Pearl Jam, 30 years of "Vs"

The last thing they thought about was the name. For a moment, they considered simply naming their second album after themselves: “Pearl Jam”. After all, having shaken off the hangover of interplanetary success and grown weary of all the industry games swirling around their fame, the Seattle band was simply trying to reclaim its artistic autonomy. In other words, to free itself from all external pressure, from the need to be constantly in the spotlight in an unrelenting promotion of its own music. And, further still, to break free from the media narrative that was trapping them within the grunge cauldron, fueling real or supposed rivalries with other acts from the same scene.

The second album was born out of this urgent, absolute need for liberation. Their stratospheric debut album had been an avalanche that could easily have swept them up and burned them out in no time. "Vs" was, in a sense, the cornerstone on which they built the foundations for the long, fulfilling career they went on to have. Perhaps stylistically inferior to the following "Vitalogy", the Seattle band's second offering comes across as raw, dirty and angry, closer in sound to the hard rock background they started from (Green River, Temple Of The Dog). In a reckless move against the grain, the American quintet recaptures youthful impetuousness and shields it from any form of restraint or subtractive post-production polish (producer Brendan O'Brien's work is excellent in this regard). The booming sound of the opening "Go" sounds as if it were recorded in some suburban basement. In the first thirty seconds, the drums are absolutely dominant while the buzzing guitars seem to hover almost in the distance. Then David Abbruzzese gives the signal: a devastating drum "bam" that cues in all the other instruments. Between guitar riffs and unforgettable solos, "Go" makes it practically impossible to listen quietly, without moving. Chosen as the lead single, the track is an overflowing opening statement that would launch the album to extraordinary sales figures: nearly a million copies in its first week alone.

From a line in the following song, "Animal", the quintet drew inspiration for the album's final title. Based on the lyrics, it could have been called even more explicitly "5 VS 1" (an option the band actually considered). Around that time, Pearl Jam truly threw themselves into a long series of seemingly quixotic battles, so fiercely did they swim against the current. They chose not to make any videos for MTV and fiercely opposed Ticketmaster's dominance, which they felt was charging outrageous service fees. They didn't hesitate to pick the most unusual venues in order to get around the obstacles tied to the ticketing giant's rights. These battles, potentially damaging from an economic standpoint, turned out instead to be a communicative triumph. It's no coincidence that many fans still consider the band an extraordinary example of moral integrity and dedication to music and to its audience. Indeed, it's undeniable that the Seattle band managed to build a solid reputation over time through an empathetic, direct approach: on stage, in terms of energy and impact, Pearl Jam are probably one of the most iconic rock bands of the last few decades.

Anger is certainly the emotion that best defines the lyrics of every track. Even a song like "Daughter", slow and melancholic, deals with an inner battle. In this case, it's about a girl with an undiagnosed learning disability, who feels alone and unable to live up to her mother's expectations

Alone, listless

Breakfast table in an otherwise empty room

Young girl, violence

Center of her own attention

The mother reads aloud, child tries to understand it

Tries to make her proud

The shades go down, it’s in her head

Painted room, can't deny there's something wrong

It's hard not to think of "Jeremy" and "Why Go", monumental odes to teenage angst that, even musically, aren't far removed from these tracks.

Yet you don't need to dig into the lyrics to grasp the force driving tracks like "Leash" and "Blood". The former, with its fast dynamics and unforgettable guitar solo, quickly became one of the album's most iconic songs; the latter marks one of the most frenzied moments they ever wrote. There are no melodic shortcuts or catchy hooks here: Eddie Vedder sings at the top of his lungs while the rhythm section overflows. The guitars are reined in only briefly, held back by short syncopated interludes. When they're finally unleashed and dive headlong into the pounding finale, they land on a punishing, old-school wall of sound (the Who come to mind above all).

A more grunge-leaning edge defines the many socially conscious songs on "VS". "Glorified G" rails against the proliferation of guns on American soil, "Rats" takes aim at the unscrupulous executives holding the levers of power, and on "W.M.A." tribal drums accompany the vocalist throughout as he accuses institutions like the police of violence against African-Americans. This last track, thanks in part to its funk atmospheres, can be seen as a forerunner of the openness to varied musical sounds the band would show in later work.

Four singles were pulled from "Vs": alongside the already mentioned "Go", "Animal" and "Daughter", "Dissident" was also chosen, a classic ballad that isn't especially brilliant but is charged with emotion. Far more deserving of attention in this vein is the poignant "Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town", whose delicate, melancholy arrangement showcases Eddie Vedder's vocal talents and foreshadows the style the frontman would draw on extensively in his solo work. It's undoubtedly one of the most famous songs in their catalogue, made all the more memorable by its unusually long title. Also well known and a regular fixture in their setlists is "Rearviewmirror" (one of their best-of compilations was even named after it). When Vedder launches into the soaring, energetic chorus, the crowd rarely lets him sing it alone.

Saw things, saw things

Saw things, saw things clearer, clearer

Once you were in my rear-view mirror

I gathered speed from you fucking with me

Once and for all, I’m far away

Hard to believe, finally the shades are raised

In the closing stretch, there's also room for a foray into the hazy psychedelic fog of "Indifference". A touching bassline and distant flashes of guitar accompany the vocalist's descent into hell. The anger slowly fades, giving way to a feeling of pure pain. Marked by extreme lyricism, unlike the album's more direct and brash tracks, "Indifference" finally resolves every conflict. Abbruzzese's drums are still there, but barely perceptible anymore. You can still scream, but what difference does it make? ("I will scream my lungs out till it fills this room/ How much difference does it make?").

With this question repeated like a litany, an album closes that carved an indelible mark into the discography of Pearl Jam. Revered and treated as a sacred object by the band's fans, "Vs" holds the Washington group's finest qualities: the ability to channel the restless, disoriented rage of their generation into a record that also hides some of their finest melodies. Seemingly at odds with everything they made afterward, yet at the same time overflowing with songs universally recognized as the most representative of their catalogue, "Vs" brings together seemingly irreconcilable elements. An unfashionable rock record with musical ideas rooted firmly in tradition, yet one that would sound just as majestic and overwhelming if it came out today.

Flattered and fussed over, but caged nonetheless, Pearl Jam felt like the sheep on the cover of "Vs". Just a few weeks earlier, In Utero" had been released, the spiritual testament of their peers Nirvana, who never managed to break free of those bars. Surely, the time would come for Eddie Vedder and his bandmates too to gladly return to the fold. Weighed down by experience and with fewer brilliant ideas, it would prove more convenient to cash in on their history with countless reissues and compilations. And yet, the genuine drive that led a band to release an album so blunt and so removed from any commercial strategy revealed that they, too, still held onto the proverbial purity of the sheep. Of the incredible trio of albums Pearl Jam released in their first five years, "Vs", if not the finest, is unquestionably the most courageous.

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