The Decathlon: Pearl Jam's 10 Most Visceral Tracks

With Pearl Jam's new single raising some eyebrows for its fleeter speed and harder intensity than recent offerings, most folks are drawing comparisons to Spin The Black Circle. The incendiary lead single from 1994's Vitalogy is a somewhat apt comparison, but it's not like it's the only time they've recorded something fast and heavy. In the spirit of nostalgia (and perhaps a primer for folks who haven't tracked the band's career arc), here's ten of Pearl Jam's roughest, most raucous songs.

PORCH (1991)
While the majority of Ten's intensity came from its slower, more emotional material, Porch always stood out on virtue of its velocity. By far the fastest track on the album, it's even more intense live; a setlist staple for twenty years plus, the song's midsection usually gives the band a few minutes to stretch out and rock hard.

STATE OF LOVE AND TRUST (1992)
Tossed onto the Singles soundtrack (along with fellow Ten outtake Breath), State Of Love And Trust is one of Pearl Jam's first exhibits of punk rock fury; the blistering tempo is matched step for step by Vedder's intense narrative.

GO (1993)
Selling a kajillion albums with your debut is enough to send most bands to the heavens, but Pearl Jam saw a career trajectory that fizzled out fast in those sales numbers and set out to right the ship with sophomore album Vs. Coming out of the gate swinging with a raging slab of difficult speedrock, the plan was to test the patience of fairweather fans eager for more radio-friendly singles; Go's furious bombast was not standard lead single fare even in the "anything goes" 90's. However, despite Go's inaccessibility as a single, Vs. sold a million copies in its first week of release.

SPIN THE BLACK CIRCLE (1994)
Having already tried the hard and fast single approach to little net loss of fans, Pearl Jam decided the sane and right thing to do for album number three was release a lead single that was harder and faster. Finally, the plan was starting to work; Vitalogy scared a lot of folks away, and started the band toward the career longevity they now enjoy. Of course, Spin The Black Circle messed around and won the band a Grammy.

LUKIN (1996)
Hidden amongst No Code's tribal beats, slinky rhythms and maturing songwriting were a few truly heavy tracks. Hail, Hail and Habit roar deep and spit fire, but Lukin is the nastiest of the bunch. Whizzing by in just a minute, it tells of a rather unfortunate fan and their unreasonable obsession with Vedder. It's haggard, hateful, even a little frightening.

BRAIN OF J. (1998)
Yield saw Pearl Jam pull back the reigns a bit, taking a break from attempted alienation and constructing a solid, smart, mature record. Still, they couldn't help but open the album with this absolute scorcher.

GRIEVANCE (2000)
As Vedder started using his voice to bring light to more politically inclined points of view (and George W. Bush began his reign as American president), his fury became more palpable; rather than what some would (incorrectly) perceive as empty angst, songs like Grievance give Vedder a chance to express real concern and real frustration.

SAVE YOU (2002)
Even on the band's most docile album, there's time for a little hellfire; while the band endured criticism of being tired and/or lazy on Riot Act, you certainly can't say that about the impassioned and profanity-laden delivery on Save You.

COMATOSE (2006)
It's kind of baffling to me how much people compare the band's new single to Spin The Black Circle; this fiery number from their self titled album didn't draw as many comparisons, and it sounds way more like Spin The Black Circle.

MIND YOUR MANNERS (2013)
Perhaps the best description of Mind Your Manners I can muster after living with it for 24 hours is this: it's as fast and heavy as just about anything they've done, but the most impressive thing about it is the prowess they show in controlling the track's rage. It's visceral and thrilling without ever becoming unhinged.

Hope you've enjoyed the tunes. And don't forget to pick up Lightning Bolt on October 15.

Year in Rock 2025

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As far as punk rock goes, it's hard to name a hotter hot streak than the trio of records Rancid cranked out between 1995 and 2000; the star making ...And Out Come the Wolves , the far-reaching Life Won't Wait and their balls-to-the-wall second self-titled album solidly positioned Rancid as leaders of the second generation of punk. It also preceded a period of slow progression, as Rancid would take eleven years to release their next three records. By the time ...Honor Is All We Know came in 2014, many fans (myself included) had to wonder whether or not this was the end of the road. Such concerns are handily dealt with on the closing track of the standard edition of their ninth record, the positively punishing This Is Not the End . Well, okay then, that's sorted. Now, what of this new record? What do we make of the use of their original logo on the cover, a logo that hasn't graced a Rancid record in 25 years? Is this a throwback to the band's heyday, a new begin...

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