The last survivors of the '90s' mega-selling Seattle bands, Pearl Jam released their ninth studio album this week,
Backspacer, which rocketed to the top of the Australian charts.
While the other big grunge guns Nirvana and Soundgarden had punk and metal inclinations respectively, Pearl Jam always boasted a classic rock edge, their arena-ready alt-anthems influenced more by The Who, Led Zeppelin and Neil Young than The Stooges or Black Sabbath.
But their whole career has been a battle. Initially viewed as flannel-wearing cash-ins, Pearl Jam have fought the critics and ticketing corporation Ticketmaster, while also overcoming the Roskilde tragedy where nine fans died in their moshpit.
In the end, their legacy and influence is a lasting one. Here are the five albums that made them one of the most important rock bands of the '90s.
Ten (1991)
AWASH with massive guitars, drenched in distortion and reverb and topped with screaming lead breaks and Vedder's iconic and much-copied drawling howl, Ten's songs sound like they were made to be played in stadiums. Guitarist Stone Gossard and bassist Jeff Ament wrote the bulk of the material to be more hard-rock edged than their previous band Green River, something amplified by Vedder's often darkly personal lyrics, which were pre-occupied with death, isolation and despair. The angst struck a chord with teens, selling 13 million copies in the US (Nirvana's Nevermind sold 10 million) on the strength of the now-classic singles Even Flow, Alive, Black and Jeremy.
V s (1993)
BETTERING an impressive debut is hard, but Pearl Jam did that with Vs, their best album to date and the one Vedder called the "least enjoyable'', due to being "too comfortable''. Written largely through jamming, recorded mostly live and powered by Dave Abbruzzese's awesome drumming, Vs opens by blowing up in your face with raw rockers Go and Animal before delivering their first anti-ballad, the much-loved Daughter. There's hardly a dud track - the enjoyable anti-gun rant Glorified G, the quaintly sad small-town portrait Elderly Woman..., lighters-in-the-air closer Indifference, the suitably road-trip-worthy Rearviewmirror and the raucous punk-funk of Blood, to name a few.
Vitalogy (1994)
RECORDED while the band was relentlessly touring, incessantly arguing and occasionally rehab-ing, Vitalogy is the first sign of any cracks appearing. In an attempt to be experimental, the band dispense some mediocre filler tracks (Bugs, Hey Foxymophandlemama, Aye Davanita and Pry, To), weakening an otherwise impressive album. The best tracks are among their greatest - Spin The Black Circle, Not For You and Tremor Christ rock hard and shift the album gradually down through the gears in time for the first of the Vitalogy's great ballads, Nothingman. The other great quieter moment is Better Man which, along with Corduroy, is one of the few good moments in the record's disappointing second half.
No Code (1996)
DESPITE disappointing many fans, No Code is a far better album than Vitalogy as it sees the band getting a grip on the good kind of experimentation. In the first half, they lure you in with low-key opener Sometimes before smashing the stage with Hail, Hail then inviting you for a campfire singalong in Who We Are. Elsewhere, there's the simple-but-effective Smile, rocker In My Tree, acoustic torch-song Off He Goes, and the sublime garage-pop of Mankind amid some misfires. The band dismissed the album as rushed and were still arguing when they made it, but the addition of new drummer Jack Irons (ex-RHCP) not only had a calming effect but added a new percussional quality to some of their songs.
Yield (1998)
PEARL Jam yet again honed their diversity, playing with sounds in a more coherent way than the past. Lo-fi guitar tones gave No Way a dirty edge to its groove, Brain Of J and Do The Evolution were two of rawest songs they'd done to date, while Push Me, Pull Me was almost industrial with a tidy little chorus. The band even let Irons run wild on the mid-album drum interlude Untitled, but managed to get back to their roots with MFC. Dynamic single Given To Fly was one of their biggest hits since they first came out, while the sweetly simplistic Wishlist became a fan favourite. Once again, as has happened with every album they released, critics declared it "a return to form''.
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