Pearl Jam: Vs.
The band’s sophomore album managed to live up to the hype after the mega-successful Ten.
October 19th marked the 30th anniversary of Pearl Jam’s sophomore album, Vs.
It was the morning of June 22nd 1997, while my Dad was driving me around to deliver Sunday morning papers for my paper route job that I had, when I heard a Pearl Jam song on the radio that wound up getting stuck in my head. Later that day, I would find out that a good friend of mine at the time was in critical condition at a local hospital after suffering a near fatal car accident two days prior. Overwhelmed with emotion, I made the decision to try and alleviate some of my high anxiety by purchasing my first ever Pearl Jam album, Vitalogy.
I wound up loving it so much that three days later I would buy No Code and Vs. and would embark on my journey of entwining that band into a soundtrack for my life over the next few years. With No Code taking a lot longer for me to fully appreciate, it was Vs. that had the more immediate impact. Vs. was the album that, as a teenager, inspired me to pursue human rights and start doing volunteer work.
Originally titled “Five Against One,” Vs. was released on October 19th, 1993. To give you an idea as to how big Pearl Jam had become back then (if you aren’t an old goat, like me, who lived it), Vs. set the record for most album sales for any album in its opening week, selling over 950,000 copies. The record also stayed in the #1 spot on album sales for five straight weeks.
Stone Gossard stated that he thought the title of the album for him was more so about “The struggles you go through to make a record, your own independence…your soul…against everybody else's.” (Loudwire.com).
The writing and recording process for Vs. saw the band head to Nicasio, California, in March of 1993. Eddie would state later that Vs. would be the record he had the least enjoyment writing. The recording location was much more luxurious than their previous locations, and Eddie often felt uncomfortable being around that much comfort.
Often disappearing or sleeping in his truck, Eddie struggled with finishing song lyrics and felt quite a bit of pressure this time around after the near overnight success of their previous debut album, Ten. Jeff Ament mentioned that he had just assumed since they were playing so well together that everything would take care of itself. It wasn’t that way for Ed.
The Jam.
Starting the album off with a riveting fast pace, “Go” gives off a sort of double entendre. These lyrics could reflect someone trying to avoid being abused, or someone trying to keep their vehicle from dying on them. The only song with the guitar riff written by drummer Dave Abbruzese.
Next, the album jumps into another faster song, “Animal”. A song that makes me think of how animals can often be preferential to the poor attitudes and behaviors that humans can often exhibit. I definitely relate to this song at times.
Probably the most recognized song off of the album, “Daughter” wound up being one of their biggest hits during the first half of the 1990’s. This song points a spotlight on parental abuse of a child who is suffering through an undiagnosed learning disorder.
In typical Pearl Jam fashion, Eddie Vedder takes a sarcastic stab at gun culture in the song “Glorified G”. After a debate with another band member, Eddie turned parts of the conversation into lyrics to further push his thoughts on the issue.
Coming in next is the track “Dissident”. A song about a woman turning a refugee into the authorities after originally caring for them, and the regret she feels after.
In“W.M.A.,” also known as “White Male American,” Eddie’s own words:
“I think I’d probably stayed at the rehearsal studio the night before, and it had been a couple of days since I had a shower, and I’ve got my old shoes on, and I don’t look too great, a little grunge in my teeth or whatever.And I’m sitting there with this guy who’s of a darker color than me, and along come these cops, they run around with their bikes trying to look cool. So here they come. They're heading straight for us, and they just ignored me and started harassing him.
Compared to me, this guy looks as respectable as fuck, but they started hassling him, and that just blew me the fuck away. So I started hassling them. One thing led to another…I had all this fucking energy rushing through me. I was mad. Really fucking angry. I got back to the studio, and the guys had been working on this thing, and I just went straight in and did the vocals, and that was the song.”
“Blood” comes in at track seven. This song is about the media exhausting and exploiting artists. Sucking out the blood while simultaneously profiting and turning them into what they themselves once despised. Ed can’t express his frustration with the media any more obviously than with this specific lyric: “Paint-Ed big, turn-Ed into, one of his enemies”
This next song encapsulates the feeling of needing to get out of a bad situation. Driving away while watching an abuser slowly disappear in your rearview mirror, hence the title “Rearview Mirror.” Many times this has been the first song I listen to while driving away from my own personal problems. Definitely one of my favorites on the album.
“Rats”feels like it has a similar message that “Animals” has. The song compares humans to rats and points out that humans are worse to each other than even rats are. My favorite part of the song might be the lyrical shout out at the end to Michael Jackson and the Jackson 5 song “Ben”, a song Michael wrote about his pet rat when he was kid.
Next up is track ten, “Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town”. A song Ed wrote about a woman working in a deli in a small town. She sees an old flame walk in who she hasn’t seen in years. She recognizes him, but he doesn’t recognize her. She thinks about getting older and being stuck in a small town wasting years.
This song was originally just a practice song Eddie came up with to help himself maintain rhythm, but after some of the other bandmates heard it, they pushed for it to be on the record.
“Leash” is a song about teenage youth, and how much we all couldn’t wait for real freedom to start, wanting to be left alone by adults to seek out becoming an adult ourselves.
The album comes to a close with the slowest song on the record, “Indifference.” The emotional and haunting perspective of knowing a relationship was soon coming to an end. This is another song I found myself listening to during my own rough times, like most of this album. It’s a perfect closure to an uptempo album that, like its title of Vs. suggests, feels like being pit against something.
Felt like a fitting end to this article.