Meaning the first PJ song you experienced as a "new PJ song" as it was released.

I got into PJ in May of 1995, so for me, it was "I Got Shit" (and "Long Road"). I was at Circuit City looking for a CD for a present for my friend, and saw the "Merkinball" EP sitting there in the PJ section. It had just been released that week, with -- to a 7th grader anyway -- zero fanfare. My mind was blown. Instead of buying a full-length CD for my friend I bought us each a copy of "Merkinball." I still adore both of those songs -- and still feel a flicker of that initial excitement of stumbling upon an unknown artifact every time I hear the studio version of "I Got Shit."

After that, though, the next "new PJ" I heard was "Gremmie Out of Control," in another one of those just-happened-upon-it deals. Since it was not on a formal PJ release, I was sure I'd be a hero among my friends for having discovered it, which I'm sure I would have been had it been a different song. But I loved it, and wonder if this being one of the first "new PJ tracks" to come my way didn't sort of preempt my fondness for weird PJ, bracing me for the coming years of relative oddness.

Share your stories, PJ chat.

Excluding the Ten Bsides, I got a bootleg that had Leash on it. It didn't have a huge effect on me. The track that had a 'holy shit, I've got to talk to someone, call a friend and jump around' was Animal at the 93 VMA's. That was a massive occasion and I ran that VHS tape ragged.

Animal, '93 VMA's. This is the moment I fell in love with Pearl Jam, and heard a brand new song by them as it debuted.

Depending on your view, it's one of three:

Alive on SNL was the first PJ song I ever heard...

I didn't get Ten right away, though I did get VS the first week it came out (mostly to fit in with some older boys), so then Go would be the first one I heard after they had entered my consciousness...

Once I was an actual fan, hearing Not For You on SNL was a real treat. I videotaped it, and must have watched that performance a couple times a day for the next few weeks. I was amazed that A) they would play a brand new song on TV when they should have been promoting Vs, and B) that the song sounded so different from their other stuff.

I guess you could make an argument for Given to Fly for me. When it first dropped, I wasn't a huge fan of Pearl Jam, but it was the first one I remember hearing and knowing it was the new Pearl Jam song. I got into them pretty heavy right around that time. The first legit new song I got to experience as an actual fan though was Thin Air while listening to the 1999 Bridge School webcast, and of course Nothing as it Seems the next night.

Comatose

I was one of those that got Vs the day it came out so to be precise it would be Go.
In the spirit of the post though it would have to be Betterman & Satan's Bed from the radio broadcast of the Fox Theater show. I remember really liking Betterman in particular. That concert opened the bootleg door for me and further concreted Pearl Jam as my favorite band.

"Alive"

I'm old.

State of love and trust. No wait. Breath

After singles and sweet relief I would read my monthly BMG catalog religiously hoping a random PJ song would show up somewhere

Breakerfall.

I got into PJ via my brother's CD collection a while after No Code, and not having the internet in South Africa, I wasn't even aware that Yield existed until AFTER I'd bought Binaural when it got released.

Yikes.

The first new song that I specifically remember is Daughter. I heard it while on the bus riding to school in 6th grade. I know I had heard Even Flow, Alive and Jeremy previously, but I don't have any idea if they were brand new at that point, and I don't remember that first time hearing any of them. Daughter was brand new, and I was in love.

Alive.

Right? In hindsight it really pales in comparison to pretty much everyone else's first new song experience. At the time I was totally stoked. I didn't really get into Pearl Jam until after Lost Dogs and all of the official bootlegs were hitting stores, but by 2005 I was familiar with the entire catalogue and completely in love with the band. I still remember the exact moment I heard Comatose and the accompanied excitement. I wanted to love Avocado because there was no other option, but obviously I wish this were a better story about better music.

I will never forget those two nights listening to the 1999 Bridge School webcast. I used one of those 1/8th inch male to cassette head adapters you used to use to play your discman in the car to record the computer sound to tape.

What glorious days

How strange, innocence.

Alive.

"Man of the Hour".

I think. Got into PJ around 2002, just after Riot Act came out.