Rank the 13 albums

mdgsolo

Abe Froman said:

These album ranking threads always interest me. I think it depends a lot on what criteria you’re using. I tend to use a lot of factors…

1. How does the album feel start to finish
2. Sound/production, feel and concept
3. Obviously the songs
4. Artwork and overall feel of the entire thing

I guess what I’m saying is the rankings change if you’re just judging how many songs you love or the influence of the album. For example, if I just go by influence of the album and time period no doubt Ten would be #1 for me. It changed my life. BUT…it’s not my favorite PJ record at all. Overall I love No Code, Yield, Vitalogy and Vs more. 

Another example is if I just go by a collection of songs that I want to hear (my favorite PJ tracks) Vitalogy would be a lot lower do to Pry To, Bugs etc. but as an entire record, those songs within the flow of the record, the packaging/artwork and listening from start to finish I fucking love that record!  It ranks 3rd. I don’t even like Betterman as a song and never play it on its own but it’s perfect within the context of the album (it’s literally the only time I ever listen to the song is if I put on the record). Even No Code (possibly my favorite record of any band ever) doesn’t have all that many songs I play individually over and over. But as a whole it’s easily my favorite. If I just went by how many songs I love individually I’d probably have Vs at the top as a lot of my favorite songs ever appeared on this record. 

Hopefully I articulated this clearly as I’m kinda all over the place after three bourbons. 

What’s your criteria???

All great scientific quantifying factors- I shot straight from the hip with visceral connection in the now through the frame of memory- just pure emotional personal connection.  However, if you stack things up from other criteria, this could easily shuffle.

yosi

Gern Blansten said:

JZ280705 said:

Ten
Vs
Yield
Vitalogy
Lost Dogs
No Code
Backspacer 
Lightning Bolt
Dark Matter

Avocado
Binaural
Riot Act
Gigaton

Yield
Binaural
Riot Act
No Code
Vitalogy
Vs
Ten
Avocado
Dark Matter
Lost Dogs
Giga
LB
Backspacer

Love your top 3 

ChrisChuck

1 - Ten

2 - Vs

3 - Yield

4 - Vitalogy

5 - Avocado

6 - No Code

7 - Dark Matter

8 - Gigaton

9 - Lightning Bolt

10 -  Backspacer

11 -  Binaural

12 -  Riot Act

Gibson

ohhh...tough.

1. Vitalogy (Immortality, Last Exit, Nothingman, Whipping, Satan's Bed...)
2. Vs.
3. No Code
4. Ten
5. Avocado
6. Binaural
7. Yield
8. Dark Matter (give it time and it will go higher)
9. Lost Dogs
10. Gigaton
11. Backspacer (although it has significantly grown on me)
12. Riot Act
13. Lightning Bolt (but shout out to Yellow Moon)

1-4 can switch at any point, depending on mood.
5-7 and 8-10 follow the same pattern

Gern Blansten

goldrush said:

Yield
Riot Act
Avocado

Dark Matter
Vitalogy
No Code

Ten
Gigaton
Lightning Bolt

Vs
Binaural 


Backspacer

Interesting that you have RA so high yet Binaural so low

Clindsey80

This is interesting. I didn't realize I was in the minority with my love for Backspacer. I think Dark Matter is great, Gigaton was ok. I can't really rank the albums because there's something special about them all. I will say that I rarely listen to Avocado anymore.

Gern Blansten

Clindsey80 said:

This is interesting. I didn't realize I was in the minority with my love for Backspacer. I think Dark Matter is great, Gigaton was ok. I can't really rank the albums because there's something special about them all. I will say that I rarely listen to Avocado anymore.

my 23 year old daughter LOVES Backspacer. 

I like it more now than a few years ago. PJ albums tend to age nicely...but something has to be last in a ranking

al162928

Vitalogy
Vs
Ten
No Code
Yield
Avocado
Binaural
Riot Act
Backspacer
Dark Matter
Gigaton
Lightning Bolt

bootlegger10

Vs.
Ten
Vitalogy
Yield
No Code
Dark Matter
Riot Act
Binaural
Self-Titled
Lightning Bolt
Backspacer
Gigaton

bootlegger10

Objectively speaking Vs. or Ten would have to be in the top spot right?   I get music tastes are different, but objectively there is no way that other albums are better than VS or Ten. 

bicyclejoe

Ten
Vs
Yield
Vitalogy
No Code
Dark Matter
Avocado
Riot Act
Backspacer
Binaural
Gigaton
Lightning Bolt

The non-conanical rankings:
Benaroya
Lost Dogs
Live on Two Legs
Unplugged
Live at The Gorge
Live on Ten Legs
Pearl Jam Twenty
Let's Play Two
Live at Easy Street

Gern Blansten

bootlegger10 said:

Objectively speaking Vs. or Ten would have to be in the top spot right?   I get music tastes are different, but objectively there is no way that other albums are better than VS or Ten. 

not necessarily....I was a casual fan until Yield. Mainly because I was into the heavier Soundgarden and slightly heavier STP.

I think Yield/Binaural/Riot Act are their absolute best as artists. They were more mature songwriters, etc.

Not to say that Vs and Ten aren't great albums though.

spankyMP

Ten
Vs
Vitalogy
Yield
No Code
Dark Matter
Avocado
Riot Act
Binaural
Backspacer
Gigaton
Lightning Bolt

3 through 5 are interchangeable.

Gibson

Clindsey80 said:

This is interesting. I didn't realize I was in the minority with my love for Backspacer. I think Dark Matter is great, Gigaton was ok. I can't really rank the albums because there's something special about them all. I will say that I rarely listen to Avocado anymore.

I find that my rankings are heavily weighted with album expectations vs delivery. I don't think Backspacer is bad by any means, but for whatever reason I was so hyped for a new release that no matter what came out would not have lived up to my own hype.

Avocado, Binaural, Yield however... 0 expectations going in, and instant love for all 3.

Vedd Hedd

I find that the enjoyment of an album (at least initially) has a lot to do with your place in life at the time, your mindset, and your experiences with that album in that context.  

I think when we all (and most people) first discovered their albums, we had relationships with other people that also enjoyed the albums and the phenomenon of PJ and early 90s rock contributed to a lot of that.  So it will always be hard for the later albums to catch up to their earlier stuff.  So its really hard to try and judge these albums without all that context.  (My kids, for example, got to experience Lightning Bolt, Cant Deny Me, Gigaton and Dark Matter first hand, so they rank those higher than their earlier stuff, since their context is very very different from mine.)

So, most people who have been fans of the band for a long time will rank the 90s and maybe the early 00's greater.  That said, I think Dark Matter is their best overall album...since....maybe ever?  I dont know if its my favorite album...it is for the moment...but the work on this album is so solid.  
Gigaton for me....has awesome songs, and some really great melodies and lyrics, but it came at at time during the pandemic...I really needed that album at that time, and at the same time...its sort of hard to listen to, due to the context of what was happening in the world not just with the pandemic, but with politics, etc.  Its sort of depressing for me.  I was listening to 7 O'Clock last night and my god, it just put me in a depressed state.  It was one of my go-to songs from 2020-2023.  

Anyway, I cant really rank these based on "What is best" only "I have so much emotional connections with these albums"....That's probably why Vitalogy-NoCode-Yield will never be topped for me. 

1. Vitalogy-No Code- Yield
2. Ten-Vs
3. Dark Matter
4. Binaural
5. Avocado
6. Riot Act
7. Lightning Bolt
8. Backspacer
9. Gigaton

Lost Dogs is a B-sides albums and not a proper studio album.  Love it, hoping for a Lost Dogs 2 at some point.  But most of those songs I had already heard in some form or another, so it didnt quite hit me like any of the studio albums. 

Also, the only reason that Vitalogy-No Code-Yield are above Ten-Vs, is because when I heard Ten and VS, I was enjoying those, but I didnt really "discover" them for myself.  I was just hearing those cause literally everyone was playing them.  When Vitalogy came out, I finally "got" pearl jam, and then some people bailed when No Code came out, which I really enjoyed cause it was so different from the others, and Yield might be perfect. 

But Yield was mine.  A lot of my PJ friends sort of bailed by then.  And that Yield tour was so fun. 

Planet of Sound

No Code
Vitalogy
Ten
Vs.

Avocado
Yield
Dark Matter
Binaural

Gigaton

Riot Act
Backspacer

Pablo Honey

mfc2006

NO CODE
________

Yield
Vs.
Avocado
Binaural
Ten
Dark Metter
Vitalogy
Lightning Bolt
Gigaton
Backspacer

No Code is always #1 for me. I love all of them, but if I had to rank them now, that would be my list.

cmikehelton

1. Vs
2.Ten
3. Vitalogy
4. Yield
5. Dark Matter (could possibly move higher)
6. Avocado
7. No Code
8. Riot Act
9. Binaural
10. Backspacer
11. Lightning Bolt

12. Gigaton

yosi

Gern Blansten said:

bootlegger10 said:

Objectively speaking Vs. or Ten would have to be in the top spot right?   I get music tastes are different, but objectively there is no way that other albums are better than VS or Ten. 

not necessarily....I was a casual fan until Yield. Mainly because I was into the heavier Soundgarden and slightly heavier STP.

I think Yield/Binaural/Riot Act are their absolute best as artists. They were more mature songwriters, etc.

Not to say that Vs and Ten aren't great albums though.

This right here. 

Funnily enough, I was also more into STP. That was until I saw PJ live and then everything changed.