_________________ "Better the occasional faults of a Government that lives in a spirit of charity than the consistent omissions of a Government frozen in the ice of its own indifference."--FDR
Joined: Tue Nov 30, 2004 4:02 am Posts: 44183 Location: New York Gender: Male
Animal manages to pull off being one of Pearl Jam’s most powerful songs despite it’s pretty mediocre lyrics. Normally (at least for me) Pearl Jam songs rise and fall based on the story Eddie can tell with the lyrics, but the lyrics don’t matter here. As the title suggests, animal is pearl jam at its most primal and elemental. This song is pure melodic aggression—a punch to the gut that makes you want to scream and sing at the same time, no mean feat to pull off.
Animal is all about the passion and the music. The opening riff stays tight and focused even as it gallops all over the place, and eddie’s vocals are near perfect. He’s never managed to truly duplicate the combination of melody and rage that you find in animal, even if other songs like go, last exit, brain of j (and comatose?) are arguably better. The way the song rages forward and pulls back, starts and stops (the split second moments of silence that punctuate the verses are some of my favorite parts) makes for an exhilarating listen, and Mike is on fire here.
Lyrically I’ve always thought this song is about rape (1,2,3,4,5 against 1/why would you want to hurt me/so frightened of your pain/torture from you to me/abducted from the street) but rape in the broadest sense of the word—the feeling of violation, of having something taken from you against your will.
But in truth animal could be about anything. If ever there was a Pearl Jam song to listen to for the music and feeling it’s animal. This is about the most ass kicking two minutes and forty nine seconds you could ever hope to enjoy.
Animal is a 4 and a half star song for me, but I’m going to give it five.
_________________ "Better the occasional faults of a Government that lives in a spirit of charity than the consistent omissions of a Government frozen in the ice of its own indifference."--FDR
Joined: Tue Nov 30, 2004 4:02 am Posts: 44183 Location: New York Gender: Male
I could hear animal every show and be happy
And does anyone else here a piano underneath the guitars during the verses?
_________________ "Better the occasional faults of a Government that lives in a spirit of charity than the consistent omissions of a Government frozen in the ice of its own indifference."--FDR
Animal is, to me, Pearl Jam's most impressive fusion of punk intensity and classic rock riffage. If you're in an empty house, blast at full volume, get up and scream along. It's a beautiful thing.
I'm away to listen to it, I'll be back with more.
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denverapolis wrote:
it's a confirmed fact that orangutans are nature's ninja.
Love it. 5 stars. I've alwyas seen it as being a very general song about pain and how it's passed on. Physical and emotional pain seems to be the theme of Vs. And I remeber 5 against 1 being a saying Ed came up. I've read it was his idea of the band against the world and media, but another story was that it was Ed's feeling he was against the band and O'Brian when in the studio. I also really like the disc inlay with the five fingers and "against one" on the palm.
Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 11:02 pm Posts: 569 Location: Yorba Linda, CA
Love the song, and I love the lyrics. I don't understand why people knock the lyrics so much-- they're not meant to be particularly insightful or articulate; like Stip said, this is a raw, primal song and the lyrics reflect that.
When a person, such as the protagonist in the song, is in a tramautizing or life threatening situation, rationality is essentially usurped by animalistic, fight or flight instincts. Soldiers in war often revert back to states of infancy, crying to their mothers, and this song reflects a similar sentiment or someone in utter desperation, trying to cope with their circumstances.
Joined: Wed Mar 02, 2005 3:43 am Posts: 18418 Location: Anytown, USA Gender: Male
dont like it at all. i remember seeing it on the vma's for the 1st time and thinking "what the hell is this? is he counting?". the lyrics are bad and i think the music is bland. it needs to be retired from being played live. 1 star.
EDIT: Why is there no 1 star option in the poll?
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stip wrote:
In five years, when you get laid and grow up, you should go back and read some of these posts and if you've turned into a decent person you'll realize how much of an asshole you sound like right now
dont like it at all. i remember seeing it on the vma's for the 1st time and thinking "what the hell is this? is he counting?". the lyrics are bad and i think the music is bland. it needs to be retired from being played live. 1 star.
i saw that coming
this is my favorite song to listen to really loud besides blood and my favorite song to listen to when im pissed off...its fucking awesome and probably could have 5 stars if it meant something to me because those are the songs i love the most of pjs...but i had to give it 4
its kind of hard to judge what the majority of people consider to be the ELITE class of pj songs, when every sotm(or at least is seems like it) is given and overall rating of 5 stars, it gets annoying seeing that everysong is given 5 stars by everybody
There are definitely songs I wouldn't give five stars.
i would only give about 7 or 8 songs is pjs entire catalogue 5 stars, because those are my favorite songs and songs that i really love and mean something to me... but it seems like people give every song 5 stars, and it makes it difficult to distinguish whether people think a song is amazing or just really goog...im not saying you do it, im just saying i think the 5 star button is used to liberally
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