Pearl Jam's 12 Most Significant Songs
I've identified what I think are the 12 songs that truly identify Pearl Jam. For most bands, Greatest Hits may suffice, but we all know that isn't the case here. To define significant - what songs do you think define Pearl Jam, are vintage Pearl Jam, and not necessarily the most famous? If I were making someone very important an all-encompassing compilation, here are the 12 songs I would include (in chronological order):
Alive
Black
Release
Daughter
Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town
Corduroy
Better Man
Immortality
In My Tree
Red Mosquito
Wishlist
Do the Evolution
Last 3 records? Maybe they haven't had long enough to age? Or, maybe an artists's early works tend to be more defining? I'm not sure here, but by no means am I saying the last three records aren't like Pearl Jam, or are in any way insignificant (no pun intended).
8 Honorable mention (if the compilation were extended to 20 songs): State of Love and Trust, W.M.A., Rearviewmirror, Indifference, Nothingman, Off He Goes, Present Tense, Given to Fly
And, my favorite song, which is not mentioned above: Faithfull
Alive
Black
Release
Daughter
Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town
Corduroy
Better Man
Immortality
In My Tree
Red Mosquito
Wishlist
Do the Evolution
Last 3 records? Maybe they haven't had long enough to age? Or, maybe an artists's early works tend to be more defining? I'm not sure here, but by no means am I saying the last three records aren't like Pearl Jam, or are in any way insignificant (no pun intended).
8 Honorable mention (if the compilation were extended to 20 songs): State of Love and Trust, W.M.A., Rearviewmirror, Indifference, Nothingman, Off He Goes, Present Tense, Given to Fly
And, my favorite song, which is not mentioned above: Faithfull
Post edited by Unknown User on
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Comments
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Wishlist? Really? It is hard to argue with most of the songs in your list, but I would remove Wishlist and Red Mosquito.1996: Toronto 1998: Barrie 2000: Saratoga Springs 2003: Buffalo, Toronto 2005: Kitchener, London, Hamilton, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto 2006: Toronto x2, Cleveland, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Gorge #1 2007: London, Dusseldorf, Vic, Lolla 2008: WPB, Tampa, DC, MSG x2, Hartford, Boston x2, Beacon 2009: Toronto, Chicago x2, Seattle x2, LA #3&4, San Diego, Philly x4 2010: Cleveland, Buffalo, Hartford 2011: Montreal, Toronto x2, Hamilton 2012: Missoula 2013: London, Wrigley, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Hartford, Dallas, OKC0
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NOTHING past Yield? Pearl Jam is a current band and to show someone they are good now you would pick songs all more than 11 years old?0
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I can respect your list and consequently, your differing opinion, but I personally believe a good amount of songs from the last 3 albums can be considered, as well as songs on lost dogs.0
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Really depends on what "significat" means? Significant in terms of public knowledge? in terms of musical diversity? in terms of to themselves? It really depends.
In no particular order:
Jeremy
Alive
Even Flow
Black
Daughter
Betterman
Not For You
Yellow Ledbetter
Who You Are
Given To Fly
Do The Evolution
And I am having trouble with the 12th. Its between:
Bu$leaguer, World Wide Suicide, and Life Wasted. (and possibly I Got Shit)Turn this anger into
Nuclear fission0 -
Bushleaguer? Hell no.Vedd Hedd wrote:Really depends on what "significat" means? Significant in terms of public knowledge? in terms of musical diversity? in terms of to themselves? It really depends.
In no particular order:
Jeremy
Alive
Even Flow
Black
Daughter
Betterman
Not For You
Yellow Ledbetter
Who You Are
Given To Fly
Do The Evolution
And I am having trouble with the 12th. Its between:
Bu$leaguer, World Wide Suicide, and Life Wasted. (and possibly I Got Shit)What the fuck is this world?0 -
Vedd Hedd wrote:Really depends on what "significat" means? Significant in terms of public knowledge? in terms of musical diversity? in terms of to themselves? It really depends.
In no particular order:
Jeremy
Alive
Even Flow
Black
Daughter
Betterman
Not For You
Yellow Ledbetter
Who You Are
Given To Fly
Do The Evolution
And I am having trouble with the 12th. Its between:
Bu$leaguer, World Wide Suicide, and Life Wasted. (and possibly I Got Shit)
Nice list, and it's hard to argue with any of those. I also like Faithfull, which I didn't mention originally. Thanks for giving your opinion.0 -
id say brother for one of them. i mean it did reach number 1. that counts for something right?I will be what i could be
Once I get out of this town
9/29/04;6/27/08;6/30/08;8/23/09;08/24/09;5/17/100 -
ledvedderman wrote:NOTHING past Yield? Pearl Jam is a current band and to show someone they are good now you would pick songs all more than 11 years old?
No. If my goal here was to persuade someone that Pearl Jam is still good, or still relevant, significant, important, etc., then I would have approached this differently. As always, you cater to what you are trying to do, right?
But, I stand by my list above - being as objective as humanly possible about PJ, which may be a paradox for me.0 -
Murderers wrote:
Bushleaguer? Hell no.Vedd Hedd wrote:Really depends on what "significat" means? Significant in terms of public knowledge? in terms of musical diversity? in terms of to themselves? It really depends.
In no particular order:
Jeremy
Alive
Even Flow
Black
Daughter
Betterman
Not For You
Yellow Ledbetter
Who You Are
Given To Fly
Do The Evolution
And I am having trouble with the 12th. Its between:
Bu$leaguer, World Wide Suicide, and Life Wasted. (and possibly I Got Shit)
Do you remember all the outrage that song created? Do you remember the Denver show in 2003? the fake bomb threats?
I would call that song very significant in those terms.Turn this anger into
Nuclear fission0 -
ledvedderman wrote:NOTHING past Yield? Pearl Jam is a current band and to show someone they are good now you would pick songs all more than 11 years old?
They haven't done anything since Yield that is career-defining. There's not a single song or album since that gets the kind of universal praise and admiration that those first 5 albums got. That's nothing to be ashamed of though... how many bands have ever had that kind of run?0 -
insignificance should be on the listi'm more a fan of popular bands.. like the bee-gees, pearl jam0
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Alive
Black
Even Flow
Better Man
Given To Fly
I Am Mine
Nothing As It Seems
RearviewMirror
Daughter
Jeremy
Corduroy
SmileNERDS!0 -
ya know.....saustin wrote:I've identified what I think are the 12 songs that truly identify Pearl Jam. For most bands, Greatest Hits may suffice, but we all know that isn't the case here. To define significant - what songs do you think define Pearl Jam, are vintage Pearl Jam, and not necessarily the most famous? If I were making someone very important an all-encompassing compilation, here are the 12 songs I would include (in chronological order):
Alive
Black
Release
Daughter
Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town
Corduroy
Better Man
Immortality
In My Tree
Red Mosquito
Wishlist
Do the Evolution
Last 3 records? Maybe they haven't had long enough to age? Or, maybe an artists's early works tend to be more defining? I'm not sure here, but by no means am I saying the last three records aren't like Pearl Jam, or are in any way insignificant (no pun intended).
8 Honorable mention (if the compilation were extended to 20 songs): State of Love and Trust, W.M.A., Rearviewmirror, Indifference, Nothingman, Off He Goes, Present Tense, Given to Fly
And, my favorite song, which is not mentioned above: Faithfull
thats a pretty damned good list you made ....................
im not gonna argue with it....
NICE JOB!!!!!!!!!!!!Take me piece by piece.....
Till there aint nothing left worth taking away from me.....0 -
SPEEDY MCCREADY wrote:
ya know.....saustin wrote:I've identified what I think are the 12 songs that truly identify Pearl Jam. For most bands, Greatest Hits may suffice, but we all know that isn't the case here. To define significant - what songs do you think define Pearl Jam, are vintage Pearl Jam, and not necessarily the most famous? If I were making someone very important an all-encompassing compilation, here are the 12 songs I would include (in chronological order):
Alive
Black
Release
Daughter
Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town
Corduroy
Better Man
Immortality
In My Tree
Red Mosquito
Wishlist
Do the Evolution
Last 3 records? Maybe they haven't had long enough to age? Or, maybe an artists's early works tend to be more defining? I'm not sure here, but by no means am I saying the last three records aren't like Pearl Jam, or are in any way insignificant (no pun intended).
8 Honorable mention (if the compilation were extended to 20 songs): State of Love and Trust, W.M.A., Rearviewmirror, Indifference, Nothingman, Off He Goes, Present Tense, Given to Fly
And, my favorite song, which is not mentioned above: Faithfull
thats a pretty damned good list you made ....................
im not gonna argue with it....
NICE JOB!!!!!!!!!!!!
I thought your track listing would look like this SPEEDY?
1. Can't Keep
2. Love Boat Captain
3. Cropduster
4. Ghost
5. I Am Mine
6. Thumbing My Way
7. You Are
8. Get Right
9. Green Disease
10. Helphelp
11. Bushleaguer
12. All or None
NERDS!0 -
Bugs
Aye Davanita
Hey Foxymophandlemama, That's Me
I'm Open
Untitled
Push Me, Pull Me
Rival
Bu$hleaguer
arc
Wasted Reprise 05 - St. Johns I II
06 - Toronto I II
08 - DC NYC I II
09 - Calgary Toronto
11 - Calgary Edmonton
13 - Calgary
Openers : Cant Keep, Small Town, Severed Hand, Release X3, Hard to Imagine X2, Why Go, Of the Girl X2, Wash,.......0
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