These two albums come from a band staring straight ahead at a fork in the road – at a point of decision-making about what kind of band they were and wanted to be. Pearl Jam had come so strong out of the gate that a dip in quality was bound to happen. I actually think that a good number of people, Pearl Jam fans included, weren’t along for the ride at this point of the trip. These two albums exist in Pearl Jam’s second stage, one I have to admit I wasn’t totally a part of (see: Phase, Hippie). But they do have a couple albums that are, you know, not totally great. They don’t have any bad albums, which is impressive given the length of their career. Actually, I’m not sure I can say that about any other bands.įor the most part, Pearl Jam’s albums exist on a scale of Wow, This Album Is Great to Meh, This Album Is Okay. I’ve grown up with Pearl Jam, and I can’t say that about many bands.
I still remember listening to Ten over and over again in my folks’ basement, and the giddy anticipation my buddy and I had as his mom drove us to buy Vs. at the local record store. Why? Because that’s where Pearl Jam resides for me and it’s where they’ve lived since I first heard them more than 20 years ago. And that’s fun because I don’t know about you, but I love finding ways to acknowledge that I’m getting old.Īs for how the rankings were done and how this list was constructed, I let two key things make the decisions: my gut and my heart. Just studio albums and I’m getting this ranking out there as the band’s debut album, Ten, celebrates its 30th anniversary on August 30th. Pearl Jam does love to drop some live releases, don’t they?īut no, no live albums here, kid.
If I included the live albums, we could be here for weeks Pearl Jam probably just released a couple more live albums in the time it took you to reach this point of the piece, or at the very least, they thought about it. The task was to rank Pearl Jam’s studio albums. In the end, I believe I reached a conclusion I can live with. I covered a corkboard in Polaroids, string, and index cards to such a degree that it would make Carrie Mathison jealous. I asked the family of rabbits who live behind our shed for advice. I consulted with experts (my brother-in-law, a diehard Pearl Jam fan.) I did hours of research.
This was easily one of the most agonizing things I’ve ever done.
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