Inspired by a viewing of Pearl Jam Twenty I’ve decided to go back and listen to all the Pearl Jam studio albums in order of release. 

Vs.

This album is the shit. That one-two punch of “Go” into “Animal”? Insane. That is how you (1) ingrain yourself with teenage boys forever and (2) way lay the competition. Things I noticed upon this, my umpteenth listen: Eddie Vedder is full on smirking when he sings “Glorified G”, which lets you know the song is a joke. “W.M.A.” is six fucking minutes and sounds like the test for what will become No Code. It’s not a bad six minutes but why did they put it after “Dissident” instead of say, “Rats”? I really have nothing bad to say and I can’t be glib about an album I thought ruled pretty hard in ‘94 and I still think rules now. This is the mountain, the peak. After this, well…we will get to that.