485: Pearl Jam — Vitalogy (Epic, 1994)

Overall rating: 2

Level of Prior Familiarity: 2

How I Listened: Spotify on my living room stereo, after multiple attempts at listening in other ways

Like every other self-respecting cusp-of-Gen-X-please-don’t-call-me-a-millennial child of the 90s, I listened to Pearl Jam. I never loved them the way I loved Nirvana or Alice in Chains, or even Soundgarden, but I liked them just fine. “Jeremy” is and always will be one of the greatest songs of all time.

The problem is I don’t understand almost anything this band has done after Ten. That album was a breakthrough, a revelation, especially in context of everything else that was happening in Seattle at the time.

By contrast, Vitalogy seems like over-indulgent cock-rock (which, really, is the last thing you’d ever really say about Eddie Vedder’s writing style).

For starters, it’s full of fluff. I could excuse the experimentation of “Bugs” or “Stupidmop” if The Beatles hadn’t made “Revolution 9” 26 years earlier. Not that they’re the same thing, or even the same style, but if you’re going to drop weird soundscapes throughout your album, at least make them great (see: Ænima).

And then there’s the punk rock songs. From a grunge band, who previously had broken the punk rock mold and built something original, just three years prior. Tracks like “Spin The Black Circle” or “Whipping” seem like a regression to me.

But there are shining moments, namely the hit singles “Better Man” and “Corduroy.” Both are Vedder’s songwriting and singing at their finest, and manage to highlight the dynamic nature of this band.

I know in the bottom of my heart that Pearl Jam isn’t a one-trick pony, and I guess that buy’s them an extra point on my 1–5 scale. But unfortunately this album falls really, really flat for me. I actually like Vs. better than this one, and that album didn’t even make the RS500.