Top 10 PJ Holiday Single Tracks: A Ranking/Memories Thread

[Kevin Davis]

Whatever highly criticizeable creative/business reasons exist behind the discontinuing of the annual 10C single, there's no question that these releases are a cool footnote in the history of this band, and one of the things that set them apart from many of their peers in their heyday. Some of the songs have become canonical, some (more and more in later years) were worthless crap, but the net experience of the holiday singles for most PJ fans I would imagine was far more positive than negative.

I suspect many fans, especially the ones in my age group who are a little young to have been on the wagon from the beginning, remember the experience of realizing these existed and tracking them down in bulk. I had a CDR of them that I burned off Kazaa in maybe 2001 or so, and for a while it was like having a whole new PJ album -- a homespun "Lost Dogs" a few years in advance. There was an air of mystery to them, especially in that time immediately following the 2000 tour when there were still large chunks of catalog that the band didn't acknowledge in concert and hadn't anthologized by way of any widespread release.

The holiday singles have been on life support for well over a decade but now feels like a good time to do what RM does best (other than bitching, which is alive and well in the "RIP" thread). ITT, we remember, and we rank.

Top 10 Pearl Jam Holiday Single Tracks, 1991-2016

1. Strangest Tribe
2. Happy When I'm Crying
3. Someday At Christmas
4. Soldier of Love
5. Angel
6. Let Me Sleep
7. Last Kiss
8. In the Moonlight (PJ20)
9. Drifting
10. Last Soldier

Honorable mention to "Sonic Reducer," a classic PJ cover but the live versions were always best.

Complete list of singles:

Spoiler: show

01. Let Me Sleep (It's Christmas Time)
02. Ramblings 1
03. Sonic Reducer
04. Ramblings 2
05. Angel
06. Ramblings 3 (Live)
07. History Never Repeats (Ed live with Neil and Tim Finn)
08. Sonic Reducer (Live with Joey Ramone)
09. Swallow My Pride (Stone and Jeff live with Green River)
10. My Way (Ed live with an Elvis impersonator)
11. Olympic Platinum
12. Smile (Live)
13. Happy When I'm Crying
14. Live For Today (by R.E.M.)
15. Solider Of Love (Live)
16. Last Kiss
17. Strangest Tribe
18. Drifting
19. Crown Of Thorns (Live with Brendan O' Brien)
20. Can't Help Falling In Love (Live)
21. Last Soldier (Live)
22. Indifference (Ed live with Ben Harper)
23. Gimme Some Truth (Live)
24. I Just Want To Have Something To Do
25. Don't Believe In Christmas (Live)
26. Sleepless Nights (Ed live with Beck)
27. Reach Down (Live with Chris Cornell)
28. I Believe In Miracles (Live)
29. Someday At Christmas
30. Better Man (Ed with Walmer High School Choir)
31. Little Sister (Live with Robert Plant)
32. Gone (Demo)
33. Love, Reign O'er Me
34. Rockin' In The Free World (Live with Bono and The Edge)
35. Santa God
36. Jingle Bells
37. Santa Cruz
38. The Golden State (Ed with Corin Tucker)
39. Turning Mist
40. Hawaii '78 (Live)
41. Falling Down (Live)
42. Alternate Jeremy (Live)
43. Better Things
44. Devil Doll (Ed with X)
45. All Night (Live with Glen Hansard, Dave Garza, and Joe Arthur)
46. In The Moonlight (Live with Josh Homme)
47. 99 Problems (Live with Jay-Z)
48. Shattered (Ed live with Jeanne Tripplehorn)
49. Imagine (Live)
50. Pendulumorphosis
51. Wishing Well
52. Redemption Song (Ed live with Beyoncé)
53. Alive (Rehearsal with Dave Krusen)
54. Around And Around

[Norah]

In The Moonlight was a Christmas single?

[Kevin Davis]

Just the live version from PJ20.

[Jorge]

Can someone make a list of all the Holiday singles? I get them mixed up with plain old outtakes

[Kevin Davis]

https://www.pearljamonline.it/pearl-jam ... y-singles/

*Wait, that seems like it only goes back to 2002. Here's another list:

http://wegotshit.blogspot.com/2015/10/c ... n.html?m=1

[gardenparty]

1. Strangest Tribe
2. Angel
3. Last Soldier
4. Love, Reign o'er Me
5. Falling Down
6. Can't Help Falling in Love
7. Soldier of Love
8. Golden State
9. Don't Believe in Xmas
10. Hawaii '78

[rick malone]

1. Let Me Sleep
2. Angel
3. Last Kiss
4. Driftin'
5. Sonic Reducer(1992)
6. Happy When I'm Crying
7. History Never Repeats
8. Olympic Platinum
9. Swallow My Pride
10. Soldier of Love

[epilogue]

1. Strangest Tribe/Drifting (1999)
2. Angel/Ramblings (1993)
3. Happy When I'm Crying/Live For Today (1997)
4. Last Soldier/Indifference/Gimme Some Truth/Just Want to Have Something to Do (2001)
5. Don't Believe in Christmas/Sleepless Night (2002)
6. Someday At Christmas/Better Man (2004)
7. History Never Repeats/Sonic Reducer/Swallow My Pride/My Way (1995)
8. Santa Cruz/Golden State (2008)
9. Better Things/Devil Doll (2011)
10. All Night/In The Moonlight (2012)

Spoiler: show

11. Alive/Round and Round (2016)
12. Olympic Platinum/Smile (1996
13. Little Sister/Gone (2005)
14. Love Reign O'er Me/Rockin' in the Free World (2006)
15. No Jeremy/Falling Down (2010)
16. Let Me Sleep/Ramblings (1991)
17. Soldier of Love/Last Kiss (1998)
18. Crown of Thorns/Can't Help Falling in Love (2000)
19. Reach Down/I Believe in Miracles (2003)
20. Santa God/Jingle Bells (2007)


21. Wishing Well/Redemption Song (2015)
22. Imagine/Pendulumorphosis (2014)
23. Sonic Reducer/Ramblings (1992)
24. Turning Mist/Hawaii '78 (2009)
25. 99 Problems/Shattered (2013)

[Jorge]

Oh my God, that horrible Mike McCready "Jingle Bells" demo! I forgot all about that

[gardenparty]

4. Last Soldier/Indifference/Gimme Some Truth/Just Want to Have Something to Do (2001)

This was a strong year

[Norah]

Show some fucking thread integrity, Joey.

[epilogue]

Oh my God, that horrible Mike McCready "Jingle Bells" demo! I forgot all about that

But Santa God is dope.

[epilogue]

Show some fucking thread integrity, Joey.

[epilogue]

Ooooooooh. I see what I did.

Sorry everybody.

[Simple Torture]

1. Strangest Tribe
2. Soldier of Love
3. Falling Down
4. Driftin'
5. Let Me Sleep
6. Last Soldier
7. Angel
8. Last Kiss
9. I Just Wanna Have Something To Do
10. Sleepless Nights

[Kevin Davis]

I should have included "Smile" from Barcelona on my list.

[epilogue]

Angel is the best one. I'll have to think about the others.

[epilogue]

1. Angel
2. Sleepless Night
3. Strangest Tribe
4. Happy When I'm Crying
5. Gone
6. In The Moonlight
7. Someday at Christmas
8. Drifting
9. Love Reign O'er Me
10. Falling Down


Probably.

[Simple Torture]

I excluded live takes of album tracks on purpose. That is a great version of Smile.

Here's a memory that's not really a ranking: I didn't join the 10C until 2002, but there was a rumor floating around that if you sent cash to the 10C they would send you singles from previous years. I addressed an envelope to Seattle and put in something like $30 and asked for all the old singles they had in stock. They ended up sending me the singles from '95 and then '98-'01. Not bad.

[epilogue]

I excluded live takes of album tracks on purpose. That is a great version of Smile.

Here's a memory that's not really a ranking: I didn't join the 10C until 2002, but there was a rumor floating around that if you sent cash to the 10C they would send you singles from previous years. I addressed an envelope to Seattle and put in something like $30 and asked for all the old singles they had in stock. They ended up sending me the singles from '95 and then '98-'01. Not bad.

baller