This came from Dave A saying ed told him it was about his truck I think, I don't know if its been confirmed or anything since but I always thought that sounded like Eddie fucking with Dave. "It's about a truck Dave, now fuck off"

I actually like it more as a song about a truck. It kind of gives a levity to it that prevents it from feeling like the Superman of melodrama.

There's also that little snippet in some interview where Ed comes up to the "journalist" with a spattering of lyrics about a lonely room tray or something, joking that he can find the pain in anything. I honestly like the idea of a songwriter sitting down and wondering if he can capture the frustration of a guy with a broken down truck...a sort of, "this was the last thing I had that was going my way, goddamn it," feeling...than I do the image of him sitting down all wild-haired and scowly to very seriously bring to light yet another unfairly treated and forgotten soul tucked deep within the wretched dark of human cruelty snarf snarf. Pursuing the core of common experience is a very affecting way to write.

Someday we'll get to hear that long lost, blistering Vs outtake: A Case of the Mondays. And a howling and rabid monsterpiece of a song it will be.

Just for you, big guy. It is Christmas after all.

Did this before bed last night--I dozed off towards the end but fortunately for the LAL I am battling some kind of hacking cough that managed to keep me awake through most of it. Critically, this is probably my least favorite Pearl Jam album (except for "Lightning Bolt"), and I'm skeptical of the idea that this is, as Spenno says, "the band at their most instinctual and least calculated"--the guitar, bass, and drum arrangements are far too carefully orchestrated for this to be that type of "lightning in a bottle" record for me, perhaps because I know too much about the (by the standards of PJ93) lengthy evolutionary processes of some of them. As a rock band, Pearl Jam have always been hardest-hitting when they're tightly wound and in-sync to the note, and that's largely why this is such a potent rock record--on the best tracks ("Go," "Rearviewmirror"), the band sounds positively spring-loaded, like one ill-timed gust of wind and the whole thing will come untethered and scatter everything around it for miles. The record's cathartic spirit comes, for me, not from some primal energy that the band were able to channel, but from that spot-on precision contrasted with what qualify as some truly unhinged vocal performances by Eddie, who is really the only one who can be charged with "underwriting" on here, and who does so much grunting and growling it's comical--one understands why Kurt Cobain heard these records and thought the guy was a class A buffoon. He is at once the record's greatest strength and biggest weakness, as the raw passion encapsulated in his performances (definitely kicked up a notch here from where they were on "Ten") affords these songs their most distinct personality features, but simultaneously brings out his most irritating, caricature-ready tics as a singer.

But that's only critically. From a less scrutinizing standpoint, I am always taken with this record's ability--far more than "Ten" or "Vitalogy," which got equal if not more airtime during my early days of PJ fandom--to recapture that sense of time and place most closely affiliated with my earliest experiences with it. Once that chorus to "Go" kicks in, I can all but feel the wind against my cheeks as I blaze around the block on my bicycle at a white hot 7mph, Eddie's violent howling a cloak of invincibility of sorts; that plaintive first verse to "Elderly Woman" a flashback to sitting in the "way back" of my parents' station wagon, driving home from the Cracker Barrel on a Sunday afternoon, agreeing in principle with the widespread sentiment among seventh graders that the song was "too country," but feeling safe enjoying it in the private sanctuary of my headphones, in the company of others who listened to music which was equally as lame. It's the tones and pitches of the studio recording that do it, too--live versions don't produce the same effect. It's that little glimmer of feedback that lingers for a split second at the end of "Go," the improvised outro to "Blood" (which always revved me up because I knew it meant just seconds until "RVM" started), the row-your-boat-style vocal rounds at the end of "RVM"--those little things are like going back into your childhood attic and finding that the time capsule you made as a child is still right under the floorboard where you left it. It's partly nostalgia, I'm sure, but at the same time there are dozens of albums I loved as a kid that don't produce this effect. I prefer to think of it as the type of connection that artists hope their work makes with people's lives in order for it to feel relevant, to feel durable, to afford a grown father the opportunity to enjoy a song like "Blood" on the eve of his 31st Christmas while his kids sleep peacefully a few feet down the hall.

Some random observations: I have always thought that descending power-chord riff during the chorus of "Go" sounded unabashedly happy--just like, this purely triumphant, major-key declaration that stood in wonderfully effective contrast to Eddie's gorilla vocalizations. Pull that riff out of this song and play it on a banjo and you have the opening riff to a children's song.

Jeff does some really awesome bass work in "Glorified G." And I've never been a big Dave A. defender but nobody does "Daughter" like Dave A. does "Daughter."

I maintain that "Dissident" is one of the best songs of Pearl Jam's early catalog, and one that's deceptively pretty--strip if of its early-90's alt-rock jewelry and scale it back to something more Benaroya-friendly and I think it's reputation would be far different. The indistinct wall of sound really does it a disservice. Brendan O'Brien strikes again, I guess.

threads like this are why I like this place

That's a pretty excellent defense of the truck story

It's totally about a truck(my Jeep ).

It is also one of the best songs ever is what it is.

Enjoyed your take KD. Animal will always be walking to the bus stop for me, headphones in, thinking my inner world was much cooler than the other kids.

You effing millenials and your middle school nonsense. I was a junior in college when this came out.

Bought it that day, popped it my car's cd player, and was floored. I think I knew after I got through the first two songs that these guys officially became my favorite band. And, Daughter probably sealed the deal. Still love that opening 10 seconds to the song - for whatever reason, it adds so much texture. They'd never be able to pull that off effectively in concert.

Don't call me millenial (not fit to).

“W.M.A.” – At six minutes -- basically a tribal riff played repeatedly while Vedder howls about racism – its easily twice as long as it needs to be. But again, you can’t just talk about not selling out, you’ve got to do it, too. “W.M.A.” achieves its goal on that front. As a song, it’s the least significant offering here. In some ways, it’s a precursor to more satisfying experiments (Aye Davinita) and better songs built upon a similar sonic archetype (“In My Tree”). “W.M.A.” is experimental because bands who refuse to sell out are supposed to have songs like this. Coming at the halfway mark, it feels like the stopgap it was probably intended to be. Cut it to 90 seconds and it would have worked better.

Taken at face value, it’s a song of its time. Ed was discovering his political identity (in song, anyway) and racism was one of the pressing topics of the day. This isn’t too long after the Rodney King riots in L.A., after all. Politically, Ed’s stance is an easy one to take, but it again illustrates one of the major themes of “Vs.” – being hunted and harassed by persecutors. Politically, the song is “serious,” although Vedder’s performance -- and even the production -- distance him considerably. Ed doesn’t “sell” this one at all. When he muses(!) that he won the lottery, he’s not just talking about white privilege. He’s singing about his own experiences.

“Blood” - The post-fame album is a staple of modern rock bands. Some do it well (R.E.M.’s sublime and underrated “Monster” comes to mind), others not so much (I’m looking at your “Use Your Illusion”). “Vs.” is PJ’s meditation on instant fame and its strength is in its subtlety. It avoids the usual clichés of drugs and groupies – neither are mentioned anywhere to my recollection. Rather, “Vs.” is a nightmarish funhouse filled with fear, violence, blood, guns, persecution, rabid animals, rats, traitors, turncoats, leashes, and lottery winners. Ed yearns for escape, emancipation, freedom, and wants to put all of this in his rearviewmirror. These themes bubble at the surface throughout “Vs.,” but it is only on “Blood” that Ed spells it out in plain English, railing at this “fucking circus” as the band pounds away behind him. It’s “Vs.” at its most cathartic, and Ed’s vocal performance is nothing less than astonishing. This type of pain was Cobain’s bread and butter, but rarely was Ed so unhinged. If “Vs.” has a them song, “Blood” is it. The band deserves equal credit here – they sound every bit as pissed and frustrated as Ed, matching him every step of the way. The music is brilliant, the sonic equivalent of being trapped inside a pinball machine.

Random thoughts while listening

Again with the bass dropping out, guitars and drums only recurring musical motif. I really never noticed how much they relied on that on this album.

The middle section is the best and freakiest: “Paint Ed big … turn Ed into … one of his enemies,” he moans. The band holds back and then pounds like a flurry of fists.

Further proof that McCready is at his best when not given an opportunity to solo.

Dave A's best performance?

The closing is fantastic. The song does end so much as collapses, with the musicians each playing something different. Deconstruction, and almost a reverse of the “Go” opening.

What does Ed say right at the end?

Yeah makes it kind of 'spin the black circle'-ish too. It's the 'don't you want me that makes me think it might be about more than a truck really.

That room service thing reminded me theres a track on a bootleg somewhere called 'why did my toaster break the same day as the washing machine' or someshit, if i recall its just ed screaming 'toaster' over 'free jazz'

Fantastic analysis. Agree, agree.

blood aside, I've never really seen Vs. as an anti-fame album. There's too much general lashing out, too many ghosts of Ten.

Nice to see another Monster fan around here

God, it does sound like Cornell. A lot. Not the high screaming part (Ed) or 'life comes' (clearly Stone), but the middle background singing: 'feeeeel your heee-aaaart' (if those are the words, hard to make out) from 2.04 min. WTF. I've heard this song a thousand times and never noticed this before.

But we would've known if it was actually him right? Still sounds uncannily like Cornell's midregister tone.



(first post btw. Lurker singing up out of sheer suprise.)

welcome to the board

I agree with this. It very well could be Eddies old truck breaking down as a metaphor for him losing his last connection to his previous life. Maybe thats not actually a metaphor. Either way, even if its about a truck it could be very meaningful in a symbolic way for the songwriter. Go is a beast regardless.

Isn't that middle set of vocals Jeff? I remember reading somewhere that it was, but it was likely either here many years ago, on the old Pit, or on one of the fan sites.

A few other random observations:

1. Both Rats and Glorified G have very unique outros. Both songs totally change into brand new parts for last 30 seconds of the song- parts that have not been played or even hinted at earlier in the song. They both work well, but are different. I've learned to play many of their songs on guitar and these stand out to me as being odd from that standpoint.

2. Stones lead work on Indifference is phenomenal. For a long time I had assumed this was Mike actually. Really colors the song and compliments Eddie's vocals perfectly. One of their finest works IMO. (On a side note, I really dont like the lights on performance style of this song lately- this needs to be played in the dark. )

3. Eddie really displays his vocal range and abilities on this album. For as highly regarded a rock singer he is, I still dont really think he gets his due for his pure singing ability. Listen to the chorus of Daughter. Dude can sing. The last line of Dissident ("the safest place") may be his highest notes in the catalog.