroy is dark and mysterious, but it's also anthemic and uplifting too and it perfectly captures the contradictions of Pearl Jam's music wonderfully. The extended jamming during the coda is also one my favorite moments in Grunge and 90s Alternative as a whole. When I was still listening to DC 101, the local rock station in Washington DC, one of the afternoon DJs loved Corduroy and would play it all the time during his afternoon slot and I loved that for him and I loved that for me. When I saw Pearl Jam in 2006, they performed Corduroy and it was great as expected. I never grow tired of this song and I don't think I ever will. 

1. Evenflow (1991)

Hearing Evenflow on the radio at school in the darkroom of my photography class got me interested in Pearl Jam and left me wanting to find out more about them. 20 years later Evenflow is still hands down my favorite Pearl Jam song and I don't think that will ever change. This is one of the best full throttle rock songs of the decade and there's a reason Pearl Jam performs it at almost every concert as well. Some fans prefer the music video version of Evenflow, which is a bit more live and raw, but not me I'm all about the album version. No matter what Pearl Jam or their fans say, the album version of Evenflow is the definitive version for me. Some people complain about this song's oversaturation on rock radio and they are not wrong because rock radio LOVES Evenflow, but guess what I do too so every time it comes on, I'm ready to hear it. Still, despite Evenflow being a great pump-up rock song, the song sees Pearl Jam tackling another social issue which is homelessness and mental health and how the two are correlated. At the start of the song Eddie sings:

"Freezin'

Rests his head on a pillow made of concrete again
Oh, feelin'
Maybe he'll see a little betters, any days

Oh, hand out
Faces that he sees time again ain't that familiar
Oh, dark grin
He can't help, when he's happy, he looks insane

Even flow, thoughts arrive like butterflies
Oh, he don't know, so he chases them away
Oh, someday yet he'll begin his life again
Life again, life again"

Like a lot of Pearl Jam songs, people tend to overlook the lyrics and the meaning of the song itself and just focus on the music, which is easy to do when you have a song as thrilling as Evenflow. Evenflow is certainly the most kick ass rock song ever written about a homeless man. This is another song I never get tired of and every time Evenflow starts I'm ready to hear it yet again. Evenflow is in my top 10 songs of the 90s period.