I read this forum occasionally because there are some interesting discussions but I never really post anything. I have noticed over time though that Ten gets crapped on an awful lot here. Not by everybody sure, but everytime someone posts "favorite PJ album?" Ten is near or at the bottom of everyone's lists and it's not uncommon to see comments such as "Ten is by far their worst album".
I just think that's completely ridiculous. There's a reason why the album sold something like ten million copies, and it's not just the fact that MTV promoted it. Ten was a worldwide sensation and it's nearly universally reviewed as being a great album. If you check into allmusic.com, it's rated as "best in genre", which is a label applied to very few albums.
The fact of the matter is, of course I love Pearl Jam and I have all their albums and I've seen them live 5 or 6 times, but more fundamentally I am a rock n' roll fan. And from the vantage point of a rock fan, Ten truly is one of the greatest albums ever made, by any artist.
Now of course you can make an argument that PJ has branched out more and become more creative since Ten and I would agree. But as a PJ fan there's no shame in giving Ten it's credit as a blistering, emotional rollercoaster ride. Admitting that Ten is awesome is not the same thing as saying they're not as good as they used to be, which is something we all hear constantly from our friends who aren't die hard fans of the band.

Ten is a great album and without it we wouldn't have seen the band's many other fantastic efforts. It was the first PJ album I ever heard, and certainly what got me into the band.

However, if you've even casually listened to the radio in the past 10 years, you're probably a little sick of the album versions of over half the songs on there. They're great songs, and I love them live or on the bootlegs, but I simply can't stomach those same studio versions any longer. Furthermore, the sound of that record and era has been aped by the Creed's of the world so much, it just doesn't have the same power that it used to have, imho. That said, I rarely listen to Ten these days. I put it out in my car about a week ago and found myself skipping through the biggest part of the first half of the cd only because I've heard those songs so many times. There's something to be said for the fact that those songs have been played so much and are so universally known, but it just doesn't compell me to listen to the album. So while I would NEVER sell my copy of Ten, I also just don't listen to it much anymore. It certainly deserves a great deal of respect though.

The reason Ten has sold like 10 ba-zillion copies is because a lot of people like it. That's why I bought my copy. That doesn't make it a great album, even though I personally believe it is. It's useless, though, to try and convince other people of its greatness if they like other albums better. And placing Ten lowest when ranking albums isn't always dumping on it.

Personal rant: Music is not a competition. I hate when people make lists of "all time greatest" and "best of this/that." I would much rather people just enjoy what they like and stick with that.

Yeah , its kinda nuts that the PJ freaks say Ten sucks. Anywhere else 9 of 10 ppl agree its thier best. Talking to ppl in my bar last night alot of ppl (said while the GH was playing) they like PJ and feel Ten is thier best work. I feel the same way. Ten is the best PJ record. Its a classic album.

I think there is a difference between an album being your favorite and thinking an album is their best. I do believe Ten is their best album, but it's not my favorite. A major problem with Ten is that its been overplayed and therefore gets put on the back burner. Ten started everything. If pj released a Yield type album its very possible alot of people would not have been exposed to them. Ten was a very explosive album during it's era.

its my least fav album

Its my least favourite, but i don't dis-like it in any way! I think its a very important album as it introduced PJ to the world, and it has some classics that may have been overplayed. Some people get caught up in the whole 'you're not a die-hard fan unless No Code is your fave' thing. I think you can be the biggest fan in the world but like Ten the most.

Least fave, but still a damn good album. The new remixes finally give us the songs the way they should sound.

Ten is amazing, but it is my second least favorite album.

yes

same here...least favorite = vs

way to fight back!

Ten is a top album, not just in their own music, but in their whole genre of music. Whether you hate or like Ten, there's not denying it.

And Riot Act... its not anything special but it is a good album.

Don't poop on grunge albums.

If Pearl Jam had continued making albums like Ten and Vs. I wouldn't be at this message board right now. Not that those are bad albums, I just perfer the direction they have taken since. I'm not trying to be a better fan than anyone else, that's just a preference.

That being said, you're more likely to run into fans who like the direction the band is taking now on an internet forum about the band. Not many people want to talk about a band that made thier best music ten years ago, which seems to be your thought process. And there's certainly nothing wrong with that; just don't be suprised when everyone doesn't agree with you.

Im gonna agree with you. i love the album but i gotta admit that when i throw it in i usually skip alive, jeremy and evenflow (sometimes) mainly because im tired of those versions. i do enjoy the live versions however. that being said i still hold Ten in my PJ top 3. i used to dislike vs but over the past 2 years ive really grown to love that one too. i gotta say that at the moment thought Riot Act is my least fav, but i still love it

yeah, when I listen to Ten, the only tracks I ever really listen to are...

Oceans
Porch
Deep
Garden
Once


the rest though are SOOOO much better live.

That is because those 9 ppl haven't heard another album. "PJ is still around?"

For most a lot of us here, including me, we first cut our pj teeth on ten and we all loved it. but for some of us, again inlcuing me, it is not why I like PJ anymore . I can go w/o hearing much of ten besides black and release which will go down as some as my fav's of all time. Every other album I can go back and listen to from beginning to end.

It's been what, 13 years since Ten. Ten is a good record. I like Ten. A lot happens in 13 years.

One of the matters that makes pearl jam unique IMHO, (besides playing outstanding live,) is that the albums suceeding Ten also has appealed to me at different stages in life - I can relate each album to different phases of me growing up.

Since music is all about feelings, and we (RMboarders) tend to make threads/polls as "The best album", I think the meaning of those threads are more like "What album do you like the most" than "What is objectively the best album".

Therefore, I think that the reason for Ten being placed at the bottom-side of those kind of polls, is perhaps that other albums have had a bigger impact on the voters than Ten, at least more recent. Most RMers has lived with Ten for a long time.

I poop on it, but clean up afterwords because I care for it so much. It's starting to skip so I probobly should stop doing that.

My list...