FEATURE:
Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town
Pearl Jam's Vs. at Thirty
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EVEN though it was a number one album…
in America, there was a certain pressure on Pearl Jam’s shoulders after the release of their 1991 debut, Ten. Released in the same year Nirvana’s Nevermind came out, Ten was seen as a more Hard Rock approach. Not as feral or filthy, Ten was a more epic and slightly cleaner sound. Pearl Jam’s masterpiece debut was followed by relentless touring. A rawer sophomore album followed. Probably closer in turn to what contemporaries like Nirvana produced in 1993, Vs. (released on 19th October, 1993) is Pearl Jam’s first collaboration with producer Brendan O'Brien and its first album with drummer Dave Abbruzzese. Compared to their commercial debut that was met with videos and a lot of promotion, that was all pegged back for Vs. The band did not release any music videos. In spite of this, Vs. sold almost a million copies in its first five days of release. Staying at the top of the Billboard chart for five weeks, it was a monster success and emphatic follow-up to Ten – proving they could change direction and keep the excellence and consistency up. I am going to mark the upcoming thirtieth anniversary with a few features and reviews for the album. The band - Dave Abbruzzese – drums; Jeff Ament – bass, upright bass; Stone Gossard – rhythm guitar, backing vocals; Mike McCready – lead guitar; Eddie Vedder – lead vocals -, were on sensational form for their second album! I guess there was a lot of hype and people pitting Pearl Jam against Nirvana.
There was no real rivalry or competition between Pearl Jam and any other band. They did not need to prove themselves. Regardless, they very much meant business on an album that still sounds as direct and raw as it did back in 1993. Thirty years later and you can feel and hear every element and layer of Vs. I am going to get to some anniversary features. LoudWire did a retrospective on Vs. last year. In spite of Vs. being this incredible album that one assumes was quite quick to record, Pearl Jam did have some conflicts and struggles:
"For me, that title represented a lot of the struggles that you go through to make a record," revealed guitarist Stone Gossard to Rolling Stone. "Your own independence — your own soul — versus everybody else's. In this band, and I think in rock in general, the art of compromise is almost as important as the art of individual expression. You might have five great artists in the band, but if they can't compromise and work together, you don't have a great band. It might mean something completely different to Eddie [Vedder]. But when I heard that lyric, it made a lot of sense to me."
Vedder revealed that the title also dealt with the media scrutiny the band was under, stating, "They were writing all these articles ... Our band against somebody else's band. What they hell are they talking about? You know, don't try to separate the powers that be. We're all in this together."
Speaking of the struggles, the band had a few en route to completing the disc. As the new guy coming in on Ten, Vedder had a bit of a blueprint to work from, but relocating to remote location in California to record Vs. didn't exactly sit well with the singer, who struggled with writing during the sessions.
Bassist Jeff Ament recalled, "Recording Vs., there was a lot more pressure on Ed. The whole follow-up. I thought we were playing so well as a band that it would take care of itself. ... He was having a hard time finishing up the songs, the pressure, and not being comfortable in such a nice place." Vedder himself told Spin, "The second record, that was the one I enjoyed making the least ... I just didn't feel comfortable in that place we were at because it was very comfortable. I didn't like that at all."
However, one positive from the album sessions was the band's newfound relationship with producer Brendan O'Brien, who would go on to oversee many of the band's albums after this first experience. During the sessions, O'Brien had the band line up as though they were playing live. Gossard recalls, "I think we allowed things to develop in a more natural, band-oriented sort of way, rather than me bringing in a bunch of stuff that was already arranged”.
Maybe that idea of Pearl Jam not being in competition with someone was short-sighted. As Albumism speculated with their twenty-fifth anniversary feature in 2018, there is a degree of aggression and Pearl Jam making a statement. Things would drastically change in Grunge and Rock the year after Vs. came out. Whereas Nirvana lost their leader, Kurt Cobain, Soundgarden released their definitive album, Superunknown. The years between 1991 and 1994 were sensational for Grunge and Hard Rock:
“Pearl Jam’s sophomore effort Vs. (1993) was a record born of conflict. The title alone is an obvious indicator that the band was gunning for something or someone. Lyrically, the album is awash with references to trauma and discord. The opening refrain from “Animal,” the album’s second song, recounts “One, two, three, four, five against one” that puts the band at odds with some notion of corporate America.
Some of the conflict came from the relentless touring that went into promoting the band’s debut album Ten (1991), an endeavor that was no doubt rewarding as the band became one of the biggest acts in U.S rock music, but equally exhausting as the toil of press junkets, award ceremonies, interviews, music videos and dealing with obsessive fans were considered the downside to fame. Something was changing in the band’s collective mindset.
Upon the release of Vs., the band were adamant that they would not play the corporate game of making music videos for MTV to broadcast non-stop, nor would they allow as much press access or interviews. So in some respects, Vs. exists at an intriguing point in Pearl Jam’s career; the moment in which their trajectory towards self-determination was truly set upon and the mystique that would surround the band in the years to come was first put in place.
In fact, this would be the era in which Pearl Jam would stand up to what they perceived as injustice. Bleeding from the embers of Vs.’ slogging world tours into Vitalogy (1994) and even into No Code (1996), the band would embark on an epic lawsuit against Ticketmaster on grounds that the astronomical service charges were tantamount to extortion for the band’s fans. Pearl Jam would tour sports halls and stadiums that Ticketmaster had no jurisdiction over and basically try and undercut the monolithic ticker seller. A noble cause for sure, and one they faced alone, yet an undertaking that took them out of the game for a number of years as they tried to find these out-of-the-way venues in all major cities across the U.S.
Not like these activities saw much dent in their popularity. A quick look at the numbers will tell us this. Vs. has to date sold a staggering seven million copies in the United States. In its first week of release alone, it racked up 950,378 units sold, making it the fastest selling album of all time, a record it held on to for five years. Six of the album’s songs generated top forty positions in the U.S. Modern Rock Charts, despite only four actual commercial singles being released. The record also received three Grammy Award nominations.
And this is just the U.S perspective. The album topped the charts in eight other countries around the world.
Listening back to the record twenty-five years on, it is hard to understand how the record was actually so massive. Not, I should clarify, because the record is a bad one. Far from it. But when placed in sonic comparison to its predecessor, it’s almost like two different bands recording under the same moniker. Sure there are similarities, with Eddie Vedder’s vocals a dead giveaway for a start.
There was an obvious attempt to recapture Pearl Jam’s energetic live performances. The record’s production by Brendan O’Brian, a collaborator the band would return to again and again over the subsequent decades, is an edgier and more aggressive affair then their debut and certainly does capture that live element to a tee. It also, dare I say, dates the record to that period of the 1990s.
Only a few remnants of Ten’s soft, warm and fluid production are found on Vs. The one song that might have sat comfortably on that record is “Dissident,” maybe at a push “Daughter.” Instead the record relies on Dave Abbruzzese belting drums, Mike McCready’s face-melting solo riffs, Stone Gossard’s chomping rhythm guitar, Jeff Ament’s steady bass and Vedder’s squalling and screeching vocals. Prime examples of this are “Go,” “Leash” and “Blood,” as these songs teeter on the edge of all-out explosion”.
I am going to end with a couple of reviews. Like Ten, there was this incredible wave of affection and respect for Pearl Jam’s second album. You would think some critics would not like the band changing course and sound. Maybe many felt Ten could have been grittier. Perhaps a natural evolution, there was this praise and support for one of the best albums of the 1990s. This is what AllMusic wrote in their Vs. review:
“Pearl Jam took to superstardom like deer in headlights. Unsure of how to maintain their rigorous standards of integrity in the face of massive commercial success, the band took refuge in willful obscurity -- the title of their second album, Vs., did not appear anywhere in the packaging, and they refused to release any singles or videos. (Ironically, many fans then paid steep prices for import CD singles, a situation the band eventually rectified.) The eccentricities underline Pearl Jam's almost paranoid aversion to charges of hypocrisy or egotism -- but it also made sense to use the spotlight for progress.
You could see that reasoning in their ensuing battle with Ticketmaster, and you could hear it in the record itself. Vs. is often Eddie Vedder at his most strident, both lyrically and vocally. It's less oblique than Ten in its topicality, and sometimes downright dogmatic; having the world's ear renders Vedder unable to resist a few simplistic potshots at favorite white-liberal targets. Yet a little self-righteousness is an acceptable price to pay for the passionate immediacy that permeates Vs. It's a much rawer, looser record than Ten, feeling like a live performance; Vedder practically screams himself hoarse on a few songs. The band consciously strives for spontaneity, admirably pushing itself into new territory -- some numbers are decidedly punky, and there are also a couple of acoustic-driven ballads, which are well suited to Vedder's sonorous low register. Sometimes, that spontaneity comes at the expense of Ten's marvelous craft -- a few songs here are just plain underdeveloped, with supporting frameworks that don't feel very sturdy. But, of everything that does work, the rockers are often frightening in their intensity, and the more reflective songs are mesmerizing. Vs. may not reach the majestic heights of Ten, but at least half the record stands with Pearl Jam's best work”.
In 1997, Rolling Stone wrote about the mighty Vs. Maybe people associate Pearl Jam more with Ten still. I think that Vs. and its songs warrant much more exposure and representation across radio. It is a sensational album with some clear highlights. My favourite song, Go, opens the album in spectacular and imperious fashion:
“Pearl Jam are explosive. Few American bands have arrived more clearly talented than this one did with "Ten;" and "Vs." tops even that debut. Terrific players with catholic tastes, they also serve up singer-lyricist Eddie Vedder. With his Brando brooding and complicated, tortured masculinity, he's something we haven't seen in a while a heroic figure. Better still, he's a big force without bullshit; he bellows doubt.
Like Jim Morrison and Pete Townshend, Vedder makes a forte of his psychological-mythic explorations he grapples with primal trauma, chaos, exultation. As guitarists Stone Gossard and Mike McCready paint dense and slashing backdrops, he invites us into a drama of experiment and strife. "Animal," "Daughter" and "Blood," their terse titles urgently poetic, are songs of a kind of ritual passion, tapping into something truly wild.
And when Vedder roars, "Saw things . . . clearer . . . /Once you were in my rearviewmirror," it seems that it's not only some personal sorrow that he's willing himself to tear beyond but the entire weight of the past itself.
Voicing the dreams and furies of a generation, Nirvana rock brilliantly in the now. They suggest a visceral understanding of rehab rites of passage and gen der overlap, stardom fantasy and punk nihilism. Their themes parallel both David Cronenberg's "venereal horror" and David Lynch's atonal wit, and their inchoate striving after feeling combats the blithe vacuity of outdated Warhol-style hipness. Blank generation? Not really, just young people fighting for some kind of meaning”.
On 19th October, the world will mark the thirtieth anniversary of a giant album. Even if Pearl Jam might have had some more commercial and artistic pressure to follow Vs., they delivered another phenomenal album with 1994’s Vitalogy. One of the greatest opening trio of albums in music history. If you have not heard the album before – or you have not listened since the '90s -, then take some time out to have a good listen. It is a brilliant album that is going to be talked about for decades more. From the powerful opening declaration of Go, through to Indifference (the reissue has a few extra tracks and ends with Crazy Mary), Vs. is an album that, thirty years after its release, remains so…
VITAL and extraordinary.