Pearl Jam
Vs.
»
Pearl Jam
Vs.
Epic, 1993
RiYL: The Who, Soundgarden, Nirvana |
Unless you have a Messiah complex, how do you deal with that? After all, these were just five normal guys in their mid-20s, still trying to figure out what the fuck the world is really about. And they have millions hanging on their every move. What do you do? Give it up? The music's more important than that. They know it.
No, you keep fighting, and that's where Vs. comes in. Originally titled Five Against One, the album lives up to its name as a desperate attempt to retain Pearl Jam's integrity in the face of crushing popularity. It's a turf war, waged with immense intensity against the pratfalls of stardom. And no one was fighting harder than singer Eddie Vedder. "It's my blood," he screams/pleads at one point, trying to make us, the listener, understand what's at stake -- nothing less than the band's very souls.
And even though musically Vs. might be the least interesting among Pearl Jam's albums to date, philosophically, it's a resounding victory. After spending 40-some minutes spilling his blood for rock and roll, a weary Vedder questions "how much difference does it make?" on "Indifference." But it's a short-lived moment of doubt, as later in the same song, he's proclaiming, "I will drink poison until I grow immune / I will scream my lungs out 'til it fills this room."
It's a theme Vedder struggles with throughout the entire album, one that has roots as far back as Hamlet: does the protagonist have the courage to fight the injustice he sees around him, or will he give in to his fears and resign himself to just be part of the nightmare? The struggle is the stuff that gives us heroes, no matter how unwilling the subject.
Thus, every note of Vs. is charged with an absolute urgency. The album begins with guitars racing through a Fugazi-like run, followed closely by bass and drums building to scorched-Earth power chords and a possessed Vedder pleading from the perspective of an abusive lover about to be dumped. "Suppose I abused you / just passing it on," he sings on "Go," returning to a familiar stomping ground: the dysfunctional relationship. The adversarial "Animal," containing the "five against one" lyric, continues in the fast-paced vein, showcasing the band's extremely tight rhythm section (run by bassist Jeff Ament and drummer Dave Abbruzzese).
Rhythm, as it turns out, is the most important musical component to Vs. Even though because of its pedigree, the band was lumped into Seattle's grunge movement, Pearl Jam was really more groove than grunge right from the beginning, which Vs. only illustrates further.
Even an acoustic ballad like "Daughter" is driven at its core by Stone Gossard's tight rhythm guitar strumming. The vast majority of the songs on Vs. rely on a similar combination of air-tight rhythm from Gossard, Ament and Abruzzese, punctuated with Mike McCready's spitfire guitar leads and Vedder's deep growl. It's a formula that sounds slightly dated here and there, but for the most part serves the band well.
The dirge-like "Blood," which was actually called "grungy" at the time of its release, still sounds great a few years later, because underneath the screaming guitars and Vedder's guttural singing, the rhythm section cooks up a deep, head-bobbing groove that gives the song its resonance.
Some of the material doesn't hold up as well over time, like the pretentious tribal rhythm "W.M.A." and the downright silly "Leash" (Sample lyric: "Troubled souls unite / We've got ourselves tonight"). Though even on these songs, Pearl Jam's bigness shines through -- at one point on "Leash," Vedder reassures, "I am right by your side," and damn it all, you believe him.
Maybe you believe because, despite the big, epic nature of this band, Vedder's tales are often small and personal. He has a rare ability among songwriters to really get into the heads of the characters he writes about and then deliver their stories with strong emotion. "Dissident" makes a rape survivor's story into a political allegory, and Vedder gives an emotive reading that will hook you on the song even if you don't get it at first.
And the whimsical "Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town" gives us a small, yet sublime moment where the narrator finds understanding and familiarity in the face of the title character. "I just want to scream hello / My God, it's been so long, never dreamed you'd return," he pines.
"Elderly Woman," like so many of Vedder's best, is a road song, as is Vs.' centerpiece, "Rearviewmirror." Although the struggle to keep hope alive informs "Daughter" and "Leash," "Rearviewmirror" is where it all comes to a head. Over a driving, relentless beat, Vedder finally makes his decision: It's better to live and fight another day. "Saw things so much clearer / Once you were in my rearviewmirror" he shrieks, still trying to convince himself it's the truth.
Originally pegged as a suicide song, "Rearviewmirror," has actually taken on quite the opposite meaning over time. Measured against Kurt Cobain's suicide under similar pressures, Vedder's solution clearly provides the better way out. And even though it would take the band three or four more years to negotiate their hugeness, Pearl Jam did come through with its soul, and dignity, intact.
PATRICK KASTNER | Affectionately known as Cousin Patty (yes, it's a "Throw Momma From The Train" reference), Patrick Kastner is a designer for the Columbus Post-Dispatch.