![]() ![]() They famously hated the album’s production from the very start, and while the 2009 remix known as Ten Redux improved the sound, it didn’t fully make up for the material. But even if you’ve been averse to Ten your whole life, know that the band has felt the same way. You already know them, and you’ve already decided whether or not you like them. Through sheer force of will, Pearl Jam has endured, proving that, in the long run, there are some advantages to being in second place.ġ991’s Ten put Pearl Jam on the map, so much so that including all of their big hits here is a little foolish. But that’s exactly why they are so worth exploring: They’ve existed in this space for so long, they’ve all but forced themselves into creating something that’s now their own. Through their own doing, Pearl Jam shunted themselves into their own world, allowing themselves to be seen as the de facto dad rock band by not actively courting any new listeners. It’s hard to imagine a band that’s sold over 32 million albums in the United States, and an estimated 60 million worldwide, functioning as a cult act, but since the mid 90s, that’s what Pearl Jam has been. But it was their protracted lawsuit against Ticketmaster that took them out of the spotlight entirely, making it all but impossible to see one of the biggest bands in America during their most successful period. Starting with 1994’s Vitalogy, Pearl Jam started making less consumer-friendly albums, outright refusing to make music videos or do interviews. Since their commercial heyday, the band has effectively become the grunge sect’s Grateful Dead-a designation that, to be clear, is also not cool. But what if, against all odds, Pearl Jam was actually good? It sounds impossible given the information presented, but once you let those biases melt away, Pearl Jam’s catalog becomes incredibly rewarding. Vedder’s overly enunciated vocal approach was run into the ground by second-rate rock singers to the point where it became hard to dissociate Pearl Jam from what followed in their wake. ![]() The songs are sharper, the production is layered, and the performances are as compassionate as ever, resulting in their finest album since Vitalogy.Vocalist Eddie Vedder’s distinctive growl was Pearl Jam’s calling card in the early 90s, becoming the affectation every post-grunge band would gleefully steal less than a decade later. Instead, the difference is focus - though Pearl Jam is trying a lot of different styles, certainly more so than on Yield, they pull it all off better. Maybe the addition of a new drummer, former Soundgarden member Matt Cameron, has kicked the band to life, but that unfairly dismisses Jack Irons' worthy contributions. This should come as no surprise, since that's what they've done since No Code and, perhaps, Vitalogy, but the real surprise about their sixth studio album Binaural is that it finds the group roaring back to life without dramatically changing the direction they followed on No Code and Yield. Not surprisingly, they chose to persevere, ignoring trends, completely in favor of being a classicist rock band. No peers, and too sincere to even consider fitting into a pop scene dominated by 'N Sync on one side and Limp Bizkit on the other. They were the only one of their old grunge colleagues still standing intact, and they were genuinely alone. Even with "Last Kiss," their first big hit single since Ten, under their belts, they were an anomaly on the pop and rock scenes. If anything, Pearl Jam was even more in the wilderness - at least as far as the mainstream was concerned - at the beginning of 2000 than they were in the second half of the '90s.
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