RANK THE ALBUMS

[PHATJ]

1. Gigaton
2. Binaural
3. Yield
4. Vs.
5. Ten
6. Vitalogy
7. No Code
8. Riot Act
9. Pearl Jam





10/11 I couldn’t care less

Basically what we have here is eight incredible albums, one pretty damn good one, and two forgettable misses. This band just proved beyond a reasonable doubt, it is one of the greatest American bands of all time. Peerless over the last three decades.

[E.H. Ruddock]

Come on, though. You can't call it the best PJ album after only a few listens. You have to respect their catalog enough to let it settle in for a while, give a tour, a year or so. Calling it the best album in a 30 year career is just jumping on the newness of it. I love this album too, but hmmph.

[ridleybradout]

Fun fact: Gigaton is the first album since Binaural that doesn’t automatically go to the bottom of the album rankings.

[stip]

I used to put every album post No Code into my top 3 for at least a brief window, so we'll see where this lands, ultimately. But I'm confident it's a keeper

[coptheriotact]

Riot act
Yield
No code /Binaural
Vitalogy/vs
Ten
Avocado/Gigaton
Backspacer
Lighnin bowltt

[epilogue]

I used to put every album post No Code into my top 3 for at least a brief window, so we'll see where this lands, ultimately. But I'm confident it's a keeper

This is interesting to me because my experience has been largely the opposite. No Code blew me away but it was also strange and hard to hold. As much as I loved its fresh directions (from the previous 3 records), it was hard to imagine ranking it above any of the previous records.

Yield was great but I felt done with it after one listen. I listened to it and thought, "cool... NEXT." I didn't need to listen to it again immediately. The first time I'd had that reaction to a Pearl Jam record. Great as the songs were, Yield was easily my least favorite Pearl Jam album at first listen. It was the new record and it only made me want to listen to the old records.

I didn't even listen to Binaural all the way through at first. I listened to the first three songs then turned it off and went about my day. Later I listened to the rest of it. And there were clear stand-outs, "best of the catalog" potential, but the album felt like a mess to me. I spent much more time with it when it was brand new than I had with Yield when it was new but I still knew it was my least favorite Pearl Jam album.

Until Riot Act came out, Vitalogy was the last Pearl Jam album that I thought wasn't the "worst" Pearl Jam album. Riot Act gave me that old feeling again. From the jump I was certain that it was a masterpiece. I wasn't sure it would ever take that top spot for me (it has recently, btw) but I knew it was top shelf stuff. I was madly in love.

Pearl Jam was a lovely record. I enjoyed it through it's flaws. Probably, I was still riding Riot Act's high. Never did I think it was Pearl Jam's worst album (that still belonged to Binaural at the time) but I also never considered it their best. I knew it was never going to crack my top three, for example. And, unfortunately, unlike Yield and Binaural and No Code, Pearl Jam's self-titled record has only fallen in my estimation. It's still a good album. I enjoy listening to it. There are great songs on it. But it isn't now, nor was it ever going to be their best record.

Backspacer felt like a disappointment. I tried to like it. I listened to it over and over and over, trying to mine what I could from it, almost willing away the feeling that the band that I loved most had just flat failed. Every previous record, even Binaural (which took the longest for me to fully embrace and identify with), had something special about it. Had one or two profound pieces that I couldn't shake. Backspacer was the first time I was bummed out by a Pearl Jam album. I tried to fight that. I think I succeeded. I found things to love -- but even those things sometimes feel insignificant because of the way the larger community derides them (looking at you Amongst the Waves). It's hard to feel any sense of connection and/or community around that record. And that sucks. Community, for better or worse, is always something I've found in Pearl Jam's music.

Lightning Bolt was a tremendous leap up from Backspacer. That one felt like the mythical "get right" record that fans (and even the band at time) always talked about. More than Yield, more than S/T, Lightning Bolt felt like an actual attempt at a "return to form." I totally get why that doesn't mesh with others, why they album doesn't click for most. But it worked on me. Still, even with all the good vibes and excitement I felt, even after washing the taste of Backspacer out of my mouth, never did I think LB was anything resembling Pearl Jam's best album. Not after one listen not after 100 listens.

Gigaton though... there's real potential here. For the first time since Riot Act and Vitalogy before it, I feel like this could be a top tier Pearl Jam album. This one MIGHT sit at the head table. It's far too early to be sure but this is the first one in a long, long time that feels like it's making a case for the top of the pile. I don't think it'll ever break my top 3. But it *could*. That's the thing with this album is that it doesn't seem absurd to think it might end up being one of their best.

What a great feeling. It really is something I never thought I'd feel again from a Pearl Jam record. I never thought "they lost it." Or anything like that. I never bought into the cynical creative bankruptcy talk. The money-grab blah blah blah. But I just thought they had finally aged and grown past me. We were no longer on the same path. And I was okay with that. But to find that our divergent paths have merged again. That I get to walk in step beside them for a little while longer... it just makes my heart soar.

[Tsuga]

I did the Score Assignment method for every song, and then tallied up the results. I did on a 5.00 scale, and I ignored songs like "Pry, To" and "Arc" that would skew the results, and didn't feel made fair comparisons to the band's regular mode. Here's the album ranking I got, which surprised me:

Vitalogy - 3.9
Ten - 3.7
Gigaton - 3.54
Yield - 3.5
No Code / Vs. (tie) - 3.42
Binaural - 3.37
Pearl Jam - 3.35
Riot Act - 3.2
Backspacer - 3.16
Lightning Bolt - 3.13

Now, No Code is my favorite album as a whole, despite the data, which means I love the sum despite some of its constituent parts. Vitalogy would obviously be lower if I included Stupidmop, etc. But it's fair in that even though I don't love those individual songs as much as others, you can't have Vitalogy without Bugs, etc. Also, I'm fine with Backspacer and LB, though LB's second half killed it in the ranking.

[darth_vedder]

No Code
Binaural
Vitalogy
Yield
Riot Act
Vs
Pearl Jam
Ten
Gigaton
Backspacer
Lightning Bolt

[Anders]

Will be interesting to see if it’s S/T or Gigaton which will be ranked higher among the majority over time.

[E.H. Ruddock]

Will be interesting to see if it’s S/T or Gigaton which will be ranked higher among the majority over time.

If this producer could go back and produce S/T, it would be S/T no question for me.

[dad]

What a great feeling. It really is something I never thought I'd feel again from a Pearl Jam record. I never thought "they lost it." Or anything like that. I never bought into the cynical creative bankruptcy talk. The money-grab blah blah blah. But I just thought they had finally aged and grown past me. We were no longer on the same path. And I was okay with that. But to find that our divergent paths have merged again. That I get to walk in step beside them for a little while longer... it just makes me heart soar.

Really enjoyed this post, specifically the last paragraph. It sums up how I lead about Gigaton.

Also, I fucked up, and that quote/paragraph should be attributed to durden.

[swan]

After 5 Gigaton listens this is where I'm at:

1. Yield
2. No Code
3. Vitalogy
4. Binaural
5. Vs
6. Riot Act
7. Ten
8. Gigaton
9. S/T
10. Lightning Bolt
11. Backspacer

[Monkey_Driven]

Current rankings as of right now (and after a recent revisit the entire catalog)

1. Binaural
2. Vitalogy
3. Yield
4. Riot Act
5. No Code
6. Vs
7. Ten
8. S/T
9. Lightning Bolt
10. Backspacer

I think Gigaton will slide comfortably into that 8th spot when it is all said and done. Maybe higher? I can't relate with Ten much anymore and Vs. is very uneven to me (thought the production and performances are top notch).

[Strat]

Current rankings as of right now (and after a recent revisit the entire catalog)

1. Binaural
2. Vitalogy
3. Yield
4. Riot Act
5. No Code
6. Vs
7. Ten
8. S/T
9. Lightning Bolt
10. Backspacer

I think Gigaton will slide comfortably into that 8th spot when it is all said and done. Maybe higher? I can't relate with Ten much anymore and Vs. is very uneven to me (thought the production and performances are top notch).

Me and you is like peas and carrots

That ranking is similar to mine. its hard to gauge Ten because its such a product of its time. Gigaton could easily sit right in the middle of the pack but hard to say anything definitive before its actually been officially released!

1. Binaural
2. Yield
3. Vitalogy
4. No Code
5. Riot Act
6. Vs
7. S/t
8. Ten
9. Backfacer
10. L Bolt

Gigaton could easily move to the 5 or 6 spot. Id be surprised if this doesnt hold up for me. Seems to have so much meat on it and depth within it.

[epilogue]

What a great feeling. It really is something I never thought I'd feel again from a Pearl Jam record. I never thought "they lost it." Or anything like that. I never bought into the cynical creative bankruptcy talk. The money-grab blah blah blah. But I just thought they had finally aged and grown past me. We were no longer on the same path. And I was okay with that. But to find that our divergent paths have merged again. That I get to walk in step beside them for a little while longer... it just makes me heart soar.

Really enjoyed this post, specifically the last paragraph. It sums up how I lead about Gigaton.

Also, I fucked up, and that quote/paragraph should be attributed to durden.

[E.H. Ruddock]

JFC. You all know I hate ranking things, but because some of you seem to think Gigaton is God's jizz, here is a proper ranking:

Vitalogy
Binaural
Yield
Vs.
No Code
Ten
Riot Act
S/T
Gigaton (subject to move up, but being rational and waiting for it to age properly)
Lightning Bolt
Backspacer

[Anders]

Current rankings as of right now (and after a recent revisit the entire catalog)

1. Binaural
2. Vitalogy
3. Yield
4. Riot Act
5. No Code
6. Vs
7. Ten
8. S/T
9. Lightning Bolt
10. Backspacer

I think Gigaton will slide comfortably into that 8th spot when it is all said and done. Maybe higher? I can't relate with Ten much anymore and Vs. is very uneven to me (thought the production and performances are top notch).

Me and you is like peas and carrots

That ranking is similar to mine. its hard to gauge Ten because its such a product of its time. Gigaton could easily sit right in the middle of the pack but hard to say anything definitive before its actually been officially released!

1. Binaural
2. Yield
3. Vitalogy
4. No Code
5. Riot Act
6. Vs
7. S/t
8. Ten
9. Backfacer
10. L Bolt

Gigaton could easily move to the 5 or 6 spot. Id be surprised if this doesnt hold up for me. Seems to have so much meat on it and depth within it.

Backfacer is a cool title.

[Strat]

JFC. You all know I hate ranking things, but because some of you seem to think Gigaton is God's jizz, here is a proper ranking:

Vitalogy
Binaural
Yield
Vs.
No Code
Ten
Riot Act
S/T
Gigaton (subject to move up, but being rational and waiting for it to age properly)
Lightning Bolt
Backspacer

u mad bro

[E.H. Ruddock]

JFC. You all know I hate ranking things, but because some of you seem to think Gigaton is God's jizz, here is a proper ranking:

Vitalogy
Binaural
Yield
Vs.
No Code
Ten
Riot Act
S/T
Gigaton (subject to move up, but being rational and waiting for it to age properly)
Lightning Bolt
Backspacer

u mad bro

kinda

[darth_vedder]

Current rankings as of right now (and after a recent revisit the entire catalog)

1. Binaural
2. Vitalogy
3. Yield
4. Riot Act
5. No Code
6. Vs
7. Ten
8. S/T
9. Lightning Bolt
10. Backspacer

Me and you is like peas and carrots

1. Binaural
2. Yield
3. Vitalogy
4. No Code
5. Riot Act
6. Vs
7. S/t
8. Ten
9. Backfacer
10. L Bolt

Can I join your peas and carrots club? The three of us have the same albums in our top 5.