Jamie's Pearl Jam Top 10 Playlist
With a career that’s spun thirty years and eleven albums and counting, there’s plenty to choose from.
Jamie Mah @grahammah
Just incase you felt a tinge of nostalgia from having read my recent column on Pearl Jam and their status as aging musicians, (here it is if you haven’t), here’s a refresher of some of their best tracks.
As I dug through their catalog, it struck me how many gems there really are. The sound of Ten definitely resonates the most as it feels the most organic. Darkest. The kind of stuff I like. The song “Black” is unquestionably the singular achievement here.
With Vs and Vitalogy you see the group emerge with a dizzying array of songs, some of which work extremely well, (“Elderly Woman Behind the Counter In a Small Town”), while others not so much, (“Spin the Black Circle”). Regardless, their breadth of work by this point clearly cements them as one of the best groups of the 90s. "Betterman” and ‘“Daughter” were massive singles.
By the time we get to No Code, Vedder’s influence certainly shines, as he and the group find their inner Neil Young with standouts, “Off the Goes” and “Around The Bend.”
By 1998 and the release of Yield, tracks such as “Do the Evolution” foreshadow Vedder’s draw towards writing songs which reflect his inner fight with politics and corporate America. He has plenty of them on their latest release Gigaton. Fortunately, the animated video for “Do the Evolution” is kick-ass, as it had Todd McFarlane, the creator of the popular comic book series “Spawn” on board as co-director.
I’m skipping over “Last Kiss” because it sucks.
After 1998, my affection for the group waned, as I’m sure most yours did. I address this in my column. Nevertheless, the group soldier on with six more albums. Each would have at least one or two average to good songs. My personal favourites would be “I Am Mine” from 2002s Riot Act and “Just Breathe” from 2009s Backspacer.
They also have two standouts from the 1992 Singles Soundtrack, couldn’t forget those.
Find the playlist right here as well as on our Beats On Repeat Spotify and Apple Music pages
Anyways… enjoy!