![]() ![]() With a peal of notes sounding off as it begins, the fourth track of “Vs.” takes a very dim view of gun ownership and had been inspired when Vedder overheard drummer Abbruzzese had bought one. The narrative finds Vedder painting the picture of, yes, an abusive relationship - this time between parent and child, and this time alternating between the daughter’s perspective (“don’t call me daughter / not fit to”) and the the third person (“She holds the hand that holds her down.”) “Daughter” is one of the strongest examples of Vedder’s uncommon prowess in writing songs from a female perspective. The song truly came together in mid-92 when Stone Gossard got out his acoustic on the tour bus to play alongside an un-mic’d Eddie Vedder (it’s a scene you can see in Cameron Crowe’s 2011 “Pearl Jam Twenty” documentary). The album’s second single became arguably its most familiar hit. The song’s first line begat the album’s provisional title, “Five Against One.” No less pounding, “Animal” completes the one-two punch that kick starts Vs., this time with Vedder singing as the abused: the exact opposite point of view from the opener. ![]() “Go,” the album’s first official single, has turned up as frenzy-inducing part of a number of PJ setlists ever since. The album blasts out of the gate with a driving beat and pounding guitars that lay the way for Vedder’s searing holler, “don’t go on me!,” as he sings about a pleading abuser. To date, the sophomore set that proved the band could do things its own way - a tactic that directly helped make its longevity possible - has sold six million copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Still, “Vs.” connected immediately upon its October 1993 release, selling an astounding 950,000 copies in its first week according to Nielsen SoundScan and debuting at No. They’d made the then-unfathomable decision to not make any videos, and only gave a few interviews. PJ was initially going to call it “Five Against One,” and for a moment it was self-titled, but ultimately, they chose the simple, powerful title “Vs.,” apt for a band in a lot of ways in opposition to the usual machinery of fame. Soon, they were finishing the batch of 12 explosive, emotional, vivid songs wherein Vedder sang stories of family turmoil, abuse, violence and the perils of fame in his muscular baritone against the interlocking twin riffage of Mike McCready and Stone Gossard, bassist Jeff Ament’s hard groove and then-drummer Dave Abbruzzese’s rapid-fire barrage. Vedder supposedly took to occasionally sleeping in his truck out in the San Francisco area near the Site to get his mind in the right place for the process. PJ Lightning Bolt Track-By-Track Review With Band CommentaryĪfter an initial period that produced several tunes including “Rats” and “Go,” work ground to a temporary halt. Pearl Jam ‘Lightning Bolt’: The Billboard Cover Story with producer Brendan O’Brien, who would come to work with the band on many of its albums over the next 20 years. In the first half of 1993, it was in this environment that the quintet made the follow-up to “Ten.” Pearl Jam convened at Potatohead in Seattle and The Site studio in Nicasio, Calif. ![]()
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