Tremor Christ was my favorite song on Vitalogy the first time I ever heard it.

The same is true of DTE, though, on its respective album.

So...

DTE is a great gimmick, but it's still a gimmick: The repeating riff, the lyrics that, while smart, leave nothing to the imagination, the hallelujah bridge. It rocks, but they've rocked much harder elsewhere.

Tremor Christ takes The Beatles genome and steeps it in angst, and mysterious lyrics that are wide open to interpretation, and a bridge that harbors a dark horse candidate for best Ed performance. It rarely gets played live, and exists somewhere between a deep cut and a fan favorite.

I don't know that Tremor Christ is the better song, but it's the more special song that rewards repeat listens; it still keeps getting better. DTE revealed every inch of itself after the third time I heard it.

love when a song reveals its inches to me.

I voted Tremor Christ.

man, there's all sorts of stuff wrong with that take.

both songs have repeating riffs. 'tremor christ' is two weird ass chords and 'dte' is funk master stone doing what he's best at. this song has TWO killer riffs. i like the lyrics to 'tremor christ' and the idea behind it, but dte's lyrics are some of EV's best. "i can kill cause in god i trust" "i'm a thief, i'm a liar, there's my church i sing in the choir". stone even lights the solo on fire.

Tremor Christ is one of Eddie's best set of lyrics (and I was featured in a marketing profile for FCC, and they quoted Tremor Christ in the ad, so that was cool). But DTE to this day evokes a stronger reaction from me. It translates into incredible live moments (I was at MSG 1 in 2003. Pretty f'ing cool). And while Tremor Christ has more mood, there are other pearl jam mood pieces (including on Vitalogy) that directly transport me to emotional spaces. Do the Evolution is a visceral experience. Tremor Christ is a pretty great painting.

There are a million ways to analyze and break down these two excellent songs. At the end of the day, for me, it's as simple as: if you had to pick one to be the only Pearl Jam song you could hear for the rest of your life which would it be?

Tremor Christ, no question.

Tremor Christ was written spontaneously

is not very complex

has tremendously good nuanced sound on the album

and was barely ever played live

DTE is a battle anthem that has invigorated millions of people live at this point

it’s riff is more clever than tremor christ

it’s powerful delivery live comes across better than tremor christ’s undeveloped live identity

DTE is more pearl jam at this point

I love vitalogy and Tremor Christ but the truth is the band never really seemed to

I've never tired playing too much Tremor, but after awhile, DTE lost its staying power. Maybe I like Tremor more because it's sort of a rarity and not a hit.

DtE is top 5 PJ for me, but no way is it better than Tremor Christ. You all are insane.

TIL that a repeating riff (90+% of rock music) is a gimmick. Thank you for this insight, Trag.

Having just played them both back to back it's no real contest for me. "Tremor Christ" is good, with some great playing from Jeff throughout. I like that the guitar riff is so simple that it really leaves a lot of space for the bass to bounce around and explore. But "Do the Evolution" is at least a couple notches above it as a composition and performance

you are welcome

I Got Shit is better than both songs.

Still, this is a cool final. There are like a dozen PJ songs I like better than either one of these but these are two good examples of what PJ does well

Why doesn't anyone like I Got Shit?

I also did this. While poking around Vitalogy I was surprised that Nothingman has so many plays on Spotify. More than Corduroy!

Is that normal? I thought Corduroy was a mega fan favorite.

I think it's because "Nothingman" was featured in a movie or TV show

I don't know. It makes me sad.

I'm changing my vote to TC.