Pearl Jam songs you really liked on first listen

General Pearl Jam discussion.
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knee tunes
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Re: Pearl Jam songs you really liked on first listen

Post by knee tunes »

stip wrote:Even Flow!
How can you even flow remember that
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Re: Pearl Jam songs you really liked on first listen

Post by stip »

I was in my bedroom, lying on the bed, doing math homework. I bought Ten without knowing any songs because I heard Pearl Jam was like Nirvna. Once washed over me a bit, but when Even Flow started I was like 'holy shit, could this be the best band ever?' Sometimes you just know.
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Re: Pearl Jam songs you really liked on first listen

Post by liebzz »

One song that did absolutely blow my mind the first time I heard it was listening to the bootleg of the ‘99 Bridge School Benefit and hearing Nothing As It Seems for the first time. That was an awakening.
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Re: Pearl Jam songs you really liked on first listen

Post by B »

Footsteps
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Re: Pearl Jam songs you really liked on first listen

Post by oasisfan35 »

Last Exit

Remember a fellow student bringing in 'Ten' for share-an-album day and had heard the singles but nothing really stuck. 'Vs' I really got nothin' as far as what I heard on the radio. I saw a copy of 'Vitalogy' at work and bought it off an engineer, still have it and adore it.
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Re: Pearl Jam songs you really liked on first listen

Post by Norah »

stip wrote:My first listen for everything post Riot Act is on one of the boards. If I was a better person I would have saved them in a separate file
doing this would not make you a better person
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Re: Pearl Jam songs you really liked on first listen

Post by bada »

Ms Harmless wrote:everything until Binaural
With the odd exception pretty much me too.
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Re: Pearl Jam songs you really liked on first listen

Post by RockPusher »

Quick Escape blew my mind the first time I heard it, and still does every time I hear it. I think Pendulum may have been the same way.
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Re: Pearl Jam songs you really liked on first listen

Post by stip »

oasisfan35 wrote:Last Exit

Remember a fellow student bringing in 'Ten' for share-an-album day and had heard the singles but nothing really stuck. 'Vs' I really got nothin' as far as what I heard on the radio. I saw a copy of 'Vitalogy' at work and bought it off an engineer, still have it and adore it.
I had a tape of vitalogy from the radio I copied from a friend before the release. It picked up right before the bridge on Last Exit, so my first impression was half a song.
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Re: Pearl Jam songs you really liked on first listen

Post by stip »

I loved the live versions of Betterman, Whipping, and Satan's Bed from Atlanta at first listen
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Re: Pearl Jam songs you really liked on first listen

Post by bodysnatcher »

Songs I really liked immediately on first impression before they wore out their welcome:

Mind Your Manners
Swallowed Whole
Unthought Known
I Am Mine
Soon Forget
Present Tense
Leash
Brother
Footsteps
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Re: Pearl Jam songs you really liked on first listen

Post by blueviper »

Even Flow
Alive
Oceans
Dissident
Not For You
Betterman
Red Mosquito
Faithfull
You Are
Amongst the Waves
Lightning Bolt
Quick Escape
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Re: Pearl Jam songs you really liked on first listen

Post by tragabigzanda »

pearl jam sucks now
Last edited by tragabigzanda on Thu January 01, 2026 11:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Pearl Jam songs you really liked on first listen

Post by bodysnatcher »

tragabigzanda wrote:
bodysnatcher wrote:Songs I really liked immediately on first impression before they wore out their welcome:

Mind Your Manners
Swallowed Whole
Unthought Known
I Am Mine
Soon Forget
Present Tense
Leash
Brother
Footsteps
Yeah I think this is a more interesting approach. Man did I love Mind Your Manners when it first came out. That did not last long!
Might try and do a list of songs with the opposite logic: songs I actively disliked on first listen and they became songs I really enjoy
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Re: Pearl Jam songs you really liked on first listen

Post by tragabigzanda »

pearl jam sucks now
Last edited by tragabigzanda on Thu January 01, 2026 11:21 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Pearl Jam songs you really liked on first listen

Post by bodysnatcher »

tragabigzanda wrote:
bodysnatcher wrote:
tragabigzanda wrote:
bodysnatcher wrote:Songs I really liked immediately on first impression before they wore out their welcome:

Mind Your Manners
Swallowed Whole
Unthought Known
I Am Mine
Soon Forget
Present Tense
Leash
Brother
Footsteps
Yeah I think this is a more interesting approach. Man did I love Mind Your Manners when it first came out. That did not last long!
Might try and do a list of songs with the opposite logic: songs I actively disliked on first listen and they became songs I really enjoy
For me that's basically half of Binaural and nearly all of Riot Act.
Yeah probably at least half of Riot Act for me.

What about songs you really disliked on first listen and they’ve stayed there ever since
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Re: Pearl Jam songs you really liked on first listen

Post by Matters »

B wrote:Do I have to have kept liking them?

Because some on my list are truly great, and some have gotten dull.
No, you don’t have to of kept liking them. A few on my list went from “really like” to middle of the pack or worse overtime. Many of them have remained favorites though. I absolutely loved You Are and Yellow Moon on first listen and those are still 2 of my top 3 pj songs.
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Re: Pearl Jam songs you really liked on first listen

Post by Matters »

stip wrote:I was in my bedroom, lying on the bed, doing math homework. I bought Ten without knowing any songs because I heard Pearl Jam was like Nirvna. Once washed over me a bit, but when Even Flow started I was like 'holy shit, could this be the best band ever?' Sometimes you just know.
This is the kind of story I wanted to hear from the person inducting Pearl Jam into the R&R HoF. Instead we got David Letterman listing songs that exist.
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Re: Pearl Jam songs you really liked on first listen

Post by wease »

Matters wrote:
stip wrote:I was in my bedroom, lying on the bed, doing math homework. I bought Ten without knowing any songs because I heard Pearl Jam was like Nirvna. Once washed over me a bit, but when Even Flow started I was like 'holy shit, could this be the best band ever?' Sometimes you just know.
This is the kind of story I wanted to hear from the person inducting Pearl Jam into the R&R HoF. Instead we got David Letterman listing songs that exist.
I don’t remember Dave mentioning any song titles
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stip
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Re: Pearl Jam songs you really liked on first listen

Post by stip »

I think most of my pearl jam first impressions have held up -positive ones at least. There are negative first impressions I came around on.
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