Rock music largely divided into two strands by end of the 1970s. There’s a tangible Neil Young influence on No Code the way Vedder’s voice creaks on the opening ‘Sometimes’, while the harmonica of ‘Smile’ recalls Young’s ‘Heart of Gold’. Pearl Jam had recently collaborated with Neil Young on the Mirror Ball album and the Merkin Ball EP. There’s grungy rock, but there are hints of psychedelia like ‘Red Mosquito’, downbeat acoustic songs like ‘Off He Goes’, the excellent McCready composition ‘Present Tense’, and even a Stone Gossard vocal spotlight on ‘Mankind’. The addition of Jack Irons on drums created my favourite Pearl Jam lineup – after the frenzied approach of Dave Abbruzzese, Irons gave the band more subtlety. There are intense moments like ‘Habit’ and ‘Hail Hail’, but it touches on many moods. and Vitalogy were both oppressively dark, but in the wake of Kurt Cobain’s suicide, 1996’s No Code feels like the band emerging from a dark tunnel. The best songs on Vitalogy, like ‘Immortality’, ‘Nothingman’, and ‘Corduroy’, are stronger than anything the band had released previously, but fans were dismayed by experimental pieces like the accordion-driven ‘Bugs’ and ‘Hey Foxymophandlemama, That’s Me’.

Vedder began to assert control of the band with 1994’s Vitalogy, playing guitar and leading the band towards punk. was another big seller for the band, although often the guitar riffs are the most memorable aspects of songs like ‘Animal’ and ‘Go’. featured a tougher, more aggressive sound, and was also more diverse, notably the acoustic songs ‘Daughter’ and ‘Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town’. In 2009, the band released a remixed version of Ten.ġ993’s sophomore record Vs. Ten hasn’t aged gracefully, featuring a 1980s arena-rock production that betrays the band’s stadium rock influences like The Who and KISS.

Kurt Cobain attacked Pearl Jam’s grunge credentials, claiming that Ten had too many guitar leads. Pearl Jam became a part of the big four grunge bands along with Alice in Chains, Nirvana, and Soundgarden. 1991’s debut album Ten was eventually a huge hit.

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