"We're all still alive....it ain't easy, I'm tellin' ya."

Alive for the music, Corduroy for the sentiment

I Am Mine

a tough choice... corduroy rotates as one of my faves, alive is top 5, given to fly top 10...

i gotta go alive

nice post. I've never had an experience where i had to pull over to listen to a song before. that's a great story

RVM makes me speed up, not pull over

Did you pick those 3 songs, Stip?

If I had to name 3 defining songs, it'd be the 3 in the poll, tho I'd have a hard time deciding between G2F and Betterman.

Overall, I think Corduroy is THE defining pj song.

I did. Betterman is one of my all time favorites, and it might be a great example of a pearl jam song, but it isn't a mission statement (I hate that phrase but it kind of works here) like those three. RVM would have worked well though. it was the last one cut. Same with indifference. Present Tense and I am Mine could work too, but they aren't quite as important as the ones above if that makes sense--at least in my mind

let me reiterate that if anyone has a suggestion for this thread, and ESPECIALLY if they want to write something up, please PM me.

The best song to define the band to me is GTF. However, to an outsider, someone that doesn't know the catalogue it is Alive.

Take the live experience; corduroy is great for clapping along and building momentum of the show but misses something; GTF is amazing live but I think you have to know the lyrics to get the full impact of the music (hence those more into the band); whereas Alive is just this huge anthem that even the casual listener that happens to attend a show can be into. It is a story that can be followed and understood, it has a great bridge and the solo at the end where everyone can participate and say they are alive too yelling "yeah". Actually, considering the whole Roskilde tragedy and that Alive was only played on the last show, speaks something else too about the band and the significance the song holds.

Given to Fly

To me, Alive is the song you would mention to someone to remind them of Pearl Jam back in the early 90's, but to introduce someone to PJ, someone who's never heard of them before, i'd go with GtF

Corduroy for me, it just seems to embody everything I think about Pearl Jam. Musically it's so powerful, but comes with a strong message, beautiful lyrics and comes from the absolute peak of the band.

"Take my hand, not my picture" describes Pearl Jam to me in one line.

Corduroy, because it is about the band, or being in a famous band, at least.

so is blood

Allright,
here we go.



I'm overwhelmed by the relation I've built between this internet character that is Angus and the song Given to Fly.

- Anyway,
What is a song that defines Pearl Jam? Is that the song we will think about first when we look back in 50 years on the band we once loved and say to ourselves "now that was Pearl Jam!". I think before voting you have to think about what Pearl Jam actually is.

What is Pearl Jam?

- Impossible question to answer.

- Pearl Jam is the band that made the anthemic albums Ten & Vs. and got to be the biggest band in the world. And Alive is definitely the song that will be remembered from this period. Singalong chorus, emotional & deep lyrics, great riff, great guitar solo, ...

- Pearl Jam is the band that took on the whole world and its own fans in the Vitalogy/No Code period. And Corduroy is the song that is defining for this period. Just think about how the "lyrics" to Corduroy are printed in the Vitalogy booklet. Says enough what the song means.

- Pearl Jam is the band that took it easier, made its own music, experimented a little but almost always kept making normal rock songs and has never really gone under the radar. Given to Fly defines this period.

- Now, what period is most important? The latest one since that's the one proving they survived the the hard times. The hard times? Or the early days which gave the band their status they still have and which made most of us a fan in the first place?

- All three are live staples and huge crowd pleasers, but... where are they in the setlist? Corduroy & GTF are almost always in the first set somewhere between other songs. Alive, especially during the last couple of tours, has been an encore closer. Getting the entire audience to stand up, sing, put their fists in the air, scream it out for thé song that everyone associates with Pearl Jam. This is partly why I had no doubt but to vote for Alive.

- Last week I was driving with some friends who have a very bad taste in music (popular dance & rock). Suddenly Alive came on and we all started singing it together, put the volume completely open and rocked out. I could try that with any other Pearl Jam song and it wouldn't work. It would never work.

- I agree that for fans it's easy to answer anything else, mainly Corduroy. But that's because we know and have followed every step this band ever took. Ticketmaster & all other mid-90ies events will be remembered. Lots of people will always respect them for that period. And I certainly won't ignore that that period was very important for what Pearl Jam is now. But not the most important period.

- The post-Vitalogy period will be remembered much less imo. That's why I immediately excluded GTF. It's not defining for what Pearl Jam is and will be remembered for. Just check the Greatest Hits album. Count the songs from 1991-1994 and then the rest. See?

- Now think of this in a bigger scheme. Think of the outside world. Pearl Jam is and will always be the grunge band that rose with Nirvana. Pearl Jam is the stickman. Pearl Jam is shy & crazy Eddie Vedder. Pearl Jam is the Alive & Even Flow video, the stagedive & crowdsurfing Eddie. Pearl Jam is the song Alive.

- Important: Before the Avocado album I think I could have gone for the other two songs. Had they gone to make another album that followed the line of No Code-Yield-Binaural-Riot Act, I probably wouldn't have voted Alive But they clearly went back to their early days and showed they're still a rockband with rocksongs, singalong choruses, long guitar solo's, great guitar riffs. Just look at what people like Stip & Coach think of the Avocado album and you know I'm right. I'm exaggerating a bit, I know, but the first 5 songs are practically pure Ten-Vs stuff. That's why I'm still voting for Alive. It's still the song that defines Pearl Jam anno 2006.

- I don't even know what I've written here and I don't know if I will agree with all this tomorrow, but I just wanted to defend my Alive choice versus so many people who reacted so strangely to my vote.

Thank you.

Fuck stip, Angus for mod

great post angus.

Excellent post Angus, pretty much how I feel and you write it much more eloquently than I ever could.

that's what I was going to say, but I couldn't think of an eloquent way to say that Angus wrote it much more eloquently than I ever could.

Alive. That's the song that made me a fan in the first place.

True, but after reading Angus' post

I would have to agree.